Bronx, N.Y., July 26, 2005 — With the whole east coast of the United States in the grip of a hazy, hot, and humid Tuesday, it seemed the whole city — and much of the world — flocked to Yankee Stadium Tuesday night to greet the Bombers and root them on. In a city beleaguered by brown-outs, power failures, increased security, and air barely fit to breathe, almost 54,000 fans crammed themselves into a steamy Stadium to greet the hard-charging Yanks. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 10, 2005 — After watching the Yanks fumble their way to a loss in a battle they gamely threatened to take on Saturday, they came from behind Sunday to post a 9-3 win over the visiting Indians, and posted a 5-1 record in an abbreviated homestand. Poor pitching and defense doomed them the day before; Sunday the pitching fluctuated from dominant to so-so. The defense continued to be a work in progress, but the offense appears to be healed. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 9, 2005 — It’s easy to use words like “gorgeous day in the Bronx” and “classic game” writing about Yankee game experiences. I feel I’m honestly reporting the truth when I write them too, but the danger is that the words become cliches; the adjectives lose all meaning. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 7, 2005 — The Yankees crawled within 3.5 games of first place in a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians in Yankee Stadium Thursday night. It was a game in which they introduced a new center fielder as Melky Cabrera made his big league debut. But the team may have also lost setup man Tom Gordon. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 5, 2005 — It all began with home plate ump Tim Timmins’s “Ball Two” call on a close 1-2 slider at the knees that froze O’s backstop Sal Fasano. Randy Johnson had retired the first eight Orioles on 25 tosses (20 strikes) by this moment in the top of the third Tuesday afternoon, and the crowd groaned when Timmins failed to deliver Randy’s fourth strike out on the near (non)call. And that’s when it began. Determined to put Fasano and the third inning behind him, Johnson pounded the backup catcher forced into play by injuries with four straight strikes on his hands, the first three popped foul and the fourth to Robinson Cano at second. It was the first four strikes of 31 to be tossed in a row. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 4, 2005 — I knew (or should have known) that the Yanks were in for a good day when Melvin Mora’s 0-2 tracer to right center with one out in the first caromed so high off the top of the fence that it could just have easily trickled or bounced over for a home run as take the bounce back it did. As it was, it was a double and spot starter Tanyon Sturtze did well in pitching around it. His Orioles counterpart Bruce Chen, on the other hand, did nothing well; two strike outs and a pickoff during the four outs he lasted hardly squared things on his line. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 26, 2005 — It’s been a hard day’s night, and a long homestand’s week. After starting a two-week stand in the Bronx with back-to-back three-game sweeps of the Pirates and the Cubs, the Yanks had to scramble to barely close the home stay on a high note. They evened their season series with the Mets with a come-from-behind, ninth-inning 5-4 win Sunday night, but not until they did their best to give the game to their crosstown rivals. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2005 — When my baseball (i.e., Yankee) fanness was in its infancy, my favorite joke involved the game, and made light of the Christian Bible as well. The premise was that baseball was not only mentioned in that tome’s New Testament but, borrowing from the first few words of the Gospel of the Apostle John (In the beginning…”), it had a prominent part: “In the big inning…” It always cracked me up. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2005 — Good evening Mr. Yankee Fan. Today we are confronted with a situation that would be difficult enough in itself, but its level of impossibility is maximized by a combination of mitigating factors. Your mission is to extend the six-game Yankee winning streak, and to keep the current home streak undefeated. The starting pitcher in this quest is this man, rookie lefthander Sean Henn. He will not be hit hard, but he will totally lose the plate in the second inning, seem to right himself briefly, only to lose it all over again. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 19, 2005 — The Yankees received another great start from Mike Mussina on an at-one-time gorgeous, then drifting-to-overcast Sunday afternoon in the Bronx. The crafty righty proved that he was a master as he dominated the gritty Cubs to the tune of just two runs over 6.3 in the Yankees’ 6-3 win, even though it was clear early that he did not have the control for which he is well known. But he mixed speeds well, and was effective with several pitches, although uncharacteristically inexact on his location with all of them. Continue reading →