Greetings Yankees fans!

Second Place Is Not an Option is giving away a free book to one of our lucky readers. It’s called “New York Yankees Then and Now” and it’s published by Thunder Bay Press.

The book traces the history of the New York Yankees from the time they were known as the New York Highlanders all the way up until last season.

It is edited by Larry Rossman and it’s a really interesting look back at the story of the Yankees through detailed descriptions and photographs from every era of the team from the 1900′s through 2012. Rossman even shines the spotlight on specific players from each era of Yankee history.

It’s a fun read and a great addition to any Yankee fan’s book collection.

In order to win, you’ll have to pay attention to my twitter account @StaceGots. I may post a Yankee or Bronx themed trivia question, I may ask people to retweet something, or I may just see if I can bribe you all and hit a certain follower number. I’m just kidding on that last one.

I will be using the hashtag #nowandthen.

Good luck!

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

May, 16, 2006

It was a Tuesday night and I was at the old Stadium with my brother.

We were sitting in Main Level 20 and by the time the top of the second inning ended and the Texas Rangers were already up 9-0, I looked at my brother and said, “I’m never coming to this place on a Tuesday again.” Exactly a week before, I was sitting behind home plate at the Stadium and watched as the Red Sox beat up on Randy Johnson, Aaron Small and Tanyon Sturtze and pummeled the Yankees 14-3. So I was having flashbacks to that shellacking and didn’t think I could sit through another one.

My brother calmly and confidently said, “Don’t worry, Texas has no pitching, the Yankees can come back.” I scoffed at the notion and said, “Yeah, right.” Of course, he ended up being right.

***

The Yankees began to chip away at the Rangers’ lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the second and two more in the bottom of the third. At that point the score was 10-3.

A big key to the historic comeback was being able to hold Texas scoreless in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. As the Yankee pitchers did that, the offense scored two more in the fifth to halve the score at 10-5.

Even then, my brother was confident. I wasn’t so sure. I thought they’d cut the lead to 10-9 and end up losing in spectacularly heartbreaking fashion in the bottom of the ninth but I’ve always been a pessimist. It’s an awful trait.

The game took a turn for the much better in the bottom of the sixth when the Yankees scored six runs to take an 11-10 lead. It was amazing to watch as Texas unraveled and the Yankees stormed ahead.

And how did they do it? Well, Derek Jeter hit a three-run home run, Bernie Williams hit an RBI double and old friend Miguel Cairo hit a two-run single.

The good feelings didn’t last because the Yankees lost the lead the very next inning thanks to reliever Scott Proctor who walked Kevin Mench and his size 8 head to lead off the inning and then gave up a two-run home run to Brad Wilkerson.

Working in the Yankees’ favor was that it was only the seventh inning, it was only a one run lead and that Texas’s bullpen was not very good.

Johnny Damon got on base thanks to a Mark Teixeira error and scored later in the inning on a Jorge Posada sacrifice fly.

The score was knotted at 12 until the ninth inning when Joe Torre brought in Mariano Rivera to pitch. I remember saying that I didn’t like the move and that I felt that Mo was going to give up the lead. My brother looked absolutely gobsmacked at the notion that I could be smiting Rivera but I turned out to be right. Even the guys sitting near us were mad at me for thinking that way.

Texas rallied and scored a run thanks to a Mench single, a Wilkerson sacrifice bunt, a Mark DeRosa walk and a Rod Barajas RBI double.

The Yankees found themselves trailing 13-12 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Texas brought in their closer Akinori Otsuka to close out the game. Damon singled to lead off the inning. But that was followed by a Jeter ground out to the pitcher which allowed Damon to advance to second, Alex Rodriguez followed with a line out to centerfield, leaving Posada as their last hope.

Posada, who probably should have been out of the game after a nasty collision at the plate with Mark Teixeira earlier in the contest, stepped up to the plate and after four pitches sent Otsuka’s fifth offering into the right field bleachers.

The Yankees completed their historic comeback, won the game 14-13 and I lost my voice from screaming as Posada ran the bases.

As we were walking out of Gate 2, a woman looked at me and said, “Can you believe that actually happened?” I answered, “No but I’m glad we were here for it.” She smiled and said, “Me too.” I smiled back and we went our separate ways.

(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

If you predicted that this ragtag, seems to have been formed by flinging excrement at a wall team of lovable rejects would be 24-14 at this point in the season, you are a lying liar who lies.

With that said, seeing these Yankees atop the American League East standings at this point in the season is still extremely satisfying. I know it’s still early and that anything can happen but for the moment, these Yankees are definitely must see TV.

Take yesterday’s doubleheader for example. Even though they dropped the first game, these guys made me want to keep watching. I got to see Corban Joseph make his MLB debut, David Phelps pitched a great game even though he picked up the loss in the first game and even going into the top of the ninth, I felt like they could possibly make a comeback.

