Bronx, N.Y., July 17, 2010 — Day Two of the most emotional Yankee weekend in years unfolded under a hot sun in a largely cloudless sky Saturday afternoon. And following up on the right notes the team hit the night before, the Old Timers Day tribute to the 60th anniversary of the 1950 Championship team went off without a hitch, although the day was punctuated with mentions of the team’s recently fallen stars. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 16, 2010 — Yankee fans were comforted in the first 15 minutes of the Friday night festivities that the team would get the scene and the sounds right as the organization prepares to play the season’s second half minus two of its icons. Cheered by the sights of Derek Jeter’s brief pregame speech, Mariano Rivera’s poignant presentation of flowers to home plate, and the images of the patches that honor long-time public address announcer Bob Sheppard and owner George Steinbrenner, they were also treated to a cathartic and poignant rendering of Taps, a stirring National Anthem, and the graceful gesture by Paul Oldin that no announcer would be calling out player names the first game after Mr. Sheppard’s passing. The Bleacher Creatures even went along by skipping the traditional Yankee roll call. But what wasn’t nearly as clear was, could the team shake off the All Star lull and all the emotional distractions and get the baseball right as well? Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 4, 2010 — The Yankees pulled out a 10-inning 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon, barely rescuing what has been a frustrating homestand and a nervous weekend. They salvaged a 2-1 series win, a must really when you consider that they were home to fourth-place Toronto, and that they had the lead in 20 of 30 innings in the three-game set. Combined with just one win in three against last-place in the West Seattle, they managed to escape the Bronx, despite a four-game stretch of delightful day baseball, with a 3-3 mark. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 2, 2010 — The concern in Yankee land had reached fever pitch by the time Friday’s game rolled around. What was up with A.J. Burnett? Would he ever win again? Even have a trouble-free first inning? June 2010 was without a doubt the worst month of his career. On a Yankee team built on its starting pitching, would titular starter number two ever right the ship? Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 1, 2010 — There is no truth to the rumor that the Yankees are going to start discounting all their ticket prices because of the new phenomenon in the Bronx: the [well] under three-hour game. Seattle’s Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez dispatched the home team the last two days in 2:30 and 2:46, respectively, and CC Sabathia returned the favor Thursday afternoon in 2:33. The stocky lefthander shut down the Mariners on two hits over the first four frames. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 30, 2010 — “King” Felix Hernandez has been in the league for years, but the Yankees have not seen him better than he was Wednesday night. The young righthander dominated “Bomber” bats once he worked through a little first inning wildness on a night custom-made for a ballgame. The home team flailed their way to 11 strike outs through nine innings in Hernandez’s complete game 7-0 shutout, but the Stadium was such a pleasant place to be you half expected to hear on the way out that this game didn’t actually count, that the athletes were all just feeling so good they just “decided” to play a game. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2010 — If you’ve been stuck talking to a dinosaur Yankee fan like myself, you know you don’t want to get into a discussion with one of us about the old Stadium that used to stand on the south side of 161st Street. But you might get an even stronger argument from one visitor to the Bronx this Sunday afternoon. Johan Santana amassed a 3-0 regular season record in the old Stadium from 2003 to 2008, holding the home team to seven runs in 30.7 innings. He struck out 28 while walking seven, and allowed four home runs, three of them singleton shots in one Mets win in 2008. But Johan’s adventures on the north side of the street have been quite different. He recorded nine outs and gave up nine runs last year, allowing four runs in the second, so he had to be experiencing a feeling of deja vu when Mark Teixeira blasted a grand slam off him in this afternoon’s third inning. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 19, 2010 — Already stressed at being down 1-0 in the first, I was feeling pretty good about the Yankee start. With a team struggling offensively as mightily as the Yanks are, it seemed crucial that they get that run back as soon as possible, so when Mets starter Hisanori Takahashi missed with his first three pitches to leadoff hitter Derek Jeter in the bottom of the first, opportunity was knocking. Derek took one right down the middle, but pitch number five seemed clearly both low and outside. When veteran home plate ump Mike Reilly called it a strike, my early plan, and my night it turned out, was doomed. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 18, 2010 — It’s official. Jamie Moyer really is not Cy Young reborn. He may be a hypnotist, but the pitching spell he weaved around Yankee bats Wednesday night stuck around Thursday long after he finished pitching. Kyle Kendrick, a sinker balller with a 4.69 era and 1.440 WHIP over a four-year career (against lighter-hitting NL lineups), buzzed some pitches near 90, but the effect on the Yankee offense was the same as the night before. Continue reading →