(Syndicated from It’s About the Money)

Sometimes I have days when my mind is going a million miles an hour – okay, so it happens at least six out of the seven days in a week – and on those days, when my thoughts are all over the place, I like to write them out. Aren’t you lucky?

I’ll usually post only the baseball thoughts but an occasional, random thought about other stuff like music, life, or even the weather will creep in.

And away we go…

We’re a week away from Opening Day. The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are the inaugural Sunday Night ESPN game for 2013. Yes, I have the same thought – the poor Astros.

The Yankees will open a week from tomorrow against the Boston Red Sox in what most “experts” (and I put that in quotes for a reason) are predicting will be a battle for the American League East cellar.

I don’t think the Yankees will end the season in last place.

I’ve been known to be incorrect in my predictions.

I’ve also been known to be very correct in my predictions. Case(s) in point: In a phone call to my dad on April 20, 1997, I told him the Florida Marlins were going to win the World Series. Or the time I correctly predicted the 2007 Yankees’ regular season record in March. My favorite was when I predicted Jason Giambi‘s 30+ home run season in February 2005. (He finished with 32.)

Can Spring Training seem any longer?

Or be more boring?

Can the person with the Yankee voodoo doll please put it away? Thanks.

I cannot stop listening to Justin Timberlake’s new album. Like, I mean, I’m listening to it every waking hour on repeat. I think need an intervention.

I hope one of the Yankees uses at least one of his songs as their walk up song this season.

I’m interested to find out what the new guys’ songs will be because Ichiro coming to bat to LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem always amused me.

I hope if Derek Jeter goes old school he picks something better than Puff Daddy.

Yes, he’s still Puff Daddy to me.

» Continue reading “Stacey’s Random Baseball Thoughts”

Lots of stuff has happened this past week.

The major bit of news was losing Curtis Granderson to a broken forearm five pitches into his Spring. Of course what followed was lots of speculation about who will take over while Granderson is recovering – he’s supposed to be out at least the first month of the season.

Then we have the Yankees struggling to win Spring Training game which isn’t really news because it’s only Spring Training and the regulars haven’t played that much. They’re currently riding a seven-game losing streak (THE HORROR!)

Joba Chamberlain decided he wanted to stir up more controversy by saying he’d rather be a starter. Naturally, the press and angry fans had a field day with this. It was loads of fun for everyone involved.

Let’s see, what else? Oh right, Joe Girardi decided he also wanted to cause a stir by saying Phil Hughes may not be ready for the start of the season. You know what else? He may be ready.

Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia are well on their way back from their surgeries. Sabathia’s elbow is responding well to pitching sessions and Rivera’s knee is responding well to both pitching sessions and fielding drills. Another guy coming back from surgery, Derek Jeter, has started running and he’s still on track to be in participating in Spring Training games by March 10.

The first full week of Spring Training – full as in the whole team was in camp – is nearly over and what have we learned?

Well, for one thing, we learned that the Yankees are open to switching the defensive alignment of the outfield by placing Curtis Granderson in left field and allowing Brett Gardner to patrol center field. This is all in the beginning stages and it may not even come to fruition but the fact that the Yankees are open to this idea makes me happy. I believe the stronger outfield would have Gardner in center.

Another thing we learned is that Ichiro Suzuki is pretty funny. From him showing up on the first day of training camp in a glittery Yankee cap – at least according to the beat writers who couldn’t take pictures in the clubhouse so there actually isn’t any proof that this hat exists. I guess we’ll have to take their word for it – to his quote in which he subtly made fun of the New York sports media for focusing on Derek Jeter’s weight which, surprise surprise, turned into a non issue to him tipping his cap or, in this case, helmet after he blasted a batting practice home run off fellow countryman Hiroki Kuroda. I like Ichiro. He can stay.

Next up, we have Mariano Rivera who seems to be healthy and ready to pitch in 2013. He threw his first live batting practice and said he felt good. He said that he was more worried about how his knee would respond to fielding practice than he was about pitching. You and me both, Mo. Let’s hope everything stays copacetic.

