Yankee Stadium in the Light Rain

I hope this weather holds off and they can get this game in.  Headed over there with Lindsay in a few minutes, so hopefully it won't get cancelled because I am not sure I'd get my parking money back - it's ridiculous.

Took a cab there a few times and trying to get back here is a joke too - all they have are car service drivers, so these douches want $45 to take me 5 miles - no shot.

Subway is not really an option, because the 4 (which takes you right to the Stadium) is on the other side of the Bronx and takes 20 minutes to get there.  I'd have to find parking, get on the train ($2.50 times two, times two = $10) so I'd rather spring for an extra $15 and park a hundred feet from the ballpark.

The rain is coming down steadily at the moment, but the forecast is light rain and showers the entire night, so although it certainly won't be dry, it should be alright for a few hours at least.

Headed out now.  Matt Tolbert, good luck brother.  Last night he pinch ran for Jim Thome and scored in the ninth.  He's only hitting .200, but he's a role player, which isn't a bad thing. 

Freddy Garcia and Carl Pavano tonight - welcome to 6 years ago when these guys were guys.  Oh well, maybe it'll be a good game.

The garlic fries are calling our name; so are the hot dogs.

Play Ball!!

Playoff Baseball is Here!!!

  As an appetizer, an ex-Phillie dominated the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Pete.  For an intermezzo, Doc Halladay no-hit the Reds.  NO-HIT.  Understand something - it's only been done once in MLB Playoff history - by NYY great Don Larson.  The Yankees trail the Twins 2-0 in the third inning now, after a leadoff hit by pitch was followed by a 2-R bomb to center field.  Leadoff freebies always come back to bite you in the ass - ask CC.

  A-Rod is still not great.  Clutch he is not.  Yanks get the first two guys on - BB and 1B - and proceed to hit two fly balls and a K from Mr. Rodriguez.  That was the chance to get right back in it, get some of the momentum back.  Instead, a goose egg.  Swisher had the right idea bunting - he gets it down and the next fly ball scores a run.

  Good thing they told him not to bunt - SIKE!

  C.C. needs to settle in here and act like the big donkey he is - be a horse and get some 0's up there to give them a chance.  They've been playing like crap coming down the stretch, and it cost them the division. 

  I am home with Nathan watching the ballgame, missing the Mrs.

  Time to get ready to take Nathan for a stroll in the park - may make a night-time trip to the dog park out back.  Dog loves it over there.

  Sofa, chair-and-a-half, and ottoman are scheduled for delivery tomorrow - it only took Bob's over two weeks to do what I asked them to do.  Never order from them, and if you do, pick it up yourself.  Maybe it's just their customer service department that blows.  You walk in there and get bombarded by 40 sales people looking for a sale - it's like a feeding frenzy.  I'm just happy it's finally going to get delivered, start making this place look like something.  It gets old sitting on the damn floor.

  Time for October baseball.  Let's make it a game Yanks.  Joe Mauer is a good hitter.  A pro.  Damn the Twins are a scrappy team.  Good play Teixeira made, but Hudson's a sneaky little bastard.

  Big AB.  Posada sucks defensively.  I'm out.

  A split on the road is good for me.  Then they gotta continue their domination of the Twins.

Baseball and Birthdays

Well, the Yankees almost pulled it off last night against the Phillies.  Brad Lidge's ERA went up from a 1.12 to a 2.00 and he made the game pretty interesting.  He's been pretty automatic since he's been healthy this season, so it was good that the Yanks showed a little fight.  I was on the flight back from Dallas, so I missed it.  We flew AirTran but I wish I would have gone JetBlue.  AirTran has some of the most cramped seating of any airline I've ever been on.  K, K, BB, 2B, 1B, K.  He struck out the side, but all the drama started with a two-out walk to Mark Teixeira and could have ended with a walk-off. 

The Rays are reeling (7-6 in June), the Yankees have been fairly steady (10-4 in June), as are the Sox (10-5 in June).  The Blue Jays have fallen back down to Earth and the O's are still looking for an answer.  Shaping up to be a three horse race again, for like the fifth straight season. 

I am going to the Yankees game tonight - and am just counting my blessings I don't have to suffer through a Jamie Moyer start.  Kyle Kendrick vs. Andy Pettitte.  Andy is going for win #201 as a Yankee and #238 overall.  He is putting up incredible numbers thus far, with his only real bad outing being against the Rays on May 20th (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R) in am 8-6 loss.  Looking forward to the game - it's always nice seeing a game at the Stadium, freaking thing is awesome.  It's really a sight to be seen.

