May 22, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – I was a little puzzled watching a group of Yankees warm up in short left field before Tuesday night’s game with Kansas City. Derek Jeter sprinted toward center field, as Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson were making their way back, and then Swish did a funky high-five with Robinson Cano, who was just then joining the group. Mark Teixeira did stretches down the line. Here I was, tied up in knots, sleep-deprived, and near frantic over whether the team would score enough, or at all, in the coming game, and the players were, to all appearances, loose and free, and enjoying their evening’s work. Continue reading
It’s a Wonderful Game
May 18, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – You had to wonder if Andy Pettitte’s approach to Friday night’s start vs. Cincinnati in Yankee Stadium was altered four pitches in. Following a swinging strike out, error and sac bunt, he faced a go-ahead Reds run 90 feet from home plate. While it’s true that Pettitte left the team to rest and prep for this game before last night’s 4-1 loss in Toronto, he has to be aware that the Yankees currently are doing just about anything they can not to score. Continue reading
Bronx Airlift
May 12, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – I had the strange experience when recording the starting pitcher numbers in the eighth inning Saturday afternoon that I was confusing the teams. It was a gorgeous day in the Bronx, with every one of almost 44,000 present primed to celebrate both Yogi Berra’s 87th birthday, and a Yankee win. There was cake at home, where Ron Guidry drove Yogi, and Jennifer Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter joined them at the plate to offer best wishes. Continue reading
Kuroda Instills Order
May 11, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – The only two uncomfortable moments for a Yankee fan during the Bombers/Seattle Friday night contest in Yankee Stadium under surprisingly super-pleasant conditions are easy to identify. They were the two singleton home runs against pinstriped hurler Hiroki Kuroda for all the Mariners runs in the 6-2 Yankee win. Continue reading
To Err Is Nun-en
May 10, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – A creepy feeling of deja vu hovered over Yankee Stadium with two outs in the first inning Thursday night. The “feared” Sean Rodriguez reached with one out, on via a CC Sabathia hit by pitch rather than an intentional walk, as happened on Opening Day in Tampa. Three batters later Carlos Pena strode to the plate with bases loaded once Yankee third baseman Eduardo Nunez booted Brandon Guyer’s two-out grounder toward the bag. Continue reading
The I-Team
May 8, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – With a 5-0 James Shields toeing the mound as the tied-for-first Tampa Bay Rays came to the Bronx Tuesday night, it was incumbent on Yankee righty Ivan Nova to bring out his “A” game. After a leadoff single by Ben Zobrist and a first-pitch ball to Carlos Pena, fans weren’t sure what they would get. Then Ivan dropped his first slider on Pena at 1-2, and we all calmed down. Continue reading
A View You Need to See
In case the huge structure in center field does not identify the location for you, these kids are playing on a field that four years ago was the field at the old Yankee Stadium, on the south side of 161st in the Bronx. That’s River Road and the elevated 4 Train beyond center field and in front of the mammoth Bronx County Courthouse.
Getting Smarter
Bronx, N.Y., April 19, 2012 – There couldn’t have been more than a handful of fans among the 40,000-plus attending Thursday night’s Yankee game who weren’t muttering some version of a similar mantra either to themselves or to their companions: “Phil Hughes is running out of chances. If he has a shot, the first thing he needs is a clean, low-pitch first inning.” Continue reading
Carsten Charles, and Chris
Bronx, N.Y., April 17, 2012 – There’s almost 1,500 innings per team per regular season in major league baseball, a nice round number easily eclipsed when a team has mutiple games go extra innings. There’s always six outs, in most cases turned in by a variety of methods: strikes outs, both swinging and called; ground outs; fly balls; maybe a runner tagged out on the basepaths. There may be hits; there may be runs; great plays and ugly errors. But every team plays a few games that feature crazy short segments: moments when personalities intrude on the game, when things that don’t appear on every scorecard congregate in one section of a contest. Continue reading
Yankee Bats Go Idle
Bronx, N.Y., April 16, 2012 – After winning a home series against a contending Anaheim team the Yanks were certainly not looking past Minnesota, lightly regarded both because they struggled through a horrible 2012 season, and because they have a dreadful history playing in the Bronx. But their fans may have been. Continue reading