Kissimmee, Fla., March 3 — I should have known better. It took 40 years of watching baseball to come to see that a visiting team up by two with a man on base and two outs in the bottom of the ninth was a team in danger of losing. And it held true today, even though we added three in the top of the tenth. Poor former prospect Ryan Bradley is #93 now, and he showed why in the 10th, a 5-run frame that ended on a first-pitch, no-doubt-about-it grand slam.
Auld Lang Syne
Tampa, Fla., March 3 — New Year’s image cliché: Infant confronts Father Time. Little did we realize that this image would await us when our late-morning flight to Tampa landed yesterday. But less than an hour later, there we were in Legends Field, sitting in the third base boxes.
The numbers on the stadium walls were inescapable and I’m sure Yankee fans will be seeing — and celebrating — them all year: 100 26 38. One hundredth year, with 26 World Series titles and 38 American League pennants. But although this team would seem to be all about “the glory years,” once new first baseman Jason Giambi’s windblown drive to left cleared the fence for a 3-0 lead in the first, it was obvious that today was a party for the new as well as the old. We missed both of Jason’s jolts, though we heard the crowd reaction to the second from across Dale Mabry as we parked the car.
New outfield phenom Juan Rivera, pictured here in left in front of the big scoreboard, is just one more reason this team may have better days in its future than in its past. His one-out seventh-inning line drive off the left center wall would have cleared most major league outfield walls, but not to worry. Future (again) third bagger (and truly “big” guy) Drew Henson calmly stroked a hard grounder past the shortstop to give the Yanks a 6-3 lead, ending the Blue Jays hopes for the day.
We’re in Kissimmee against the Astros today, a two-hour-plus drive. I’ve got to go. Happy New Year!
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!
Whippin’ Post
Bronx, N.Y., Feb. 9, 2002 — I had it coming. “Baseball, gods, hear me clearly. Guilty as charged. I got soft; I got happy; despite my (not very good) best efforts the spanking was deserved, and I thank you for setting me straight.” Continue reading
Numbers, Schmumbers
Bronx, N.Y., Jan. 31, 2002 — Stats, stats, stats. I know. They are a valuable tool. They are a means of measuring performance. They are quantifiable. They are easy. Continue reading
Danny Double
Bronx, N.Y., Nov. 28, 2001 — The hard two-hopper rocketed down the third base line, and the 12-year-old playing third made the only dive he could to stop it from rolling forever once it got to the long, low-grassed, unfenced outfield. Flagging the screamer deftly with his gloved left hand, he scurried to his knees and then his feet, rushed at setting himself, and let the throw fly…
Continue reading
Enough Is Enough
Bronx, N.Y., Nov. 25, 2001 — It’s never a good day for a baseball fan when there’s no baseball news really, and you have to go searching for peripheral mentions. Continue reading
Win Some/Lose Some
Bronx, N.Y., Nov. 23, 2001 — I fully realize that the title is part of a cliche (think “…and some are rained out.”), but the musings may not be as predictable as the title would indicate. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, 19 days since the events of November 4, and I’ve interacted with many people since then. They run the gamut from people who watched the Emmy’s November 4 all the way to fellow fanatics whose hearts stopped briefly that evening as Luis Gonzalez’s bloop floated over Derek’s head. Continue reading
A January 2001 Tribute
NEW YORK, N.Y., Nov. 18, 2001 — I thought about June 10, 1978 upon reading a little sidebar box toward the back of the Times Sports pages, a filler really. One of the combatants that made that day so special, and one I’ll never forget, had passed away back in January. I called my brother then and commiserated, remembering the colossal contest we had witnessed 23 years ago. June 10 of a Yankee championship season seems a promising date for a Yankee fan to want to commemorate, but this column is not about baseball. Continue reading
The Other Shoe
Bronx, N.Y., Nov. 11, 2001 — I can’t get the image out of my head. Hungering for baseball news already, tucked somewhere into the sports page among the pro and college football, pro and college basketball, NHL hockey, even early Olympics mentions, I came across an article articulating the difficulties facing the front office of the New York Mets. As anyone who has ever taken a course that was graded on a curve well knows, the worse things get for the competition, the better they are for you. And really all New York baseball fans have a love/hate thing going with the local teams anyway: I love the Yankees — the reader can fill in the blanks on my feelings about the Mets.
Continue reading
The Scout
NEW YORK, N.Y., Nov. 8 — “The Scout proves to be an unsatisfying single that should have been a home run.” Thus read one of the many less than enthusiastic reviews of the 1994 baseball movie that featured, aside from stars Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser (with a cameo by George Steinbrenner himself), the building I have lovingly come to refer to as The Cathedral: Yankee Stadium. Continue reading