Bronx, N.Y., August 13, 2005 — I had to feel for the young woman seated with friends in the row in front of me tonight. She was attending her first live (so to speak) ballgame. The throngs that pack Yankee Stadium night after night have become quite a phenomenon, but if she returns after that game’s first three innings, it can be posited that these nightly gatherings have moved from the phenomenal to the miraculous. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 11, 2005 — The Yankees won just one of three classic matchups against the team with the best record in baseball to begin this week and a seven-game homestand. They were pitching duels all, and the White Sox escaped the Bronx with two wins despite scoring a paltry six runs in three days; the Yanks took just one, and scored only five times. Thursday night they looked to keep up the great pitching, play a good game, and treat another sellout crowd to crisply played, intense baseball. They failed more than they succeded, but they came away with a win. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 9, 2005 — In the midst of a long torturous summer where periods of hazy, hot, and humid weather have enveloped New York in waves as consistent as those pounding area beaches, the Yanks and White Sox played a dandy game on a delightful Tuesday night in the Bronx. The Yanks had used a big home run to edge the Chisox in Monday night’s game, and the visitors returned the favor with two fence clearers in a beautifully pitched game. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 31, 2005 — It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in New York, with Anaheim and the Yanks closing a weekend series. I was in heaven because we were seeing crisp baseball as my young nephew reveled in his once-a-year trip to the Baseball Cathedral in the Bronx, and the Yanks had grabbed an early lead. Then Angels catcher Bengie Molina strode to the plate with two on and one down in the fifth inning and blasted a three-run bomb to left. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 28, 2005 — Although the word “hot” could be used for part of Thursday afternoon’s baseball battle in the Bronx, the weather and atmosphere could hardly have been more different from the series opener vs. the Minnesota Twins Tuesday night. The Yanks came away with a dominating Randy Johnson performance and a 4-0 victory two days ago. They cashed in their second win of the series 6-3 behind the surprisingly effective Aaron Small Thursday afternoon. Continue reading →

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 →