Results tagged ‘ Brett Gardner ’
World Series Games 1 & 2: Freaky Wednesday/Thursday
let me see what spring is like on Jupiter & Mars’
The World freakin’ Series. Hard to believe we’ve already had two games. Also hard to believe that CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett had a Freaky Friday-but-really-Wednesday-Thursday moment (more on that soon). To sum it up, the series is tied 1-1, and our boys are now in Philly awaiting tonight’s Game 3 start at Citizens Bank Park. Andy Pettitte, our own version of Southern Comfort, will be on the mound to face Cole Hamels. Now, it is Halloween, and I will be out at a friend’s house, but luckily a TV will be available. No need to fear, folks. I will be watching this game, no. matter. what. =)
Now, back to the CC and AJ situ. CC pitched game 1, and he pitched pretty well. He wasn’t his usual stellar self, but it certainly would’ve been enough to get by if not for our lapsing offense. Clearly, they decided not to show up on Wednesday [sigh]. I was quite close to throwing something large and lamp-shaped into my TV, but I refrained. I remembered that we need to keep TPPT™ and GoodKarma™ on our side for this entire series. It was one game out of a possible seven. We had time. We were more than capable of coming back in the end. Okay, by “the end” I was hoping “the end of this game,” but we all know that didn’t happen. The fact that Phil Hughes did his best impression of a choke artist plus the fact that Brian Bruney is, well, Brian Bruney, left us in a 6-0 hole. The final was 6-1. Yuck.
I know I said our offense was slacking, which it was, but I must give credit where credit is due. Cliff Lee basically spanked us and put us in time-out like we were disobedient children (more on this momentarily). He’s good. Too good. I’m not gonna knock the guy for his talent. He was just better Wednesday night. Props to him. [facepalm]
Lucky for us, Thursday night was alright for fightin’. AJ freakin’ Burnett was in. the. building. Wheelin’ & dealin’ some filthy-nasty pitches. It was artful, a beautiful sight to behold [in more ways than one ]. Seven strong innings, four hits, one earned run, and nine K’s. He Hulkified and basically turned the tables on the Phillies. Throw in some Mariano Rivera for the two-out save and some Pedro Martinez for the LOSS, and we are good to go. It was like a spa day. So relaxing.
I was looking through pictures from this game, and I swear I’ve never seen so many of Derek Jeter completely pumped up. It seemed like every other click led to a fist pump and a mouthing of something along the lines of “YEAAAAAH!!!” Just an interesting tidbit I thought I’d share, but I digress.
The final of this game was only 3-1, but those 3 were a huuge 3, clearly. Some Texual Healin’ courtesy of Mark Teixeira and a Godzilla impression courtesy of Hideki Matsui confirmed the paternity test. The Yankees are, in fact, Pedro’s daddy. It was our turn to spank him and put him in time-out, fershure! Tack on another run courtesy of Brett “The Jett” Gardner [running for Jerry Hairston, Jr., who had a base knock] brought in by Jorge Posada, and we have Game 2 in the bag. Good stuff, good stuff.
To rewind for a second… In all honesty, I wasn’t that impressed with the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys performance. I actually listened to the song itself, and it’s kinda dumb, I can’t lie. The chorus doesn’t even rhyme. If Billy Joel was there playing “New York State of Mind,” it would’ve been better. Hands down. And what was Alicia wearing? Honestly? Whatever. It’s over. Hopefully it never happens again. Sorry to those who think H-to-the-Izzoh, V-to-the-Izzay is the Second Coming (but not really). =)
So, of course we’re expecting big things from our favorite Southpaw tonight. I have faith in him. He’s Andy Pettitte. If anyone can do this, it’s him. He’s got the bling to show for it. We have got this series, no matter what anybody says. We have GOT this. LET’S GO, YANKEES! *CLAP, CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP!*
ALCS Games 1 & 2: Oh, HELL Yeah!
‘So come on, feel the noise; girls rock your boys
We’ll get wild, wild, wild… wild, wild, wild.’
How can a Yankee fan not be happy at this point? I mean really. At home in the freezing cold conditions, against none other than the Hellish Halos, your hopes are high but expectations? They may waver a tad. Our boys have done us good in these two games. They made the Angels look like monkeys [pun possibly intended]. It was grand.
Game 1: CC “Boss Dawg” Sabathia took the hill for his first trip of the series. He tossed eight innings of one-run, four-hit, seven-K ball. If that’s not ballin’, I’m not sure what is. If he pitches twice more in this series, it’s gotta be in the bag. You can never have a doubt when the guy is on the mound. He’s the insurance policy. In short, he is amazing.
