Have fun Alex. Good news -- Posada at DH, Cervelli behind the plate.

[1] Yay! Everybody wants to play baseball.

According to LoHud, Joba say somepretty prophetic after the game.
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'When Chamberlain was asked about that eighth inning he said,
“You don’t want to sleep a waking dog.”
Pretty sure he meant, wake a sleeping dog.
Like I said, the old Joba is back.'

A new Banterism mayhaps?
Don't sleep the waking Dog!

[3] definitely thought that too.
anytime we get a fist pump - i think it will be accompanied by "don't want to sleep a waking dog!"

jennings also has some news on nj which really doesn't sound that promising to me - a 50/50 shot that the cortisone shot works; otherwise probably surgery which would basically wipe out the whole summer.

[4] Shocking news on NJ. Nick Johnson injure? whodathunkit.

Tex is one waking dog I don't want to sleep.

My first experience with MLB.tv this year-- seems like good quality. Have folks been happy with it this year?

Hopefully Derek's turning it around.

Waking dog!

[3] [4] [5] read that joba quote. What a classic! I love it.

Augh!

haha - nice ice cream scoop

Well done, Andy.

[4] “You don’t want to sleep a waking dog.”
I think as a Banterism, it's needs to be shortened a bit.
Sleep a Dog?

As in... if our pitcher hits a batter in a one run game with one man already on, and the batter is hot, and is jawing, and wants to fight..... well, we would want to 'avoid' a fight... as we don't want to Sleep a Dog

That was, uh... more than just "Ow!"

Nice hit, Derek.

I think he's turning it around.

[13] yes, it does need some shortening. good use of "sleep a dog."
perhaps there is a way to maximize the phrase - and we can refer to someone as a waking dog too.
as in perhaps jeter is a waking dog.

Waking dog! I hope.

flash brought up frankie b's bunt there - now while bunting in the 3rd inning is questionable, at least the yanks finally have a buc that can lay down a god damn bunt.

damn too bad - the rays dfa'd pat has no bat

[18] And even stand a decent chance of beating it out!

oh wow swisheroo!

Wow!!

Damn, Swish caught it!

Funny route, but he caught it!

Swish!

jesus christ - a cortisone shot in your neck?

Omg.

That was a strike.

How was that not a strike?

What was wrong with that pitch?

did he not yell strike??

Wtf?

i wonder if robbie has ever not swung at a 3-1 pitch.

Not a good trade for SF.

robbie had a busy inning.

Better to be lucky than good.

jeter is now 0 for his last 1. small sample size, yes, but he looked particularly bad, swinging through a hanging changeup or slider. i'm worried.

Yo, dogs.
I missed the beginning. Looks like Andy is on, anyway. And Jetes is thwarting William's toopessimism?

[33] Hah!
Oh, fuck off, Wordpress, I am not posting too quickly.

[35] funny how a good "screw you, wordpress" will remedy the timing problem.

[36] Yep. It helps me pace myself, for sure.

MRI!
MRI!
MRI!

[16] Not to be argumentative my Dear but....
"as in perhaps jeter is a waking dog"..... is NOT a Jobaism.

You see, in all of our collective Banter lives together, lo, literally thousands of years, some days ago when Teix was blasting HRs, we might have said 'Teix as awakened'.

And that would have been fine. Then. Until now. Now, Joba has set the record straight. Now, the correct response would be:
"Teix has been sleeped!"
(or for the compulsively literate: "Teix is asleep")

Come on, Andy! Find that zone.

'sup dogs? this sleeping dog is now awake and amongst the living!

[38] who's hurt now?

i believe a-rod's rbi moved him past honus wagner for 20th all-time. that's kinda good (even though RsBI are pointless, i know). at some point this summer, he should pass honus wagner in runs (muy importante!) - also 20th on the career list.

always a good strategy to walk the TWO batters BEFORE mauer in a 2-run game.

c'mon Andy!!!

Come on, Andy. You can do this. I have faith in you.

[41] Nobody's hurt. Swisher got a hit, so that seemed appropriate.

Hm. Eleven straight balls. I wonder what's up.

Hmmmm. very ungood.

Fuck.

What a break.

Pfew.

Phew!

Ahhhh.
No M&Ms for you!

And no Jay-Z, either.

Big fat pitch that Mauer missed. Big-ass break there.

wow, was that caught at the wall????

yikes!

i was hoping he'd walk the bases loaded. you know, then there'd be a force at every base!

