Well, it didn’t start well. In fact, it was an upsetting evening for the Yankees. In the first inning, Francisco Cervelli–the Wife’s favorite player on the team–was hit in the right hand by a foul tip. He left the game and when the news arrived it wasn’t good–broken hand, and for the Wife, a broken heart. They say he’ll have surgery and be out for at least six weeks. And he was playing so well.
“It’s just not fair,” said the Wife.
Drag.
Then in the third inning, Ivan Nova walked off the mound and out of the game; he’ll have an MRI on his elbow to see what’s wrong.
The good news is that David Phelps, that most trustworthy of utility pitchers, was terrific. Struck out a ton of guys and only allowed one run–a long home run to Edwin Encarnacion, who has developed a right douche bucket home run trot.
The other Toronto Tough Guy, Jose Bautista hit the holy hell out of fastball by David Robertson in the eighth but a solo shot by Brett Gardner in the bottom of the inning earlier gave the Yanks a welcome two-run cushion.
There was a little drama for Mariano in the 9th. He got the first two men out and then you have to credit to Brett Lowrie–who looks like an MMA fighter–who’d been caught looking twice this season by Rivera’s outside cutter for a third strike. This time, down two strikes, he got the same pitch and slapped it into right field for a single. Another cheap single followed by an infield hit loaded the bases for Cody Rasmus, Bautista on deck. And Mo fell behind 2-0. But he evened out the count…
…the crowd took pictures, stood and cheered…
…and the pulse quickened…
…then Mo struck Rasmus out to end it.
More injuries for the Yanks, but in the short term it was comforting that they at least got the win.
Final Score: Yanks 6, Jays 4.
As a side note, YES showed a cool shot of Mo holding court before the game with a group of Blue Jays. How many times do you see a scene like this?
Yeah, he’s a special one.
Goddammit, Brains, meat hand behind the thigh.
Out of all the basic fundamental shit they taught us all in little league and high school, is there a single one they teach a single major leaguer anymore?
The injuries are ridiculous. Sure, you expect "veteran" types to have more injury problems, but Cervelli and Nova are young guys. This team seems snakebit.
I am kind of excited to see Romine, though. He's been pretty solid with the RailRiders thus far.
Also, the Knicks. (So I only saw flickers of the baseball game.)
GREAT win for the Knicks. And thrilling win for the Warriors.
This disheartening break left me breathless. Just getting used to his swagger and homerun trot. Stewart's strikeout didn't give me confidence. Still looks like the travelling spring training team. But no one has gone to the races yet.
As for the basketball game, let's not forget that Boston, despite resting Garnett, looks old. No Rondo, either. Even Heinsohn (I get the NESN feed) had to say the Knicks looked real good. Check out the flagrant foul! What was that about?
Stewart threw out two runners, one of them at third. That's worth a couple hits, in my book.
And the Knicks are older than the Celtics. They're just better, is all.
Thanks *so* much for the dramatic recount of Mo, Alex. Not getting to watch, I need this.
7) Sure! My pleasure.
And sure, the Celtics are lousy but that doesn't damper the excitement for this Knicks fan. Hey, if they can reach the conference finals against the Heat that'll be sweet.
And btw, speaking of recounts, does MLB have extremely strict regulations over broadcasting highlights? For example, why is it not possible, say, on YES, to see longer clips? It's maddening to me that even on YES, I can see only one pitch from Mo per game. Why can't they show the entire last out, for example, instead of just the last pitch?
This is something that has infuriated me my whole life, whenever they show highlight footage. They never show enough that a person can actually study a player, have any sense of what made them great. We only see them hit the ball over the fence and trot around the bases, or we see a pitcher blow the ball past a batter.
In this day and age, why can't YES and all the other outlets show more extended highlight footage? I'm really asking, is there an explanation for this, does anyone know?
[9] The question is probably not "why can't they" but "why won't they"? What's in it for YEs or MLB to allow people to watch longer game highlights as they wish? That would only drive down demand for things that make money: i.e., you are compelled to buy an MLB.tv subscription and watch the archived game or some such.
[10] Well, right, I thought of that, but I can't see how that's accurate. I mean, anyone who would watch those longer highlights is presumably a pretty serious fan, right? And wouldn't any serious fan buy a subscription if they could afford to anyway?
In my case, penury prevents it and meanwhile, the risk is of jeopardizing long-term devotion to the game.
For example, I stopped watching baseball for a few years as a kid. This was for a number of reasons (my increasing interest in music chief among them) but in retrospect, one major reason was that the games stopped being broadcast on channel 11 and we did not have Sportschannel so in the absence of being able to just turn on the game out of force of habit, I actually fell away from it entirely for a number of years.
[10] I mean, the real question is, to whom, exactly, is watching only the final strike thrown by Mo supposed to appeal?
They could even offer some middle ground package, something dirt cheap that would include longer excerpts or something.
I don't know, it just feels like that approach runs counter to what should be their longer term goal of cultivating devoted, life-long fans.
Also, none of that speaks to why, in shows about baseball history, we can't ever actually get to see Sandy Koufax overwhelm a batter on three pitches or Bob Gibson brush someone back or Rod Carew work his magic batsmanship...
Instead we're just told how great these players were but we never get to see for ourselves, is my point.
Like, as a courtesy to the fans and in the interests of actually promoting the game of baseball, why not have a free archive for the purposes of study:
"Here is an at-bat that typifies *how* Rod Carew managed to hit .388, you'll notice in this clip, his extraordinary plate coverage..."
or whatever.
On the Blue Jay telecast Buck Martinez was saying that with 2 strikes the meat hand cannot be hidden behind the thigh because the catcher has to be ready to keep foul tips in the glove...not sure I'm buying that but it is what Martinez was saying
[11] I mean, anyone who would watch those longer highlights is presumably a pretty serious fan, right? And wouldn't any serious fan buy a subscription if they could afford to anyway?
Yes. So why offer something for free for the dedicated fan who's going to pay for a bigger subscription anyway?
In my case, penury prevents it and meanwhile, the risk is of jeopardizing long-term devotion to the game.
So really what you're asking is why doesn't YES or MLB provide something free or cheap for you! ; ) Seriously, there's a chance that your longterm interest in the game will decline because you can't see longer highlights---highlights that have never been available to fans in the past? I imagine MLB has made this calculation and figures the odds are on their side.
[13] [14] [15] Now that is a more interesting suggestion.
[17] Yes, I am asking why doesn't YES or MLB provide something free or cheap for me, goddamn it! I'm this teams #1 fucking fan, fuckers! :)