I still believe that Lance Berkman will have some big hits, and maybe even a home run, for the Yanks before the season is over. Yesterday, he failed in a big spot, but I like his candor after the game. According to Chad Jennings:
“I can always tip my hat to the pitcher if he makes a good pitch,” Lance Berkman said. “But that was a terrible pitch. That ball was hanging right in the middle of the plate. There’s no reason not to hit that ball hard, and I just didn’t do it.”
Andy Pettitte is a big man with a huge ass and strong legs, but watching him pitch, the word that comes to mind is: touch. Petttitte was everything the Yankees could have expected today, allowing one run over six innings on 79 pitches and he was a pleasure to watch, adding, subtracting–pitching.
It was a sleepy afternoon at Camden Yards with the Yanks leading most of the way. But the O’s rallied late, scoring once in the eighth and again in the ninth to force extra innings–Mariano Rivera allowed just his second home run of the year, this one to Luke Scott. It was on the second pitch of the at-bat, a cutter that was low but right over the plate, and Scott popped it over the tall right field wall. And like that, a seemingly casual win turned into a ballgame.
In the 11th, Alex Rodriguez led off with a pinch-hit walk against the lefty Mike Gonzalez. Eduardo Nunez replaced Rodriguez as a pinch runner, Ramiro Pena squared to bunt and took a strike. Then Gonzalez threw the ball away trying to keep Nunez close at first, a one-hoper into the stands. Joe Girardi replaced Pena with Marcus Thames who worked the count full and then waved over a slider for the first out.
Mark Teixeira pinch hit for Brett Gardner and was intentionally walked. Derek Jeter was next and he too was given a free pass, bringing up Fat Elvis, who has struggled as right-handed hitter. Berkman hit a high chopper to third base and as the Orioles started the 5-4-3 double play, it looked like even Fat Elvis would be able to leg it out. But he didn’t make it, out by a step. The play took forever to unfold and once Berkman was called out it was clear to this viewer that the Yanks were not going to win. Twelve runners left on base is too much.
At least it was swift. Scott led off with a bloop double then Ty Wigginton hit a rocket in the gap to end it. Final Score: O’s 4, Yanks 3.
Regrettable loss for the Yanks–aren’t they all regrettable, though?–as they blow a chance to gain another game on Tampa, who lost to the Angels.
Yanks, Rays, four games back home in the Bronx starting tomorrow. Then the Red Sox over the weekend.
Should be lively.
[Pictures by Bags]
The Yanks gun for the sweep in Baltimore as Andy Pettitte returns.
Fresh direct for the Lo Hud Yankee Oven:
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Lance Berkman 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher DH
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Austin Kearns RF
Ramiro Pena 3B
A week of Rays and Sox ahead…
Let’s Go Yan-Kees!
We like round numbers. Did CC Sabathia’s season get any better on Saturday night in Baltimore? Certainly not. All he did was what he always does. He took the mound, took control, and after a relatively quick three hours, he got the win. Same old CC. But even so, Saturday night was special. On Saturday night Sabathia earned his twentieth win and became the first pitcher in baseball to reach that milestone.
It was also the first time in Sabathia’s career that he had won twenty, and afterwards he admitted to being proud of the accomplishment, but he also correctly reminded reporters that the win was bigger for the team than it was for him. With the Rays continuing to win and the Twins staying close in the hunt for the best overall record, every game counts. (And by the way, I can’t tell you how irritated I am that I’m checking Minnesota Twins scores in the middle of September.)
While CC was doing his thing on the mound, the hitters were killing the Orioles softly all night long. It was never anything terribly spectacular, just a train that kept rolling from one inning to the next. In the beginning it was about doing the little things: a two-out base hit by Posada plating two in the first, a sacrifice fly by Jeter scoring one in the second, a ground out by Jeter scoring another in the fourth.
But the lumber got louder in the fifth, as Robinson Canó homered deep to right, a shot that was rocketish enough that he was able to pose a bit at the plate before trotting around the bases and collecting his 100th and 101st RBIs. (With Robbie joining A-Rod and Mark Teixeira in the Century Club, this year marks the first time in Yankee history that three infielders have driven in a hundred runs in the same season.) The offense nicked the O’s a few more times before Curtis Granderson closed out the scoring in the ninth with a three-run home run to dead center field.
Lots of good things happened for the Yankee hitters in and around those highlights. Jeter collected two hits to extend his hitting streak to seven, Nick Swisher hobbled off the bench rap a single and a double (and later ham it up during an extended on-field interview with Kim Jones), A-Rod continued to hit the ball hard, and Brett Gardner finished with a tri-cycle. (A tri-cycle is when you get everything but the home run. I just made that up.)
But the big story was the Big Man. Mr. Sure Thing wasn’t nearly as good as he was the last time out in Tampa, but he was still able to do what he had to do to get the win. Yankees 11, Orioles 3.
Big CC Going for win number 20…
Batter Up:
Serve ’em up fresh, CC.
Let’s Go Yan-Kees!
I like AJ rockin’ the black eye look:
Makes him look cool.
