NEW YORK, N.Y., September 25, 2003 — Well, the Yankees and Mike Mussina were spanked pretty badly by the Chisox in the Windy City yesterday in a game that was going the Yanks’ way until everything fell apart in the sixth. I don’t know though. The loss doesn’t bother me too much. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 13, 2003 — It was an easy decision really. With the intermittent rain all day, and the two June 19 Tampa Bay Tier Box rain-out tickets in our pockets, my brother and I decided to catch this game from downstairs, with something solid protecting our heads from the intermittent sprinkles. We knew the game would be sparsely attended. I love watching games from the Tier, and have done it for years. But we decided it was time to revisit the lower levels. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 7, 2003 — Yankee Stadium is just stunning at 7:00 pm on a clear day in early September. The sun has not yet set, and is shining brightly first on the outfield walls and bleachers in left and right fields, then on the world-famous Stadium facade that rings the ballpark on its eastern side along River Ave., and finally at the Bronx County Courthouse and other buildings that dot the South Bronx sky beyond. On Friday night there was a lone cloudbank hanging over the right field upper deck, and the setting sun had made it a “star” in its glorious light show, first displaying streaming reds and yellows, which slowly evolved into a lavender glow. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2003 — I knew I would be annoyed when I sat down to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game on Fox TV’s national feed Saturday afternoon. But I expected it would be a tense and closely fought contest, and I anticipated a low-scoring game too. Two out of three ain’t bad. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 28, 2003 — It might have been downright creepy Thursday afternoon in the Bronx, except for a couple of very obvious factors. Strange phenomena notwithstanding, the Yanks jumped on rookie White Sox lefty Neil Cotts for five big runs in the first, a lead they would never relinquish, and it happened to be just about one of the most gorgeous days there has ever been. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 24, 2003 — Had I written a column after the Friday evening opening contest of the four-game series with the Orioles, the title might have been, “Who Let the Air Out?” The weather was hot and forbidding, and the air barely breathable that night, but the Yanks were up early, 3-2, on Johnson and Soriano homers, and there was actually a light breeze wafting over the Stadium’s upper deck. But then the air left, and so did the offense, as the Yankees seemingly sleep-walked their way to a 4-3 loss.. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 19, 2003 — The number three plays a huge part in the game of baseball, what with nine innings, three outs in an inning, three strikes in an out. So it seems a good thing that the Yanks victory over the Royals was so dominated with threes and multiples of three. To begin with, the game went nine, the Yankees scored six and the Royals three. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 16, 2003 — Ladies and Gentlemen. The Circus has come to town!

And that’s exactly the mindset required to enjoy and appreciate Saturday night’s 5-4 Yankees win over the Orioles. It was a game that started with the usually abysmal Sterling Hitchcock giving up a first-inning run on a sac fly to Tony Batista, a player who was batting out of order, but then if neither manager Mike Hargrove nor Joe Torre are going to pay attention, why should the players? Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 7, 2003 — I’m sure I don’t need to go into any length trying to describe to Yankee fans how depressing it felt to witness the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 5-4 loss to the Rangers from the Upper Deck in the Bronx. Enthusiasts prone to wager a buck or two on the ponies will tell you that a race in which your horse gets blown out right from the gate is painless, but the experience of being nipped just once in the stretch, or at the wire, is a whole night worth of pain. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 5, 2003 — Although it would be overstating the case to say that the Yanks prevailed over the Rangers in the Bronx solely because of another dominating Roger Clemens performance, it’s not really far off. True, Roger didn’t answer the bell for the eighth inning, while in his last game he went the distance, and threw a shutout. Continue reading →