Daily Archives: October 15, 2009
Nice Weather We’re Having
It is bone cold in New York. And it is raining.
How they plan to play this weekend I don’t know.
Kiss My List
I an effort to help bridge the gap between the abbreviated Division Series and the LCS, I’ve had a trio of list-style pieces up on SI.com this week.
The first is a look at the heroes and goats of the four Division Series.
The second is a look at the players on advancing teams who struggled in the LDS and will need to step up their game in the second round.
The last is a photo gallery of the 15 most significant blunders in postseason history (not including blown calls or questionable managerial decisions), ranked and captioned by yours truly (start at 15 and click “back” to count down to number-one).
There’s plenty of Yankees (and Angels) material in each one, including this rather disturbing scene from the last playoff game between the two teams, which the Yankees will work to erase from their fans minds starting tomorrow night.
News of the Day – 10/15/09
Today’s news is powered by Cyndi Lauper, and the late “Captain” Lou Albano:
New York moved its Thursday workout at Yankee Stadium from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m., in an effort to combat the impending showers. The Angels worked out Wednesday at Angel Stadium and are scheduled to have a late-afternoon session in the Bronx on Thursday.
Weather.com, the official Web site of the Weather Channel, was forecasting an 80 percent chance of precipitation for Game 1 on Friday, with temperatures in the 40s accompanied by rain and wind. For Saturday night’s Game 2, the forecast was for a 40 percent chance of precipitation, with temperatures in the mid to upper 40s.
The National Weather Service is predicting that Game 1 will see a 60 percent chance of rain under cloudy skies on Friday night, with winds between 16 and 18 mph and possible new rainfall amounts between one-tenth and a quarter of an inch. The forecast is similar for Game 2, with a 70 percent chance of rain under cloudy skies.
The Yankees have invited all fans interested in weather updates concerning future home games to follow their official Twitter account at: @YankeesWeather (http://www.twitter.com/YankeesWeather).
Lost in the Yankees’ sweep of the Twins was the fact that Damon, other than a walk in the sixth inning of Game 2, did little to help. His lone hit was a one-out single in Game 1, after which he was quickly erased on the basepaths. He misplayed a Brendan Harris hit in Game 2, resulting in a triple. And he struck out four times in Game 3, three of them against Carl Pavano.
Certainly, Damon was not the only Yankees player to struggle against Pavano, who struck out nine batters in total and generally kept the Yankees off balance all day. And certainly Damon referenced those collective struggles in his explanation, noting that he “didn’t see the ball well at all” off Pavano. But none of that stopped Damon from coming into Yankee Stadium on his off-day, taking BP and trying to eliminate what he called some excessive movement of his head.
“I just wanted to come in and get some peace of mind,” Damon said, “and make sure that I’ll be ready to go come Friday night.”
--Earl Weaver