Jorge Posada returned to Tampa as a guest instructor this week. He already shot down the comeback idea. According to Posada there will be no repeat of what happened with Andy Pettitte last season although some Yankee fans wouldn’t mind it considering the team doesn’t actually have a starting catcher as of this moment.

Phil Hughes hurt his back earlier in the week and was diagnosed with a bulging disc. The Yankees conservatively estimated he’d be out two weeks. Hughes started getting ready for the season two weeks earlier than usual so these next weeks off, according to him, will put him right on schedule. Or something.  Frankly, I’m concerned because this is the third season in a row that Hughes has had a back issue. His 2012 ended when he left Game Three of the American League Championship Series with a back problem.

What else happened in Tampa?

• Joba Chamberlain grew this thing on his face. 
• New Yankee Kevin Youkilis arrived and hugged it out with Joba.
• Alex Rodriguez issued a statement about his rehab and the New York Daily News which seems to be obsessed with Alex, reported that he ate at the same seafood restaurant three nights in a row this week. He ordered oysters. No word on if this is all a part of his rehab.

Flickr image by Maisa_NYC

Since we’ve come to #24, I’m reposting something I wrote in 2011 to mark the tenth anniversary of the best playoff game I ever attended. It was called “October 31: The Bamtino and Mr. November.” it’s about Game Four of the 2001 World Series.

Enjoy!

***

So, where were you on October 31, 2001? I was lucky enough to be in Section 16 of the Upper Deck at the old Stadium. As a part of my ticket package at the old place, I had four tickets to one game of each round of the playoffs – I miss that package so much.

I was with my best friend, my brother and my father who were also with me during the previous round – we went to Game Four of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners. That game featured the first playoff walkoff home run I had ever experienced in person thanks to Alfonso Soriano.

Little did I know when I walked into the Stadium Halloween night 2001, that Soriano’s home run would trumped by two improbable blasts.

My 2001 postseason started off on a sour note with a loss to Oakland in Game 2 of the ALDS. I am a very superstitious Yankee fan. My friends usually tease me for it. But I had worn all Yankee gear at Game 2 so when my dad called me at work the day of Game 5 of the Division Series I was glad I would be going straight from work. No Yankee stuff. Maybe that would help them win.

Well, they did win. They clinched the series and I was convinced that my long grey sweater coat was the good luck charm. When Soriano won Game Four of the ALCS I knew that I’d have to wear the coat to Game Four of the World Series.

So I did. I also made sure that all four of us were in the same positions we were in for the ALCS. I was closest to home plate, my best friend was to my left followed by my bother and my father. (I told you I was superstitious. Okay, and crazy.)

Now we all know how the game ended but I wanted to write about what it was like being there. Especially during the eighth, ninth and tenth innings.

When Arizona went ahead in the eighth, I felt a sense of dread. This game was big. If they were to win, they’d go up three games to one. Plus, aside from Shane Spencer’s home run off Curt Schilling in the third, the Yankees weren’t doing much of anything – which was a theme of that World Series. Schilling and Randy Johnson were a two headed monster intent on destroying Yankee hitters.

I felt a little relief when I saw that Schilling was coming out of the game and that Bob Brenly – the Diamondbacks manager at the time – was going to the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. That relief turned to horror when Byung-Hyun Kim struck out the side with ease.

I remember the bottom of the ninth like it was yesterday, my heart was beating out of my chest, I was afraid to look at the game. My brother was calling me a wimp and I was telling him to shut up. Good times.

When Derek Jeter made the first out of the inning I shook my head and I said, “They have to win this game. They HAVE TO!” to no one in particular or maybe I was talking to God.

Paul O’Neill followed with a squibber to left. Is that the term? Look, it was barely a hit. Kind of a bloop and kind of an oops! Anyway, having him on first made things a little better, until Bernie Williams struck out on a ball down around his damn feet. Kim had a funky delivery and the Yankee hitters were not getting good wood on the ball or in Williams’s case, any wood on the ball.