Before I continue, I just want to thank Jason over at Heartland Pinstripes for always having awesome recaps of the game. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to be as detailed as I want to. You freakin’ rock, Jason!
Okay, so, Alex Rodriguez was to thank for the Yankees’ drawing first blood in game 1. LET THEM HATERS HAAATE. He’s clearly proven everybody wrong who’s doubted him. He was basically the MVP of the DS, along with CC, AJ, and Andy, of course. Anyway, he had a sac-fly to put the Yanks up 1-0 in the first, and Matsui followed with a bloop single to score Johnny Damon. WOOP.
Fast-forward to the fifth, Hideki Matsui knocks a double to score J-Dames and make the score 3-1. A-Rod tries to do the same, but instead was called out in a pretty intense collision at home plate – more intense for Jeff Mathis, I should say. It was a good try nonetheless I suppose, although he did run through Robbie Thomson’s stop sign.
There was one more run to be had in the sixth, thanks to a botched pickoff attempt by John Lackey & a single by Derek Jeter to score Melky Cabrera. This made the score 4-1, which ended up being the final. Angels’ miscues certainly were used to our advantage in this game. Good times.
Game 2: It was AJ Burnett‘s turn on the mound. Through the first four, he was workin’ it. When the fifth inning came around however, he let the Halos come back and tie the game at two. He ended up going six-and-a-third, just allowing three hits and having four Ks. On any other day, this would be considered a really good outing for him, so I’m not gonna knock the guy.
Offense, offense, offense. Robbie Cano with a triple to score Nick Swisher, who of course worked a walk, in the second. Captain Clutch then decided to tack another one on with a solo shot to right field in the third.
Naturally, the game went into extras, and dramatics ensued. Chone Figgins, the president of the Lollipop Guild, hit a single in the 11th to score Gary Matthews Jr. and make the score 3-2 with Alfredo Aceves on the mound. Aceves did not save us. Growl. This was the point where I was near stroking in the club where I was out with friends for a birthday. Yes, I was glued to the TV. Yes, I know how stinky that sounds, LOL. But as I’ve said, I have an addiction. O=) Anywho, as my other friends were on the dance floor, I watched Alex Rodriguez put us at ease, blasting a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the inning. There were many cheers to be had by the patrons other than myself.
Aside from Aceves, the combined efforts of Phil Coke (.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K), Joba Chamberlain (.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K), Phil Hughes (.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K), Mariano Rivera (2.1 IP, 1 H, 2 K), Damaso Marte (.1 IP), and David Robertson (1.1 IP, 2 BB, 1 H, 1 K) yielded good results (though the lines look pretty shaky). Whatever hits these guys gave up didn’t do any damage. They cleaned themselves up rather nicely.
To the thirteenth we go. Robbie Cano with an error in the top of the frame to let Erick Aybar aka Coolio on base. Ugh. Aybar bunted to 2nd by Figgy. Ugh. Bobby Abreu IBBed. Ugh. Torii Hunter with a groundout to DJ, but the runners move up. Ugh. At this point I was just begging to be put out of my misery. Thank God Vladimir Guerrero was having a bit of an off day. As my Dad put it “he left a small country on base last night.” Inning over, crisis averted. Whew.
Bottom half of the thirteenth. I’m in the car on the way home from the club, wishing I was still in front of the TV. Jerry Hairston Jr., pinch-hitting, hits a single. Brett Gardner bunts him to second. Sacrifice successful. Cano gets IBBed. Melky hits a grounder to second, and Maicer Izturis makes a MAJOR faux pas and throws the ball away! JHJ scores! YANKEES WIN, THEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN! Much screaming and celebrating ensued while en route to my house. Myself as well as two of my friends scared the bejesus out of our other friend in the passenger seat. Whoops. All in the name of winning, of course. =)
So, our boys travel to Anaheim and far better weather in the west for games 3 and 4. Up 2-0 has a really, really nice ring to it. The matchup for Monday afternoon consists of Andy Pettitte vs. Jered Weaver. I’m beyond the point of being hyped/stoked/excited/etc. My blood pressure is probably through the roof. Ah, well. Two more wins and we are off to the WORLD SERIES, BABY! =D LET’S DO THIS!
The End? The Beginning? The Beginning of the End?
‘This is a love attack, I know it went out but it’s back.
It’s just like any fad retracts before impact.’
®. A much, much better result than the last three games – by a longshot.