Alas, it was not to be but I wasn’t too disappointed because there was a second game to follow.

And when that game started, I was excited to see Vidal Nuno make his MLB debut as a starter and to see what he could do. He also didn’t disappoint, throwing five innings of scoreless ball. Vernon Wells collected two more RBI, Lyle Overbay had another extra base hit and the aforementioned Joseph picked up his first MLB hit, a double. And he was driven in by Austin Romine who picked up his first MLB RBI. Even Alberto Gonzalez, who was called up just before the doubleheader, got in on the fun and got two hits in that second game.

I also can’t forget about young Adam Warren, who came in to relieve Nuno, got a four-inning save while only allowing two hits and striking out four.

Last year on May 13, the Yankees lineup looked like this:

There is one guy from that lineup, Robinson Cano, who went 1-9 in yesterday’s doubleheader. Isn’t that amazing?

Yesterday, the YES Network posted this graphic during their telecast:

We all know about the injuries, we’re reminded of them everyday when we read stories about the Yankees and as we watch games, holding our collective breath whenever someone hustles down the first base line or makes a diving catch but when you see all of them listed like that, it really hits you how amazing this season has been thus far.

Joe Posnanski posted a piece on Hardball Talk this morning called Yankees School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and while he focuses mostly on Vernon Wells, even he can’t believe what’s been happening this season.

I’ve been a Yankee fan all my life, even when I was just listening to a crowd cheering on the television while lying in bed as a young child and in recent years, I’ve become accustomed to seeing an All-Star or former All-Star at every single position. Honestly, this season has been more of a treat to watch. Seeing guys like Wells and Overbay contribute to the team when people were laughing at the Yankees for picking them up is extremely gratifying. And watching as the kids, like Joesph, Romine and even Preston Claiborne, seamlessly fill in while guys are making their way back has been a lot of fun.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I’ll be upset when those perennial All-Stars return to the lineup, I’m just not in that big of a hurry to see it happen because right now, I’m liking my first place ragtag team of misfits.

Brett Gardner’s return to the lineup this year has been a much needed support for the ailing Yankees, who have a number of superstar players on the bench. Losing Nick Swisher in the offseason left an opening in the outfield for Gardner, and he has taken full advantage of it, starting in all 32 games of the season.

Gardner is batting a .270 on the season, which can seem a little sub-par to some people, but with an OBP of .343 (5^th on the team), Gardner’s proving to be an essential and, at this point of the season, vital part of the roster.  He also leads the team in steals with five, ahead of Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells.

Gardner’s true skill set has been on display in the last seven games, leading the team in multiple categories, including batting average (.353) and hits (six). He’s also shown his patience in the batter’s box, leading the team in number of pitches seen during his at-bats with 79.

If Gardner can stay healthy throughout the year, he can be a very useful tool on the base paths as well as in the batter’s box in a year that didn’t look to promising for the Yankees to begin with.

(With apologies to John Sterling for stealing his schtick.)

I really like Vernon Wells.

This isn’t earth-shattering news by any means and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way but last night’s events solidified it. And I’m not talking about his performance in last night’s win over the Colorado Rockies, I am talking about his post game quotes and a postgame tweet.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t well versed in ‘Vernon Wells.’ I knew of his huge contract and the disappointing performances with both Toronto and Anaheim but I had no idea what kind of person he was.

If yesterday is any indication, Wells is a pretty cool guy and I think I want to hang out with him.

Last night, in the top of the ninth, Yankee fans realized that because of a combination substitutions in the lineup and injuries, the Yankees were going to be without a third baseman in the bottom of the frame. On Twitter, people were joking about suiting up for the Yankees and one of my Twitter friends even suggested her cat do it.

When the tweets started coming in from Denver saying that Vernon Wells was making his way to the field to play third base, most people were flabbergasted. Fans of other teams were making sure they tune in on MLB.tv to see it. Those people were mocking the Yankees for having this happen.

I mean look at this series of events:

Mariano Rivera replaces Travis Hafner (PH) pitching and batting 7th
Chris Stewart replaces Austin Romine playing C batting 9th
Vernon Wells moves from LF to 3B
Ichiro Suzuki moves from RF to LF
Brennan Boesch moves from PH to RF

Can you blame them?

So the first out of the inning was a fly out to centerfield. Some Yankee fans actually voiced disappointment because they wanted to see what would happen if Wells had a chance to make a play.

Turns out, they wouldn’t have to wait long.

The next batter, Carlos Gonzalez, hit a ball towards the 3B-SS hole and Wells moving to his left, scooped up the ball and threw it to first for the 5-3 putout. It was a pretty nice play considering Wells hadn’t played a positon in the infield since high school.