Next up, Tino Martinez who up to that point had an 0fer in the World Series and who was only 7-47 for the whole postseason. I remember actually saying, “Do something damn it!!” Then I got nervous and was afraid to look again so I put my sweater coat collar up to my eyes. My brother said, “Don’t be a wuss! The game isn’t over.” And as soon as he finished saying it Kim threw the pitch.

As the ball traveled toward the right field bleachers it was like slow motion. It took until Martinez got to second base for me to comprehend what I had seen. Tino Martinez just tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. I started screaming and jumping up and down like a maniac. I joined in with the other nearly 56,0000 people. My best friend was especially excited because Tino Martinez was her favorite player. And my brother in the midst of the chaos yelled, “I told you it wasn’t over!!!”

The Yankees had new life.

And it almost seemed like they could actually win it in the bottom of the ninth when Jorge Posada walked and David Justice singled but Shane Spencer struck out to end the inning.

Mariano Rivera came in to pitch the top of the tenth and induced three ground outs. (Sigh. Sorry I’m thinking about a few days later…)

When the Yankees came up in the bottom of the tenth, Kim got Scott Brosius and Alfonso Soriano to fly out. As Derek Jeter stepped up to the plate I also yelled at him to do something. He hadn’t been the same since he dove into the stands during Game 5 of the Division Series and whatever he did to himself seemed to adversely affect his hitting.

I remember my brother pointing at the clock and we all remarked on how it was after midnight, that there was a full moon and that it was offcially November. Baseball in November? Full moon? Yeah, holy cow. That’s a recipe for something, dare I say, magical?

Jeter worked the count full and then the improbable happened. He hit a fly ball toward right field and it carried and carried until it left the park. Mr. November was born.

“Whoomp, There It Is!” started blaring on the loud speakers and the whole Stadium went nuts.

And just like that the Yankees went from being on the brink of a 3-1 deficit to a 2-2 series tie.

My favorite things about that night:

• The feeling of the Upper Deck bouncing up and down when Tino hit his home run. (I was so happy that I didn’t care that the force of our excitement was causing tons of steel and concrete to go up and down like a mini trampoline.)
• Hugging and high fiving total strangers after Jeter’s walk off. I love that about baseball.
• Chanting “Let’s Go Yankees” for about 45 minutes straight as we were leaving the Stadium – hmmm maybe that combined with all of my screaming during the game is why I lost my voice for four days and why it’s permanently damaged now.
• Last, but certainly not least, that I was able to share that experience with my dad, brother and best friend.

Looking back ten years later, I can honestly say that Game Four of the 2001 World Series is still one of the best games I’ve ever attended. I also love that I can say I was there. I wear it almost like a badge of honor because when I tell people they usually say how lucky I am to have been there. And they’re right, I am lucky.

Silver Slugger Award Winner

First, Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter both were awarded Silver Slugger Awards. Here’s the announcement from the Yankees:

Earlier tonight, Louisville Slugger announced that New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and shortstop Derek Jeter were recipients of 2012 American League Silver Slugger Awards, marking the seventh time in the last eight seasons that multiple Yankees have received the honor in the same year. The Yankees were one of three teams to win more than one award this year, along with Detroit and Washington.

For Cano, it marks his fourth career Silver Slugger Award, and third straight (also 2006). Cano becomes the first Yankee to win Silver Sluggers in three consecutive seasons since shortstop Derek Jeter won four straight awards from 2006-09, and just the fifth Yankee overall to accomplish the feat since the award was first presented in 1980 (also Dave Winfield, 1981-85; Don Mattingly, 1985-87; and Jorge Posada, 2000-03). His four Silver Sluggers match the most for any American League second baseman (also Roberto Alomar, Julio Franco and Lou Whitaker), and only Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (a seven-time winner) has more among Major League second basemen.