The Rays are on the docket too, as Big Game James Shields takes on Tim Hudson in Atlanta.  The Yanks could take over first place tonight.  Hudson has been nothing short of dominant this year (6-2, 2.43 ERA).  He's had some command issues (30 BB in 85.1 IP) but has pitched out of the jams for the most part.  His last outing was a 2-1 CG loss to the Twins (8 IP, 7 H, 2 K).  When he's on, he's tough to hit.  Let's go Timmy.

Party at the "Copacabana", Barry Manilow turns 64 years old today.  He's still knocking them dead - I mean he should be, he's probably had a lot of $$ pumped in and out of his face.  He's made quite the transformation - I mean normally, you go from left to right, he went the opposite direction.  Wrinkles be gone, poof!!  I am kind of glad he chose Barry Manilow, seeing how he was born Barry Alan Pincus.  He was raised in Williamsburg Brooklyn.  He started off writing jingles, and his most famous being State Farm Insurance ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there...") and Band-Aid's (I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!").  Happy Birthday Barry, and thanks for taking on your mother's last name.

Back at work, gotta do some work.  Going to purchase some chain and lock it down at Gaelic.

Lock it up!

Bad showing

Where have all the clutch performers gone?  We needed guys to step up today, and no one seemed to deliver.  We didn't help ourselves - 8 walks and a hit by pitch - 2 scored.  Can you guess the final score?  7-5 bad guys.  Did our freshman SS make an error, yeah - but even still, we had two outs with only one run allowed and it ballooned into a 6-run fourth inning.  Pitcher's need to be able to get an out - one single, solitary out, in a row.  They've gotten one out in a row thousands of times in their baseball lives.  We threw up 0's all day (except for a solo HR in the B6), and had a chance at the end.  It just wasn't meant to be today.

Got a big one tomorrow at 3pm.  Big is actually an understatement.  Lose, and the season is over.  Win, and live to play another day.  Whoever is tougher tomorrow will prevail.  Backs to the wall, fight your way out.  We need to deliver the first punch, right in the mouth, early on.


Yankees won both - 1-0 in the suspended game from yesterday (Jeter hit a HR 399' to left center).  The bullpen patched together the shutout.  In today's scheduled game, they won 3-2, behind a Nick Swisher HR to right field.  Mariano closed out both games, earning saves in both, his 9th and 10th of the year.

Boston finished off a surprising sweep at The Trop, beating the Rays 11-3 behind Adrián Béltre's 6 RBI. 

The Magic are up 13 on the Celtics with 8:59 left in the game.  Celts lead the series 3-1.  Maybe Dwight Howard read my blog and decided to grow a pair and play like a man - he's got 17 points, 7 boards, 5 blocks, and only 1 foul.  Go Dwight Go!

Big one tomorrow.  Act as if.

Tens-Day

Ten points of emphasis that are running through my mind this morning:

