Daily Archives: February 16, 2010

“Can you feel it? I’m feelin’ it.”–Steve Martin

Hot Dog. Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow.

Like the way that sounds…love those natural baseball sounds. Look alive, here we go.

Okay, why not make it a week of Vermeers? You can’t go wrong with Vermeer, man.

Officer and Laughing Girl (1655-60), The Frick Collection

Mr. Wang Goes to Washington.

It was the middle of the afternoon when my mom called and said that she had scored two tickets for the game that night. It was Game One of the 1995 ALDS. Did I want them?

“Ma, what do you think?”

She offered to drive into the City to deliver them so I could take a friend. I said, “Why don’t we just meet at the bat and go together?”

Mom had taken me to games as a kid–for birthday parties and special occasions–so while she wasn’t the biggest fan in the world, I didn’t see any reason for her to drive all the way to New York and not see the game herself. It was the first time the Yanks had been in the playoffs since 1981, after all.

We sat way up in the left field bleachers, miles in the sky. The climb to those seats was scary, especially if you have a fear of heights. And it didn’t get any safer once the place started shaking with cheering and clapping. The Yankees won that night, Don Mattingly’s first playoff game. They won the following night too and we all know what happened in Seattle.

I was living in Brooklyn at the time and didn’t have a TV. So I listened to the rest of the Series on the radio. The last game was so tense, I turned out all the lights in my room and kept the volume low and crawled under the covers. The pain didn’t last too long as the Yanks won the Whirled Serious the following year, but a terrific, if short-lived, rivalry with the Mariners was born.

The ’95 Series is the subject of a new book by Chris Donnelly. For those of you brave enough to revisit that bittersweet moment in Yankee history, check, check it out.

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Flipped:

Have you heard of the Belgian Love Shack?

I have never been but man does it ever look like a treat.

I see they serve a waffle with speculoos spread. Speculoos is a thin, sweet, ginger cookie, a traditional Belgium favorite. The last time I visited Belgium, I tried a speculoos spread and a love affair began. It is the wife’s absolute favorite sweet thing in the world–“thick and creamy, gingery, sugary, goodness,” she says. “It tastes like a spreadable, toasted marshmallow.”

Never mind Nutella. You can do some real damage with this stuff.

Curtis Granderson in left? He’s game.

Here’s more from George King and Ben Shpigel.