Posts Tagged ‘Rays’

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Like A Zombie Movie

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

You know how the hero annihilates the monster in these movies and comics and then another monster pops up right behind the first one….and on and on it goes until the hero goes down?

That’s the scenario with the Yankees and Rays. The Yankees send a pinstriped hero to the mound, a perfectly good pitcher with perfectly good stuff, and up pops another one of the Rays’ young arms, fresh from the farm and ready to assume the role of phenom. It’s pretty frightening.

Cobb, tonight’s monster, really mowed down our offense. I was thrilled when Joe Maddon took him out in the 9th and brought in Rodney, but the thrill only lasted a minute. Ultimately, Pettitte’s performance couldn’t match that of his young counterpart and the Yanks dropped the game and the series.

The whole thing made me long for the days when our lineup struck fear in the hearts of even the scariest looking Rays pitcher.

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Pulling One Out

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

Photo: RubberBall /Alamy

I should have had more faith in the Yankees tonight. But given the way they play at the Trop (see last night’s post) and Hughes’ loooong first inning and the mastery of David Price over our rather diminished lineup (it’s sad commentary when Francisco bats 5th), I kind of thought we’d lose.

Bad me.

There was speed at the top of the lineup (I like batting Nunez 2nd) and Cano and Wells continued their timely hitting and Ichiro came through with a big night at last. Best of all, Hughes really bore down and handled the Rays through 7 strong. Good for him. It would have been nice for him to get the win, but, after our bats battled back against an erratic Rodney, Mo nearly blew the lead (and gave me a heart attack with that homer to Longoria) and ultimately notched the save. Whew.

I know it’s only April, but that was a very heartening win. The lineup wasn’t star-studded, but they came from behind anyway against a more-than-competitive division rival. And Hughes was aggressive. John Sterling had a great line during the first inning. He said, “It’s time for Hughes to join the law firm of Sabathia, Kuroda and Pettitte.” Tonight, he joined the firm. Well done.

 

 

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A House Of Horrors Yet Again

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

You’d think the Yankees would like playing at the Trop. It’s close to their own stadium in Tampa. The weather is predictable. They have a lot of fans in FL who turn out to cheer for them. So what’s the problem?

CC, in particular, seems to go stir bugs when he pitches there. He sure was awful in those early innings tonight. I was late getting the game on and we were down 5-0 already. Supposedly, he couldn’t find the plate. Why? Do they make home plate smaller at the Trop? Nooo, so he needs to snap out of it because we face the Rays 1,000 more times this season. He did settle down though and gave the Yankees plenty of chances to score runs and make a comeback.

Sadly, the Rays have another great young pitcher – all those draft picks, all that talent – and our bats were silenced, Cano’s homer aside.

I’m not even going to bring up the report about Cano’s connection to Biogeneis or his assistant’s connection to it, except to say I must be the only human being on the planet who didn’t visit that place. I’m not going to bring up Youkilis’ balky back either, except to say we already have a creaky third baseman and we need one that’s healthy.

 

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This And That

Monday, November 26th, 2012

The “this” is news that the Rays gave Evan Longoria a six-year $100 million contract extension.

Very interesting, since they’re not an organization that usually hangs on to its stars and certainly not for that kind of dough. The Yankees have their own third baseman with an expensive contract, so maybe I’m particularly wary of Longoria’s. But good for the Rays if they believe their guy is the face of the franchise and for paying him to stay.

The “that” is the press release I just got about Nolan Ryan’s cookbook. Yes, you read that right.

Apparently, he’s been selling beef for a while and now he’s going to tell us how to cook our beef. From the release:

The Nolan Ryan Beef Cookbook will include 75 to 100 of Ryan’s favorite family recipes, some of which are identical to what Ryan grew up eating in his mother’s kitchen. These recipes will emphasize Texas BBQ and grilling, along with traditional Sunday Dinner favorites, but will also include roasting, pan searing, scoring, braising, and deep-frying. Never-before-told stories from Ryan’s playing days, and, more recently, from the era as CEO of the two time defending AL Champion Texas Rangers, will play a major part in the book as well.

Ryan has tested countless recipes and found the chef who understands his hunger for authentic, easy-to-prepare Texas beef dishes..Cristobal Vazquez, aka “Chef Cris,” is chef to the Ryans as well as the Texas Rangers. In addition to holding the prestigious title of Chef de Cuisine from the American Culinary Foundation, Chef Cris has won multiple awards around the country for his beef recipes.

What’s next? A vegan cookbook by Prince Fielder?

 

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Power Surge!

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Was that second inning a blast or what? Small ball, schmall ball. There’s nothing like a barrage of homers to make me smile, especially in such an important game. I never wanted the inning to end, even though I worried that CC might take a nap and come back groggy.

I needn’t have worried. After those nine runs, our ace returned to the mound and pitched us closer to a division title. There was griping in many corners that Girardi should have taken him out after the fifth, to keep him fresh for a possible playoff game on Friday. I suppose a case could be made that using Garcia for three innings or so wouldn’t have been a bad idea. But I’m also in the camp that you play to win the game you’re playing, not project into the future, so I was okay with the decision. We may need arms for tomorrow when Phelps gets the start, so why not save a few.

Back to the offense, how great was it to see Tex bash one in his first appearance since the injury? And Gardner batted. And Melky Mesa got his first ML hit. Maybe the Yanks can break out these T-shirts again.

It was all good in Yankeeville – an evening made even better with the news that the Rays had beaten the O’s.

So here we are, with a chance to clinch tomorrow night. No telling what will go on at the Trop, but let’s just hope our boys saved some of that firepower for Lester so they can take care of business in the Bronx.

