September 2009
Uh Oh Spaghetti-o!
I realize I am super behind on the blogging and I am sorry to the three of you that actually read The Fuzz, but no need to fear! I’ve got two new entries on the way between right now and later on tonight. I am currently working on the Red Sox sweep/AL Division Champs entry and I hope I will have another sweep to write about after our last Royals game. I won’t give excuses, because there really aren’t any valid ones anyway. Just bear with me bloggers! Thanks so much ;]
-See Ya!
Angels in the Outfield
It was definitely a hell of a series when the Yanks played the Angels earlier this week in Anaheim! Pure insanity. It was so intense; I literally couldn’t breathe after the first two games. Not good. I mean, I get all worked up with Red Sox series (watch tonight at 7:10pm on Fox!) but this series had me WORKED UP, ya know what I’m sayin’? Alright, ima keep this one short and sweet people, so pay attention!
Monday we started the series 
with a loss…plain and simple: LAA 5 – NYY 2. Pettite was already feeling better, so he started that night. He was definitely a sight for sore eyes! Unfortunately, Andy gave up 3 runs in the 6 innings he pitched. Afterwards, Bruney (as always) and Albaladejo gave up a run each, giving the Angels a 3-run lead and the win. This was a very painful game to watch, although Matsui and Alex each homered to tack two runs on the board.
Tuesday had a much better outcome: NYY 6 – LAA 5. That night, the Yanks were also the first to claim a spot in the playoffs. Gaudin was the starting pitcher; gave up 2 runs in the 4.2 innings he was on the mound. Ace Hood was brought in after Gaudin and surprisingly gave up 2 runs as well. The real shocker was when Phil Hughes gave up a run! That was definitely not expected. On the bright side, Alex and Matsui provided an encore for those who missed their homers on Monday. Posie also joined in the fun! We were in the lead until the 8th inning, where the game became tied. Mr. Speedy Gonzalez (Brett Gardner) broke that 
tie in the 9th when he hit a line-drive to CF and made it to first base. He then stole second base & Jeter walked. With men on first and third, Johnny Damon bunted and got the job done.
Wednesday was just as stressful as the first two games, but again, the Yanks came out of that one with another win: NYY 3 – LAA 2. Burnett, which many fans weren’t sure of, did very well that night and convinced us he was ready for the postseason. He gave up the only 2 runs that the Angels produced in the 5.2 innings he pitched. No homeruns this game, but the Dominican Duo© (Smiley and Melk) came up with some powerful hits for the ribbies!
-That’s all guys! Red Sox/Yanks game starting NOW!
“Let’s do it! Baseball in the Bronx.” Michael Kay
The Rookie
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! This is probably one of the many ways you’ll hear me describe Francisco Cervelli. As one of the newest additions to the New York Yankees, he’s been working really hard to make his teammates proud. He’s been a part of the team since 2008, but has really made an impact this year. Cervelli covered for Molina when he was hurt earlier in the season. He has proved to be an amazing catcher and personally, I love the way he sets up behind home plate. It was a sad moment for all when he was sent back down to the minors in June. His absence wouldn’t last long, though. He was called back up in September again when the rosters expanded for all MLB teams.
This would greatly benefit the Yanks, as they found out this past Wednesday. Lately, I find myself talking to dedicated fans who have suddenly given up on the Comeback Kids and expect them to lose if they don’t take the lead right away.
Gaudin was the starter that night and he did pretty good, but he gave up three runs. At least he wasn’t as bad as my good ol’ friend Brian. Bruney hadn’t even gotten to the mound yet and had already given up a run (*not being literal, but you get me). By the bottom of the 8th, the score was TOR 4 – NYY 2. My Twitter friends were already getting ready to shut the tv off and hit the hay or had already done so.
Then, Matsui came up to the plate and decided it wasn’t over for the Yanks. So with Alex on base, he hit the game-tying homerun. This is when I made my walk-off prediction/wish. Bottom of the 9th now and Brett’s already gotten to first base, stolen second and proceeded to third with a little help from Jete. Cervelli was up next. Just the man I was waiting for…
BAM! Where had the ball gone? Past a diving Aaron Hill and 
onto the grass in LF. Gardner scores. There’s the 14th walk-off win for the Yanks! The most in MLB this season. Cervelli rounded first and kept running as he was chased down by Cano, Melk, Edwar, and the rest of the gang. He looked like a little boy running from his teammates. It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen, next to the Phillies fan giving his daughter the foul ball he had caught.
