Let's Go NOVA

Bossa NOVA, Baby!

One question as to yesterday's game and pardon me if its been answered. If in fact the umpire(s) issued at least one warning, perhaps more, to Rapada about pitching off the rubber without calling a balk, why couldn't Girardi have protested the game? Isn't that like a batter swinging at one or more pitches and the ump sayng that the swing doesn't count?

Alright, bases loaded, time to cash in.

big Big BIG inning, thank you please!

Control issues for Simon.

i'll take it.

now...here comes the POWER!!!

brains, gritner. how bout another back-to-back performance?! HA!

[6] gun control.

no No NO!!!

not what i had in mind, at all...

Oh, Swish.

Oy, Frankie.

good ab, gritner.

now would be a very nice time for dj's 2nd ever grand salami!

i'll take it, thanks Cap! .298

Well, I guess because of Cornflake, all we got was a visit from the Score Minivan ...

Impaled!

Grrr. C'mon Nova, don't implode ...

vlad. still the impaler.

reynolds. 3 true outcomes, hardcore.

Kenny just schooling Kay right now.

[18] do tell!

Boss Bossa!

[18] Kay keeps telling stories, Kenny keeps correcting him with the facts.

Bring back Greenies!

What the hell is Alex bitching about.

There's NO way he should be taking that pitch.

Meanwhile, Tesh ... the Flash!

nice to see an early 3-1 lead.

was buck yelling at the catcher or something - how did teix steal 2nd?

Chavey!

Eric The Great!

[21] nice.

So glad to see Girardi putting in plays. Otherwise he would be guilty of allowing Jeter to just stand there. Which would have been terrible.

i knew he was gonna attempt to steal. i did not, however, figure he'd be thrown out...

coulda been 1st & 2nd, 1 out...

[28] can you take over for a bit? i've gotta hop in the shower...

thanks.

btw, the music of the day is Bossa Nova style stuff. for obvious reasons. how bout a little Astrud Gilberto?!

[30] Yes! If you'll take a shower I'll be very grateful -- the comments section is starting to stink.

I do have a 3:00 meeting, though, and it's ten minutes away.

I would love to see Andrew Brackman in a game. I mean, it would have to be at a very, very low leverage moment.

The Slavic Showdowns haven't worked out well for us so far.

Ivan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to throw more strikes now.

Uh oh, Cornflake with a potential owie ...

[35] He looked okay there!

[36] It's a trap!

[37] He's playing the wounded plover!

Nova's got fuck all today.

Uh oh, don't implode Ivan.

Way to go, kid! Ice water.
We need Ivan to go at least six. The bullpen is not exactly fresh.

Good time to pick it up ...

[41] I dunno, we've got 8,000 guys milling around down there ...

[43] EXACTLY. That's what worries me.

[44] I MUCH rather see Kontos or Brackman than see Ayala ...

ok. clean drummer reporting back to duty.

i see you allowed a run to pass in my absence. this does not bode well for your future.

i can hang til about 3pm, myself. maybe a coupla minutes after. then, i begin my 8-hour workday...

simon & reyes? we should have eleventy billion runs on the board. or, at least, double digits.

Gameday says that Reyes' change-up is 86mph and his 4-seam fastball is 88 mph. Kenny said that last pitch was maybe a slider or cutter, not a 4-seam. I guess I trust Kenny.

[45] Hm, I dunno. They'd make me very nervous. I want to see them, but I want to see them with a five run lead.

[46] Hey, an oxymoron!
I'm leaving in a couple of minutes. I'm just going to give Ivan some moral support.

[48] Rather see Kontos or Brackman than Ayala, Proctor, or whoever the lefty-de-jour is today ...

THROW STRIKES.

Hmph. Still, strikes are better.

Okay, I leave this game in your capable hands. I'll be back in time for #599.

enough with the errors!

dammit.

smooth like a bossa!

uh-oh. loogy time...

Ugh.

that worked out well.

FUCK!

i'm out...

