Now batting, Fred Durst

All the teams in MLB wore red hats. Now, I'm as patriotic as the next guy but the red lids were a little bit weird, and this is coming from a guy who went to a Yankee game last week with his dad who was wearing a maroon NY jersey.
The hats were part of MLB's Stars and Stripes collection. I guess the red hats could have been worse.

There's no truth to the rumor that A-Rod wore these spikes

Swinging in the rain

Check out how the UConn and South Florida baseball teams wasted time during a rain delay - a dance off.

New Stadium

Reports of my demise are premature. I just haven't blogged in a while because I'm lazy. Had a great birthday Thursday. Took my pops to the New Yankee Stadium to watch the Bombers whup the O's. Loved the new digs. Lots of room to walk around and pee, things that were severaly lacking in the old stadium. Still can't get over the fact that beers were $10 a pop (2 beers at NY=30 pack at package store), but what are you going to do. My dad is also going to the Stadium Saturday with my brother. He's going to have to take out a small loan. Anyway, two thumbs up from dad and I on the new Yankee Cathedral. Our original seats were upper, upper, upper deck, but I was able to persuade a security guard to let us move down. (Good story from my pops, who recalled slipping an usher a 5-spot in the 70s to move three of us behind home plate vs. the Red Sox. Guessing beers weren't $10 then). We had a great view for 5-plus innings before deciding to move down even further. The best thing about the Stadium is the fact that you can walk around and actually stand and watch the game behind the railing down low. There's a much friendlier atmosphere there, with staffers all over holding signs reading, "How can I help you."

Overall it was a great time and great place.

BP? How about AJ.

So the Yankees have finally decided to allow fans to move down to the outer reaches of the lower deck during batting practice so they can get a better view.
Fans with tickets for seats elsewhere in the new Yankee Stadium can move into outfield sections and corners of the field-level stands during batting practice, a change in policy the team said it made in reaction to fan desires.
Really, I don't know what the fans were complaining about. If they want to watch BP just go to the Stadium whenever A.J. Burnett pitches.

Sore subject

I think the Yankees need to change their name to the Crankees, because boy are they old.

Jorge's already on the DL.

Same with Matsui.

Jeter's even missing games with a sore right oblique. He's no spring chicken anymore.

I don't even know what an oblique is, but I'm sure mine's sore. For three straight days, I've taken the twins for a walk around the neighborhood.

No, not those twins.

Anyway, the walk brings me to Winding Ridge, which features beautiful homes and a nasty hill.

It's absolutley killing me.

The full walk takes me about an hour, which is about an hour too long for the boys to actually sit still. Every day I pack two juice cups, a bottle of water for myself and a box of Vanilla Wafers.

It's counterproductive. The boys drink their juice and all my water and I eat the cookies on the way back down the hill.

Manny being suspended

So, Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday for failing a drug test. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Maybe he did it because chicks dig the long ball.

I'm sure he'll be grilled by MLB, maybe even Congress.

He's in elite company.

Could there be others to follow?

Seriously, the Yankee fan in me wants to feel good that someone from the Nation, or with ties to the Nation, finally got nabbed, but I don't. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't believe that anyone's clean anymore. And I resent the amount of money they're getting paid. It's official, I am getting old.

I've long said that Vince McMahon should start a league, The XXXXL, which features nothing but athletes all hopped up on performance enhancing drugs.

I'm sure Afa and Sika would put up some serious power numbers.

But who would they get to manage them.

The Yankees just can't seem to beat the Red Sox. Posada's injury is really going to hurt because he was raking. Joba needs to go back to the bullpen because he's not getting it done as a starter.

The rivalry has lost some of its steam, mostly because the Sox are spanking the Yanks, but it got a little heated Monday when Joe Girardi accused the Red Sox first base coach of relaying signs to his hitters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/sports/baseball/05yankside.html
Maybe the Yanks should come up with some other signals like the ones used in this classic "Naked Gun" clip.