Cervelli just has this innocence about him <3 and when he was interviewed by Kim Jones afterwards, you can see how truly grateful he is to be wearing pinstripes. I love it. So after a stressful night for us fans, Gardner and Cervelli both made sure we had a sigh of relief and that I was screaming at the top of my lungs.
-’Til later on tonight bloggers!
A new meaning to “Boogie Down in the Bronx”
I thought I’d give you guys a quick recap of the last 5 games since I haven’t been blogging lately.
**Jeter broke Lou Gehrig’s record on the 11th getting his 2,722nd hit & 2,723rd hit. (sorry for the horrible quality of the mini-schedge)
So, I’m not even going to reiterate on the figurative a$s-whoopin’ that happened last night, but I will go over the literal a$s-whoopin’!
From alllllll the recaps I saw on Sports Center, Around The Horn, PTI, and the Yankees Pre-Game Show I can tell you that I honestly do not think that Melancon threw the pitch at Aaron Hill on purpose. Mitre? I’m not really sure. It could’ve been intentional, but maybe it wasn’t. Only he knows.
We all know Carlson was just backing his players up when he threw behind Posada. I applaud him for that. Why? That’s loyalty. His only problem was that he chose the wrong Yankee to prove his point with. Don’t you know Jorge’s a Puerto Rican!? You don’t mess with hispanics, Carlson. lol jk. Posada was clearly peeved and immediately started walking around saying “You don’t want to do that!” With bat in hand, he continued to pace around while the benches cleared and the ump gave warnings. I could’ve sworn Posie was gonna go at him with the bat. =X That definitely would have been interesting.
Everyone finally went back to the benches and Posie got himself a walk. Brett Gardner came soon after and brought him in for a run. On Jorge’s way past home plate he ended up elbowing Carlson. In my opinion, Carlson brought it upon himself because he was standing in the way, but I digress.
That’s where it got ugly. Release the hounds! Or at least the benches…For this part of the night, I’d love to give it a hashtag as they would in “Twitterland”:
à #UknowUfromtheBronxwhen
The Yankees bench cleared MUCH quicker than the Blue Jays’ bench did…if it even cleared at all! So, they got down to it. Jete, in typical Derek fashion, tried to break up the fight, but the poor thing didn’t have a chance. Damon flew between the two & Teixeira came from behind to get to Carlson. Then Z.Z., Pettite, & Burnett. After that, it was hard to identify anyone! I had to rewind the recaps over and over to figure out who was who!
The giant mob then split in two as Edwar Ramirez, that little stick of a man, dragged Barajas by his catcher’s gear. Shelley Duncan was on top of him probably trying to get some punches in. Swisher was trying to get an opposing team member off of them. Then, Cito Gaston got Edwar in a chokehold to get him to release Barajas. Ramirez turned around and while still holding Barajas with one hand started fighting Gaston off with his other hand. This was my favorite part of the fight. I couldn’t stop cracking up.
In the end, Jorge was “escorted” back to the dugout by Pettite & Sabathia. Girardi left the
mob with a black eye and a bloody ear, Carlson left with a nice shiner (compliments of Posada). Carlson, Posada, and Duncan all got 3-game suspensions, but Shelley is going to appeal.
-See ya later bloggers!
“Now batting…for the Yankees…number two…Derek Jeter”
It was definitely a day I’ll never forget. September 9th: the final game in a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays. There was a crowd of over forty-six thousand people on their feet with cameras and cell phones ready in hand. A legend walked over from the on-deck circle over to the batter’s box at his new home. The excited fans started to get louder, but the batter probably just heard silence. It was Jeff Niemann’s job to get this last man out to move on to the next inning. Jeff deals. The first pitch is sent deep down to right field. Base hit.
