Ooof

            This is why I'm a bad guy.  As we were walking down River Ave under the elevated 4 train tonight after the game, Acc proclaimed a snappy tagline of sorts regarding the game.  It was "Dellucci and Devastation," or "Dellucci and Done," or something like that...  But it definitely wasn't any of those.  "And you can use that," he says to me, finishing his thought.  So now I really don't remember what it was.  Like I said.  Bad guy.

            Fun night in section 24.  Fun stuff.  Acc, Vino, me, and Tony Sherry.  When we got back to my house, Tony came in to help select where we would put the "Be Alert Foul Balls" sign that accidentally came off of the inside part of the left field wall during the game.  Big Joe (father-in-law) and my mother-in-law were assisting the missus in babysitting.  Big Joe was in the basement watching the Mets.  "Did you watch that game Big Joe," I asked.  "Yeah, I saw it.  Unbelievable....," he replied.  Tony and I immediately looked for clarification on one question, as we certainly didn't feel like listening to the post-game.  "In the eighth inning, Joba had two strikes on Grady Sizemore, and he threw a pitch that looked dead on from where we were, and the crowd went nuts looking for the call."  He knew what I was asking.  "It was a little outside," he said.  "Close, but a little outside."  Believe it or not, it made me feel a little better.  If we had gone down because of a failed "ball" call, I would have been even more frustrated.  Unfortunately, I did not need to see a replay or hear a recap from Big Joe to know that third base umpire Sam Holbrook blew a major call in the bottom of the fifth with Bobby Abreu taking third on the Ferocious Lion's single to right.  Even from section 24, without my glasses, I could clearly see that Abreu was safe.  What a huge break for Cleveland.  The Yankees had first and third with one out turn to two outs and threat over.  Wow.  Close plays are close plays, and it's tough to fault an ump for making split-second decisions, but when I can see from about 175 feet away that a guy was clearly safe, that's a bad job by the ump.  Side note on that - I always journey to the fringes when I say that everyone loves to believe that the games are won and lost on the field.  It's distasteful to admit that hundreds of games a year throughout the major leagues are decided by ball/strike calls and close plays going one way or another.  And there is no institution that has done as much trafficking in that on-the-field myth than Major League Baseball.  I couldn't help but notice that none of the highlight packages from the game on mlb.com, or the official sites of the Indians and Yankees, included a highlight of that play at third.  Interesting.  Do you mean to tell me that Franklin Gutierrez guns down Bobby Abreu going from first to third on a base hit, cutting down a huge scoring threat, and MLB doesn't deem it worthy of a highlight?  Hmmm.....  There is a highlight from that inning on mlb.com's gameday, however.  The highlight is titled "Melky Cabrera strikes out."  Ah yes, MLB.  The game is not so pure as your manipulative, we'll-tell-you-what-to-think-the-story-of-this-game-was site and recap would have us believe.  But, as Hemingway once said, isn't it pretty to think so?   

            So what was the story?  It was painful.  No doubt about it.  But it was what it was.  What can you say?  Joba had trouble getting the fastball over, and David Dellucci hit a pop-fly, Yankee Stadium Right Field cheapie.  The Yankees have certainly hit them, and certainly won some games with them, so you can't be totally freaked out or betrayed by it.  It's going to happen every so often.  And it's going to feel like getting punched in the stomach.  No two ways about it.   Shame to waste a great performance by Pettitte.  Shame that it had to come with two outs from a guy who isn't really a home run threat.  Shame that the ump made a terrible call and shame that the Yankee bats again couldn't overcome it.  Even so, it hurts to lose when you outhit the other team in your own house.  Bad game, bad night.

            Is it fair to ask Wang, again, to pick this team up off the mat?  Fair or not, that's the way it's going down.