SWISH

The Yankees have acquired Nick Swisher and a pitcher, Kanekoa Texeira from the White Sox in exchange for Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nuñez.

Thoughts:

1) Swisher might not be a great player, but we got him cheap.

2) The funny thing is that the pitcher we acquired in the deal is named....Texeira. So we can't complain about not getting Texeira, even if it's not the one we originally wanted.

3) I have no idea if this means we aren't going after that *other* Teixeira, but hey, you never know. At the very least it seems to say that Cashman and co., are serious about tightening up that roster...and possibly making more room for CC.

4) What the hell were the White Sox thinking/smoking? They got Betemit! Okay, so just because of that, he's going to win the AL MVP next year...




Anyway, I need 35 sources on women and work and late medieval Nottingham. Oh, this is going to be so much fun...

Let's Play Two!

As you may or may not know, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre -- Syracuse Sky Chiefs game yesterday was rained out, which was a disappointment, seeing as I had tickets.

However, Dan, the one with whom I went to Boston, and I are of the opinion that you can never have too much baseball, so we decided to make good on the rain check and head back out to the ballpark, given that it's only a ten minute drive from the University.

What we didn't realize, was that in the minor leagues, the way double-headers work (or at least in Syracuse), is that you have to exchange your tickets, and the new tickets are good for both games.

Now, originally, our seats were fourth row behind the SWB dugout, which is awesome in its own right.

However, when we went to exchange our tickets, that section had already been exchanged/sold out (there was another game originally scheduled for today, hence the doubleheader), so we went with the best available--which just happened to be row two in between home plate and the dugout--literally RIGHT behind the on deck circle.

The nice person behind the ticket counter told us that the seats were behind the netting as if telling us that we were sitting right behind the foul pole like in the old cartoons, but netting is a very small price to pay.

Anyway. So as you probably know, I like to take pictures.


Bernie Castro. I am amused that his name is Bernie and he wears #51. He does not, however, play center field--he plays second base. The man sitting in front of Dan and myself had a conversation with him through the netting in Spanish, but alas, my Spanish skills were not quite good enough to understand the entire conversation. However, the guy did make Bernie Castro laugh, so I guess that's a good sign.


During the anthem.


Brett Gardner. Offensively, he had a day he'd probably like to forget. However, defensively, he made a couple of good plays, especially in the first game, which was needed as Scranton won the first game 2-1.


Getting ready for game action.


Cody Ransom. He had a great Spring Training, if you remember.


Juan Miranda. Another guy in front of us tried to ask Miranda if he was related to someone, but I'm not sure Miranda speaks English.


Rasner pitching. He went into the sixth (of seven), three hits, one run. He looked good--seemed to be throwing mostly strikes.


Rasner wasn't actually looking at me when I took this picture, but I can pretend he was.


Jason Lane talking to hitting coach Alvaro Espinoza.


Bullpen getting loose.


Getting ready for the next inning.


A peek into the dugout.


Right after Rasner left the game. Rasner got a very nice hand--there are a lot of Yankee fans in Syracuse! In fact, there were audible Let's-Go-Yankees chants throughout the doubleheader, but no such for Syracuse.


Yes, that is Kei Igawa, and yes, he is in the stands, signing autographs. Igawa was actually sitting in the stands for the entire game. I was tempted to go over and say hi, but I don't speak Japanese. That, and according to one of the boys sitting behind us, his translator is scary.


Bern, baby, Bern? This was right before he started talking to the man in front of us.


Kei Igawa sat there through both games.




Igawa was charting pitches--when I took this it was the second game, so Marquez was pitching. Dan and I didn't stay for the entire second game; Marquez and the SWB Yankees were down 2-0 or 3-0 when we left. By this point I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the score.

We had a great time--in fact, we went and bought tickets for Syracuse--Pawtucket on Thursday.

Because, after all, you can never have too much baseball.

****

I did follow the ML Yankees game on my cell phone--excellent performance by Wang, great home run from Melky, not so great with RISP. However, the Yankees needed the win, and they got it. At 5-0, Wang is setting himself up for a great season.

****

The news about Jorge Posada, however, is not fun. The New York Times, as you likely know by now, is reporting a muscle tear, which means that for the first time in his career, Posada will be headed for the DL.

Since Chad Moeller has been DFA'd, Jose Molina is more or less our only catcher--and even he is not at 100% with his hamstring. Rumor has it that Chris Stewart will be called up for SWB, but, of course, one has to wonder, if Cervelli had not gotten hurt in Spring Training...