The crowd, as expected, is going insane. The batter finally reaches the base and proceeds to remove his shin guard. As he stands up to hand his gear over to Mick Kelleher he lays his eyes on the roaring crowd. He continues to looks around, seeing that both teams have stood up in their dugouts. Everyone at Yankee stadium is giving this incredible man a standing ovation. Clearly uncomfortable with the attention, he makes his attempt at trying to enjoy this moment. He takes off his helmet to the crowd, then puts it back on. He’s ready to continue with the game, but the fans aren’t. He takes his helmet off again, and in a moment where everyone should’ve had their Kleenex ready, points at his family up in the box.
This was the moment Derek Jeter, our beloved Yankee captain, tied Henry Lous Gehrig’s hitting record.
It was a very emotional night for many, including myself. I am so happy for Jete & I hope he continues to be very successful!
The beginning of the game wasn’t an indication of where the game was eventually headed, though.
Joba started the night by giving away a homerun to Jason Bartlett in the first inning. He also allowed Pat Burrell to score a run in the first. YAY…*cough* -.- Well, let’s just say Joba didn’t last more than 3 innings. Before he was taken out, el Capitán made his way to the mound and exchanged some words with the young pitcher. He appeared to be really serious and apparently straightened Jobs out. We then went through 4 more pitchers (although they didn’t give up any hits/runs): Ace Hood, Albaladejo, Bruney, and Cokie.
On the offensive side, Jeter said “ENOUGH!” by bunting in his first at-bat and ending his hitting slump. After that, he hit every time he came up to the plate. Then in his last at-bat, he got walked by Grant Balfour. That was Jete’s last chance to break the record that night. I seriously thought the Yankee fans were going to wait outside for him after the game. I was praying for his life, even though I wanted to beat up on him myself. Nick got to work late in the game. After 7 scoreless innings, he decided to unleash the Comeback Kids. Alex was already on base, so he scored. Posie came to bat right after Swisher. I guess Posie had been training to be a magician…because he sure made that ball disappear! It was a 3-run homer for the Captain’s best bud. He made it a 4-2 ballgame. Bruney and Cokie made sure it stayed that way. So in the end, we swept the Rays and Jeter tied his record.
Is everyone ready for Jete to break the record tonight!? I can’t wait ’til this rain delay is over.
-Buh bye til after the game!
**re-live Jeter’s tying hit all over again!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJ1wvJDVf4
With a game on his bat & a smile on his face
Fantastic game in the Bronx last night. I hope y’all got to see it! It was only game 3 of the Rays series. The question is: will it get any better than Nick Swisher’s walk-off victory tonight? We can only hope!
Monday the Yanks had double duty: they played a double-header against the Rays to start off the series. Mr. Z.Z. was set to play the day game, while A.J. had the night game. Both did a splendiferous job! Sabathia ended the day with 10 Ks, while Burnett ended the night with 8. At the end of a long baseball-filled day, they came out with two wins. Game 1: (4-1) Game 2: (11-1) ouch.
I would tell you that last night’s win was just another notch on the Yankees’ belt, but it simply wasn’t.
I’ll tell you why:
-Now they’re 40 games over .500, they’re the first team to make it to 90 wins in the majors this season, and they now have 13 walk-off wins.
Those are some pretty interesting numbers. Talking about numbers, let me give you some 9-9-09 humor…as of right now, our Yankees are 9 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL standings. I know Beebz is loving this. haha I mentioned this earlier on Twitter and a friend pointed out to me that Boston fans probably wouldn’t find this too amusing. aw damn…*cough*
Last night’s starting pitcher, Chad Gaudin, really surprised me. He had some really good stuff! I forgot which YES announcer says that a lot. I’m pretty sure its David Cone. Anyhow, he was almost, ALMOST as good as Z.Z. and A.J. were the night before. He came through with 6 Ks. Kudos Gaudin!
In case you guys haven’t noticed (which I’d find hard to believe if you haven’t) I’m so in love with Nick Swisher. On Monday night, I was saying how cool it would be to have a walk-off in one of the two games they were playing that day. It didn’t happen, but I was still hoping for one soon! So last night when I was on Twitter with all my fellow Yankee fans I mentioned how it would be nice to get that walk-off now with someone who had one yet…maybe even Swish!
Well, I should’ve played the lottery because about 2 minutes after I said that, Swish was slapping the crap out of a ball into RF. I leapt off the couch and started jumping up and down and screaming, ironically, as if I had actually won the lottery. Ha.