Cano batted .313 (196-for-627) with 105R, 48 doubles, 33HR and 94RBI in 161 games in 2012, tying his career high in doubles (also 2009) and establishing a career high in home runs. Cano led all Major League second basemen in games played (161), hits (196), doubles (48), home runs (33), RBI (94) and batting average (.313), and tied the Rangers’ Ian Kinsler for most runs among Major League second basemen (105).

For Jeter, it marks his fifth career Silver Slugger Award, after also taking the honor in four straight years from 2006-09. Among American League shortstops, only Cal Ripken Jr. (eight) and teammate Alex Rodriguez (seven) have won the award more times since its inception in 1980. Jeter is the only Yankees shortstop to ever win a Silver Slugger Award.

The Yankees shortstop hit .316 (216-for-683) with 99R, 32 doubles, 15HR and 58RBI in 159 games in 2012, marking the most hits in the Majors this past season and his second-most hits in a single season (219H in 1999). Jeter also ranked among AL leaders in at-bats (first), average (fifth) and runs (ninth). He also tied Miguel Cabrera for the most multi-hit games (64) in the Majors.

Congratulations to them both.

The other bit of news is that Tino Martinez will not be hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox, he will be the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins. Yeah, that came out of nowhere but congratulations to him as well.

Derek Jeter had surgery to repair his fractured ankle this morning and reports say it was successful. The recovery period is 4-5 months.

CC Sabathia has a bone spur in his balky left elbow and will be visiting Dr. James Andrews *gasp* to see if anything else is wrong. Let’s hope not.

And finally the eyes have it, or in this case, they might not. The Yankees are sending Curtis Granderson to the eye doctor. Shouldn’t they send the entire lineup minus Ichiro to the eye doctor? To be fair, Granderson did look lost at the plate and it appeared as though he wasn’t picking up some pitches. Also, some of the routes he took in the outfield during the season left a lot to be desired so maybe there’s something to this eye thing after all?

Derek Jeter will have surgery on his fractured ankle this Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The expected recovery time is approximately 4-5 months which means Jeter will return to baseball activities at the very start of Spring Training. (If all goes well.)

The Yankees Are Going To The ALCS!!!!

When my brother informed me that there were $20 tickets available for today’s game I told him, “I’m not sure I can handle being at a do or die game.” He agreed and we didn’t get the tickets.

Now that it’s over and the Yankees have won, I’m still glad I made that decision. I wouldn’t have been able to handle being there in person. Kudos to the people who were there.

Today, the star of the game was CC Sabathia, who pitched a complete game to lead the Yankees to victory.

The game followed a familiar pattern: Both teams weren’t hitting and both pitchers were on fire. For the Orioles it was Jason Hammel setting the Yankees’s batter down one right after the other.

The first hit for the Orioles came in the fourth inning off the bat of Nate McClouth but the Orioles didn’t score off Sabathia and the game remained scoreless.

In the fifth inning, Mark Teixeira led the inning off with a single and in a move that shocked pretty much the entire world, stole second.

Yes, Mark Teixeira stole a base.

That set up Raul Ibanez to play hero again and he did, smacking a single to center which scored Teixeira and putting the Yankees up 1-0.

Things got interesting in the sixth inning when McClouth came up and hit a ball to right that just missed being a home run. It was so close that Buck Showalter asked the umps to review the play to make sure it wasn’t a home run.

Thankfully for the Yankees, the call stood, it remained a foul ball and Sabathia ended up getting McClouth swinging to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees struck again, thanks to a Derek Jeter single which was quickly followed by an Ichiro Suzuki double to put the Yankees up 2-0.

After CC set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, Nick Swisher continued his stellar performance at the plate by striking out on three pitches. Yes, that was sarcasm.

Curtis Granderson, whose bat awoke from its series long slumber to hit a single in the fifth, hit a solo home run to right to put the Yankees up 3-0.

Now, the eighth inning is when things got dicey.

