Bronx, N.Y., July 8, 2004 — The most striking thing you notice when you look at Jose Contreras’s performance in a 7-1 win over Tampa Bay Thursday night is that the numbers are all so neat and tidy, and consistent. Exactly 100 pitches thrown, in seven innings, almost. (Because his last pitch was bounced to Alex Rodriguez for what should have been the third out, and A-Rod made the only Yankee miscue of the night on it, I’ll call it “seven.”) Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 5, 2004 — Young lefty Nate Robertson never really stood a chance Monday night. He started his night in the Bronx horribly by walking Bernie Williams, playing centerfield and restored to lead-off in Manager Torre’s American League baseball lineup, on four pitches. Someone was going to have to pay for a lost weekend in Flushing, and the four pitches off the plate had the Yanks thinking they had their fall guy. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 1, 2004 — Well, if you wanted to quibble, I guess you could say that four hours and 21 minutes was too much of a good thing. More than 400 pitches, 21 hits, two errors, with two more possible, four batters hit by pitches, and some questionable umpiring (and more about how those two go hand in hand later). Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 29, 2004 — As the Yankees prepared to host the Red Sox Tuesday evening, it had been 66 days since the two rivals had met. Fans of both franchises were itching for a fight, and two pitches into the game, it appeared they would get one. That just shows how wrong you can be. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 27, 2004 — Six years ago, minus one day, the Yankees and Mets played one of their most exciting contests in an ESPN Sunday night game. It had none of the long balls hit the last two days in the Bronx, games in which the Yanks went yard eight times and the Mets five. The 1998 contest had but five hits, and only 1.5 of nine innings were thrown by relief pitchers. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 13, 2004 — One of the statistics being loudly proclaimed in 2004 among Yankee fans and baseball enthusiasts in general is the amazing and growing number of games this Yankee team has come from behind to win when trailing by four runs or more. My question is this: If they come back from two down, and later by another three, does that game make the list? Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 12, 2004 — It would be easy to wax on about the wonderful rush of euphoria that exploded in a crowded Yankee Stadium Saturday evening. I am a Yankee fan, and of course I was delighted that the unheralded Bret Prinz had come on with no outs in the top of the seventh with Padres at first and third in a game the Yanks were leading 3-2, and got out of the jam. Almost everyone in attendance was. But what I liked most was the way he did it. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 11, 2004 — The Yankees last played the San Diego Padres in the regular season on the West Coast in 2002, right after a series with the Rockies. Both teams hit the heck out of the ball in Colorado that June, and the Yankees expected to do more of the same when they arrived in San Diego. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 8, 2004 — When Javier Vazquez was acquired from the Expos during the offseason, the Yanks got themselves a great pitcher with lots of skill, but one who had a losing record in six years in Montreal. They were confident in the skill, but Yankee fans had to wonder if the kid could win in the big city. Continue reading →