It was his second solo shot of the night; the first one was hit in the 2nd inning towards LF. Swish has hit homeruns from both sides of the plate 10 times each, tying with Mickey Mantle’s record. All he needs is two more homers from each side of the plate to break the record and make MLB history. (Please do correct me if I am wrong on this)
While we’re on the subject of Yankee greats and tying records…Jeter is 0-12 throughout this Rays series so far. The last time he got a hit was on September 6th (this past Sunday) against the Toronto Blue Jays. In fact, he had 3 hits that night.
**Jeter did indeed tie Lou Gehrig’s record in tonight’s series finale! See what happens when you don’t finish an entry before the next game? There’ll be more about Jete and his record in the following entry.
-Goodnight bloggers!
It’s double-header time!
Who’s excited!? I know I am! I’ve never seen
a double-header before. And to make things more exciting Jete
might tie his hitting record with Lou Gehrig. I sure hope
it’s in the first game. I have a speech to write during the
second one with my group for school (ah, speech class -.-) so
once again, I have to resort to TiVo. What would I do without
a dvr? Can’t wait to blog about this day! Hope everyone
enjoys it! Happy Labor Day!
We can’t win ‘em all, but damn!
The Yankees have given me lots of material to work with this weekend. Unfortunately, not much of it is good for them.
But first, I want to talk about what I did this past Friday (Sept 4). lol There is some relevance, I promise. I went to Borders with the intent of buying Jane Heller’s Confessions of a She-Fan. (http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/) To my dismay, it wasn’t in-stock! Booooo. I still wanted to buy a book, so I bought A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez by Selena Roberts. It looks pretty good. Can’t wait to start reading it! I guess when I’m done with that one I’ll go looking for Jane’s book again. There’s always online shopping…
Anyway, back to our beloved Yankees. I adore our boys, but they sucked the big one this weekend, especially Sunday, but we’ll get to that game later…
Thursday. Hmmm…my memory isn’t that great, but I know we won 10-5. Aceves pitched in relief of Gaudin and did very well. Posie also made history as the seventh player of the Yankees to reach 20 homers this season. All we need is for Jete to hit three out of the park so we can make MLB history, but time’s a-tickin’ for el Capitán. Obviously, Thursday isn’t part of the weekend, but this game is part of the series, so I thought I’d at least mention it. A win is always worth mentioning anyway =]
Friday night was a first for me. Why? It was the first time I chose to go out with friends and not watch the game. I, of course, TiVo-ed it, but never got around to actually watching it. Maybe I’ll do that this upcoming Thursday when they’re on break.
I do know that they lost 0-6. Joba gave up 3 runs, Dunn 2, and Melacon 1. I also know that Roy Halladay probably wanted to ring Ramiro Peña’s neck for ending his no-hitter. Poor Roy. At least he got the Jays a win that night.
Saturday, the Yanks came up with their eighty-seventh win of the season in game three vs. the Blue Jays. The final score was 6-4. Andy pitched for the Bombers that day and gave up 4 runs, but the defense kept him alive and got him the W. They didn’t do so bad offensively either. Cano got his 23rd homer of the season, while Teix got his 33rd. Posie, Alex, and Melk brought some runs in too. Then, in the 8th inning we brought in the closer. No, not Mo. Remember he had tightness in in left groin since Tuesday? Well, Hughes or Hughesy, as Girardi likes to refer to him, was set to close out the game. He got his 3rd career save that night and did it with class. Way to go Phil! According to Bryan Hoch (http://bombersbeat.mlblogs.com/), Mo was feeling much better that day, which was a huge plus! All in all, game three was a good one for the Yankees. But I guess they used up all their energy that day, because it got plain ugly for them in Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
I was wondering if anyone really wants me to elaborate on the ***-kicking we got yesterday. No? Well, I’ll try not to get way too detailed. They switched A.J. to Monday night’s second game, so Mitre started for this game. He was actually pretty good, but guess who wasn’t. Ahhh…where was the D!? I don’t know if they were just standing there staring up at the sun or what! Well, the stats say there were only four fielding errors (Hairston, Cano, Teixeira, Peña), but in my opinion that’s not the correct number. There were so many mistakes in this game! Then there was this: (insert Damon/Melky collision picture here) I can’t find the picture, but when I do I’ll put it up.
