Bronx, N.Y., June 10, 2011 – I’m as willing as the next guy to deride hideous marketing choices made over the years, such as naming running shoes after the demonic incubus, or an exploding car after a horse. But the Yankee employee who decided that Friday night was a good one to have the team honor their veteran ex-catcher and current DH Jorge Posada by giving out figurines in his likeness before the game “hit a home run,” so to speak, and it may have helped the team as well. After two forgettable months, Posada’s batting average had climbed to .199 before the game, and he singled his first three times up to raise it further. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 7, 2011 – Some of my oldest and dearest Yankee fan friends, a crowd whose makeup doesn’t change all that dramatically if I recast it without the word, “Yankee,” will be surprised to read this, but yes, count me in. Sign me up. I’m ready. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 25, 2011 – It was almost eerie how similarly Toronto lefty Jo-Jo Reyes and Freddy Garcia started their games in Yankee Stadium Wednesday afternoon. Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar pounced on Garcia’s not-too-fast fastball at 1:09, getting it by Andruw Jones in left center for a triple. And Derek Jeter doubled over Jose Bautista’s head on a 3-1 pitch to start the home first, crossing over to third with no one out on a wild pitch to Curtis Granderson. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 24, 2011 – The Yankees, CC Sabathia, and their fans got two for the price of one Tuesday night, a good night for it, as it was the warmest evening in New York in many a week. It was only Tuesday night, early in the week, but few fans despaired of the festivities despite the fact that Toronto seemingly took control of the game with a three-run fourth inning, and the Yankee offense responded with one ineffectual effort after another. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 22, 2011 – An offensive malaise in Yankee land punctuated by an extra-inning loss to Kansas City featuring just three runs on 12 hits two weeks ago, a home-standing sweep at the hands of the Red Sox last weekend, and the lethargic 2-1 loss to the Mets Friday night has come to a welcome end in the last two days. When Curtis Granderson homered with one out during Sunday’s first inning it closed an offensive chapter where each of the last eight Yankee batters who stroked hits scored. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 20, 2011 – My brother thought he had it right on this one. And looking at the results, you had to give him some credit. “I knew we were in trouble once they scored 13 runs last night,” he told me after the embarrassingly lifeless game the Yanks played to a 2-1 loss to the crosstown Mets in Yankee Stadium Friday night. And the misgivings were there before the game, not just once this was a final. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 15, 2011 – The Yankees put up a semblance of a fight in the Sunday night ESPN game vs. the Red Sox, taking their first two leads of the three-game Boston sweep. It had to concern fans going in that, with Sox ace John Lester throwing and aging Freddy Garcia toeing the rubber for the home team, this contest on paper was the one of the three the Yankees were least likely to win. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 14, 2011 – The Yankees dropped another precious home game to the Red Sox, 6-0, on Saturday, and could hardly have looked worse doing so. The numbers, sports websites, commentators, talk radio and the newspaper in full chorus will tell you, bear out that Josh Beckett outdueled CC Sabathia badly, but don’t you believe it. Sabathia proved his mettle early, and had he received any kind of support from his team, I might be writing a very different column. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 13, 2011 – Two struggling teams resumed their age-old rivalry in the Bronx Friday night with the Red Sox coming to town to face the Yankees. Both teams got good work from their starters, and both offenses broke through once to get the game to the seventh inning tied 2-2. But back-to-back long drives to the opposite field made Joba Chamberlain and the Yankees a loser, eventually by a 5-4 score. The two teams played pretty well, and the crowd, at 48,000-plus, up some 7,000 from what it’s been in a cold wet Spring, cheered mostly for the home team, with the usual significant minority going the other way, though New York’s northernmost borough ended up with a quieter than usual evening nonetheless. A slight chance of rain never materialized, and it was pleasant if still cooler than baseball weather. Both teams made mistakes too, but when the Yankees shot themselves in the foot, the hurt lasted longer. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 11, 2011 –You can expect to see and hear plenty of sources lamenting the continued struggles of the Yankee offense Thursday after their 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Kansas City Wednesday night. I get that two runs in regulation is disappointing, and three in 11 innings hard to take. And that the team struggles to score when it doesn’t hit home runs. Continue reading →