Daily Archives: March 11, 2005

Tom Verducci spent five days playing with the Blue Jays this spring, and his experiences make for the cover story in Sports Illustrated this week. Jay Jaffe has a wonderful post about Verducci’s article. Check it out when you get a chance.

Patrick O’Keefe IM’d me yesterday afternoon and asked if I heard anything about Mariano Rivera. O’Keefe told me that his site devoted to Mariano Rivera had it’s all-time record attendence due to a bogus story that was making the rounds about Rivera being involved in a car accident. There was no truth to the story, and Rivera pitched one solid inning against the Blue Jays last night. In case you missed it, Jack Curry’s story on Rivera earlier this week in the Times is worth checking out.

So last night, Emily and I were sitting on the couch filling each other in on the events of the day. After awhile I clicked the TV on and discovered that the Yankees and Blue Jays were on YES. Our first game of the year. Em promptly announced, “Time to knit,” which is what she does while we watch baseball. We watched the last four innings and saw Godzilla hit a three-run homer. I don’t know why, but it was especially comforting to see him again. It was good to see all of the guys, and curious to see some of the new faces too. (Giambi looks really big again.) I have to admit, it was disorienting to see Tino Martinez in the line up. Talk about back to the future. It’s going to take a minute to get used to seeing his coiled, intense self on this version of the Yankees. It was also nice to watch Joe Girardi, looking trim, hair buzzed low, sitting next to Joe Torre. Most of all, it was just great to see a baseball game, no matter how meaningless. And I was reminded of how lucky I am to have a partner who not only tolerates my love of the game, but actively enjoys it herself.

There is a sympathetic profile of Jason Giambi by Nate Penn in the latest issue of GQ magazine. Giambi is anything, if not well-liked by those who know him:

On a visit to Yankee Stadium a couple of years ago, Bastion, Giambi’s high school coach, toured Monument Park with an usher: “He raved about Jason