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

So I guess I had so much fun at the stadium last night that I subconsciously wanted to go back, since I accidentally got up the uptown 4-5 train this morning, instead of the downtown, despite the fact I’ve been making this same commute for the past 6 years.

So, 13-6. Wow. My Sox buddy to his credit wasn’t too cranky, despite booking it out of the stadium before game’s end. What a nice night for a game. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is better than a baseball game in the summer. Well, with the possible exception of a baseball game in the fall.

The game looked like it was going to be another 9.11.05 type of night . Not a lot of baserunners Early solo bomb dictating the tone of the game. Decent pitching performances…

Then the 4th inning happened.

I liken it to the Pats/Ravens game 2 years ago, where Rex Ryan pulled a Chris Webber and basically handed the game over to the 11-0 New Englanders.

I’m pretty sure Tom Brady is still trying to get 1st down.

At one point, I said to my buddy Evan, we should get beer now before they stop serving.
“Yeah, ok, good point.”
Then I joked, “Yeah, unless we’re still in the 4th or something.”
Then we both turned our heads at the scoreboard. “Holy crap, it’s the 4th inning still.”
“That must be wrong.

I’ve seen scoreboards foul up the out count, but mixing up the 7th and 4th innings is not something that I’ve ever witnessed, though I’m sure it undoubtedly happens on a fairy regularly basis over at Shea, Part II . And sure enough, yeah it was the 4th. At least another 3 innings left of being overserved. More, if we apply the lessons we learned on May 2, 2009.

The stadium was deafening when Ortiz strode to the plate. Amazing. It’s funny because it sounds the same when Sox fans are cheering Youk or Yankee fans are booing Ortiz. (PS Youk in OF?? Reminded me of the wackiness punctuating the tail end of the July 1, 2004 game.)

Good old Big Mammi. 0 for 5 on the day. Who owns who, assclown?

Damon went yard, again. 3rd game in a row. Which prompted Evan to point out that it’s steroids. I don’t necessarily believe this, though nothing would surprise me now, but the way I see it, it’s immaterial. Because Ortiz was confirmed to have been on steroids and there’s no telling what he would have done, if anything, in the pivotal Game 4 of the ALCS, had he been clean. So I think, Boston, that you ought to give us this one.

Even if there are some juicers here and there, you had 2 confirmed juicers would were likely responsible for your first ring in 90 years. The argument could be made that Giambi was the one responsible for our WS appearance in 2003, also. But that’s the point. Who cares? We both got roiders. The whole sport is allegedly “tainted.” Etc etc ad nauseum ad infinitum. I’m ok with it, so long as I’m watching baseball.

The Yankee bats absolutely crushed Smoltz after we gave him a false sense of confidence for the first 2 innings. Poor Evan: “Are you kidding me. Are you f’n kidding me right now. Smoltz is still pitching. Seriously, is Francona waiting to see if your whole lineup can go yard before he pulls him?”

Maybe.

It wasn’t a stretch, really. Every Yankee got at least 1 hit, for a collective team total of 18. Yeah, one eight. Interesting how much those numbers are following these teams everywhere, In fact, 8 was the number of runs they exploded for in their monster 4th.

"Jesus. Your lineup is so stacked," Evan says while shaking his head.

Boston's isn't too hurting either, but Jason Bay's absence was noticeable. I swear the Red Sox are making the most Yankee-esque moves lately. The Adam LaRoche flash in the pan had NY written all over it. They're playing a little like the old Yanks, too. Which is both a compliment and criticism.

There were only 4 Ks on the NY side, 10 on the Sux. But to be fair, Joba also walked 7 batters in 5 innings. Ouch. (Between the 2 clubs, there were 18 BBs.)

I hate saying anything bad about GNH, but seriously, the sight line situation was ridiculous. 4 dings that could have been caught at the warning track for all I knew. It was more misleading than listening to the CBS 880.

SPEAKING OF! My days of radio are over until the next time I have to stay late at the office anyway. But my days of radio-at-home are over! MLB EXTRA INNINGS IS OFFICIALLY BACK IN MY LIFE! And with advent of my couch tomorrow, my days of passing out in uncomfortable positions with the TV on is also back in my life. Tonight I shall celebrate the last good night’s sleep I’ll see in a while.

Other highlights from the game:

• Met Matt of Fack Youk fame in person, who I think thought I was always 3 seconds away from pulling a knife or otherwise engaging in some kind of terrifying behavior:

Lauren: anyway tell me about game
me: good. I had a lot of fun with Evan.
Lauren: hm. you paint quite the picture.
me: oh I met that guy from the FackYouk site who said the thing about cano looking at rescue helicopters. right now he’s definitely regretting offering Wednesday game tix.
Lauren: why? did you tell him you taped vodka to your person?
me: well yes
Lauren: sounds about right then.
Sent at 11:41 AM on Friday

• After my camera battery died, I did a half ass attempt to find replacement double As—which took about 2 minutes since they actually sell em near the sausage stand…for $3!!! I got back to my seat and triumphantly announced this to Evan who was equally flabbergasted and I’m not kidding when I say the 2 of us may or may not come back to the stadium and buy out the battery supply.

• Two overheard conversations:

1.
“How many 8 year olds do you think you could beat up in a row? My friends said 20, but I said 200.”

2.
“Did you hear about what Prince Fielder did?” “Yeah, I know. He’s a vegetarian.” “Was that relevant to the story?” “I think so.”

I guess the fans at the stadium were so flummoxed by what was going on down on the field, that all reason and respect to the boundaries of normal social conduct were thrown out the window.

The best part about it all is that even if we lose the next 3, we're still guaranteed to be in 1st on Monday.

Huzzah!

But let's win the other 3 anyway, just for some cushioning. I'll be watching from home tonight. In my concerted, determined efforts to take it easy this weekend, I decided it'll be a good time to get the ball rolling on painting the stadium murals in my bedroom. Quite an undertaking, to be sure, so tonight will be Phase I: sketching out the New Stadium. I can probably draw the old one in my sleep at this point, I've created it so many times. But GNH is another story. And while I've done this mural thing before, I'm working with a much bigger canvas now. Wish me luck.


Tomorrow I'll be tackling ridiculous biting-off-my-than-I-can-chew project #2 when my upright gets here, and I'll try learning how to play that song in Misery when Paul Sheldon's banging away on the typewriter.

Piece of cake. And by piece of cake, I mean it looks like a great way to drive myself completely insane and hysterical on my "taking it easy" weekend. As if the Boston series wasn't compromising my grip on stability enough as it is.