It’s sad to say the 2009 regular season is over for our boys. They need only 11 wins throughout this postseason to accomplish Mission27
™ and raise a new banner in the “House That George Built.” But, on the plus side, they finished up with a record of 103-59 along with a guaranteed trip to the playoffs, the AL East title, and Home Field Advantage throughout the playoffs. Talk about a 180
°. I think it’s safe to say
2008 never even existed in Yankees history, at least, at this very moment in
time. =)
But anyway, back to the game itself. AJ got a little
redemption courtesy of his offense come the sixth inning. In the sixth inning,
which should be known as the “Middle Finger” inning, the Yankees
scored all ten of their runs, seven of which came off the bat of Alex
Rodriguez. Those 7 RBI made history today. It let Alex finish the season with a
couple of nice, round numbers – 30 HRs and 100 RBI on the season. His
second homer of the inning set a franchise-record 243 for the season. It made
him the 5th Yankee of the season to have over 25 pops, and second on the team
in RBI, following Tex. Now, I called this inning the “Middle Finger”
inning for a couple of reasons. First, the Rays basically IBBed Tex the second
time around the lineup because they didn’t want him to get ahead of Carlos Pena
for the league lead in home runs. D!ck move on their part. It was a dumb move
both for that reason and because in A-Rod’s previous at-bat of the inning, he
smoked a 3-run shot. Clearly a stupid move, even though they probably could
have cared less whether they won or lost.
The other reason I gave the sixth inning that nomer was because, well, A-Rod beasted it this season. He missed nearly a month’s worth of games [and then some with the days off] and came back to be top-10 in a few offensive categories. If you were told prior to the season that you wouldn’t be back ’til August, but still come back in May and have a season like this? I think anyone would take it. He basically showed everybody who doubted him that he can still work it, even if he’s not 100%. Now, I haven’t been a huge fan of the guy in the past, but this season, I think I’ve been converted. A good postseason may just lead to idolatry.
Sidebar: He sent his first pitch of the season over the fences, and he did just the same with his last. Now that is something.
Of course, A-Rod couldn’t have had all those RBIs without guys on base. Johnny Damon woke up a little from his recent slumber and had two doubles [both in the sixth inning]. Jeet had two hits, no surprise there. Roboto had a hit, Swish had a hit, Melkster had a hit, and even Panda had a hit (it’s about damn time). Even a good amount of the replacement guys got action: BG scored, Miranda scored, and Guzman scored. For a half inning, it sure was action-packed. And thanks to all this action, AJ, despite giving up two runs and seven hits, got himself his 13th win of the season.
Even though it was a beautiful blowout, some of the relievers had to get some work in. Girardi sent David Robertson to the mound: success. Joba? Success (more on this later). Cokie? Success. Philly “Pornstache” Phranchise? Success. Mo? Speaks for himself. No runs, no hits, no walks for all five of those relievers.
Back to Joba. On Twitter, V [over at Flair For the Dramatic] said this: “Joba is Jesus out of the bullpen.” I don’t think I could have said it better myself. The guy is golden in that spot. I really don’t get why they couldn’t just keep him there. But that’s a debate I’d rather not get into. He pitched a whole half-inning and got a K out of it. He was sssssmokin’. I like him in the bullpen for the postseason. Hopefully he gets a shot at some point.
So, with all of this said, the 2009 season has come to a close. I hate that line. At least there’s still some good baseball left to be seen. I’m hoping TPPT™ as well as GoodKarma™ (a newbie on the scene) will be present throughout these playoffs and will help get us that 27th World Series title. The wait will be long, but in the end? Absolutely worth it. Whatever the ALDS may bring, whether the team is Detroit or Minnesota, our boys will be ready with the momentum of this final win behind them. In closing, here’s a preliminary toast to all of you fellow fans out there, to a fan-freakin’-tastic ’09 regular season, and, of course, to our boys in pinstripes. And like an old friend of ours once said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” [clink]
Beautiful Day For Baseball
And a trip to the Bronx! =D
That’s right, I made my first trip to the grand new Stadium on 161st St. and River Ave, and let me tell you, it was completely, COMPLETELY worth it.
I was hoping that the Yankees would hold off being swept by the Orioles because I rarely ever go to games, and I like to see wins when I go. It seems that they were in the generous mood because they did win, by a landslide.
CC had an overall great outing, except for giving up those two runs in the 2nd and one in the 4th – partially thanks to J-Dames thinking there were three outs when there were only two in the fourth inning. *sigh* Pon atención, por favor, J-Dames!
