Bronx, N.Y., September 30, 2003 — Baseball is a simple game really. Hit the ball harder and more often, catch the balls thrown and hit within reach, throw it harder and more accurately, and pitch it with skill and direction and a certain flair, and you win most of your games. If your opponent ends up with all the check marks on their side of the ledger, you are likely to lose. That explains the Yanks’ 3-1 loss to the Twins in Tuesday’s Game One of the 2003 American League Division Series in the clearest of terms. Continue reading
What Would Confucius Say?
Bronx, N.Y., September 28, 2003 — If you lived north of the city, as I do, you could be forgiven for thinking Sunday morning that there would be no game in the Bronx to finish the season. With the AL East Title won and best record in the League already assured, and all the playoff pairings finalized, the game was not necessary, and the rain north of the city was depressing and unrelenting. But lo and behold, as I drove south through Westchester and into the Bronx the rain slowly subsided, although the skies certainly never cleared. Continue reading
The Flag Is Still There
NEW YORK, N.Y., September 25, 2003 — Well, the Yankees and Mike Mussina were spanked pretty badly by the Chisox in the Windy City yesterday in a game that was going the Yanks’ way until everything fell apart in the sixth. I don’t know though. The loss doesn’t bother me too much. Continue reading
The View From Below
Bronx, N.Y., September 13, 2003 — It was an easy decision really. With the intermittent rain all day, and the two June 19 Tampa Bay Tier Box rain-out tickets in our pockets, my brother and I decided to catch this game from downstairs, with something solid protecting our heads from the intermittent sprinkles. We knew the game would be sparsely attended. I love watching games from the Tier, and have done it for years. But we decided it was time to revisit the lower levels. Continue reading
A Little Bingo
Bronx, N.Y., September 7, 2003 — Yankee Stadium is just stunning at 7:00 pm on a clear day in early September. The sun has not yet set, and is shining brightly first on the outfield walls and bleachers in left and right fields, then on the world-famous Stadium facade that rings the ballpark on its eastern side along River Ave., and finally at the Bronx County Courthouse and other buildings that dot the South Bronx sky beyond. On Friday night there was a lone cloudbank hanging over the right field upper deck, and the setting sun had made it a “star” in its glorious light show, first displaying streaming reds and yellows, which slowly evolved into a lavender glow. Continue reading
Angels in the Infield
Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2003 — I knew I would be annoyed when I sat down to watch the Yankees/Red Sox game on Fox TV’s national feed Saturday afternoon. But I expected it would be a tense and closely fought contest, and I anticipated a low-scoring game too. Two out of three ain’t bad. Continue reading
The King Tut Approach
Bronx, N.Y., August 28, 2003 — It might have been downright creepy Thursday afternoon in the Bronx, except for a couple of very obvious factors. Strange phenomena notwithstanding, the Yanks jumped on rookie White Sox lefty Neil Cotts for five big runs in the first, a lead they would never relinquish, and it happened to be just about one of the most gorgeous days there has ever been. Continue reading
The Yanks Blow Their Tops
Bronx, N.Y., August 24, 2003 — Had I written a column after the Friday evening opening contest of the four-game series with the Orioles, the title might have been, “Who Let the Air Out?” The weather was hot and forbidding, and the air barely breathable that night, but the Yanks were up early, 3-2, on Johnson and Soriano homers, and there was actually a light breeze wafting over the Stadium’s upper deck. But then the air left, and so did the offense, as the Yankees seemingly sleep-walked their way to a 4-3 loss.. Continue reading
Adding Up a Win
Bronx, N.Y., August 19, 2003 — The number three plays a huge part in the game of baseball, what with nine innings, three outs in an inning, three strikes in an out. So it seems a good thing that the Yanks victory over the Royals was so dominated with threes and multiples of three. To begin with, the game went nine, the Yankees scored six and the Royals three. Continue reading
Step Right Up
Bronx, N.Y., August 16, 2003 — Ladies and Gentlemen. The Circus has come to town!
And that’s exactly the mindset required to enjoy and appreciate Saturday night’s 5-4 Yankees win over the Orioles. It was a game that started with the usually abysmal Sterling Hitchcock giving up a first-inning run on a sac fly to Tony Batista, a player who was batting out of order, but then if neither manager Mike Hargrove nor Joe Torre are going to pay attention, why should the players? Continue reading