Monthly Archives: August 2006

The new-look Yankees look mighty good having taken their first two-games from fading playoff rival Toronto by a combined score of 12-3. But it’s important to note that the reason they won those games was less the 12 runs on offense than the mere three runs allowed by their pitchers, and that the one pitcher acquired at the deadline has yet to make his Yankee debut. The new Yankee hurler will instead debut today in a get-away matinee on what is already a brutally hot day in the Bronx.

(more…)

Sal Fasano will catch Corey Lidle’s Yankee debut this afternoon on what promises to be another scorcher in New York. Fasano tells Roger Rubin in The Daily News:

“I’ve caught in this kind of heat before and you know what to expect,” Fasano said. “You could lose five or six pounds of water during the game and you know that when it’s over you’ll be completely exhausted.

“I know what’s on the way. I’m gonna get the crap kicked out of me. And believe it or not, I’m looking forward to it.”

…”The most important thing isn’t hydration for me,” he said. “It’s really important that you get a good meal that sticks with you. Catching a game in intense heat burns a lot of calories, and if you don’t have it to burn, your body can revolt against you.”

…”It’s about being smart and managing the situation,” he said. “I’m coming inside into the air conditioning between innings because (today) is going to be the kind of day where you could down a bottle of water every five minutes.”

Hang in there, Sal, and everybody else behind the mask today.

The first time I remember seeing my father cry was twenty-seven years ago this morning, the day after Thurman Munson died in a plane crash. The New York Times arrived and I was with my old man on the porch of our house as he scanned the headlines and began to sob. It was a sticky summer morning and I was confused. My father was a die-hard Yankee-hater. Yet there he was, crying, almost reflexively. I asked him why he was so upset. After all, he didn’t even like the Yankees. He explained to me that when a person dies it is sad even if they did play for the Yankees. It was a real loss of innocence moment for me. Something was bigger than the game, bigger even than my father’s distaste for the Yankees–which I thought knew no bounds. I’ll never forget the image of my father–a strong man, far too distracted with his life to care about baseball much anymore–breaking down in front of me.

Later that night, we watched the pre-game ceremonies on TV. The Yankees were playing the Orioles. I recall seeing Ken Singleton, lined-up with his teammates along the third base line, bowing his head. Reggie Jackson, Munson’s great rival, stood at his position in right field, crying. The yellow-tinted lights of the Yankee scoreboard displayed a photograph of Munson.

These memories flashed into my head last night just as the game was starting. I had forgotten that yesterday was the anniversary of Munson’s untimely death until Bob Sheppard called for a moment of silence.

I sat in the five-dollar seats with my friend Johnny Red Sox. They were in the lower tier but the reason they were five-dollar seats is probably because nobody knew where they were sitting. We must have shifted seats a good half-a-dozen times. And so did everyone else. It was comic. Regardless of our own personal discomfort, the Yankees performed well in front of more than 54,000 sweaty New Yorkers, beating the Blue Jays 7-2. Chien-Ming Wang was brilliant, throwing eight shutout innings, good for his fifth straight win. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and the new guys, Craig Wilson and Bobby Abreu all had strong offensive games.

Jeter collected two more hits including a homer and is now batting .355. Hey Now. It is still early, but Jeter has a chance to make a run at the AL MVP, along with David Ortiz and Joe Mauer. Rodriguez had three hits–and was robbed of a fourth on a gorgeous catch by Vernon Wells in the eighth–and two RBI. He led off the sixth with a rope to left field and tried to stretch it into a double. But Rodriguez was a dead duck and slid well short of the base. Toronto’s second baseman Aaron Hill recieved the throw from left field and then turned his body, placing his glove next to the bag, expecting Rodrgiuez to slide right into it. But Rodriguez was far enough away from the play to employ some quick thinking. He deftly pulled his left hand back, extended his right arm to the base and rolled over on his right side in the process. Safe.

“We were all laughing because we were all saying, ‘No! No! No!’ on his way to second base,” Derek Jeter said.

…”You can only be out by 30 feet to make that type of slide,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know how I made it.”
(N.Y. Post)

It turned out to be a pivotal play in the game. Jorge Posada followed with 13th dinger of the year and the Yanks went on to score six in the inning–capped by Rodriguez’s two-run single. Bobby Abreu had a single and a double and Craig Wilson added two singles himself. Derek Jeter made a wonderful over-the-shoulder catch, robbing Frankie Catalanotto of a base hit, but it was Wang who was truly Mr. Cool for the Bombers, making short work of the Blue Jays’ line-up. Troy Glaus’ tee-shot, line-drive homer into the black seats off of Ron Villone in the ninth (two pitches after he’d be brushed back) was the lone offensive highlight for the Jays, who are now seven-and-a-half games out of first in the East, and seven-and-a-half games out of the AL Wildcard. The Red Sox remained tied for first as they came-from-behind for the second consecutive night against the Indians.

