Nice One, Yankees
Posted on August 31st, 2011 in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
Heck of a game last night—it felt like September baseball, didn’t it? All the more enjoyable because the good guys won. Also, because Adrian Gonzalez went 0-5. (So did Derek Jeter, but then, the good guys won.)
A few thoughts:
1) Pretty stupid of Francisco Cervelli to clap his hands like that while crossing home plate. Stupider of John Lackey to hit him, putting an insurance run on first with no one out. Also: Lackey threw the pitch, in my opinion, a little too close to the head. Not cool.
2) It must be irritating for the Sox that their record against the Yankees this year is 10-3 and yet they’re only half a game up.
3) On his (I think) 127th pitch, C.C. Sabathia threw a 96 mph fastball. Amazing.
4) One of the Yankee announcers pointed out, with genuine surprise, that after the Sox half of the 8th, Sox “fans” started pouring out of the stadium. I miss the old Sox fans; they were higher quality.
5) In some ways I prefer the Yankees without A-Rod at 3rd.
6) Why oh why is AJ Burnett still pitching? That guarantees that the Red Sox will still be in first at the end of this series…. This is an excellent example of the deleterious effects of the wild card; there’s not a chance in hell Burnett would take the mound against the Sox if the Yankees had to win the division to make the playoffs.
7) Nonetheless! Nice one, Yankees.
10 Responses
8/31/2011 12:29 pm
I may be the only one who reads this site who is not a Yankees or Red Sox fan. Instead, I’m a baseball fan, i.e., a fan of thrilling September baseball, and I note that this may be the first year that the wild card has truly harmed baseball. If there were not wild card, the Yankees and Sox would be locked in a tough battle to get into the post season. But since the Yankees and Red Sox are so far ahead in their division and wild card it is meaningless baseball. It really doesn’t matter who wins the AL East and who wins the wild card; they are both almost certainly guaranteed post season slots.
So this is a long-winded way of saying, “Who cares?”
8/31/2011 12:51 pm
Rich, Would love to hear whether you think constant internet news has led to disintegrating quality of writing, as I constantly read missense like today: “U.S. newborn death rate places us behind 40 other nations…”
I will overlook your comment about Red Sox fans
8/31/2011 9:43 pm
That was a good one too, eh, Richard?
8/31/2011 10:04 pm
THE GAMES TAKE TOO LONG! I guess I do remember sitting through a couple of rather long Sox-Yankees games in the autumn air in ’04 without any complaint. But I confess that I was one of those leaving the park after the 7th on Tuesday night, with Weds being the first day of classes and all. It is such a pleasure to watch college ball by contrast. They get the games over in less than 2 hours, and none of us misses the hundreds of velcro readjustments that fill much of the clock in a Sox-Yankees game.
8/31/2011 10:12 pm
Actually, Richard, that was not a good one!
Harry, agreed, these games are too long! I blame the Sox. (Last night, at least—Sabathia is a machine, takes very little time between pitches.)
8/31/2011 11:58 pm
Missense? Anon 12:51 pm, “missense” is a kind of mutation. I’m not sure if it’s safe to neologize around here, but your new usage of the term seems strangely appropriate.
9/1/2024 12:46 pm
Yankees’ failure to sign Lee looms large as post-season approaches. With A.J. DOA and Hughes struggling, it’s going to be tough to beat top-tier teams in a short series.
Is Ed Figueroa available?
9/1/2024 9:20 pm
Nonsensical is a word.
9/1/2024 10:37 pm
That was also not a good one, right, Richard?
9/2/2024 11:45 am
Mixed bag, Richard! On the one hand, nice to take a series against the Sox at last. On the other hand, it may keep AJ Burnett in the lineup so that he can blow an even bigger game down the road….