Bombs and Bullpen back Burnett (postgame notes 1 September (!!) 2009)

For a full recap, please check out my post on The Yankee Universe any time after midnight.

Notes:

• Handed leads of 3-1 and then 5-3, Burnett could maintain neither, and while he only walked two, he did surrender eleven hits.

• The offense was Bronx Bombing at its best: five home runs, from Robinson Canó (who's hitting somewhere around .480 against Baltimore), Jorge Posada (who hit two, including one after he forgot the count and thought he had struck out!), Nick Swisher (whose home/road splits in the words of Girardi are "mind-boggling"), and Eric Hinske.

• Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera combined to hold the Orioles scoreless for 3.2 innings.

• The Orioles have been mathematically eliminated from AL East contention tonight.
  

Yanks Beat Beckett (Postgame Notes 23 August 2009)

The Yankees' just-finished 10 game road trip was their longest of the season--and they responded by going 7-3.

Think about that for a moment.

That's the type of road trip that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

The Yankees, going into the series against Boston had only one thing they needed to do, and that was to not get swept. They accomplished that the first night, but tonight they won the series as well.

It's not very often a baseball team will get five home runs off of Josh Beckett (Matsui had two--all four of his hits on the road trip were home runs), but that is what happened tonight.

Funny game, that baseball.

The Yankees couldn't buy a run off of Junichi Tazawa yesterday, but scored in each of the first five innings today.

Some observations:

• Derek Jeter hit .500 on the road trip. Let me repeat. Derek Jeter hit .500 on the road trip. There's being good, there's going on a hot streak, and then there's that.

• The Yankees --okay, Robinson Canó--was doing his best Luis Castillo impression in the field today. He mitigated it a bit with one of five Yankee home runs, and I wouldn't get too concerned--one poor defensive game does not a season make.

• Sabathia wasn't unhittable, but he was what the Yankees needed, and the bullpen was (as it usually is in a win) excellent.

• It's going to be an odd series with the Rangers--the Yankees want to win, of course, but us fans have been rooting for the Rangers to win the Wild Card. Guess we will see who are true Yankee fans and who are just Red Sox haters...

• Nick Swisher had his consecutive-game-reached-based streak snapped, but this only underscores how great he's been this season--especially on the road.
  

Pettitte Strong as Yanks Roll to 7th Straight (postgame notes 1 July 2009)

For, perhaps, the first time this season, Andy Pettitte had an excellent outing at home.

On a warm night (without rain, if you'd believe it and I don't blame you if you don't) that saw four home runs, Pettitte maintained his cool and pitched as though it was still 1999.

He did give up two runs, but at no point in the game did he ever trail the Mariners, and was no doubt helped by some falling asleep on behalf of the Mariners on the basepath.

As for the Yankee offense, just like last night, it did enough at the right moments to get the win. Four runs won't win you a game every night, but it will most nights if your starting pitching is competent, which, tonight, it was.

Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez all had home runs, with Melky's and A-Rod's shots being particularly, uh, blast-like.


And, really, that's all there is to say about tonight's game. Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke combined for a scoreless 8th while Mariano Rivera picked up his 502nd save.

It was a crisp, clean game played in a very quick 2:17.

Once again, the Yankees have assured themselves of a series victory, and with the Jays coming in over the long weekend in which the Yankees get to face Roy Halladay and Ricky Romero (8 scoreless vs. the Rays today), that looms important.

CC Sabathia will be on the hill tomorrow as the Yankees go for the sweep.

A-Rod on pace to break Maris AL HR Record

This from David Pinto:

Alex now has seven home runs in 15 games since returning to the Yankees. If you look at his pace as over a 134 game season (he missed the first 28 games, he’s on a pace for 63 homers this year, which would set a new AL record. Imagine if he started the season healthy.

From here


That's kind of crazy, right?

It gets crazier when you consider that A-Rod has seven home runs...and only ten hits over all.

It gets craziest when you consider that Alex's timing is still not quite what it should be, and that he's still a month behind the rest of MLB's hitters.

It's A-Rod's best possible move against the events of the off-season.

Sometimes Your Luck Runs Out (Postgame Notes 22 May 2009)

The game, I must have decided, wasn't unlucky when Ibañez uncorked one all the way into the right field bleachers.

It wasn't unlucky when Kevin Cash had some of the worst-looking swings I've ever seen from a major leaguer.

It wasn't even unlucky when Jimmy Rollins hit the very first pitch of the game over the right field fence.


No, it was unlucky when they couldn't find my jacket.

***

Last Friday, amidst the hubbub of Melky's and the Yankees' walk-off win, Dan and I forgot the Adidas jacket that I had been brought in case of rain. It was still there, plopped under a seat in section 211, when we exited the Stadium and headed for a cab.

No problem, I figured. I have tickets for next Friday's game. If they have a lost and found, surely, then, I'll find it, get it back and all will be fine and dandy.

***

This evening, when I got to the Stadium, I met my brother and his friend, whilst my game companion (Joe) was still en route.

My brother and his friend decided to explore the Stadium; I figured I'd go and check after my jacket.

