Game 100: Yankees at Indians

So I came back in from my run, showered, turned on my TV at 7:15 and missed nothing. Turns out there was a rain delay. Looks like the tarp is off but apparently they're waiting an hour before starting. Here's the lineups:

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Indians
Trevor Crowe CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Carlos Santana C
Travis Hafner DH
Austin Kearns LF
Matt LaPorta 1B
Andy Marte 3BJ
ason Donald 2B

History in the Making....still: A-Rod's 22nd at bat since his last home run will pass Willie Mays' mark the longest time any player has taken to go from 599 to 600 home runs.
A.J. the Stopper: CC Sabathia lost his first game since May 23 so it's up to A.J. to right the ship and prevent the losing streak.

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This is the Curtis Granderson we traded for

Since Curtis Granderson's name is in the headline, that should make it fairly obvious that A-Rod didn't hit #600. So A-Rod Watch will go in to Day 6.

But Curtis is finally starting to pick it up. He's had a pretty crappy season so far, while missing most of May. But he's in the middle of a 6 game hitting streak and has 3 homers in the past 2 days. If Granderson and Teixeira can hit to their ability in the second half of the season, the Yankees can put a little breathing room between them and the Rays.

Speaking of the Rays, Matt Garza threw the first no-hitter in franchise history against the Tigers. That's the 5th no-no of the season (6th if you count the 28-batter perfect game by Armando Gallaraga). It also means the Mets and the Padres are the only teams with 0 no-hitters in team history. There was one point when I was about 14 that my dad grew his beard out and said he wasn't going to shave it off until the Mets threw a no-hitter. I think that was the year Tom Glavine had one going with 2 outs in the 8th before giving up a hit. Luckily the old man decided not to follow through on that, or I'd be living with Zach Galifianakis.



The Trading Deadline is also coming up at the end of the week, so we'll obviously have news on that if CashMoney pulls the trigger on any deals.

SEE YA!

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Game 98: Yankees at Indians- Game 5 of the A-Rod watch

YANKEES (62-35)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Javy Vazquez (8-7, 4.68)

INDIANS (41-57)
Michael Brantley CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Carlos Santana C
Travis Hafner DH
Jhonny Peralta 3B
Matt LaPorta 1B
Trevor Crowe LF
Jason Donald 2B

RHP Jake Westbrook (6-6, 4.74)


History in the Making?: A-Rod has had past success against Jake Westbrook, so there's a good chance he could hit #600 tonight. Too bad only like 300 people will be in the stands to watch at Jacobs Field (I know it's not called that anymore, but I don't really care). Remember when the Indians used to sell out every game for years and years?

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Looooooong Day at Yankee Stadium

So today I was at the Yankees-Royals game to see A-Rod attempt to hit career home run 600. It was blistering hot outside but that didn't stop the fans from getting on their feet during every A-rod at bat. Unfortunately A-Rod was unable to come through, but the Yankees still put up a 'W' with a 12-6 win over the Royals behind two Curtis Granderson home runs.

There was also a two-and-a-half hour rain delay which caused many fans to leave. My friends and I sticked around and were able to move our seats from the bleachers to the second-deck level seats thanks because my friend's brother knew people who were leaving and gave us their tickets.

Not many fans stuck around, but we did with a chance to see history, however, it was to no avail. We did see Robinson Cano's 1,000th career hit, so we didn't go home milestone-less.

I'm absolutely exhausted so I'm sorry if you were expecting more but I'm just too tired to blog. Just going to watch Entourage and call it a night.

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A-Rod Still Stuck On 599

The Yankees loss 7-4 this afternoon to the Kansas City Royals and Alex Rodriguez is still sitting on 599 home runs. While Sergio Mitre struggled to keep the Yankees in the game, Mark Teixiera's bat was able to do enough damage to stay within striking distance. Down 6-0, Teixeira put the Yankees on the board with a solo shot to make it 6-1.

A couple batters later Jorge Posada hit a solo home run and narrowed the deficit to 6-2. After Jose Guillen hit a solo home run in the fifth, Mark Teixeira blasted a two-run shot to turn it into a 7-4 game.

In the ninth it came down to Teixeira again. With runners on first and second and two outs Teixiera was up with A-Rod looming on deck. Teixeira hit a soft grounder to short and replays show Tex may have been safe, but the ump ruled him out. Had the call gone the other way, it would have set the stage for A-Rod with the bases loaded and representing the game-winning run all with his 600th career homer on the line. But we never got to see that happen, boy would it have been something if he reached it in that kind of setting.

A-Rod will try and hit his 600th home run tomorrow as Phil Hughes takes the mound against Sean O'Sullivan, who faced the Yankees Tuesday as a member of the Angels.

I will be in attendance hoping to witness history tomorrow and will have a recap afterwards.