Philling in nicely

I didn't get to watch Tuesday night's Yankee game because I'm surrounded by Sox fans here at work. I guess Phil Hughes pitched well, allowing two runs over six innings. The Yanks broke open a scoreless game with 10 runs inthe seventh victory on their way to a 11-0 victory. Jose Molina hit a grand slam.

Hopefully Hughes can keep it up, Wang can straighten himself out and Joba can go back to the bullpen.

Then maybe the Yanks can make the playoffs. Overall, Tuesday was a good night, espeically since the Sox lost on a heartbreaking play reminiscent of the good old days.

I guess Youk hit Lopez in a a bad spot - the glove.

Tri-State vs. Wallingford Twilight

Just to let the thousands of fans who follow my P&P blog know, the Tri-State Baseball League, featuring the one and only Bethlehem Plowboys, will put together an all-star team to take on the best the Wallingford Twilight League, another really good summer circuit, has to offer in a special All-Star game May 9 at 11 a.m. at lovely Fussenich Park in Torrington.

The event is for a god cause, a Mother's Day Baseball Charity Weekend with all proceeds donated to the Breast Cancer Awareness/
Pancreatic Cancer charity fund. The weekend will culminate with a ceremony on Sunday at Pat Wall Field in Wallingford at 4pm on May 10 followed by a baseball doubleheader.

Here are the league websites.
http://www.wallingfordtwilightleague.com/index.html
http://www.tristatebaseballct.com/wordpress/
Hope to see you there.

Cheap seats

The Yankees are cutting some premium ticket prices and giving free seats to certain ticket holders in response to empty seats during the first homestand at their fancy new ballpark.

The team on Tuesday slashed the price of 48 first-row Legends Suite season seats on the outer half of the dugouts and photo cages from $2,500 to $1,250, and 68 others in the final three sections down each foul line from $1,000 to $650.

"There are a few hundred suite seats in our premium locations that have not been sold on a full season basis," Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. "As a result, and for many of our fans who have already purchased full season suite seats in such premium locations, the Yankees are announcing today a program that adjusts certain prices and benefits."

A-Rod inching closer

Alex Rodriguez participated in a sliding drill for the first time and got 15 at-bats Tuesday during his initial simulated game since undergoing right hip surgery last month

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Bernie talks about Cheshire

I don't know if you've seen Bernie Williams with Michael Kay on YES' Centerstage or not, but he gives a shout out to Cheshire.

The Yankees hid Williams out at Cheshire Academy when he was 16. He also spent some of that summer playing for Meriden's Katz Sports Shop the Greater Hartford Twilight League. He joked about the fact that the Katz managers never played him.

Pretty cool. Dave Katz reports that he watched the Centerstage show and that many people have commented about Bernie mentioning playing with the team.

Here's a link to a New York Times story that has some info on Bernie at Cheshire.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/20/sports/teen-ager-in-hiding-how-yanks-kept-williams-under-wraps.html?n=Top/News/Sports/Baseball/Major%20League/New%20York%20Yankees&pagewanted=all

Break out the brooms

I haven't blogged in a while, and it's not because the Yankees stink.
I really only watched one of the three games against the Red Sox over the weekend. I took in Sunday night's game while folding a pile of laundry.
Some thoughts:

The Yankees look old and tired, like an over-40 softball team.
C.C. and A.J. better start earning their $$, O.K.?

Joe Girardo must go.

Ellsbury should have been plunked, not for stealing home because he caught cousin Andy and Jorge sleeping, but becuase he came out for a curtain call.

Are you starting to hate Nick Swisher yet?
How about Brett Gardner (DiMaggio...Mantle...Williams....Gardner)

It is time to panic.

Melkman delivers

Wow, did Melky Cabrera pimp it after hitting a two-run shot in the 14th inning Wednesday to give New York a 9-7 victory over the Oakland A's.
Not bad for Brett Gardner's back up.
It was the second homer of the game for Melky, which should be proof that something is going on with a wind tunnel at the new Stadium.
A record 26 homers were hit on the opening homestand, one more than the previous mark set at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium in 1955, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Seventeen of the homers went to right field, raising suspicion that there might be a wind tunnel.
There has been talk that the Yanks hope to fix the problem, if there is one. I kind of like all the homers.