Happy Daze…
[Picture by Bags]
A super-heroic game from Arod inspired both Alex and me to choose images of Superman after last night’s performance. Thanks to Rodriguez the Yankees won 4-3 and gained a game on both the Rays and Sox, moving back into the penthouse of the AL East. The one I chose is a picture by George Perez from the Avengers-JLA crossover a few years ago. This drawing is from the climactic battle. The Vision has just been killed, and Thor is under a pile of bad guys. With his last act, the Vision drains his power jewel into Superman, essentially supercharging their strongest gun. Thor whips him his hammer, Captain America flings him his shield, and Superman puts everything into one swing with the mighty Mjolnir which saves the day.
Yeah, last night was kind of like that.
I’m not picky when it comes to wins. AJ Burnett going seven innings and allowing three runs, even if it was tough to watch at times, is cause for optimism. The offense was brutal, no getting around it, and they’ll have to be better if they want to win the series with Tampa next week. But they have two more games in Baltimore to put on their hitting shoes and I think they will.
I did not think the pitch Alex took for ball two in the ninth was a strike. It required a little restraint from the home plate umpire, but to me it was not overly close and would have been a harsh way to end the game. Though I guess from Balitmore’s perspective, having Arod plaster one into the night is pretty harsh too.
Alex said that Arod expressed his inner-Reggie last night. Coming up big at the biggest times is how heroes are made, and we sure needed hero during this recent stretch. I hope Arod is ready to assume that role for the duration.
When Alex smushes one like that, I imagine the ball flattening upon impact and then snapping back to form as it hurtles into space. It’s a testament to the good folks at Rawlings that the ball did not explode. Next time, he should try the hammer.
Hot damn. Shades of Tino and Mark Langtson as Alex Rodriguez saves the day. Jon will have the recap shortly…
Jankees, Boids. Let’s do this…the Yankee Way.
Let’s Go Score Truck!
of accents…
A report has Torre out, Mattingly in. Should be a lost year next season for the Dodgers. Wonder how Dodgers’ fans feel about it.
Over the summer, I had a chance to chat with former Yankee Ron Blomberg, who spent Hall of Fame Weekend here in Cooperstown. Talking to Ron is always a good experience. One of the most affable players I’ve ever met, he is full of positive vibes and ceaseless energy. He seems to have the same level of vigor as he did in his twenties, when he was trying to establish himself as the next great left-handed hitter in Yankee history.
At the time, Blomberg’s smooth right-field swing seemed perfectly tailored for the old Yankee Stadium. In particular, “Boomer” tormented right-handed pitchers, especially those who dared to throw him fastballs. During the 1973 season, he flirted with a .400 batting average in early summer before eventually tailing off. If only Blomberg had been able to avoid the knee problems that eventually shortened his career, he might have become the Jewish superstar that Yankee management had been anticipating since drafting him with the first overall pick in 1967.
While injuries and defensive foibles at first base prevented him from achieving such fame, he did gain special notoriety on Opening Day in 1973. That’s when he came to bat as the first designated hitter in major league history. Facing Luis Tiant of the Red Sox, Blomberg walked in his first plate appearance–and walked right into a permanent place in baseball reference books.
While his status as the game’s first DH has become common knowledge to most fans, it was Blomberg’s off-the-field ability that became well known to baseball insiders and members of the media. Boomer could eat enormously large quantities of food, above and beyond any other major league player of his era. Here’s one example. After one road game, Blomberg sat down and consumed ten steak sandwiches, assisted by a quart of lemonade. By the time that Blomberg made his first road trip into Boston, a local Beantown newspaper featured the delightful headline, “Close Up The Delicatessens, Blomberg’s In Town.”
Especially devoted to fast food, Blomberg regularly consumed four to five large hamburgers during visits to Burger King and did similar damage on sojourns to Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets. “We would go out and eat an entire bucket of KFC,” Blomberg once said proudly. A 3000-calorie meal was an ordinary accomplishment for the insatiable Blomberg. As part of one particularly memorable meal, Blomberg downed 28 (yes, 28!) hamburgers, establishing some sort of unofficial record.
With Blomberg’s reputation as a voracious eater established early in his career, Yankee left-hander Fritz Peterson (another summer visitor to Cooperstown) issued his teammate a challenge. He dared Blomberg to eat five exceedingly spicy jalapeno peppers at one time. Peterson himself feared eating even one of the zesty peppers; he considered the prospects of anyone eating five a downright impossibility. Confident that no one could pull off such a feat, Peterson offered Blomberg a small sum of money if he could successfully handle the fire-breathing snack. Peterson then watched in amazement as Blomberg consumed all five peppers within a matter of seconds. For his efforts, Blomberg won $10 from a disbelieving Peterson.
In spite of his eating habits, Blomberg maintained a trim physique throughout his major league career, with his weight rarely exceeding 185 pounds on a lean but powerful six-foot, one-inch frame. So how did Boomer do it? “We didn’t have personal trainers standing over us,” Blomberg said. “We had no rowing machines. We did construction in the off season. Put in sod. I ran the stairs at Columbia and Fordham University, since I was living in Riverdale at that time. I would run around the block with those ankle bracelets on.”
