And A Child Shall Lead Them Home
“Good thing he didn’t just call that a strike, or I would have had to rip that TV out of that compartment and shred it; and then there would have been babies crying, people yelling at me and all kinds of weird stuff.” That was the ultimate psycho (me) after the first pitch to Posada in the ninth. Mike Rumble was laughing his usual Herman Munster laugh. I guess he found it amusing. The Rumble brothers, me, Brian Rumble’s kid Emma (6 months) and the Big Boy’s kid Chris Jr. (2) were all at Acc’s house waiting for the girls to get back from the Bon Jovi show at the meadowlands. Yup. Bon Jovi. What do you want from me? So we’re watching the game, grinding through the futility, and finding ways to amuse ourselves. Those guys had buckets of chicken and boxes of donuts waiting when I got there. I have to stop trying to eat with those guys. It really is hilarious. At this point we were in the ninth against a closer names Putz – they have to be kidding with that one… So after Posada’s grounder to second, there were four idiots jumping up and down in the middle of the floor, trying to be perfectly silent (failing – but no babies woke up). First of all, there wasn’t even a run scored. But we smelled it. Amidst the jumping, we were all talking about how preposterously out Posada was at first. Which brings us to the multiple storylines on tonight’s game.
First, Ponson had a nice outing. In fact, the Yanks as a group had a nice outing. As Michael Kay pointed out, they had five all-star caliber players not in the starting lineup tonight, including A-Rod and Posada, who both started on the bench. Combine that with the fact that their starting pitcher had recently been cut by a team that desperately needs pitching. Cut to make room for Jeff Weaver, if we’re going to get technical. Sidney Ponson did some good things tonight. He did not heed my one key piece of advice, however, which was to throw strikes. Three walks came home to score. But he did stay tough up there. He has freely acknowledged that he loses his composure on the mound when he gets into trouble, which is a rare thing for somebody to admit in professional sports. Everybody likes to think they have nerves of steel. But Sidney held it together tonight. He didn’t blow up and lose it, and he certainly could have in the disastrous first. And he went six and two-thirds, which is a gift from heaven for this Yankee team. Nice job. A heck of a lot better than Weaver last night. Kill the walks and you’ll have the makings of a resurgence.
Next up, the call. You can’t tell the story of this game without acknowledging that first-base umpire Mike Reilly blew it in the ninth calling Posada safe. Posada was out, out, out. If I was on the other side of that I would have been plasma-onto-Third-Avenue –mad. To put it into perspective, it wouldn’t have been the third out, but it sure changed the whole dynamic of the game. You can’t say that Johnny Damon would have done the exact same thing and flied out with the runner on third (the fallacy of the pre-determined outcome, as Michael Kay likes to say), but I’m not going to insult anybody by saying it would have been anything other than a tremendously tall order to knock that runner in from third with two outs. Tough break for Seattle. I don’t like to see anyone lose that way. But to be fair, we got hosed on a pile of bad calls early in the season, game after game. I said I was going to have faith that it was all going to even out, because it usually does. So here you go…
I was stomping around Acc’s living room at one point, demanding to know why Torre was pinch-hitting Aaron Guiel for Nick Green, who had three hits. And then he pounded a huge base hit through the hole. So what do I know…
Eleventh inning. Johnny Damon playing first and Andy Phillips playing second. Kind of a carnival atmosphere. Still a surprising amount of fans in the park, though. But I wasn’t expecting the end. That was something else… The Melk-Man cometh again. I stole the title of this post from Michael Kay, by the way. That was his line as Melky crossed the plate. A few posts ago I congratulated Melky on his first home run and told him to do it again. I guess he was just waiting for the right moment…
Great finish to a wacky game! Ponson besides that first inning pitched pretty good, giving us innings and 5 k's. He threw pretty much one bad pitch and Sexson made him pay. That call in the 9th stunk but like you said we've been on the otherside of those kinds of calls quite a few times this season. I love the reaction from RSN about the Yanks always getting the close calls. It's funny what people might think just to make themselves hate another team. I really like our chances in extra innings, a lineup that can put one over the fence on a moments notice. Tommorow is for another sweep and let's hope Randy is up for a strong performance. Let's go Yanks!!
