Bronx, N.Y., August 17, 2010 — If you agree that during Tuesday night’s pivotal game in Yankee Stadium, CC Sabathia’s in-game stats over seven innings of nine strike outs, 114 pitches, and an era and of 2.86 were good, consider this: The era for the last 113 pitches was 1.43. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 6, 2010 — On a night where Derek Jeter not only passed Babe Ruth in his hits total, but drove in three key runs as well, two relative newcomers largely carried the Yanks to a 7-2 victory over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. First, emergency starter Dustin Moseley proved he could more than pitch with Boston ace Josh Beckett. Then Yankee-for-a-week Lance Berkman showed a little of the bat speed the Yanks hoped they were getting when they acquired him from Houston. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 7, 2010 — The altered hours baseball games are played in the name of national TV contribute some strange effects to the experience, something Yankees and Red Sox fans will know only too well when their four-game wraparound series in Yankee Stadium concludes with a rare 2 pm start Monday afternoon. Locals will find out how well mass transit handles thousands of bodies once Sunday night’s 8 pm tilt concludes at an hour when most weekend revelers have been home for hours, and in bed for some time as well. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 6, 2010 — “Kiss of Death,” I guess you could call it. But it was so hard to resist, just such a cool stat. The Yankee Stadium Scoreboard has been coming out with them repeatedly, like when they informed us in the bottom of the first when Derek Jeter singled past short that he had tied Babe Ruth for career base hits. No possible harm in that, I guess, unless he happens to never get a hit again (perish the thought — literally not possible). But even given that improbable scenario, how could we not celebrate yet another Captain milestone? Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 4, 2010 — It was a big day in the Bronx, as the Alex Rodriguez 600 home run watch came to a dramatic end, and the Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays. The Bombers rode A-Rod’s big blast to a tie both for the best record in baseball and first place in the AL East, with the latter being clearly the more coveted and difficult prize to attain. Probably more weird than the fact that the 600th home run came three years to the day after Alex’s 500th, the Yankees managed to finally win a game in which they took a lead with a two-run home run in the first inning, after failing to do so the last two days. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 2, 2010 — August 2 is a poignant day in Yankee history, but sadly, it a bumbling day too. Returning from their road trip at 4-3, the Yanks spent much of Monday evening commemorating the tragic passing of Thurman Munson 31 years ago. They had a lesser team, perhaps, then, but they responded to tragedy by playing well. No such luck this night. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 25, 2010 — For the third time in a just-concluded nine-game homestand in which the Yanks came out victorious six times, their win in Sunday’s game by a lopsided score was anything but a blowout until the latter innings. In a twist, a majority of the almost 48,000 in attendance attracted to the Bronx on a steamy afternoon in hopes of seeing Alex Rodriguez’s 600th career home run witnessed the game’s essence: a 5-3 Yankee win before the rains came. I’ll leave it to others to judge if the three quarters or so who didn’t wait out the 2.5-hour rain delay are lesser fans than those who stayed, or just less determined to witness baseball history. But this was a tougher and closer game than the 12-6 final over Kansas City would leave you to believe. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 22, 2010 — Six days ago, CC Sabathia got his first 2010 post-All Star start in Yankee Stadium, and he took the mound after an emotional ceremony honoring two fallen Yankee heroes. Thursday it was CC again, and yet another icon was lost, as the Stadium honored The Major, ex-Yankee player and Manager Ralph Houk, who passed away the day before at age 90. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 20, 2010 — Fans hearing that the Yankees and Angels evenly split 30 hits between them in a 10-6 Bombers victory might think they know what kind of game this was, and go looking for who knocked in all the runs. But this game had some strange twists, and frustrating moments and, before it was over another one of those “you don’t see that everyday” moments as well, one sure to bring a smile. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 18, 2010 — It wasn’t hard to get psyched about the rubber game of the three-game home series vs. the Rays in Yankee Stadium Sunday. It was a gorgeous day, particularly for those who could escape the unrelenting rays of a hot sun in heat-waved New York. And the matchup was classic: the home-standing wily veteran Andy Pettitte vs. upstart gunslinger David Price from out of town. Think Alan Ladd against quintessential bad guy Jack Palance in Shane, or any number of hotshot youngsters vs. Marshall Dillon in the long-running TV classic series Gunsmoke. Continue reading →