Daily Archives: August 17, 2008

This is one of my favorite times of year in New York City, when half the town is out-of-town.  The weekend weather was a gift, low on humidity; the hot late-summer sun was cut nicely by a cool breeze.  Cliff and his mom’s must have had a b-a-double-l at in the bleachers today as it was Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Xavier Nady, Jason Giambi and Cody Ransom leading the Yankees to a good old-fashioned Sunday roastin of the KC Royals.

Mike Mussina won his 16th. 

“To be to 16 in August, that’s a rarity for me,” Mussina said. “I’ve been doing some things right. I’ve been getting a few breaks. The bullpen has been really good behind me, the guys are scoring me runs, we’ve been playing solid defense. You need all those things to work for you.” (Borzi, New York Times)

Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano each had a couple of hits too. 

15-6 was the final.  Nothing but Peaches n Cream and a Sunday celebration with Ma.

Mmm’mmm Good. 

“Mothers are beautiful, they really are.” –Bill Cosby.

My mom took me to a bunch of games when I was a kid–mostly for birthday parties. I don’t remember much about them, though one year Mike Gittleson stepped on a pack of mustard outside the Stadium and it splattered on my mom’s leg. She didn’t skip a beat and rubbed her leg against Mike’s removing the mustard from her and putting it on him.

Years later, I was working on my first cutting room job when my mom called in the middle of the day. “I’ve got two tickets for tonight’s game, do you want them?” It was the first round of the 1995 playoffs, the first post-season game the Yankees were in since 1981. Ma lives and works in Westchester and she offered to drive to Manhattan and drop off the tickets. I said, “Ma, why don’t we just meet by the bat and go to the game together?”

So we did, and it was a memorable game of course, one the greatest experiences I’ve ever had watching the Yanks.

Cliff took his mom with him to the game today to celebrate her birthday. He’s only only a good son, but she’s a great Ma too. Here’s hoping they have a grand time and get to see Moose win his sixteenth game of the year. The Yankee offense has been so bad of late you gotta figure they are gunna unleash soon. C’mon you dummies, do it for Moose and do it for Cliff and his Ma.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

“What can I tell you?” Royals DH José Guillen said. “That was the kind of game you haven’t seen from us in a while. We didn’t do any of the little things. A lot of wasted opportunities. Both sides, too. They were the same.”

It was a gorgeous afternoon in New York, unseasonably reasonable. The sun dipped in and out of the clouds but it was a terrific day to be outside. The Yankees and Royals played a long game, close to five hours, that lasted thirteen innings. It was another Yankee game filled with aborted offensive rallies, strange managerial moves, good starting (Sir Sidney, once again) and relief pitching, and plenty of frustration. The crowd was mostly silent for the last hour or so; I was fighting off sleep watching from the comfort of my couch. In the end, Brett Gardner slapped the game-winning single to left giving the Yanks a 3-2 win.

According to the Times:

“To be quite honest with you, I don’t care who ended it,” said Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ captain. “We needed to win a game. This would have been a rough one to lose, with so many opportunities.”

“It doesn’t matter how we win as long as we win,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “This was a big win for us today because we’ve been scuffling, and scuffling to score. Maybe this is the game that gets us back on the winning track and we win a bunch in a row.”

The Yankees are going to have to start playing a better brand of baseball to generate any kind of winning streak. They were fortunate to win yesterday. Let’s hope the bats finally bust loose today.