[56] Peace!

Uh, Ayala time ...

Wow, Aaron Laffey sucks ... who knew?

CANO!

BRAINS!!!

One of these days, hopefully very soon, that play will be outlawed.

This ain't fucking football ...

Does cutting that ball off before it gets to the wall show up in Granderson's UZR?

60) Can you describe what happened?

[60] Just your standard play at home where the runner levels his shoulder into the catcher making no effort to touch home plate ...

What's with the Yankee offense, after the first couple of innings, they've done nothing! Going down 1-2-3! Meanwhile the Orioles half innings are filled with tension!

Well, this is exciting.

Can somebody make it boring, please?

64) It happens.

Remember that brief period when the Soriano signing *didn't* look like a fucking disaster?

Yeah, me neither ...

Oh, brother.

Uh, ok ... thanks again, Orioles.

Well, you guys almost held the line. Good work coaching up Granderson and Cervelli. Now you'll have to work on Soriano.

I just caught up ... Yet another game where Logan does not get his guy out. I swear to you that is like the sixth or seventh time; I don't recall one game where he actually got the lefty.

Uh, why wasn't Martin hitting there?

[71] There was a stretch where he looked great. But in the big picture, agree.

Bullpen has not done the job lately!

[73] In all seriousness, I missed that stretch, I guess. It's been uncanny, really.

Scott Proctor? G'night folks.

[75] June: batters were 3 for 23 against him, with four walks.

Uh oh. I feel a sense of foreboding...

Seriously, Laffey, Ayala and Proctor?

Now Girardi's just fucking with me ...

Why does Girardi want the wild card instead of the division?

This is looking promising

I mean for the Os

[78] Thin bullpen, like I said.

I know, I know...

Every Day, baby. Every Day.

We all had confidence, and he came through!

I never knew how much I missed Scott Proctor until now. Ok so is this right -- we traded Ventura to get Proctor, traded Proctor to get Betemit, traded Betemit to get Swisher, and then signed Proctor.

Great, everybody's trying to jack one ... how about some fucking hits???

You can hear every individual fan in Camden Yards.
That means 43 different voices.

Bringing in Rapada to face Cano. So, Girardi is not the only overmanager.

Oy. More Proctor.

The general win expectancy in this situation is 65/35 for the home team. Feels much worse than that for us, though.

it would suck to lose two straight 5-4 extra innings games to the worst team in the division.

[85] They are probably Yankee fans.

Extra innings? And EDSP?

Disaster in the making...

Surely, we are approaching Proctor's pitch count (if not the end of the game)?

Well, that did suck, Jon was right.

And that's the game.

[92] Both.

thus ends the visit to the Proctologist.

Can we also count on them sleepwalking through the first two game in Anaheim?

[97] Given their strange recent schedule, yes.

Red Bulls all around!

May I be the fifth to say in so many words, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Dammit.

Followed this game via blackberry, which is somehow more teeth-pullingly frustrating when the team loses.

Was there any option other than Proctor? I saw enough in his first outing to have a fairly strong opinion that he cannot get major league hitters out.

How many pitches had Noesi thrown in the loss yesterday?

Noesi is a major league-capable pitcher.

I never understand these moves by Torre/Girardi.

It's like they don't understand that a loss means that every good thing that happened previously in the game, every ounce of effort or resource expended now adds up to one singular thing: an L.

And that by bringing a guy like Proctor in who is so sure to fail (this was a Torre specialty), you might as well have taken the extra travel day, put in a forfeit, and stayed the fuck home or gone to LA early. Bringing in a Proctor = Why bother playing the WHOLE FUCKING GAME.

Otoh, if there was absolutely no other option, forget the above. I've been traveling and sorting stuff these last few days.

So damn frustrating not to beat those bastards in this particular game that they knobbed us on. Isn't this a game you particularly wanted to take from the Orioles?

Maddening.

Proctor, geez, that wasn't predictable.

We've been Wayne Franklin'ed.