NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 26 — We’ve all seen the classic “Baseball Bugs” where he takes on the Gashouse Gorillas by himself, and the announcer intones his name as playing every position for the Teetotalers. I would never suggest that this Diamondback team is quite the one-trick pony that that might imply, but using a certain historical perspective, one could view much of the starting pitching contingent that way. Continue reading →

NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 25 — I’ve been a fan a long time, but I didn’t know the game like I do now back when we won in ’77 and ’78, so a lot of the time I have been focussing on games and rooting with my very being, well, we didn’t win a lot of those games. One thing my brother and I witnessed years ago was what we decided to call (back in a much kinder and gentler time) the Kiss of “Death,” (any biblical reference totally unintended). As a seemingly unbreakable law pertaining to cosmic baseball, it has broken my heart time and time again. When what you need is a dinger, the proverbial “blast” part of the “bloop and a blast,” a big fat tater, if your guy hits one but it goes foul, fuggetaboutit. E = MC squared. Need homer plus foul homer = you lose. Continue reading →

NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 24 — Well, not ramparts exactly, but from Yankee Stadium tier box 622 we were watching a scene that would be dear to any American, and doubly special if that citizen happens to have a place in their heart for New York and the Yankees. Continue reading →

BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 22 — Well, it was wild, and seeing as anyone visiting here either saw what was there to be seen, or read or heard a play-by-play of how the game went, perhaps I should share some of that wildness. But I have to start with the most peculiar sound — and behavior — I ‘ve ever heard in Yankee Stadium. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., Oct. 21, 2001 — I can’t remember when I’ve attended a more dramatic and gripping game, despite (with apologies to the pitchers) the offensive ineptitude. And even though they got the first hit, and the first lead, I’ll give that booby prize to the Mariners. And it’s not because they struck out 10 times to our five; it’s that they allowed Mo to get them out in the top of the ninth on three pitches. As it was, it allowed for the possibility of another two innings from Mariano. As it is, it means he’s available Monday night too, and not just for an inning. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2001 — They’re paraded as fact all the time, and if there is a field of interest more awash in them than sports (other than that particular breeding ground of politics) I haven’t come in contact with it. And you know, there’s nothing like receiving a good old-fashioned butt kicking to make you pause, look around and take a good look at things. The following is clearly true: Continue reading →

BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 18, 2001 — That’s not to say that they walk around with slide rules and leaky pens sticking out of their pocket protectors, or with bits of tape applied to their too-big glasses. And the private lives of at least the single guys who live in the big city are more the stuff of tabloids than of scholarly journals buried deep in the racks of the school library. But there are certain mathematical dilemmas they are in the habit of clearing up, so I’ll add “nerds” to the wonderful vocabulary that has grown around this great bunch of guys who play in the greatest city in the world. Continue reading →

NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 18, 2001 — Well, the “Series of the New Century” is here. Pretty consumed with following the Yankees/A’s series the last week or so, I have listened and read with some interest as Yankee fans and foes alike have talked about the coming contest, as we waited to see if the confrontation between the Yanks and Mariners would take place. Some were intrigued as the A’s (terrifyingly) and the Indians threatened to crash the party.
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BRONX, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2001 — It may represent a pretty frivolous approach to a game that sparked some deep emotions; in fact, I’m sure that that’s what popped into my head when I sat here. There are a jumble of feelings dueling for control, and I could spend the next few minutes talking about things like love, joy, resignation, forbearance, courage and heroism. Continue reading →

NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 13 — The anguish was palpable Thursday night around midnight in the Bronx. “How can you take that pitch?” from one. “That’s what I mean, this guy just doesn’t have the makeup!” from another. Jorge, it was clear, was going for the three-run punch-out in Game Two’s ninth inning, and he took us all down with him when he was frozen by that curve. But on a night when nobody could touch Barry Zito, who took him downtown? Continue reading →