We were doing good until the 5th inning…that’s when it all went to hell. The Jays scored 8 runs that inning. It was then a 5-12 ballgame. ugggghhhh. I knew better than to give up because that’s usually when the Comeback Kids show up and they actually did! It was in the 7th, but 3 runs wasn’t enough. Oh and then Girardi brought Josh Towers to the mound. He had just been called up from triple AAA.
Randy Ruiz came up to bat. Little did he know that Towers would pop him in the mouth with the ball. I felt so bad for Ruiz. I felt so bad for Towers. It was just…awful. What a way to make your Yankees debut. eek! I then went on to watch the postgame. They interview Sergio and Damon. Let’s just say Mitre looked like he wanted to go meet these guys in an alley. He was trying really hard not to be upset, but you can tell. And as for Damon? He kind of came off a little rude, but I don’t know.
-See ya later bloggers!
Clutch = <3 for the Yanks
CLUTCH performance. These dudes are serious as a heart attack. There is absolutely NO question in my mind about why they are number one.
They’ve done it again: score multiple runs in the top of the 9th with 2 outs. The score right now (behind on TiVo) is 10-5. I sure hope it stays that way.
Hip, hip Jorge! He was voted as the Player of The Game on YES Network by the fans =D Good choice!
Both Posie & Alex were the guys that got RBIs in the top of the 9th with a tater each.
GAME OVER – Yankees win, of course.
(Thanks to Damaso Marte for ending it!)
**Anyone catch when Alex copped a feel…*cough*…I mean =P crashed into the police woman? Wow that must suck for him =/ it was funny though. Kim Jones asked him about the incident and he went on to say this:
“I’m just glad she didn’t read me my rights…only me…oh my God, how embarrassing.”
At least he has a good sense of humor. It happens to the best of us, Alex.
Sweep dreams, Orioles.
Anyone ever see the Disney movie Fantasia?
I’m sure I don’t have to explain why I ask this. You may just get the correlation between the above image & last night’s Yankees vs. Orioles game. Let’s get right down to it.
Baltimore started the game off with a run in the 1st and we quickly caught up in the 3rd with Hinske’s second solo shot of the series, so we had what I like to call a “neutral ballgame” up until the 7th inning. Alex came up with two ribbies, but Nolan Reimold responded almost instantly in the 8th with a solo-homer off of Brian Bruney. Bruney always makes me nervous. I’m not the religious type, but I started saying my Hail Mary’s when I saw him warming up in the pen.
As quickly as he was brought to the mound, he was sent back to the dugout and replaced with Cokie, then HUUUGHES! Girardi had answered my prayers. =]
Now, before I get to the best part of the game, I just want to say that our man “Z.Z.” did a great job starting last night! He got his 16th win of the season and was even named the AL’s Pitcher of the Month for August. You go boy!
I’m not gonna milk it…We simply owned the Orioles in the 9th inning. Do you understand me? OWNED. I kinda wanted to feel bad for them, but I was too busy enjoying th
is little rally the Yanks had going on. A bunch of us that were watching the game and tweeting simultaneously were joking about some insurance runs, but heyyy…we didn’t expect 7! Not that we were complaining. *smile*
Oh, and remember those two ribbies Alex got in the 7th? Well, he doubled it up in the 9th for a total of four ribbies. Suhweet. By the end of the night all of our starters had at least one hit.
Swish finally ended the 9th inning rally with a pop up to CF. Awww =( It had to end sometime. What had me tripping out about this rally wasn’t all the runs we scored, oh nooo. It was the fact that we had 2 outs on the board and we just kept bringin ‘em in! I love it!
To end this entry I wanted to point some things out. Interesting little tidbits: Teixeira had the night off (would you imagine if he would’ve had a piece of the action?), Swisher was on first (and did a good job I must say), Molina had an RBI (doesn’t surprise me), and Alex proved to the world that he comes through in the CLUTCH.
With another series in the bag, the Yanks hop a plane to Toronto for the Blue Jays series…which probably just finished (I’m behind)!
-So until next time fans, I leave you with this quote from George Steinbrenner’s Yankeeography and a picture of my favorite interview from *Tuesday’s post game…
“Always work as hard, or harder than anyone who works for you.”
yummyyy ;D
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