The correct answer is D) Zero.

Oh, right, the question. Yeah, the question was: What are the chances that Stephen Drew does anything productive here?

This would be in the top of the 7th inning last night when Drew pinch-hit for Brett Gardner. I mean, when could that ever be a good thing? This was after Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an infield single to load the bases (had Chris Davis made a better play at first the inning would have been over). The Yanks were down a couple of runs and with Drew up I told The Wife there was no way Drew would do anything good. Not a chance. When the count went to 3-1 I told her he was under orders from the Universe to take a strike and try to work a walk. But what does the Universe care about me and what do I know about the Bigger Questions?

Because Drew swung at the 3-1 pitch and hit a grand slam.

That was enough to survive a shaky appearance by Dellin Betances as the Yanks won, 6-5. Andrew Miller got the last five outs.

[Photo Credit: Jill Freedman via Time]

It’s Pineda tonight as the Yanks start a thee-game series in Baltimore.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Carlos Beltran DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Alex Rodriguez 3B

Chris Young RF

John Ryan Murphy C

Didi Gregorius SS

Gregorio Petit 2B

Never mind dem boids”

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: The Retrologist]

And here we thought the Yankees would never score any runs.

Feast your eyes on this.

They plump when you cook ’em (oh, yeah).

Sunday Night baseball. Let’s see what Masahiro’s got.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Carlos Beltran RF

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Stephen Drew 2B

Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind the standings:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

It’s early but the thud you hear is your 2015 New York Yankees. Yesterday’s version was scored an 8-4 loss.

Picture by Bags.

There’s plenty of it today here in the Bronx. It’s nice in the sun, supposed to get up to the mid-50s later on, but there’s still a little wind and it’s cool in the shade. It’s that white spring light–almost like there’s too much treble–sun high in the sky.

Yanks and Sox were up late last night but they’ll be at it again for us early this afternoon.

Never mind the hangover:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Richard Estes via the Marlborough Gallery]

The Yankees rallied 3 times against the Red Sox last night, starting in the 9th inning, but they couldn’t do it a fourth time and so in just under 7 hours, they lost 6-5 in 19 innings. It was the kind of a game that is every beat writer’s nightmare. You wondered if it’d ever end. There was good pitching, sloppy fielding, nice fielding, poor hitting, and clutch hitting. There was boredom and excitement and by the end, a lot of sleepy fans.

There was a 15 minute delay in the bottom of the 12th inning when a few of the lights went out. The organist was pressed into emergency service. I suppose the JumboTron was out of scheduled routines. The announcers didn’t know at first how long the delay would last and so as they talked it over the organist vamped–was that “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” he was playing? What an unexpected pleasure, the sounds of the organ pumping out a medley of pop tunes.

Anyhow, for the Yanks it was a drag of a game to lose.

The pace of play is supposed to be faster this season, and perhaps it will be, but the Yankees vs. Red Sox, well, they’ve got their own rules to abide, don’t they? And the two teams are back at it in a few hours this afternoon.

Take two and pass.

[Photo Credit: Mikko Lagerstedt]

Those guys again. This year–no pitching, fearsome hitting.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Chase Headley 3B
Chris Young RF
Stephen Drew SS
Gregorio Petit 2B

And our first look at Eovaldi.

Never mind the Cavity Creeps:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Neither was that game last night. One lousy inning was enough to sink C.C.’s first start of the year. Rodriguez and Teixeira homered but otherwise the Yankees couldn’t make good on their scoring chances and they lost, 6-3.

Let’s raise a a glass to C.C. Sabathia and his pursuit of morphing into some kind of Hot Buttered Soul Junk Pitcher in the second part of his career. If he’s 3/4 of what Andy was as an older pitcher he’ll build a nice case for the Hall of Fame. If his body doesn’t cooperate I guess it could get ugly fast and be over quick. Either way, I’m pullin’ for the big fella.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Carlos Beltran RF

Mark Teixeira 1B

Chase Headley 3B

Chris Young LF

John Ryan Murphy C

Gregorio Petit 2B

Didi Gregorius SS

LHP CC Sabathia

This is one raggedy-ass lineup, man. A Rod’s in the 2 hole.