Yanks will skip Wang's turn

Chien-Ming Wang, 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA, was bypassed for his next turn, and Joba Chamberlain, A.J. Burnett and Pettitte were scheduled to start this weekend in the Yankees' first trip of the year to Fenway Park. Wang, who thinks he may be leaning to the left in his pitching motion, cannot be optioned to the minors. "I believe he's going to fix it," Girardi said. "I just do in my heart. We're behind this guy and we need this guy."

Homer Dome

Checked my email as soon as I got into work today. Apparantly, I've won 1.2 million dollars. All I have to do is send a check for $1,500 to Somalia and the 1.2 will be deposited into my account. I'm in the money.



Another email suggest that I, "Stop Stretching!" OK.


I also stumbled upon this email:
AccuWeather.com reports fourteen of the 20 home runs went over the right fieldwall, including a controversial game-changing home run hit by Yankee Jorge Posada on Sunday. The abundance of homers is raising concerns that the new stadium's design may favor fly balls, which should be alarming to the baseball team that invested $243.5 million on pitching last winter, according to the Daily News .
The wind on Saturday during the Yankees' 22-4 loss against the Cleveland Indians was mostly from the west at 15-20 mph. Given the layout of the stadium, the wind could have had an effect on fly balls in right field. Six home runs were scored by the Indians in the second inning alone.
Although the field dimensions of the new stadium are exactly that of the old stadium, the shell of the new stadium is shaped differently. AccuWeather.com meteorologists also estimate that the angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field.
The old Yankee stadium had more stacked tiers and a large upper deck, acting like a solid wall in effect, which would cause the wind to swirl more and be less concentrated. The new Yankee stadium's tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a "downslope" effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, would tend to cause air to lift up in the right field. Fly balls going into right field during a gusty west wind would be given more of a lift thus carrying the ball farther out into right field.
If the stadium seating tier shape is indeed the issue, games will only be affected during times with the winds are from a westerly direction and above 10 mph. This typically occurs during the spring and the middle to late fall. The calmer weather during the summer should lead to a smaller number of home runs. In the meantime, the home run derby may continue.

Whatever is going on, the new Yankee Stadium seems less like the House that Ruth Built and more like Coors Field.

The Yanks stunk up the new joint

It was a beautiful day for baseball. Yankee Stadium II looked gorgeous. John Fogarty played "Center Field" in center field and Bernie Williams strummed out a stirring rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Fighter jets flew overhead, Yogi threw out the first pitch and David Wells sat in the bleachers for "Roll Call."

What a great day.

Then the Yankees stunk up the joint.

Before Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the first, the bat Babe Ruth used to hit a three-run homer in the 1923 Stadium opener was laid across home plate. Jeter picked it up and the baton was officially passed. Maybe they should have dug up the Babe. The Yankees could have used in a disgusting 10-2 loss to the Indians.

The Yanks pitching was so bad that the fans, probably led by Boomer Wells, began chanting, "We want Swisher!"
It was a day to remember for all the wrong reasons.

I'd like to issue an apology. After further review, I don't hate Nick Swisher (even with this photo). And not just becuase he's hitting .458 with four homers and 11 RBIs and averages a strikeout per inning. I was harsh on Swisher earlier this week for his antics on the mound. After visiting his website, I like him a whole lot more. He has a tribute to his grandmother on there and his tweets show just how much he loves the game.

http://nickswisher.net/

Best of luck, Swish, especially since Nady is apparantly done for the season.

Peeved

When I revived this blog a couple weeks ago I made it clear that I would use this forum to discuss what's on my mind. Most of the time, it's sports. But I've noticed something lately that really, well, pi**es me off - People peeing on the side of the highway. I'm used to it, say, on the way to Yankee Stadium or something, but not on 691 like I saw on my way into work on Tuesday. Unfortunately, this is not the first time in recent weeks where I saw someone unload their bladder roadside. What ever happened to holding it? Or going deep into the woods. My wife blames MTV.

This really has me upset. It's nice to get it off my chest. I'm relieved.