"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Alright, there we go. Step in the right direction. One game at a time. Etc.

This may have been the first game all year where I did not see a single pitch thrown, a single inning. I don't know how this happened. It was weird, and uncanny. The Yankees were playing a game, and I had no involvement with it. Not that I ever actually have any active role in it, but I just wasn't anywhere near it. I guess I just always assume that no matter where I am, I'll always be able to access a tv or radio.

Which is probably true of almost every location in New York City except for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

No televisions there. No radios. Although on the roof garden where I was at, there was an enormous metal contraption thing that probably could have picked up radio signals--at least then it would have served a purpose other than looking like some high-brow version of a Double Dare obstacle. Or the braces scene in Poltergeist 2.


I don't understand museums, and even my buddy Evan said, "My mom would have killed me if she had seen me tearing through the museum to get to the drinking section." My mom, too. But my dad would have killed me if he knew I was drinking blueberry vodka-flavored drinks while the game was on. My friends would have killed me if they knew I was missing the game in favor of kicking it with a Boston fan. But I'm a tolerance work-in-progress.


The best I could do was be That Guy with the cell phone flipped open trying to monitor scores, Yanks for me/Boston for Evan, and hope that I wouldn't be set off into a fit of rage that would end in me shooting the phone at someone's head.


Sidestepped that landmine though, when I saw 4-0 in the Alt/Sux game and 5-1 in the Yanks game.

Maybe the Interleague stint won't be as bad as I thought! Knockonwoodknockonwood. Or maybe it was just the Marlins stadium, who seemed to be a lot more forgiving to this club than its actual home field. The ball wasn't popping out of the field, and the Yankees managed to field an invigorated lineup, despite the absence of ARod, who enjoyed the game from the dugout.

And yeah, I think it's a "despite the absence of" and not a "with the help of the absence from." ARod may be slumping, but he's a machine at 3B, and more importantly, he protects Teixeira. The Yanks are good, but not good enough to default to their raw talent to manufacture runs. No one's good enough that they can purport to be able to hit off any pitcher, play in any environment, win in any circumstances. That's not superior skill, that's naive complacency.

Petitte struck out 7 and even knocked in a hit (guess the batting practice for pitchers paid off.) In fact, everyone on the team got a hit, with Posada, Jeter, Teixeira, and Damon going 2-fers. Considering the lowest batting average on this team is .243 (Swisher), it's clear their lineup is a force to be reckoned with...BUT ONLY if they condition it. They only reason for not teeing off on every single pitcher they face is a lack of preparation. As Tex pointed out days ago, this team isn't good at facing pitchers they're not used to.


But hey, they got it done tonight. So I guess if a NL falls to the Yankees and CYC isn't there to see it, it doesn't make 1 bit of difference. How deflating. I wish I could have been left to the illusion that fans influence the game!


In other news:

• Batting Stance Guy put out his 2009 Yankees lineup a few weeks ago:
  
  
  
  
• Texas defeated ASU to go on to play LSU in the College World Series. What a game, down by 2 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. 2 solo homers give them a walkoff win, 4-3. That Connor Rowe has such a great story to tell his kids someday. Interesting post-game interview, where he says how he was surprised the coach gave him the hit away sign, when they had been taking first pitches for most of the game.
• Keeps re-opening this ongoing back and forth in my head about the value (or lack thereof) of holding off on the first pitch...my inclination has ALWAYS been to keep the bat glued to my shoulder. I don't remember ever in my life swinging at the first pitch, per my dad's instructions. But the more I read about it, the more evidence mounts to suggest otherwise. However, all the evidence in the world isn't as compelling as the "Dad Says So" support.
• I saw one of my friends' statuses on facebook today said, "Why is Tiger Woods the ONLY A-list athlete we ACTUALLY root for?" Great question. I don't know. What makes a favorite okay to root for? Why isn't the underdog the heavy popular favorite when up against Tiger? Where's the line drawn between likeable favorite and evil one? And how come some favorites still retain human underdog-esque status? Like UNC.
• To clarify something I thought was common knowledge: a few days I congratulated Wang on his little baby boy, Jobawang. Which isn't really his name, it's Justin Jesse. But the reason I call him Joba--and here's what I thought was understood--is because Joba Chamberlain's first name is Justin. Soo, there's that.
• Whatever happened to the gyroball that was supposed to revolution the game? Dice-K is a loser.
• The line of the night goes to my buddy for his response to "what do you feel like eating?" I would have bet the farm on "I don't know. Cheeseburger. Chicken fingers. Whatever." But instead I get a deadpan yet aggressive: "I want Brazilian food that comes on skewers that they'll chop up right in front of you." This was possibly the most abnormal thing I could think of and maybe the most difficult charge to accomodate. Which makes it the most awesome.