The reaction at the ballpark was loud, as if it were the final out of the game at Yankee Stadium only in Coors Field.

Isn’t that always the way? Remember the time Jorge Posada played second base for the Yankees and he ended up assisting on the last out of the game much to the delight and amusement of Nick Swisher who received the wonky throw to first?

After Wells’ play, Michael Cuddyer hit a single to right field just under Robinson Cano‘s diving try. Yes, Cano couldn’t make play and Wells did.

Next, Willin Rosario hit a fly ball to Brett Gardner to end the game and preserve the win for the Yankees.

Ballgame over, Yankees win!

After last night’s game, the beat reporters descended on Wells with good reason. It wasn’t just because of his defensive play in the ninth inning, he also had a great game offensively, finishing 3-4 with two RBI.

Wells was like a giddy little boy after the game tweeting:

Just played 3B behind Mo!!!
#ThatJustHappened

He also told reporters that the one time he played the infield in high school it was because all of the players in the infield had failed their classes.

Another thing I like about Wells, he is apparently a big fan of the show Scandal on ABC. He’s also not afraid or embarrassed to admit it. Not that he should be but you know how guys get sometimes when they watch shows that are skewed more towards a female audience, they tend to joke about watching the show or they say their girlfriends or wives forced them to watch. Not Vernon! He will proudly tweet about Scandal, even using the show’s Twitter handle and ask how it was or he’ll talk about how he missed it and how it needs to catch up.

Many people laughed when the Yankees traded for Vernon Wells. He was terrible with Anaheim, so he’d probably be terrible with the Yankees, right? Wrong. So far he is batting .287/.341/.504/.846 with seven home runs and 15 RBI and he looks like he’s having fun playing baseball for the first time in a while.

Coming to the Yankees seems to have taken some pressure off of Wells and he is just able to play baseball without the whispers about his contract. But that’s what happens when you come to a team filled with ludicrous contracts. You become just a face in the crowd.

(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

There are a few universally acknowledged quadrennial events that many people look forward to: the U.S. Presidential elections, the World Cup and the America’s Cup race are a few examples. There’s another quadrennial event that seems to occur in the New York City area and it usually appears in the sports sections of your local newspaper. It is the “Are the Yankees better off without Alex Rodriguez” article.

In particular, the columnists at the Bergen Record always seem to write these articles and they’re almost always met with ridicule from bloggers and readers alike.

In 2009, it was Ian O’Connor whose article was so maligned at the time, it was ultimately deleted. But thanks to the magic of the internet where everything is saved and captured for all time, we have an archived copy of his “Are the Yankees better off without A-Rod” column in all its glory.

Today, we have Bob Klapisch asking the same question. Klapisch’s column titled, “Klapisch: Better off without A-Rod? It’s unlikely Yanks’ enigma can restart career” not only talks about A-Rod’s career being over but he ends the column by comparing Rodriguez to Freddy Kruger.

Back then, O’Connor thought the Yankees would be better off with Cody Ransom manning third base. Guess what? They weren’t.

Now, Klapsich wonders if the Yankees would be better off with Jayson Nix manning third base. I’ll answer that for you. Not a chance.

Back then, O’Connor wrote his article before A-Rod’s hip surgery.

This time, Klapisch buries A-Rod before he even has a chance to get in his second workout at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa.

This time, Klapsich compares Rodriguez to Freddy Kruger.

This time, Klapsich plays armchair psychologist…

SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!

I know I shouldn’t even be bringing attention to nonsense like this but I can’t help it because these sort of columns drive me batty. (No pun intended)

Yesterday was a good day.

The weather was beautiful. I was in my happy place, Yankee Stadium. I ate steak covered fries – yes, they exist. I scored the game for four innings – I ended up meeting up with some friends and didn’t score the rest of it because I was too busy chatting. Brennan Boesch and Lyle Overbay hit home runs. Phil Hughes pitched well again – though he had some bad luck in the latter innings. The Yankees won the game and even better, they swept a four-game series against Toronto.

And finally, I saw this for the first time since 2011:

I’ve seen Mariano Rivera enter a game hundreds of times in the past 17 years but for some reason, I felt like I needed to shoot some video of yesterday’s jog from the bullpen.

I guess, it’s different now knowing the close of his career is coming and that there is a definitive endpoint in sight. I also think Yankee fans took it for granted. We would always joke that Mo was going to pitch forever and that bravado was shattered last season when he suffered the season-ending knee injury in Kansas City.

Now, I won’t shoot video every time Mo makes that jog but I’m glad I did it yesterday. It just felt right. And, of course, he set the Blue Jays down in order in the ninth inning.

Ho hum. Business as usual.