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Game 95: Yankees vs Royals (A-Rod 600 HR Watch)

Yankees
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Colin Curtis RF

Royals
TBD


Milestone watch: As many of you already know, A-Rod is on the brink of history to join an exclusive club as he is sitting on 599 career home runs, one shy of 600. Only 6 players have ever hit 600 home runs and A-Rod would be the seventh. While there's alot of controversy that has surrounded A-Rod over the last year-and-a-half expect the media coverage to be, well, Bonds-like.
Psycho: A.J. Burnett makes his first start since his Saturday afternoon meltdown in which he cut his hand smacking a glass window in the clubhouse and had to be taken out of the game for it. Burnett has had a dissapointing season (7-8, 4.99) and needs to pitch better.
Swish Scratched: Nick Swisher was scratched from the lineup with a sore achilles. Sounds like a precautionary thing to me.
Dejesus Out: Royals outfielder and a local Jersey Shore high school product David Dejesus is out for the season to undergo surgery on a torn ligament in his right thumb. DeJesus has been a topic of trade speculation lately, especially with the Yankees as a fourth outfielder.

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A-Rod on #599

Alex Rodriguez moved another step closer to baseball history with his 599th homer. If he had hit number 600 tonight, I would have been SO angry. I went to a Texas Rangers vs. Chicago Cubs game on June 19, 2007. I was sitting in the right field seats about 10 feet left of the foul pole. It was about a million degrees (which is a cool day in Texas) but I stuck it out for the entire game to hopefully see Sosa hit #600. (A little context here: I lived 45 minutes outside of Chicago from 1997-2000, so I was a big Sosa fan, as well as wanting to see baseball history.) When I turned ESPN on the next day, I saw on the bottom line that he had hit number 600. Then I saw the replay. Sosa hits one right down the right field line in the aisle next to the section I was sitting in. Right place, wrong time. There are currently only 6 hitters in MLB history to slug 600 homers, and I don't think I could handle it if I missed seeing 2 of them in person by one day.

A-Rod hit homers number 1 and 500 against the Royals, too. He's got three more chances to hit 600 against them at Yankee Stadium. John will be in the stands on Sunday to see his last chance.

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Offense slugs Yanks to victory

I took in today's game in the Bronx. First things first, it was hot. Like really really hot. I was loving it when the Yankees were up 5-0 and Javy was dealing. It was going to be an easy Yankee win and take about two and a half hours. Then the 5th inning happened.

But the Yanks offense was able to help Javy out and get him over the .500 mark. But I'll tell you some of the stories that you wouldn't get from watching on TV.

First of all, I was sitting in Section 203, home of the Bleacher Creatures. The roll call that takes place at the beginning of every game is cool when you hear it from another part of the Stadium but it's another thing to actually participate in it. I recommend doing it at least once.

Funny story about Colin Curtis's home run. After we were done trying to figure out why Gardner had been thrown out, I turned to my dad and said, "Now Curtis is gonna step up and hit a three run homer." Four pitches later, and Curtis is taking a curtain call after belting his first Major League home run. I'm not on the level of Paul the Octopus, but you know, baby steps.

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Hughes Hit Hard

It's been a tough few days for the Yanks starting rotation. First Burnett gets hit hard and hurts his hand on a clubhouse door. Then Andy Pettitte is out for about a month with a groin strain. And now Hughes gives up 6 runs in 5 innings in what is probably his worst outing of the season. I know the Yanks have been doing really well so far, but the Rays are only 2 games behind in the AL East. This race is going to get really tight in August and September if the Yankee pitching starts falling apart.

I'll be at the game tomorrow afternoon. And if I can get UberTwitter on my BlackBerry to work, I'll be tweeting @jgeant.

SEE YA!

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For the Boss and Bob

Nick Swisher hits the walk-off single to win the game 5-4 in the ninth. What an emotional, dramatic, and key win for the Yankees tonight. They distance themselves to 3 games ahead of the Rays in the AL East and Mr. Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard are looking down at Yankee Stadium with a smile on their faces.

I'm going to have to admit, I'm still disappointed Derek Jeter didn't come through for the storybook ending in the ninth. He probably had the closest relationship with both the Boss and Sheppard out of all the Yankees. Nonetheless, all the Boss would have wanted is a win, no matter how it got done or who got it done.

Mariano Rivera had an impressive ninth inning where he picked off B.J. Upton and struck out Evan Longoria. David Robertson also had an impressive outing, striking out the side in the eighth inning.

Down 3-1, Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada hit back-to-back homers to tie the game. The Rays were able to take the lead thanks to some misplays by Nick Swisher, but he made up for it tying the game with a monster shot to right field. He later got the big hit winning the game in the ninth.

This game kind of reminded me of the game after Thurman Munson died. Very emotional. Back and forth contest. 5-4 final score, both games won in the ninth. I thought the ceremony was well done, the Bleacher Creature silent roll call, and the PA address system shutdown for the game were go ideas remembering Bob Sheppard and the Boss.

No question it will be an Instant Yankee Classic...probably Monday.

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