I walked up to the booth in the Great Hall for customer service; I asked one of the very nice people there two questions:

a) Is there anywhere in the Stadium that sells sunblock (No, which is an issue considering summer sun and day games) and

b) Do you have a Lost and Found?

They do have a Lost and Found. They asked what I lost, when it was lost and where; I told them a black Adidas jacket last Friday in section 211.

They looked through a log and then phoned someone in a far off room, but to no avail. They shook their heads, as though to say "Sorry, no dice."


There goes my summer rain coat.


***

As for the game itself...


I have seen home runs.

I have seen players hit multiple home runs in the same game.

I've seen one run home runs, two runs, three runs...though I can't remember ever seeing a Grand Slam.

I've seen home runs off of good pitchers and home runs off of bad; cheap shots that just clear the fence and no doubters...

...but I have never seen the shots like I saw tonight.

Jimmy Rolllins, Jason Werth, Raul Ibañez and Carlos Ruiz for the Phillies; Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira for the Yankees.

A hot night and two fly ball pitchers was a recipe for home runs. And so we saw. From the very first pitch.

Ultimately, the difference may be ascribe to this: Of Philly's four home runs, two came with men on base, so instead of four runs there were six (and one more on a non-home run play).

All of the Yankees' home runs were solo shots (but holy moly, what a shot for Teixeira! Into the top deck!), because they just couldn't get men on base. Brett Myers put on a razzle-dazzle them type-show.

****

Lost in all the home run hullaballoo will be Chien Ming Wang's three innings, where his ERA went down even after Raul Ibañez's shot.

Wang gave up six hits in three innings--too many, of course--but with the exception of Ibañez's utter moonshot (and it was a moonshot) they were all singles, and the way the ball carried tonight, that says something.

Wang's three innings are the most he's pitched all year, and by being able to work out of trouble, he showed massive progress.

He's not all the way there yet, but he's better than he was, and that's something.

****

The best reaction to the game came from the team itself:

So what if we lost tonight? It happens.

We'll consider this the start a new winning streak.


Since Boston and Toronto both lost, the Yankees lost no ground in the standings.

Andy Pettitte's on the mound for the Yanks; I have to pick up a friend at JFK around three, so I don't expect to liveblog.

I'll be blogging likely sporadically throughout the week, but I will do my best to make sure each game is covered.

To a Wyoming Senator that Caught the Last Home Run at Yankee Stadium

[I actually tried sending this email to the email address listed on the state senator's webpage--sharshman@wyoming.com, as the folks at River Ave Blues have encouraged, but I got this message in response:


I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message returned
below could not be delivered to one or more destinations.

: Permanent Failure: Mailbox would exceed maximum allowed storage

Maybe I'll try sending it again in a few weeks. After the election.]




Hello--

How's Wyoming? I've never been. My brothers both have, though, and they agree--it's a beautiful place and a haven for outdoor sports. That's not something you often get in New Jersey or in the Bronx so I guess I'll have to make my way out there some time. I've been killing to go kayaking, real kayaking, for ages.

I hope you liked your trip to New York. It's a great city, isn't it?

You should have been here for the Super Bowl last year, the entire city, even Jets fans, banding together to support the Giants, who were beyond lucky to win that game. It's the City's first professional sports championship since 9/11--the Devils won the Stanley Cup in 2003, yes, but they belong to New Jersey.

I'm sure as a sports fan you can get an idea of what Yankee Stadium means to the City. It's not just a place where they play baseball, it's part of the psyche, the consciousness, the being of the City. It identifies us, unites us, and is a place we can go to to live out some of our happiest memories.

Living in the Bronx has been a major culture shock to a girl from suburban New Jersey, but it is a vibrant community and now that I'm here, I absolutely love it. Like your state, it's a place that works its own magic. I'd love to take you to an Arthur Ave restaurant or let you sit in on my medieval history classes at Fordham University.

I can't put into words how much the Yankees mean to a place that for so long has been synonymous with urban decay.

So, while I congratulate you on catching the Jose Molina home run ball, I have to ask, nicely, if you would consider returning it.

You caught the ball, I'm sure you've taken pictures of yourself with the ball, you've seen it, you've touched it...most Yankee fans, myself included, have never caught so much as a foul ball and you caught something historic.

I can't speak for the Yankees, but I'm sure they'd be more than willing to send you all sorts of autographed memorabilia for that baseball or maybe get you tickets to a game at the new place, or pretty much, whatever you want.

But that ball deserves a place to rest not in a safe deposit box but in the New Yankee Stadium, reminding the fans that may have momentarily forgotten of their team's heritage, tradition, pride and importance both in the local community and in the larger context of the American sports world.

You will already be known as the guy to catch the last home run at Yankee Stadium and for that reason might find your name in the history and record books. You shouldn't need a baseball to prove it.

I hope the autumns in Wyoming are as pleasant as they are here, where we are approaching peak foliage--it's not Vermont, but it's ours. As is Yankee Stadium.

--

Rebecca
A Yankee Fan