 

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A Little Bit Of Everything Today

Sunday, September 16th, 2012

And Friends of the Blog, John and Peggy, got to meet up before the game and see all the excitement.

(Note to all commenters. Love the occasional pics but please re-size them before emailing so they’re not large files. Thanks.)

What John and Peggy got to see was small ball, long ball, good defense, misplays and errors, steals, even a warning and a couple of ejections. That’s an interesting combo for a Sunday afternoon.

Best of all, the Yankees won the series, shoved the Rays down the ladder and can take the next day off feeling good about things.

Here’s what I felt good about:

  • Nunez’s running game. I realized how much the Yanks have missed having someone speedy. He made some nice plays on defense too.
  • More RBIs from Jeter and A-Rod, our “senior citizens.”
  • Russell Martin’s resurgence at the plate.
  • Having David Phelps in the bullpen.
  • Dave Robertson looking more like Dave Robertson.
  • Soriano untucking after the save and not making an adventure out of it.

Here’s what I wasn’t thrilled about:

  • Moore throwing over Granderson’s head. I had steam coming out of my ears and was grateful Grandy was quick enough to duck out of the way.
  • The ump issuing warnings to both teams. Why not just eject a pitcher that throws at a guy’s head, intentional or otherwise? I know, I know. The warnings are to prevent the other team from retaliating. But to me, a better idea is to send the culprit to the showers.
  • Kuroda not pitching well with the nice lead. Maybe he prefers having zero run support?
  • The A-Rod error. It could have been costly, but wasn’t, thankfully.
  • Hearing Michael Kay say that Mo was at the game but not having the YES cameras show him.

On balance, today’s win was about the Yankees looking like the Yankees again.

Courtesy: New York Yankees

 

 

 

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The Good Nova’s Back And Not A Moment Too Soon

Saturday, September 15th, 2012

(courtesy: Russ and Daughters)

I was so surprised when I wasn’t blacked out by Fox and got to see the game. It was such an “up” to watch Nova pitching well and going deeper into the game than I expected. I would have been happier if Joba hadn’t allowed his runs to score and if Soriano could have gotten a one-two-three inning instead of making it an adventure, but it was a very satisfying win.

The Yanks looked good. Truly. We got homers from Grandy and Nunez (yes, I was glad for him after yesterday’s blunder), but even more fun when Ichiro singled and stole second and then Jeter, after fouling off numerous pitches as he usually does, went right up the middle sending Ichiro home. Loved that. Also fun was Cano’s double followed by A-Rod’s own up-the-middle single/RBI. In both cases, nobody swung for the fences and tried to do too much. I’m excited by the news that Gardner will be back to pinch run, but in the meantime Ichiro’s speed has been a pleasure.

So. Will the O’s go down again to the A’s? I’ll be scoreboard watching. It’s that time of year.

 

 

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Painful

Friday, September 14th, 2012

No, I’m not going to lead with Eduardo Scissorhands’ error.

Oh, wait. I just did. And the reason I did is because I’ve tried to give him a break, but I can’t. Sorry. He’s not ready for prime time defensively. He’s just not.

But the Yankees had more pressing problems tonight, chief among them being CC. I never thought I’d say that. He’s not winning games. His teammates’ offense isn’t exactly helping, but he made his own bed tonight with his inability to locate his pitches. I mean, seriously. Shouldn’t our ace go more than seven innings?

Jeter once again showed his Captain-ness by coming through when it counted. As Michael Kay pointed out, he’s carrying this team on his back – on one leg – and that it’s up to the others to step up and do their jobs. He’s leading by example but others just aren’t following. What are we going to do about Jones, Ibanez and Swisher? They’ve had their moments this season but not consistently and not for quite awhile.

I hope the A’s edge out the O’s tonight. As I write this, their score is 2-2 in the fifth.

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Limping But Still In First

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

I shouldn’t be surprised that a Yankees-Red Sox game would be so fraught with drama – not after all these years – but tonight’s nail biting win made my blood pressure go off the charts. Where do I start?

With Phelps. He was great. I hope his outing doesn’t get lost in all the hubbub because he was the one who kept the Red Sox bats quiet.

It was so nice to see us score first – and then to pad the lead. But no game at Fenway is ever in the bag, especially when things haven’t been going our way lately, so I was hoping for a few more runs. Instead, it was the battle of the pens as the Sox crept closer…and closer.

By the way, was Cody Ross a maniac or what? He had a legitimate beef about the strike call, but to hold the bat over his head facing the umpire and then go off like that? It almost rose to the level of Mr. Pine Tar.

Soriano was terrifying too, but in an entirely different way. He turned the ninth into a near horror show. But it was Jeter leaving the game that was the worst. (I’m beginning to think nobody should ever run to first base. It’s a health hazard.) He was gimpy even before tonight, but having re-aggravated the bone bruise in his ankle I can’t imagine he’ll be at full strength. Will he DH? I’m sure he’ll say he’s up to it. But – listen to me, Girardi – don’t use Nunez at short or you’ll have me to deal with.

And yes, of course, the O’s beat the Rays. It was Kyle Farnsworth on the mound, and he’s never helped us out.

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The Laughing Lady Did The Trick Tonight

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

So she’ll be in every post until the Yankees lose again.

Being back in sole possession of first place makes me breathe easier, even if it’s only by one game. Seeing the offense bounce back numerous times tonight was also heartening. Getting key hits from Russell Martin was a nice surprise. Not having to cringe when our bullpen took over from Kuroda made me do a happy dance. And having a little luck (thank you, Rays) felt good.

No, nothing is certain and there’s a long month ahead, but I liked this game. A lot.

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