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what was really interesting was the helmet-toss ala A-Rod when Melky headed back toward home plate
i guess that shows how much Melky is watching A-Rod
that was cool as in that the youngster is watching the All-Star right down to the walk-off celebration
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What are you talking about... cut to make room for Jeff Weaver?? I've been to Yankeeland and back but havn't heard that rumor. Is it just your hunch...? Personally I wouldn't mind. Ponson is great, but when the Boo birds get on him like they get on A-Rod and Farnsworth.. controlling his anger might be the least of Ponson's problems.
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In the beginning of this season, when the Yankees were struggling, injured and squeezing out plays and games, there were plenty of bad calls against the Yankees. Joe Torre hardly lost his cool because he knows that these things come around and soon your team has a chance to make something out of a blown call. Yet I hardly remember so much attention on those calls and there were several. We finally got one to keep the game going. Forcing the other team to make errors, getting to the other team's bullpen, circus catches and calls that go are way Is what makes the game exciting. That is the Yankee way to just wear the other team down and hang in there! Another corner has been turned. Ponson did the best he could do, which wasn't bad. I love this team.
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I do too. Last year it was Posada handing out t-shirts that read "grind it out". This year, the addition of Damon has been major. Plays hard to win, just like Jeter. This team has jelled nicely, gentlemen. Now if they can land Abreu, it would be icing on the cake, IMO. I love seeing *our* guys jumping up and down at home plate, rather than the "Sawk". I can taste another ring...
Ras #45
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ras-You want me too go to red sox blogs?
-kaylee
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cause I can do that
-kaylee
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kaylee, by supporting both sides you disrupt the 'flow' here.
It is your privilage to like both.
Just remember where you are posting, pick 'one' and be consistant through the season when you post. I don't think anyone would have a problem with that.
So what do you want to be here?
Anti- Red Sox ?
or
Anti- Yankees ?
(choose carefully, if you pick the wrong one there will be nothing to post about here come October) :)
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"Good thing he didn’t just call that a strike, or I would have had to rip that TV out of that compartment and shred it; and then there would have been babies crying, people yelling at me and all kinds of weird stuff.”
Ok that made me laugh for a couple of minutes. I'm glad you didnt destroy your tv, because you probably would have wanted to watch the rest of the game after you calmed down.
Great game once again... I love saying that! Did you see Johnny at the end catching Melky's helmet? I didnt want him on the team, but it seems that things are a lot more easy going in the dugout. Maybe it helps when you have to bring up half the minor league, but I have noticed a difference.
Did anyone see the Make a wish story on Sportcenter this morning with Jeter? It was pretty cool:)
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Red Sox fans will find something wrong with Jeter helping out a kid I'm sure...They can't accept the fact that good breaks happen to all teams, makes me grin knowing how miserable they are even when their team wins.
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Umair, you hitting the sauce hard or something? I think you read something wrong my friend.
Ponson did well, still not sure how I feel about him wearing Tino's number though. Something is not right about it. But, you gotta love a guy who asks his agent "are the Yankees interested?" When his agent said "Yes, and a few other teams, including Boston." Then Ponson says to his agent "find a way to get the deal done with the Yankees."
Other than that there isn't much else to say but "I AM THE MELK-MAN.....GOO GOO GA JOOB!!!"
Leftie....discomfort for Boston fans sure is fun isn't it?
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WHo won today and who lost.
That is right THE RED SOX WON THE YANKEES LOST.it feels good to have 1.5 game on the yankees now RAOUL:Guess which i picked.
-kaylee
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Kaylee, you were'nt fooling *anybody* here in PBS. It's good that you're finally "out of the closet".....
Ras #45
PS: You'll never see me in any
Sawk blog :)
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