This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The first ever PBP caption contest

(image credit AP)

Have at it. NinjaCanó captions are especially appreciated.

Winner gets a small prize.

Rules:

1) Try to keep the captions clean, okay?
2) Don't copy anyone else.

Go for it. NinjaCanó can use the loving.

Friday, October 16, 2009

"This New Guy We Got"

When you can get 45,000+ fans all chanting your name in a LCS in your first year in New York, you're obviously doing something right.

CC's something?

8 innings,
4 hits
1 run
1 walk
7 strikeouts.

Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'd say that new guy did pretty well for himself.

Sabathia and the Yankees were also helped by some pretty poor fundamental play by the Angels--the one play we'll remember years from now was a Luis Castillo-esque dropped pop up (well, not so much dropped as no one bothered to try to catch it) by Eric Aybar that directly led to the Yankees 2nd run in the first.

The two runs were all that the Yankees--and Sabathia--would need.

Sabathia was helped by solid fundamental play and good defense on the part of his team, and the Yankees simply outplayed the Angels.

The Yankees did not get a ton of offense, but they had enough to take advantage of the Angels' misplay. Tonight was only the second time ever there had been a game at the new Yankee Stadium without a home run, but the Yankees were able to tack on the two insurance runs to provide the extra cushion everyone likes so much.

Maybe it has something to do with the cold...New York is a cold weather city, after all...then again, when one considers the way Robinson Canó looked more like a ninja than a baseball player, maybe not.

The best moment of levity came late in the game, when FOX aired a conversation between Joe Girardi and Tim McClelland, the home plate umpire, as Girardi went to bring in Mariano Rivera. Rivera, who has more postseason saves than anyone else in history. You may have heard of him. It went something like this:

Girardi: We're bringing Rivera.
McClelland: Who?
Girardi: This new guy we got.
McClelland: Up from AAA?

Well, for what it's worth, that real new guy, CC, was worth every single cent tonight.

Correspondence

To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

Please for the love of all things holy, I gave you seven shut out innings. I made like it was 1999. Please don't blow this!

To: Pedro Martinez
From: Philadelphia Bullpen

Erm. We tried.

To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

...

I thought I left the Mets?

Erm. Ronan, Jewish jokes in NY are probably not the best idea

Was Watching has the scoop from The Daily News

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sings a first-rate “God Bless America,” at Yankee Stadium, but his attempt at telling a joke offended a Jewish doctor who found it to be anti-Semitic.

Tynan apologized, telling WNBC, “I would never want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It was stupid of me to be so callous.”

But the Yankees still canceled his appearance at the stadium Friday night.

The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center.

The agent told Tynan, “Don’t worry, they are not Red Sox fans,” according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson.

“I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish,” was Tynan’s reply.

Um.

I'm Jewish, and I'm not easily offended. Without actually being there or hearing how it was said, it'd be foolish of me to embark on any sort of crusade.

That said, for a public figure in New York--and Mr. Tynan, now, certainly is--to make any sort of comment that could even be just even just a little bit anti-Semitic or construed by one as anti-Semitic is a really, really bad idea.

Again, I'm not offended. My gut tells me that it was simply a joke gone awry. However, there are some--such as this doctor fellow--that will be. And, well, when that happens things tend not to end so well.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

A Letter to Dodger Fans

Dear fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Your team is in the NLCS, one step from the World Series. One of the four remaining teams in all of baseball.

It's the ninth inning of the first game and your team is only down by two runs, and the Phillies have notoriously not-very-good-in-2009 Brad Lidge coming in, which is a golden opportunity for your team to make its move.

So why, exactly, are you leaving early?

I don't know what it's like in LA, but in New York even the cheapest seats are going for high prices--they've come down recently because there's a freaking nor'easter that has it snowing in New York in October--but the point remains, if tickets are that expensive you don't leave a playoff game early.

There shouldn't be any empty seats in Dodger Stadium.

Surely you realize this?

Please, do your team proud. If you show up for the game, and you don't have a major emergency or the apocalypse isn't just around the corner, stay till the end.

You never know what you might miss.

Cheers.

Rebecca

Meanwhile, the other Jeter gets a heart transplant

This from today's Daily News:

Named after his dad's favorite player, 16-month-old Jeter Villacis is recovering from a delicate, lifesaving heart transplant at Montefiore Medical Center last week.

...

Little Jeter underwent the nine-hour surgery Friday afternoon, just a few miles away from Yankee Stadium

...

While Weinstein was operating, the Bronx Bombers took Game 2 of their playoff series against the Minnesota Twins in a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.

(Bold my emphasis, Click the above link for the full article)

The Yankees, of course, are no strangers to mixing kids, miracles and baseball.

The most famous might be when Babe Ruth visited a sick kid, promised to hit a home run, and then does so, but there have been others.

There have been some more recent karma-boosting examples, however.

Like when Matsui was a representative of a program aimed at"fostering international exchange between American and Japanese children. " The kids asked Matsui to hit one home run; he hit two the next day.

Then, just this season, Brett Gardner visited a girl waiting for a heart transplant, didn't promise any home runs (he's Brett Gardner) and then proceeded to hit an inside-the-park home run, anyway.

Also this season, the Yankees had their "HOPE Week", where the most memorable event may have been when the team hosted a group of kids with a rare disorder, XP, that makes them allergic to the sun. As you probably remember, the kids stayed all night, as did various Yankees, such as AJ Burnett, having a carnival on the field.

What you might also remember is that the Yankees did not lose a single game during the entirety of HOPE Week.

Karma or coincidence, take your pick.

Now, all young master Villacis needs is a visit from his namesake, and, well...

Oh, and watch this video. It's full of awesome.