Matt Wieters started things off with a single, then Sabathia walked Manny Machado. The next batter was Mark Reynolds who struck out – the Yankees did a good job quieting his bat this series. Lew Ford came up and hit a single past a diving Jeter to score Wieters and advance Machado to second.

Robert Andino hit an infield single, thanks to the fact that no one was covering third and CC had no one to throw the ball to. The bases were loaded with one out and Nate McClouth coming to bat.

To say that my heart was beating out of my chest would not be hyperbole. It really was. I thought I was having a cardiac episode.

In the battle of Sabathia vs. McClouth, CC won this time. He struck McClouth out.

With two outs and the bases still loaded, with the Orioles still threatening, Sabathia got J.J. Hardy to ground out to end the inning.

Crisis averted.

After the Yankees were set down quickly in the bottom of the eighth – thanks to a Robinson Cano double play – Sabathia walked out to the mound to finish what he started.

He got Adam Jones to fly out to left on an 1-0 pitch. One out.

He got Chris Davis to strike out. Two outs.

And for the final out, Sabathia was able to get Wieters to hit a grounder back to him to end the game.

Ballgame over, Yankees win, and they’re heading to the American League Championship Series to face the Detroit Tigers.

(If you noticed, I didn’t mention a certain player being noticeably absent from the lineup. That’s because it’s been discussed enough.)

Some things to take away from this series

A few guys need to start hitting the ball. I’m looking at you Swish and Cano. Tex and Granderson snapped out of it alittle bit today.

The pitching was superb – both the starters and relievers. Courtesy of Jeff Quagliata who does research for YES: the Yankees had a team ERA of 1.76 in this series which is the lowest ERA in a five-game LDS since division play began in 1995. Amazing.

If there were an ALDS MVP I think CC Sabathia would win it with Raul Ibanez getting an honorable mention for his performance in Game Three and overall in the series (he was 4-9).

And there is no rest for the weary, Game One is scheduled for tomorrow night.

Rest up kids, there’s more baseball to watch!

Well, that was fun and scary.

First it was scary. Then it was fun. So let’s skip the scary stuff, shall we?

The game was tied 2-2 going into the ninth inning.

Close games are Baltimore’s ‘bread and butter’ so to speak – they were 29-9 in one-run games this season and if the Yankees were going to score, their fans would prefer for them to score more than once.

They didn’t let the fans down.

Russell Martin started things off with a solo home run on a 2-0 pitch from Jim Johnson.

Yes, the Orioles brought their closer into a tie game. It didn’t pay off for them.

Raul Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki all followed with singles. Ibanez was replaced by Eduardo Nunez when he made it to third and when Ichiro hit his infield single, Nunez scored easily, putting the Yankees up 4-2.

They weren’t done.

Alex Rodriguez struck out but Robinson Cano came up and after started the night 0-4, he belted a double into left field which scored Jeter and Ichiro. Cano reached third on a throwing error by JJ Hardy.

The Yankees were up 6-2.

Buck Showalter replaced Johnson with Tommy Hunter and Nick Swisher hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Cano.

The score was 7-2, Yankee fans were thrilled and Oriole fans were filing out of Camden Yards.

Sabathia came out in the bottom of the ninth, trying to get a complete game. He started things off by inducing a ground ball out from Manny Machado, then striking out Chris Davis.

After getting two strikes on Lew Ford, Sabathia surrendered a double to Ford and was taken out of the game.

Joe Girardi brought David Robertson in and he – Robertson, not Girardi – got Ryan Flaherty to strike out on a foul pitch to end the game.

Yankees win and guarantee at least a split in Baltimore.

Sabathia only gave up two earned runs on eight hits, walked one batter and struck out seven on 120 pitches.

Some facts from @yestoresearch:

• Derek Jeter now with 55 multi-hit postseason games, adding to his MLB record.
• This is the 8th ALDS Game 1 in which the Yankees scored 7 runs or more. (1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012)
• Yankees with 5-run 9th in postseason for first time since they put 6 on the Red Sox in Game 4 of 1999 ALCS.  It was tied 2-2 then too.