The Yankees honored Jackie Robinson a day late, but they did it in a very tidy fashion, dispatching the Diamondbacks in a relatively quick and easy victory.
Nova was better than he was the last time he started, but he’s still a work in progress. He got into trouble and couldn’t go deep into the game, but he didn’t have a meltdown inning, which is something. And he gave us a chance to see our terrific bullpen do its thing, including our own everyday #42, the best closer ever.
Cano put runs on the board with his beautiful homer, and the boys tacked on some sweet insurance. What more can we ask for?
Loved the “Sweet Caroline” thing (in spite of how much I dislike the song itself and always have). I was on Twitter during the game and Neil Diamond tweeted about how much it pleased him. Very classy, Yankees.
Speaking of #42, I saw the movie last weekend and thought it did a very good job of showing us what Robinson went through to play in the big leagues. Talk about fortitude and guts, not to mention sheer talent. He was an incredible ballplayer and an even more incredible man.
It’s weird watching games on this coast at 4 pm. I can get the scores before going to sleep. It was weird seeing sweet Caroline at Yankee stadium. It looked very different than at Fenway where they sing along and sway. It was a nice move but I don’t know that the crowd seemed interested. It is always fun to win but the Janers are more relaxing.
Michael Kay said it best when he said, #42 comes in for the save in which our own Robinson came up big, on the day honoring #42 Jackie Robinson, with the score being 4-2… Or something like that. They only way it’d be better was if the game was actually yesterday instead of today, but whatevs… (i do want to catch that movie, Jane! i just don’t know if i’m going to have the time.)
Funny thing about Sweet Caroline today. I had heard that they were going to play it between the 3rd and 4th innings at Yankee Stadium (why at that time? it’s not like they play ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ in the middle of the 8th anymore), but I wasn’t home yet when the time came to play it. I had left work, listening to the game, and made a pit stop at Best Buy before heading home (had to pick up Django Unchained which came out today, along with a couple of new albums). When I got back into the car I hear this song playing, and the dude was crooning or something! I thought, ‘This is an odd commercial. Straight out of the 70s. Who is this meant to attract?’ I looked around the people in the parking lot and I didn’t dare bring the windows down while I tried to solve this mystery. It went on too long to be a commercial. ‘What happened to the game? Where did John and Suzyn go? Did my radio die or go bad? This station is supposed to be news radio anyway, they don’t play music! Did I somehow get transported to Bizarro Land?’ And then the familiar lyrics came up and I thought, ‘Oh, you idiot. It’s “Sweet Caroline”, fool!’ I realized I never actually heard the entire song, only the chorus. And then I felt ok. So, yes. Very classy by the Yanks. I hope people appreciated that. But it was still odd to hear.
I do have to say that I was more than a little ticked at Girardi again today. So it’s the fourth inning and Gardner is at bat with two runners on first and second and nobody out. John and Suzyn are wondering whether he’ll bunt or not. I think that of course he has to bunt. It’s been a scoreless game, Arizona just took a 2-0 lead, and you don’t know what Nova is going to give you the rest of the way. Here we go, we can tie it up again with a single from Robbie coming up next. And then Gardner starts swinging away. Ok, ok… Maybe Girardi wants him to swing at the first strike so as not to give away the bunt. Gardner can beat the throw anyway, but if the bunt’s not expected it’d be an even easier hit. And then he gets a second strike. I facepalmed! It’s bad enough he’s got Cano in the second spot for some reason (to get him more at bats??), but you’re not going to let your best hitter try to drive in two runs? If Gardner strikes out then you’re setting Robbie up for an inning-ending double play. And then Gardner strikes out…
Waste of an out.
Luckily for us (and me. i just made it to my tv in time), Robbie came up big with that home run. But you can’t rely on luck. And I know it was early in the game, but who’s to say Arizona wouldn’t score some more and put us in a deeper hole? And let’s not forget that this isn’t the best lineup we can put out there. We can’t wait for things to happen. We can’t wait for Cano or anyone else to bail us out with a home run. With men on second and third, at least a ground out scores a run. This is all basic baseball knowledge (oh!! don’t ask me about the baseball newbies that sat next to me during last Saturday’s game!!). I just don’t get it. Girardi drives me to ACK-ACK at the screen! (ok, well i don’t really do that. that would be strange.)
Sigh….. Jane? What are we going to do with this guy? Lol…
Ha! I just caught the encore broadcast of the game where Cano hit the home run. I guess Ken Singleton answered the question for me! I obviously didn’t hear him say this earlier, but the bunt probably would’ve forced the Diamondbacks to walk Cano with the base open. I still would’ve bunted. I’d have bases loaded with Youkilis up. That’s not bad either. But then the question is asked once more, why hit Cano second? If you’re not going to bunt with Gardner, then what’s the point? Proactively keeping the other team from being reactive? Gwa-huzzuh? My brain melted a little.
Class Act…that’s all I can say about how the Yankees organization handled the Boston crisis. I agree, Jane. I don’t like “Sweet Caroline” but it looked like fun and it was nice to do for the Boston fans. Cool that our “Robinson”, usually in “24”, the reverse of “42” hit the game winning runs and that the only “42” left in MLB closed it out. I’m not thrilled with Nova…kind of thinking that he and Hughes should be wearing other team’s jerseys soon. Looking forward to 2 more wins at home, starting tonight…GO YANKEES!!!
Barbara, it’s the best having the games start at 4, isn’t it? We never have to stay up late! The only bad part is when there’s a 1pm start on the east coast and it starts at 10am here. I usually don’t watch those anymore. Too much to do.
YankeeCase, when the Yankees go into a tailspin and lose game after game, I’ll worry about Girardi. Right now, I’m liking these wins a lot. Yes, he’s been batting Cano 2nd (and 3rd too), but Cano got off to a very cold start after he came back from the WBC. Now he’s heating up, so let’s see how it goes. Did you watch “Django Unchained” yet? It was my favorite movie of last year.
I don’t know what they’re going to do with Nova, Diane. He has the proverbial “good arm,” but he needs to throw strikes in the right places.
I don’t want to see a Yankee tailspin which is why I’m worried about Girardi’s moves, lol…
Haven’t seen Django Unchained yet. I’m a big Tarantino fan but didn’t get a chance to watch it at the movies. That’s a big fail on my part. I’ll be watching it soon though.
Hi Jane, I just came across this and thought you might enjoy it! Apparently, Cliff Lee posted about it on Facebook…he seems to think Philly fans are more loyal than Yankees fans, but we know better. =)
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/04/17/phillies-have-second-most-loyal-fanbase-in-mlb/
Also, about Nova…I think he needed a bit of confidence and I think last night’s game helped with that. Hey, he got 6 strikeouts – that’s more than Phil Hughes can boast about!!! I’d like to see Joe G keep him in the rotation and see what happens. He’s done a lot in the last couple of years so we should see what Nova can do. We owe him that much.
I would expect Lee to praise Phillies fans since he’s on the Phillies, although they weren’t so loyal when they were booing Halladay earlier in the season. I’m fine with seeing what Nova can do. He’s shown he’s a good pitcher. I just sense that the organization may have become disenchanted with him.
Somber mood in Cape Cod. Lot of commercial billboards with Boston messages.
I bet it is, John. I hope you enjoy your trip nonetheless.
I just turned on the game at 3-0 and then we score 3 and then the homer and I screamed and clapped so loud and realized I’m in a hotel rom and might have annoyed my neighbors. What fun