Never mind the Scubbineez:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture Credit:“the Upside of Down” by Christopher Barbour via Rob Kalmbach]

The baseball season begins in warm, sunny places like Florida and Arizona. Then the teams move north to the cold. Last night, I flipped around and saw rain in Washington and Philly and the Bronx. Ah, April baseball.

It was not a pretty game at the Stadium last night–the fielding was rusty and you have to figure the wet and cold played a part in that–but the Yankees rallied late and beat the Jays, 4-3. Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits; Michael Pineda pitched well, and so did the bullpen (though Dellin Betances was rusty).

Funny thing: Although Alex Rodriguez is now an old man,  he still gets more of a rise out of the crowd than any player on the Yanks. There were boos and cheers every time he came to bat. It’s almost as if the fans still boo him because it’s something familiar not because they’re especially vicious. After all, we’ve just begun the post-Jeter era and who knows what to make of this team? Who knows who the next heroes and villains are? Rodriguez is a sure thing. Muscle-memory says boo the sombitch. Or cheer. Rodriguez didn’t get a hit last night–he put a good swing on the ball in his third at bat, it had a good sound, but he hit it too high and in that wind no fly ball stood a chance of leaving the park–but he was booed plenty when he struck out looking in the 8th inning with the bases loaded.

Old reliable.

Chad Jennings has the recap. 

[Picture by Bags]

Man, you’ve got to have a lot of heart to be at the Stadium tonight. I can understand sitting in the cold in October, but April? Thank you, no.

Pineda goes for the Yanks and that should be fun. He’s one of the few guys on this team I’m really excited about (I guess Tanaka’s worrisome health and got me distracted from dwelling on Pineda’s worrisome health).

Be hilarious if Alex takes a knuckler deep. Be great if they can beat up R.A. Dickey and the Jays:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Carlos Beltran RF

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Stephen Drew 2B

Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind the chill:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

*Post title refers to this, just cause.

[Photo Credit: The Great Saul Leiter]

Over at Grantland, Ben Lindbergh weighs in on Masahiro Tanaka’s first start and concludes:

Although on the surface the box score seems like a confirmation of Yankees fans’ worst fears, it’s possible to put a positive spin on Tanaka’s inaugural outing in 2015. Aside from his voluntary renouncement of the four-seamer, Tanaka’s stuff seemed almost the same as it was before we were worried about his elbow. He stills throws hard enough to get swings and misses with his off-speed stuff. And while Tanaka doesn’t have a great sinker, his forsaken four-seamer was worse. It’s probably too much to hope for addition by subtraction, but if Tanaka’s partially torn ligament doesn’t hurt his command,1 the new Tanaka should be a useful starter (if not an ace) for as long as his ligament lasts, even if he nibbles too much to go deep into games. Tanaka has already defied one of our fears — and his own — by avoiding surgery and surviving the spring UCL reaping so far. Now he has a chance to chart the non-fastballs frontier.

[Photo Credit: Charles Wenzelberg]

I didn’t see any of it and from the sounds of it, I didn’t miss a thing.

Sure, there was some impressive relief pitching, and Alex Rodriguez heard some cheers, but Masahiro Tanaka wasn’t great and the Yanks only got 3 hits.

Final Score: Jays 6, Yanks 1.

Picture by Bags.

Opening Day in the Bronx. The winter’s finally over.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Carlos Beltran RF

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Stephen Drew 2B

Didi Gregorius SS

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Never mind the chill in the air, folks:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Arthur Tress via MPD]

The Yankees starting and back-up shortstops are hurt. So they picked up a futility infielder.

As usual, the intrepid Chad Jennings has the skinny. 

[Photo Via: Lo Hud]

As in next week: baseball. Our man Chad Jennings with some thoughts about the state of the Yanks. 

And here’s more from River Ave Blues. 

This is the 13th season we’ve covered here at the Banter. For many years, this was a Yankee and baseball site. I wrote and wrote and had some terrific contributors. Now, the site is more a culture blog with a dose of baseball. It’s also become far more visual. I don’t write about baseball as much. Somewhere along the line I exhausted everything I had to say. As I began to get freelance work as a writer I moved away from giving away all my thoughts on the blog, preferring to save some stuff for longer pieces.

But I still love following the game, and, especially, the Yanks. I love hosting the Banter. The vibe of the place may have changed but just because I write less, doesn’t mean I’m not present. I just share myself more with links and pictures.

