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

April 15, 2012

So I know I promised this would be up in a more timely manner, but last night produced extenuating circumstances. I can probably count on 1 hand the number of times I've called in sick in my life, and up until today I never called in sick on a Monday. You know when you're in so much pain that it actually hurts to breathe? That, like, even trying to look at a computer screen makes your eyes tear? And the simple act of thinking makes you feel sick?


Ah, the recap must go on though. Though I preface it with saying it'll be a quick one, unfortunately.

Game notes:

• When did Jeter become such a beast at the plate? Not that he's been one of the flying-under-the-radar types or anything. But if I had to rank players in terms of how much I think there's a possibility of going yard during their AB, Jeter would definitely be in the bottom 3 of that list. He wasn't swinging like a base hitter though. He was swinging better than that.

• Ibanez hit another homerun. He's great. Such a weirdo. Like how do you think those clubhouse interactions with him are like? I bet he's like Creed on the Office. You never know what you're gonna get out of him, and you're not really sure how he came to be your coworker, but you're ok with it as long as you don't have to go out and sing karaoke with him all night.

• Poo Hole did something kinda good, and does it make me a bad person that I'm secretly happy that he's filed in the ranks with Arod as Players Who Have to Score 17 Runs in One Swing At Every At Bat If They Want to Even Remotely Justify Their Paycheck? He went 1 for 5 with a ribbie that cut the gap to 8-5, but that was all he did. Watch out, Albert. Anecdotal evidence suggests that high salaries are a scarlet letter.

• Speaking of 8-5 gap, on a scale of 1 to 11, I was a 6.5 in terms of how much I really thought the Yanks were going to blow their cushy lead. On a scale of 1 to 11, I was an 8.5 in terms of how annoyed I was at the non-baseball fan types that were texting me to ask if I thought the Yanks were going to blow the game. Who is that helping?

• Ivan Nova continues to be amazing, and continues to get somewhat of an NBD treatment. The Yankees starting rotation will probably never not be a source of concern during my lifetime, and yet despite this, the fact seems to be going uncelebrated that we have a young dude with blistering stuff whose aplomb is probably less from maturity and professionalism, and more from confusion and not having the presence of mind to be affected by Yankee Stadium pressure. He won his 14th straight decision. 8Ks in 6IP. Oh yeah, and he had a fever last night too. I can barely string 2 words together right now, but he was able to whiff almost an entire batting order's worth of Angels.

• Here's probably the funniest part of the game dynamic: "He looks really good," teammate Robinson Cano said. "I'm happy for that guy because people always criticize, his age and stuff like that, so I'm happy to see him have a good start." HA! Cano talking about Jeter like Henry Rowengartner talking about The Rocket in "Rookie of the Year."

• (Also, referring to Jeter as "that guy"= awesome. Like when I remarked that that "that guy" in Varsity Blues was "pretty good and should be in more things." My bf at the time: "Jon Voight? Uh, yeah. Hopefully this movie will open up some doors for him.")

• Oh and ALSO, "people always criticize" Jeter= first time I've ever heard that sentence. It's also about as accurate as when announcers say "And Jeter NEVER argues balls and strikes."

• D-Rob is really good at scaring the hell out of a everyone and then ending the inning. He's the Indiana Jones of relievers.

• A bunch of other Halos hit the hell out of the ball, but does it matter? The Yanks won. Torii Hunter, btw, has a man crush on the Yankees which I'm okay with. He is always saying how much he loves playing there, and makes no bones about how impressive the franchise is. Plus, my buddy Super Rob, who knows everything about every sport ever I'm not kidding, has said that Hunter is one of the nicest guys in the game.

• I guess I'd be remiss in not mentioning it was Jackie Robinson day. Every year the league honors the first black person to play baseball, by collectively wearing his retired number. And every year, I still get confused by all the #42s running around. It's not that hard a concept to grasp, but still it has the same effect on me as one of those Improv Everywhere things.

Apologies again for both the delay and for the brevity of post. Not really feeling like myself, maybe just need to go get some air. Hopefully the unfailing amusement factor of watching Pavano pitch against us tonight will help. Yeah. Carl "I am Not a Joke. I'M NOT." Pavano pitches against Freddy "I just blacked out and forgot what I was supposed to be doing" Garcia. It'll be like watching Daffy vs Donald on dueling pianos.