[49] Didn't exactly "miss" it!
I think Brett should have let Marcus take that one. Just to add to the excitement.

[50] Good plan! The Gardenhire strategy. Load the bases to hit to the clean-up guy. That Morneau guy sucks. And he's a lefty!!!!

[48] i LOVE m&m's. i lived on them in college (and camel lights, unfortunately). my g/f at penn state called 'em M&m's - those non-new yorkers sure do talk funny and stress weird sylLABles.

the peanut butter emmie's are the BEST!

"Load the bases to hit to the clean-up guy." Fucking brilliant. I'm thinking about hiring Joba as a speechwriter.

[52] or, you know, we could've gotten a double play ball. i believe since there were already 2 outs, the 2nd out counts as the 1st out in the next inning. kinda like rollover minutes. "Rollover Outs". it's right there in the "Joe West Rulebook of how to make the game less embarrassing and pathetic."

Wow! Posada scores "easily" from second.

We all love Marcus Thames.

[56] i hope he tipped his cabbie!

[57] speak for yinself.

Gardner slides in around the tag, then slides past the base, then gives Orlando Hudson the finger.

We all love it when Brett steals.

That was a make-up call from yesterday when what's his face got picked off.

[61] yes.

now i'm hoping jeter get into fisticuffs - inside/out swing, oppo field single.

Because the physics of baseball are irrelevant to Grit. He wants second, he gets second - doesn't matter if the pitcher catches him off or not. Gritner just takes the stargate to second.

One more out of Andy, right?

[65] At least.

Good job by Andy.

Why don't more people steal third with a righty at the plate and a lefty on the mound?

[65] [66] Wrong!

Well, there was that little problem he had in the sixth. Still, I'd let him continue. I guess Joe is still a little concerned about injury.

6 1/3, two hits, zero runs.

Andy's taking no prisoners this season. And he's so quiet about it.

wow, andy gets the hook. Is he sore or something? What's going on? Conspiring to keep him from 20 wins so his contract negotiation goes better this off season?

RI - i know it's wallace matthews, but in his latest article, when talking about swish, he does say left "bicep" - singular.

Andrew Eugene Pettitte = Golden God

[73] Indeed. Indeed.

[71] Cause robertson will give up the lead.

[72] Dude, it's a common mistake, but it's definitely a mistake.

[68] i ask that to myself all the time. there was a pretty good kirkjian article the other week at espn.com about stealing third. good read and apparently it's a more prominent practice than i realize. i wish i saw it more. i love the stolen base! always have...

One big reason runners don't steal third is the simple cost/benefit analysis. You don't gain as much stealing third as stealing second, and if you're caught it's more costly (losing a runner in scoring position).

[76] well, yeah. if swish is saying it, it's gotta be! i didn't realize bicepses has heads!

"I don't feel it swinging righty but I do lefty," Swisher added. "I've never had anything like it before. It's literally in the head of the bicep."

[79] "Biceps" means "two heads"!

Dang, Dave. That started so well.

Oh, come on.
We don't need a BB.

Get this guy, Robertson, for the love of Mike.

He's really not a good pitcher.

So now we definitely have to face Mauer in the ninth. Likely Morneau, too.

Two outs, mk, not nobody out.

Okay, definitely Morneau, too.

I thought his pitches looked really good. Fast, and low. But then they started coming up, in the middle of the Young at-bat.

Fucking hell.
Marte, now.
Against Thome.
God help us.

Is Joba unavailable?

Interesting.
I have to admit that I was really afraid Dave was going to walk Nick Punto. Of course, now there's something entirely different to be concerned about.

[87] Joba is fine, but Thome is left-handed. Are you blind? Do you know nothing about baseball?

I am fully expecting Marte to walk Thome. Fortunately, Butera is on deck.

[89] I know, I know. Plus, Joba's the Eighth Inning Guy and this is only the seventh inning.

I stand corrected.

keep him in the yard.

Praise Jesus.

Thome poisoned!

SWEET!!!

Hey! He got a lefty out! In a key situation! Hey, Damaso!

Thome has five homers. Hard to believe, watching him. Damaso's fastball was too much for him.

Well, there. That wasn't so bad, now was it? The unslept dog remains sleepy.

[96] Gameday has it as an 81 MPH slider at the bottom of the zone being too much for Thome

Swish, Teix, and Arod each with a hit, are up in the inning. Let's hope for the score truck backing up into waking dogs.

[98] Indeed, but it was the earlier fastballs that I was thinking of. Up and in.

Yay Swish! Our favorite Biceptual!