The Banter is still my home and my heart. Thanks for hanging out with me.

[Photo Credit: Lynne Sladky/AP]

Here’s something to make you excited about the season. Ken Rosenthal on Did Gregorious’ fielding, featuring some nifty analysis from Alex Rodriguez.

[Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP]

Robert Ward’s infamous 1977 Sport magazine story: “Reggie Jackson in No-Man’s Land”:

“You know,” he says, “this team… it all flows from me. I’ve got to keep it all going. I’m the straw that stirs the drink. It all comes back to me. Maybe I should say me and Munson… but really he doesn’t enter into it. He’s being so damned insecure about the whole thing. I’ve overheard him talking about me.”

“You mean he talks loud to make sure you can hear him?”

“Yeah. Like that. I’ll hear him telling some other writer that he wants it to be known that he’s the captain of the team, that he knows what’s best. Stuff like that. And when anybody knocks me, he’ll laugh real loud so I can hear it….”

Reggie looks down at Ford’s sweater. Perhaps he is wishing the present Yankees could have something like Ford and Martin and Mantle had. Community. Brotherhood. Real friendship.

“Maybe you ought to just go to Munson,” I suggest. “Talk it out right up front.”

But Reggie shakes his head.

“No,” he says. “He’s not ready for it yet. He doesn’t even know he feels like he does. He isn’t aware of it yet.”

“You mean if you went and tried to be open and honest about he’d deny it.”

Jackson nods his head. “Yeah. He’d say, ‘What? I’m not jealous. There aren’t any problems.’ He’d try to cover up, but he ought to know he can’t cover up anything from me. Man, there is no way…. I can read these guys. No, I’ll wait, and eventually he’ll be whipped. There will come that moment when he really knows I’ve won… and he’ll want to hear everything is all right… and then I’ll go to him, and we will get it right.

Reggie makes a fist, and clutches Ford’s sweater: “You see, that is the way I am. I’m a leader, and I can’t lie down… but ‘leader’ isn’t the right word… it’s a matter of PRESENCE… Let me put it this way: no team I am on will ever be humiliated the way the Yankees were by the Reds in the World Series! That’s why Munson can’t intimidate me. Nobody can. You can’t psych me. You take me one-on-one in the pit, and I’ll whip you…. It’s an attitude, really… It’s the way the manager looks at you when you come into the room… It’s the way the coaches and the batboy look at you… The way your name trickles through the crowd when you wait in the batter’s box… It’s all that… The way the Yankees were humiliated by the Reds? You think that doesn’t bother Billy Martin? He’s no fool. He’s smart. Very smart. And he’s a winner. Munson’s tough, too. He is a winner, but there is just nobody who can do for a club what I can do… There is nobody who can put meat in the seats [fans in the stands] the way I can. That’s just the way it is… Munson thinks he can be the straw that stirs the drink, but he can only stir it bad.”

Head on over to the Village Voice and check out this brief history of the Mayor’s Trophy game by none other than our chum, Diane Firstman:

The Mayor’s Trophy Game actually dates back to 1946, when the New York Giants and Yankees agreed to play a best-of-three exhibition during the season to benefit sandlot baseball programs, with the winner to receive a trophy from Mayor William O’Dwyer. The best-of-three format lasted one more year before switching to a single-game event each season, with the Yankees opposing either the Giants or Dodgers until both teams left for the West Coast after 1957.

The series was revived in 1963, the Mets’ second year of operation. The Yankees, coming off their thirteenth World Series appearance in sixteen years and twentieth championship since 1923, were the most successful professional franchise in American sports, playing in one of the most recognizable stadiums in the world. They meant business on the field, and their fans expected nothing less than a pennant each year.

The Mets, on the other hand, were lovably inept. As an expansion team in their second season, their roster was littered with other teams’ castoffs and players either way past their prime or never having experienced one. The loss of the Giants and Dodgers left a huge hole in the New York baseball scene, and for a certain segment of fans, the Mets were the logical replacement to root for. Their fans skewed younger, and this “New Breed” of New York baseball fan developed the tradition of bringing homemade banners fashioned from bedsheets to the Mets’ first home stadium, the Polo Grounds.

[Photo Credit: Ray Stubblebine/AP]