The fifth inning was where things really got going. As I went to meet some friends from Twitter, both Joe Girardi and Alex Rodriguez got tossed from the game. We missed it on the field, but we were watching it on the TV screens near the concession stands. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Girardi that mad before. It was pretty intense. I thought punches would be thrown… but that would’ve been bad. Apparently the ejections were over balls and strikes, and apparently Marty Foster is in need of some binoculars or some other sort of eye aid.
But, in true New York Yankee fashion, that fire that was lit under their as$es stayed lit. They kept it rolling in the 6th inning, with 2 RBIs from Melky putting the Yanks up 5-3. Then they poured the cement on the coffin in the 8th, scoring 8 runs thanks to pretty much everybody – especially Hit-deki & Melky. Tex and BG had themselves a couple of RBIs in the 8th as well. Offensive production = check.
Back to CC. He went seven, giving up 3 runs, 5 hits, 4 walks, and only striking out 1 batter. An odd outing for CC, no doubt about it, but he still managed to get the win. Kudos to the offense once again for backing his big butt up.
As for my own experience at the Stadium, I was pretty overwhelmed. The place is ginormous, but incredibly gorgeous. I wanna live there, or at least get a job as a ball girl. That would be pretty ideal. Could somebody hook me up with that? And maybe a place to live that’s a tad closer than where I am now? Kay, thanks.
Tomorrow, in come the Halos. I hate the Halos. They are the bane of my existence. Hopefully the offense didn’t dry up today… ’cause that would not be ideal. Maybe/hopefully the essence of TPPT™ will still be there! [crosses fingers and knocks on wood] A win against this team is a must, especially at home. We’ll see what happens.
Later bloggeroos!
Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun!
As the illustrious Ernie Banks once said, “Let’s play two!”
Indeed, there were two games played on this lovely Labor Day Monday afternoon/night. Those two games were also won by the ever-persistent, fun-loving, and awesome Yankees.
Naturally following a two-game day, there would be an abundance of information to relay and opinions to establish (I’m in a vocabulous mood tonight), but for fear of going on an endless tangent, I’ll keep it as brief as possible.
So, starting off with the starters of our matinee and nightcap:
CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. The Initial Kings in the land of Yankees Universe. CC in game 1 went 7, only giving up 1 earned run while fanning 10 – he got the ND. Say it with me now, dom-in-ance. AJ went 6, also only giving up 1 run and striking out 8. He got the win. Lucky for us Dr. Jekyll was in the house today. I mean hey, this was a sh!tload of a lot better than his last few starts, no? Yeah. I think so.
CC was relieved by Hughes and Rivera. Game. Set. Match. AJ was followed by Edwar Ramirez, Jonathan Albaladejo, and newbie Michael Dunn. A bit shakier a repertoire, but no damage was done. Gotta love when the kiddies are gettin’r done too.
Offense, hm, let’s just start with the fact that Deej went 0-8 today. How does that even happen? “Paging: Derek Jeter. Paging: Derek Jeter. Don’t give Jim Rice a reason to inflate his already robust ego. That is all.” That still keeps him at 3 away from tying Gehrig at 2,718. The first game was pretty dead until the 8th, where the Yanks extended their incredible tied-post-7th-inning winning streak to 15-0. That game ended at 4-1. Mark Teixeira and Jose Molina had themselves quite a nightcap, Tex hitting two homers and Panda going 3-3 with 2 BBs. The game was blown open in the third when they scored 8 runs. Final score: 11-1. Good stuff.
Okay. What else… hmmm… Brett Gardner has returned after a 6-week stint on the DL. Welcome back BG! We love you, man! Welcome back also to Shelley Duncan and a belated welcome back to our favorite September callups in Frankie Cervelli and Ramiro Pe
ña, of course! =D Good to have those guys back on the squad, fershure. On a sadder note, the Rays took a huge blow below the belt [metaphorically] when CC hit Carlos Pe
ña in the hand [literally] with a pitch, breaking two of his fingers. Talk about a letdown. I legitimately sympathize with the Rays fans out there. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody… except maybe the Red Sox. Just kidding.
Well, with those two wins, that puts our boys 9 games up in the AL East. Absolutely nuts. And now, courtesy of about 23,805,728,957 people on Twitter, the Magic Number is down to 16. The postseason is so close we can taste it, folks. This season has been quite a trip thus far, and it can only get better if one number is in the future – twenty-seven.
Siyonara kids!
Perennial Pinstriper
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