1. MAAC Tournament.  Game one at 3pm vs. Canisius.  Game one is ever important in a double elimination format, and I think we'll come out loose and ready to play.  We're the #4 seed after all, and we have nothing to lose.  Everyone else is supposed to be better than us, all we gotta do is play the game hard, have a little fun, play some defense, pitch well enough to keep us in the game, and score more runs.  That formula translates to wins.  That's pretty evident.
2. A Mosque at Ground Zero?  I don't think this is something that NYers should have to deal with.  I was watching Channel 5 and there was a debate on it and all three on the panel said it wasn't a good idea.  The money ($100 million) is being funded by Islamic countries, and how the hell do we know who this money is coming from?  It also serves as a reminder of that grim day on September 11, 2001.  "I don't deny anyone a church or a mosque, but if I were to walk by that mosque, I would think of my son's plane," Hanson, of Easton, Conn.  (NY Daily News).  I am not against it either, but the fact remains that almost 3,000 Americans perished in the 9/11 attacks.  NYers did a great job of coming together and bouncing back, but they don't need any more reminders.  Not 100' from where Tower 1 once stood.
3. DWTS winner announced.  I'll be honest, I watch this show but generally don't pay much attention.  The Bruno guy is hilarious though, and I look forward to hearing his comments.  Nicole Scherzinger beat out figure-skater Evan Lysacek and ESPN's Erin Andrews.  Not sure if this was a shocker or not, but either way, I'm looking forward to seeing this Bruno Tonioli guy again.
4. Phoenix Suns tie series with Lakers 2-2.  I hate the Lakers, as I've stated before.  What won them the game?  Simple, their bench, which was non-existent in the first three games of the series.  The Suns bench scored 54 points last night (76 previous three games).  Good for you Phoenix, take the series.  I don't need another Celtics-Lakers finals.
5. 2014 Super Bowl at Meadowlands Stadium.  Good to see a Super Bowl being played in a cold weather state.  Bloomberg said it, this region is a great place to come to.  NYC is an awesome place and I know people from all over the country attend the Super Bowl every year, and many probably have never been to the NYC area.  Bob Golic is saying that weather shouldn't be an issue in the biggest game of the year, but in 2007, Super Bowl XLI was played in the rain down in Miami.  It's cold in February, sure, but why not.  Why the hell not?  Good for you NFL, now let's hope the Giants or Jets are playing.
6. Yankees woes!  A.J. Burnett finally settled down and was throwing a good game - 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K and 75 pitches before the rains came and washed out the game against the Twins.  His last three starts before last night were a mixed bag.  He got rocked vs. Tampa on the 19th, pitched well vs. the Twins on the 14th, and was tattooed by the Red Sox on the 9th.  I hope he uses it as something to build off, because his stuff is way better than he's showed the past few.  The Yankees, however, are 6-3 in games he starts.  Still waiting for a 10+ strikeout game.
7. King beds.  At home, me and Lindsay and Nathan share a double bed.  After sleeping in this king bed in the hotel last night, it brings me back to my thoughts whenever I stay in a hotel - king beds should be mandatory.  It's like sleeping in an in-ground pool.  The thing is huge.  Maybe it's the hotel bed idea, that they are always so comfortable (except at a Days Inn).  
8. "Future gay terrorists."  This is stuff that shouldn't happen.  A soldier is under investigation after a video was posted on Facebook.  The video showed two children who were asked, "Are you going to grow up to be a terrorist?", to which the children gave thumbs up.  Chances are they didn't understand English, but seriously, are you that stupid that you'd:  1. say something so ignorant to two kids, and 2. post it on Facebook?  Stupid ass.
9. Flying anytime soon?  Here's a few tips to securing some cheaper airfare.  1. Very few seats are ever on sale - when you see a low price deal, book it.  2. Tuesday is the best day to shop for airfare, at around 3:00pm.  3. Friday and Sunday are the most expensive days to fly, so plan accordingly.  4. Book at least two weeks in advance, maybe even three weeks.  Here's a test I just did on Southwest Airlines - if I wanted to fly from NY to Denver: in 5 days, $311; in 12 days, $219; in 20 days, $189.  5. Pack a carry on bag.  Baggage fees suck.  6. Fly midweek.  Have a good flight.
10. Back to the Bronx.  Some local news from the Bronx.  This morning, two parents are under arrest after leaving their baby in a parking lot near 161st St.  Both parents say they thought the other had the child.  Maybe they thought there was a Yankee game that the kid wanted to see. 

OK, time to get ready for a late breakfast.  It's nice not having to wake up at 7:30am and get to the park at 9:15am to start batting practice.  Let's hope we can dust the sand out of our eyes and play a great game today.  Lindsay is coming up today, Nathan is staying in Long Island.  We'll miss that pup.  He's become the unofficial mascot of the Jaspers.

Sunday Funday

Not so fun for the Yankees.  After winning the first two games of their series with the Twins, the immortal one, Mariano Rivera walked in a run with the bases loaded and followed that up by allowing a grand slam to Jason Kubel, as the Yankees blew a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning today in the Bronx, eventually falling 6-3 to the Twins.  I watched from the seventh inning on, and was in total shock when Rivera blew it.  Hey, the guy is human.  He just fools people into believing he isn't.  Jon Rauch let up some hits in the 9th, but got Jeter swinging, Gardener swinging, and Teixeira looking to end it.  They must have been scared by his tattoos.

