Tampa, FL., March 1 — I felt something was missing as I took my seat in steamy Legends Field today for the opener of the 2007 Spring season. Slathered in sunscreen and clad in shorts for the first time in months, I scanned the rosters of the Yankees and the visiting Minnesota Twins, eagerly awaiting the scheduled 1:15 first pitch with pencil and scoreboard poised for action. But I was minus the reams of minor league stats and big-leagues documentation I had pored over and printed out in anticipation of the big day, because that research was in the one of my two checked bags on the flight from New York, the bag that failed to appear once we landed in Tampa. Continue reading
Tag Archives: tampa
Chacon Shackles Twins
Tampa, FL., March 7 — Ten years ago, Brad Radke pitched one of his better games against the Yankees in the Bronx on a cool summer evening, with soutpaw Jimmy Key providing the mound opposition. Radke calmly retired the first 20 Yankee batters until Paul O’Neill smacked an opposite-field double down the left field line with two down in the seventh, and Tino Martinez hooked a 320-foot line drive around the right field foul pole. The Yanks completed their 2-0 victory, and the paying customers found themselves in the unaccustomed position of being outside the ballpark shortly after 9:00 pm. Continue reading
Who’s on Second?
Tampa, FL., March 6 — Well, the morning broke upon another gorgeous day in Tampa Monday, with the Yanks hosting the Blue Jays after having gotten off the losing train in Dunedin the day before. But although Yankee fans may think they’re not prey to the frailities and fears inherent to fans of lesser teams, they sometimes need something to fret about. The Bombers had reached two pretty good pitchers in Ted Lilly and B.J. Ryan for eight line drive hits in three frames Sunday, but it seemed something was missing. The lack of power hitting was a lingering concern. Andy Phillips’s singleton opposite-field shot on Thursday was still the only Yankee home run after four games. Continue reading
Johnson Allows Two Big Hits; Yanks Get Just One
Tampa, FL., March 4 — To view Saturday’s 4-1 Yankee loss to the Reds in Legends Field through any other prism than the one entitled “Spring Training” would be to paint a fan into a corner where proclamations best saved for August would have to come into play. The Yanks are 0-3, and with four of nine starters elsewhere and two nursing minor nicks, the name of the game is to work the pitchers and let the kids carry the scoring load. Randy Johnson was reached for a two-run home run and run-scoring double in three innings this day, and a misfiring Yankee offense never recovered.
All’s Well That…Starts Well?
Tampa, FL., March 2 — Yankee fans didn’t have to wait long for early answers to some of the questions confronting the team as it christened its 10th year of Spring Training at beautiful Legends Field in Tampa Bay under dazzling sunshine and 75-degree temps Thursday afternoon. Would newly signed center fielder and leadoff man Johnny Damon adapt to playing for the “Evil Empire”? How would the man he is replacing, long-time star Bernie Williams, handle spot duty DH’ing and fielding the corner positions after so many years playing center field in Pinstripes?
We’ll Always Have Tampa
Tampa, FL., March 31 — We witnessed the alpha and the omega, the yin and the yang, the long and the short of spring baseball, on this our last day under the hot Florida sky. After surviving a three-hours-plus, nine-inning tie in Clearwater under an 89-degree sun with high humidity, we weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived in Legends Field this evening for the second half of a two-city doubleheader. In the early game, the Blue Jays and the Phillies had battered each other and 10 pitchers for 18 runs, six home runs, and 24 hits. Not only were we getting weary, we had dulled the points on all of our pencils.
DisArmed-ageddon in Tampa
Tampa, FL., March 29 — Fans of both the Red Sox and the Yankees could be forgiven for anticipating today’s game in Legends Field since back when the Spring schedule was announced. Just five days before the season opener in New York featuring the two teams with the best rivalry in sports, enthusiasts were all agog about a potential Schilling/Johnson matchup just days before a national audience would flock to their TVs to view the official opener.
Some Things Old, Some Things New
Tampa, FL., March 27 — The first sight greeting fans arriving at Legends Field on Sunday at a certain time (roughly 11:30) was that of “new” (even though his age matches the number 41 on his back) ace Randy Johnson getting in some throwing under the watchful eyes of Mel Stottlemyre and Billy Connors. Ninety minutes later, it was “old” Yankee southpaw Andy Pettitte warming up down third in the visiting bullpen. Minutes later he was greeted by raucous applause and cheering as he took the mound with a 2-0 lead. If there is anything Yankee fans love more than members of the current 25, it’s ex-Yankees with a successful resume in the Bronx. Continue reading
Twenty-Five Pitches
TAMPA, FL., March 9 — One of the things you learn quickly when scoring games and counting pitches is that numbers can play tricks on you. You come across patterns that are very telling, but you notice others that are the baseball equivalent of farmers finding vegetables shaped, they swear, like famous people.
A Three-Hour Tour
Tampa, FL., March 8 — Perhaps it was the two walks sandwiched around a Doug Mientkiewicz single in the five-run sixth that sent me off thinking about the fun and adventure one can find on the water in the Tampa Bay area, but I really think I was still avidly rooting for a Yankee comeback from an 8-1 deficit to the Twins. The home-standing Bombers had been coming up just short all day, falling to a bounce here, and a carom there, and things were ripe for the kind of dramatic turnaround these Spring games are famous for.