Fast and Moose

            As I stood on the corner of 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge, I peered down 94^th Street, squinting as my slight nearsightedness betrayed my eyes.  I couldn't make anything out, so I walked across 94^th Street to see if I could see anything that way.  And there, way down the block, I could see what I was looking for.  The missus was walking towards me, baby carriage in front of her.  The boy doesn't have his shots yet, so apparently he's not supposed to be indoors in public places, so we were going to eat outside at Paneantico.  The problem was that when we made the plan, it was 70-plus degrees and sunshiny.  But by the time I walked out of the subway, it was 57 degrees with a cold breeze blowing.  The waitress couldn't believe we were setting up outside, as we were the only ones out there.  The boy was bundled up and sleeping comfortably, but the missus and I were a bit chilly.  We started with a house salad, which they do with roasted peppers, eggplant and mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  The missus then kept with the eggplant theme and went with the eggplant parm, while I went with the steak, onions, and fontina cheese on a brick oven hero.  After we ordered, the missus was tinkering with the boy's hat and I decided to pull out the iphone and see how the Yanks were doing.  The website didn't have any updates yet.  I didn't feel good about it, but I figured I'd just get a quick check.  I called Tony Sherry.  He answered the phone without saying hello.  All he did was hold his phone up so that I could clearly hear the pledge of allegiance being spoken.  I knew in an instant he was at his Kiwanis meeting.  Yup.  Kiwanis meeting.  So I decided not to bother with the game just yet.  I figured I would wait and check it later.

            In fact, I checked the score on mlb.com about ten seconds before I started tapping out the BPS.  And I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised.  The Yankees still aren't scoring any runs.  They finished up the third inning having scored 2 runs in 27 innings.  If they kept up that pace for an entire season, they would score exactly 108 runs on the year.  Nice.  Then they got exactly two.  Two.  And who can you thank tonight?  Seannie's boy, the moose.  Again.  The moose was able to win a game for the Yanks in a game when they couldn't muster more than two runs.  So now the moose has six wins.  Last year he had 11 for the season, and I was psyched with that.  And I would have been psyched with that this year as well.  We're not even half way through May.  And I have to go back to what was kicked around after Moose's last start.  I think some of Moose's confidence, some of his momentum, can be attributed to Girardi's allowing him to work through some early hiccups into and out of the fifth inning in a few of these games.  Just letting him get that win is a big confidence boost.  Because, as we're seeing right now, the Dice-K effect kicks in.  Everyone forgets how ugly the win was, they just grasp onto sound bites like "fifth win in a row."  And as strange as it is, that can be a confidence builder.

            I'm watching the NBA playoffs as I write this, and I have a few observations.  The home teams in the second round are like 19-1, or something ridiculous like that.  When you see something like that, it's probably not an anomaly; it's a problem with the league.  In fact, in the Jazz/Lakers series, there has never been a lead change in the entire series.  That's unbelievable.  Not one lead change, and they're getting ready to play game six.  And I hate to say it, but after watching both the Celtics and Lakers, I can see why.  I really don't care who wins any of these games, to tell you the truth, but it was like every time the road team got close, the avalanche of referee whistles would turn the tide in the other direction.  Some were pretty blatant.  Guys, 19 of 20?  Something's wrong....

            You know, I talked about how fortunate Darrel Rasner was to have walked into a game at the Stadium in which the Yanks were beating up on the lowly Mariners.  Ian Kennedy, yet again, has to face a hot team, on the road, while his team is ice cold at the plate.  Against one of the top pitchers in the American League.  We'll see how this goes.  Just throw strikes, dude.