Things I liked about last night:

1. Winning 2-1
2. Arod homering to be the difference which I'm sure have Torre the red ass
3. Vin Scully for the first 3 innings on MLB radio. He's marvelous. He made one simple comment during the game, and I'm paraphrasing, 'padilla staring off the mound, his face covered in perspiration'; And another on a pop fly to ethier - "ethier waiting...waiting... and makes the catch". So simple and elegant but also so very descriptive that I thought I WAS watching the game.
4. Mo.
5. CC hitting padilla and then throwing over to first.

Things I didn't like about last night:

1. The "Yankees suck chant" that I heard repeatedly. This has become so ubiquitous with fans in other parks copying Boston that its actually nauseating. Personally I don't want my kids hearing or using "suck" in their vocabulary at their ages. So, for that reason alone, teams should put a stop to it. If the Yankees can make the bleacher creatures stop yelling "box seats suck" I think other teams can do the same.
2. Padilla hitting cano to start things.
3. Donnie blowing up. Didn't see it but the reaction on the banter was palpable.
4. Listening to announcers other than Vin Scully for the last 6 innings on MLB radio.
5. How tired I am for staying up that late.

It occurs to me that the Yankee players (and probably Girardi) REALLY want to win this series because of Torre. Conversely, I suspect that Torre and Donnie feel exactly the same way. I'm guessing the Dodger players are a bit more ambivalent (i.e., it's likely just another series for them). So, that might explain why Donnie exploded last night.

By the way, I am heading to Atlanta to catch the Braves-Tigers game. I'll try to get some pictures of Damon and Melky. If I'm successful I'll report back later (and I'll report on Jason Heyward too). If anyone wants a picture of Johnny and Melky, just create a short term yahoo or gmail account (no need to announce your real email on here) and I'll be more than happy to send along. I have a pretty good camera and should be able to get a nice shot, if they'll cooperate and chat with each other.

Let's go Yan-kees!

Huh, I love the "Yankees Suck" chant. I mean, I don't love the chant, but I love it when opposing fans start in with it. To me, it makes the Yankees look strangely taller, scarier, powerful, and the opposition look tiny, confused, hopeless, bitter. I love that. (If you don't love it, how can you enjoy being a Yankee fan???)

What exactly was it that touched off Mattingly? It wasn't that last strike call to Loney, was it? That was a close call, but nothing to get really mad about.

[2] I think he was hot about the first two pitches, mainly. The first strike seemed high, and the second was, I think, clearly off the plate. The third pitch was perfect. At the very least, Loney should've realized it was a strike if the previous one had been a strike. What I loved was watching the Dodger post game show and listening to Steve Lyons whining about that last strike ("the legend of Mariano Rivera got that strike call") as the FoxTrack feature showed it to be a strike. As Mattingly was melting down, he kept gesturing to his upper chest (the first strike) and then to his knees (the second and third strikes).

But I think Evil Empire brings up a great point. These young Dodgers have been criticized out here for feeling a bit too comfortable, a bit too relaxed. This series might not have meant too much to them. Perhaps the outburst by Mattingly will show them that they're not playing Florida Marlins. I expect to see a bit more energy today and tomorrow.

[2] RI Yank I absolutely do not need to love OR hear the "Yankees suck" chant to enjoy being a fan of the Yankees. For one thing, when I was a kid in 1977 and 78 I never heard that chant and enjoyed being a fan just fine.

And if it was a requirement to enjoy then after the Yanks won the series, everyone in the stands would have done it (in an ironic tribute I suppose) but they didn't.

More to the point, its a stupid chant. The Yanks are the best team in baseball this year, last year and most years. They haven't "sucked" in 20 years. Its almost like chanting "you're short!" at kareem abdul jabbar. Its Fucking nonsense.

I can understand the point of being glad because it just shows those fans are jealous, but I'd rather just hear them boo.

[4] I'm with you. I've always thought how ironic is that people chant that. And, I might add, it is totally classless, a signature douchebag move.

I also noticed on the broadcast last night that when one of the Yankee hitters struck out to end the inning (I forget who), the Fox broadcast cut to a shot of the right field stands and the Dodger fans all turned to the few Yankee fans and taunted them. You know, instead of cheering for their team. Grow the fuck up, please. This aint football, you morons.

[5] That taunting was a bit more understandable. A-Rod was the hitter, and the Yankee fan in question was wearing an A-Rod jersey. He was sitting in the bleachers, which tend to be rowdier, and the camera showed him standing and cheering at the outset of the at bat. It's no surprize, then, that the Dodger fans he had been yelling at turned and let him know about it. I've got no problem with that, on either end.

No, you've misunderstood. When I said, "If you don't love it, then..." by it I meant the moments when the Yankees are larger than life and the opposing fans feel bitter and hopeless.

Oh, and of course it's stupid, classless, douchebaggy. This is why it makes me so happy to hear it: the opposition has been reduced to a pool of tepid inanity. How could Evil Empire not like that?? Didn't Darth Vader love it when his pathetic loser enemies cursed him as he crushed their souls?
It's awesome. I hope we hear it again tonight. It's the Losers' Chant.

[6, 7] Fair enough. The bitterness does seem to be ever-present, and for me it is just a drag. It's baseball, man. There are enough real things in the world to be bitter about.

[1] It's sad that people don't even try to be Vin Sculley these days. It's perhaps what comes of the fact that people of his generation actually read books so were more literary than our television generation(s).

I remember the last out of the 1982 playoffs when the Angels won the first two against Milwaukee before dropping the last three. I was a California fan then because of Reggie (of course).

I was in my parents' room listening to the game on radio. I was punished for something so was not allowed to watch the game!

When it came to the last out, I can still hear Sculley's voice today: "The Angels down to their last out and here's one of the toughest outs in baseball!"

Rod Carew, of course. He was retired 6-3, iirc.