(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

You know it’s a good game when CC Sabathia gives up two runs while tossing over 30 pitches in the first inning and he not only picks up the win but lasts until the eighth inning and hands the ball off to Mariano Rivera for the save.

But before we get to that, let’s review what happened.

Paul Goldschmidt put the Diamondbacks up 2-0 with a line drive home run to the short porch in right field in the first. They scored again in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Pollock while the Yankees couldn’t get anything going against Wade Miley.

In the seventh, the Yankees scored three runs to tie the game and snatch a win from Miley’s grasp. The first run was scored on a bases loaded walk by Jayson Nix that scored Ben Francisco. Miley was replaced by Tony Sipp who was immediately greeted by a two-out, two-run single by Brett Gardner to tie the game.

Sabathia threw 108 pitches in eight innings of work. He gave up the three runs on six hits, walked three and struck out six.

In the bottom of the eighth, Joe Girardi pinch hit Travis Hafner for Ben Francisco when David Hernandez was brought for the Diamondbacks. Hafner made the most of his chance by driving a ball out of the park on Hernandez’s first offering to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Rivera came in and pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 inning to collect his 612th career save and fourth save of the season.

The hapless Yankees, the team people were predicting doom and gloom for are now 8-5 on the year. And yes, I know it’s only April but they’re winning games they need to win while they’re missing key players and it’s nice to see the new guys like Hafner stepping up.

They will try to get the series sweep tomorrow with Patrick Corbin facing off against Phil Hughes tomorrow night.

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)

Last night, as you all know, the Yankees decided as a tribute to the city of Boston they would play “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond after the third inning of the game.

This decision was met with various reactions.

Some people were horrified because they feel the song and its lyrics, which we’ve come to find out in recent years was written about a young Caroline Kennedy, seem a tad creepy. Others thought it was nice of the Yankees to do that sort of thing for their bitter rivals – I was one of those people. And then there were others who were angry that the Yankees would ever dare to play that song in their Stadium, thus, completely missing the point of why the Yankees did it in the first place.

Some people argued that “Dirty Water” by Dropkick Murphys would have been a better choice or maybe even “Shipping Up To Boston,” also by Dropkick Murphys. I don’t disagree with those people but I think the Yankees more than likely chose “Sweet Caroline” because it’s more recognizable outside of Boston than the previous two songs.

“Sweet Caroline” was played in a lot of different ballparks last night in tribute to Boston and the only team I know of that strayed from it were the Milwaukee Brewers who opted to go with the Cheers theme instead. Brewers, beer, Cheers, Norm! Perfect.

Also, during last night’s game, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, was tweeting out the walk up songs of the Yankees as they came on. I found this to be a big help because when I went to Sunday night’s game, I had no idea what half the songs were – this included the walk up music and anything they played between innings. I’ve become one of those old people who refuses to listen to popular radio or even try to discover “new” artists. It’s kind of sad because I love music but I find so much of what’s out today to be torture on my eardrums.

That’s not to say that I don’t listen to any modern music. In fact, I spent nearly the entire month of March listening to Justin Timberlake’s new album on a loop.

Anyway, Hoch compiled that list for you:

Brett Gardner – “Guitar Slinger” by Crossin Dixon
Robinson Cano – “Started from the Bottom” by Drake
Kevin Youkilis – “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy
Travis Hafner – “Symphony of Destruction” by Megadeth
Vernon Wells – “Awesome God” by R. Swift
Ichiro Suzuki – “Drop it Like It’s Hot” by Snoop
Francisco Cervelli – “Pegaito Suavecito” by “Various Artists”
Lyle Overbay – (has not yet selected a song)
Jayson Nix – “No-Leaf Clover” by Metallica
Brennan Boesch – “Blueprint” by Jay-Z*
Chris Stewart – “Forsaken” by Skillet
Ben Francisco – “Da Rockwilder” by Method Man & Redman
Eduardo Nunez – “Ella Ta To” by Chimbala

Way back in the 1990′s, when I first purchased my season tickets and I would go to games with my girlfriends, I like picking their brains and asking them what song they’d choose for their walk up or warm up music because I didn’t actually assume they’d always want to be hitters. In fact, a few did choose to be pitchers so their choices were slightly different because you’d get to hear more of the song. With walk up music, you hear at best 15-30 seconds.

Some would answer me right away, others would have to think about it for awhile. They mostly chose songs they grew up listening to and would rarely pick a “modern” song which I thought was pretty interesting. Back then, I did the same thing. I always wanted to walk up to the opening notes of “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran. They’re my favorite band of all time and I just thought it would be cool to sauntering out to that tune.

Now, nearly 15 years later, in 2013, I still want to come out to that song.

*One note, isn’t Blueprint the name of a Jay-Z album not a song?

(Syndicated from It’s About The Money)