There is a reason why some of the great New York movies–“Dog Day Afternoon,” “Taxi Driver,” “Do the Right Thing,” are set smack in the middle of summer, when tensions run high, and patience runs thin. This is a great time of year for both drama and comedy.

I’ve seen plenty of both during the last week as a bondafide Heat Wave has hit the city. It’s dumb hot out there. Against my better judgement, I’m headed up to the Great Sweat Box in the Bronx tonight to see Chien-Ming Wang pitch against erstwhile Yankee, Ted Lilly. Figure the ball will be jumping. Will Wang be able to keep his sinker down in this kind of heat? Will the Jays offense flounder for a second straight night against New York? Will Bobby Abreu get his first hit as a Yankee? Will I lose 5 pounds sitting in the upper deck watching it all unfold?

These and other questions will be answered shortly…

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Bobby Abreu drew a key, nine-pitch walk in his second at bat as a Yankee last night. It loaded the bases, and after A.J. Burnett came back to strike out Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams sent three runners home with a double to the gap in left center field (Alex Rodriguez had doubled home the first New York run earlier in the inning). The Yanks had a 4-1 lead, would add another run, and go on to defeat the Blue Jays, 5-1. Coupled with a Red Sox loss, the Yanks are now tied for first in the AL East.

Abrue was hitless in three other at bats, but was recieved warmly in the Bronx, hustling out a ground ball in his first at bat, and making a routine play closer than should have been. Jaret Wright threw a season-high 103 pitches, which got him through five innings. Ron Villone, Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth pitched well in relief.

Gary Sheffield, expected to go mental with the addition of Abreu, had nothing but good things to say to reporters yesterday. According to Brian Lewis in The New York Post:

“A championship is on the way and that’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m hurt; I can’t help this club. They’ve got to do what they got to do to help this club. I’m all for it,” Sheffield said. “If this helps I’m all for it.

“When I first got here, before Alex Rodriguez got here, I was willing to play third base. Thank God that didn’t happen, but I feel the same way about this. I can do anything on the field: outfield, third base, first base. As long as I can get that ring I’m all for it.”

Sheffield apparently has already ordered a first baseman’s glove and is prepared to fight for a job. He was an odd mix of humility and hubris, something he called the “mystique of me,” in Reggie-esque fashion.

“I love that people are in my face thinking this can’t be done. I’ll be laughing at the end: Watch me. You ask anybody on any team in the league would they want to be battling me over a position, they’ll lose every time,” said Sheffield, who’ll see Dr. Charles Melone next Tuesday, and was bemused that many predicted he would erupt at Abreu’s arrival.

“The first thing I did when I saw him was give him a hug. I wanted him to feel welcome. It’s funny how people can think for you and tell you what you’re going to do. Y’all think you know what I’m going to do, but you don’t. Nobody knows. That’s the mystique of me.”

It’s not quite on par with Reggie’s “magnitude of me,” line, but it’s pretty good. And though Sheffield’s mood has been known to turn suddenly and without warning, the Yankees (and their fans) must be breathing a sigh of relief to see him handling the Abreu deal in such good spirits.

Bobby Abreu and Chris Wilson make their Yankee debuts tonight as the Yanks begin a three-game series at home against the third-place Blue Jays. Since taking two of three from the Yankees in Toronto a little over a week ago, the Jays have gone 2-5 on a West Coast swing against the Mariners and A’s, dropping their post-Hillenbrand record to 4-6. The Blue Jays did not make a deadline deal, but they did get Alexis Rios back in the line-up this past Friday only to go 1-2 against the A’s over the weekend.

As far as the starting pitchers go, tonight’s game is a rematch of the opening game of that last series, which the Blue Jays won 7-3 behind a strong performance by A.J. Burnett (7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 6 K), while beating up on Jaret Wright (2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K). Burnett followed that outing by getting rocked by the M’s for six runs (five earned) on ten hits over four innings in his next turn. Wright, meanwhile, gve up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk in Texas in his last outing.

Myself, I can’t wait to see the new Yankees decked out in their home pinstripes, regardless of the outcome, this is a banner night for Yankee fans.

(more…)