On a lighter note, brunch with Paul and Jenny was good - even though the Bloody Mary's we ordered had bird food in them.  Or so it seemed - there was so much pepper corns, and all other sorts of stuff that looked like bird food in it, it made it almost undrinkable.  It was a shame because the BM was actually pretty good.  But then again, I've only had a BM two other times, and both were made by a person under the influence of alcohol.  The omelet was great - had bacon and cheddar.  Lindsay got goat cheese and mushrooms.  And they made these donuts, cinnamon sugar, holy crap.  I could have eaten 45 of them.  Easy.

In our celebrity sighting of the day, while at the Beer Garden at The Standard after our brunch, Lindsay and Jenny wandered off to the restroom and when they came back, I was told to come take a look inside.  Thinking there was someone famous in there, I walked back in with Lindsay and saw Jesse Tyler Ferguson sitting at a table inside.  For those of you who don't know who he is, he plays Mitchell on ABC's Modern Family, probably the funniest show on television.  We were in the meatpacking district, so seeing celebrities is not too far-fetched down there.  Here's a look at who I'm talking about: 

So Sunday is almost over, weekend is almost over, and setup for graduation is almost set to begin.  Awesome!! (sarcasm).  I am exhausted, Lindsay is sleeping on the couch, Nathan is passing out on the window sill.  I am trying to hold it together enough to get this post done, take Nathan out to pee, and pass out.

See you tomorrow suckaaaaaaaa!!

Yankees looking to extend domination of Twins

Today's 1:05pm tilt between the Twins and Yankees will feature two lesser known arms for both side - Nick Blackburn (MIN) vs. Sergio Mitre (NYY).  Game 1 had AJ Burnett taking on Scott Baker.  Game 2 was two lefties, Andy Pettitte vs. Francisco Liriano.  Advantage:  NYY.

The Yankees took the first two games of this series and are looking for their third series sweep of the season (vs. TEX, vs. BAL).  The first game was tight until A-Rod decided to show up, belting a grand slam in the 7th with the Yankees down a run - IBB to Teixeira to pitch to Alex Rodriguez?  Then bring in a guy who A-Rod is 4-6 with 3HR against?  Gardy, bad  idea!!  The second game was won behind with pitching - Andy Pettitte gave them 6.1 innings of 2-hit ball in his first start in 10 days.  A-Rod had another good game at the plate - in his last 10, he's hitting .378 (14-37) with 3 2B, 2 HR, and 11 RBI.  Looks like he is starting to get hot.  Teixeira hit an absolute bomb in the 7th inning, and he is starting to pick it up a little too - in his last 10, he's hitting .317 (13-41) with 2 2B, 5 HR, and 16 RBI.  He's raised his average from .136 to .217 since we flipped the calendar to May.  That's two big names stepping up for the Yankees, who are surprisingly only 6-4 in the past 10 games.

Blackburn has pitched against the Yankees before - most recently in last years playoffs.  He pitched well enough to win (5.2 IP, 3H, 1R) but didn't.  Overall, in 4 career starts vs. the Yankees, his numbers look like this:  16.1 IP, 21 H, 12 R (9 ER), good for a 4.96 ERA, almost a full run above his career ERA of 4.20.  He seems to be struggling with his command a little this year - through 39.2 IP he's walked eleven batters and struck out only nine.  He has never been a strikeout pitcher, but the most walks he's allowed was 41 last season (in 205.2 IP).  Four starts vs. NYY?  Seems like I hear his name every time they play one another.  Weird.

Mitre has been throwing the ball fairly well this year - I mean he has HOF numbers compared to his career stats:  2010 - 3.86 ERA; Career - 5.50 ERA.  The trick with him may be the bullpen.  He can fool a few hitters at a time, but starting hasn't panned out for him.  I think it's a good idea once the rotation gets back in order, but in the long run, he'll be a bullpen guy.  And for some reason, I like Sergio Mitre, I hope he does well.  Don't ask why, I don't have any ties to Mexico or any of the other teams he's played for.

Game's on at 1:05pm, I will more than likely not watch, gonna be in the city for brunch.  May be able to catch the tail end of what will hopefully be the 14th straight win over the Twins.  The Twins are up a game and a half on the Tigers, who are hosting the Red Sox.  They pulled it out last night on the always exciting two out, walk-off walk to Ramón Santiago, a career .245 hitter.  Poor Red Sox, can't close games out with their bullpen.  What a shame.

Time to take Nathan out - he's slept all night, woke up at 5:45am, and is sleeping again.  The life of a dog is one I'll never understand.