Blomberg liked to run by himself, but usually found company at the lunch and dinner tables. His list of fellow diners included voluminous eaters like Yankee teammate Walt “No Neck” Williams. Williams and two other Yankees regularly accompanied Blomberg on trips to well-known hamburger chains, where they gladly consumed hamburgers at the bargain basement prices of the early 1970s. “We had Burger King, when the burgers were 39 cents,” Blomberg explained. “We would have four of ‘em for under two bucks. Gene Michael, Jerry Kenney, No-Neck Williams—we would go out and eat together.”
While Blomberg, Kenney, and Michael were all relatively tall and lean—Michael was appropriately nicknamed “Stick”—Williams provided a contrasting view. At five feet, six inches and 190 pounds, Williams featured the physique of a fireplug. Known as a hustling pepper-pot player on the field, Williams treated the art of eating with as much gusto off the field. But he could not match Blomberg in terms of the sheer amount of food consumption.
Later in his Yankee career, Blomberg came into contact with another legendary eater, a man better known for his larger-than-life Afro. Oscar Gamble, who joined the Yankees in 1976, routinely downed eggs, pancakes, and sausage for breakfast. Gamble also developed a special appreciation for the clubhouse spreads offered at various American League ballparks. His stadium lunches included ham sandwiches, hamburgers, ribs, soups, and a variety of cheeses.
After games, Gamble liked to sample local restaurants around the American League for their various dinner fares. He particularly enjoyed trips to Milwaukee, which featured soul food. Gamble loved collard greens, candied yams, and peach cobblers.
With men like Gamble and Williams providing an appropriate level of companionship and encouragement on the food line, Blomberg cemented his standing as a champion eater. That ability, along with a growing reputation, carried over after his retirement from the game. Not so surprisingly, Blomberg became the first major league player to have a sandwich named after him at the famed Stage Delicatessen in New York City. Known simply as the “Ron Blomberg,” the large triple-decker sandwich consists of a combination of corned beef, pastrami, and chopped liver with a Bermuda onion thrown in for good measure.
I could do without the chopped liver, but the rest of the sandwich sounds pretty good to me. Perhaps one day the “Ron Blomberg” will qualify for an episode of “Taster’s Cherce.”
Bruce Markusen likes to dine at Cooperstown area restaurants like Nicoletta’s and the Hawkeye Grill.
When I was a kid one of the activities that I hated most was “browsing.” My mother would say, “Oh, let’s just go browse.”
Are you serious, lady? Why don’t you buy me something? What is this browsing?
What a horrible word: browsing. It didn’t make any sense to me.
Of course, now I can buy what I want–within reason–but I like to browse, at least bookstores and record shops.
Diane hipped me to this piece on the death of browsing. Sad, really.
Goodness:
Remixed by Afrika Bambaataa:
AJ Burnett, the Yankees’ lasted version of Nuke LaLoosh, must pitch well if the Yanks are going to repeat as Whirled Champs. The crazy part is, he’s capable of going on a run. He goes tonight in Baltimore. Mark Feinsand reports the latest from pitching coach Dave Eiland:
“I think his confidence and conviction in his pitches is a lot better,” Eiland said. “When he believes in every pitch he throws and trusts that good stuff he has, he’s successful. When he tries to throw a strike, that’s when he gets in trouble, because he backs off a bit. Just trust it and go get ’em.”
Burnett should have that confidence against the Orioles, having pitched to a 2.48 ERA while going 2-2 in four starts against Baltimore this season, including one of his best games of 2010, an eight-inning shutout performance at Camden Yards back on April 29.
“A.J. needs to see the glove and throw right through it,” Eiland said. “Believe in it. Think, ‘I’m better than you and this pitch is going to beat you.’ As long as A.J. is healthy, he has a chance to dominate somebody every time he walks out of that dugout.”
Pat Jordan loves to trash the Yankees because he knows I’m so easy to wind up. He could not care less about the fortunes of any team in any sport other than his beloved Miami Hurricanes (and since I could not care less about college football, giving it back to him is less than fun). So we talk about the Yankees and he gets his digs in.
Last night he goes, “Hey Al, what are you going to do when Carl Pavano goes 2-0 in the playoffs against you guys? Hey, didn’t Pavano once pitch for the Yankees?”
Roars with laughter. “What? He win like three games in five years? Hey, Al isn’t he going for his 17th win tonight?” More laughter.
I tell him that Pavano winning two games agains the Yankees in the playoffs is my worst nightmare. Not even losing to the Twins–how can you be hard-on against the Twins?–just Pavano, who bilked the Yankees out of $40 million and is now pitching well while sporting the worst mustache of the decade.
“Tell you what, Al,” Pat said. “I’ll clean and polish my Glock 9mm and load the clip with hollow point bullets so you can come down here put it in your mouth and pull the fuggin trigger after Pavano beats the Yankees.”
More roaring.
[Photo Credit: Nam Y. Huh/AP]
The classic routine.
Flix by Bags
