The event: October 21, 2000 – Game One of the 2000 World Series – New York Mets at New York Yankees

The situation: A tie game in the bottom of the 12th inning, Tino Martinez on third, Paul O’Neill on second with two outs.

The result: An RBI single to left to give the Yankees a 4-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Jose Vizcaino – Click image for source

(This post was originally published on The Yankee Analysts)

Hideki Matsui announced his retirement yesterday after 10 seasons in the Majors – seven of them with our New York Yankees – and I thought it would be fun to take a look back at his time in Pinstripes.

For this post, I chose to focus on specific games I attended during Matsui’s Yankee tenure so I could tell some stories. Some are just random games, there’s a playoff game in there and a game in which he wasn’t even a Yankee.

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane and please, feel free to leave your memories of Matsui in the comments section following this post.

» Continue reading “Hideki Matsui and Me: A Retrospective”

Yesterday, I did something I had heard of people actually doing but could never imagine doing myself, the dual stadium doubleheader. Thanks to Tuesday night’s rainout, the Yankees scheduled a separate admission doubleheader yesterday which meant that Game one would start at 1:05 p.m. The Mets were going to be playing the Phillies across town at Citifield at 7:05 p.m.

On Tuesday night, when I realized the dual stadium DH was could be a possibility, I jokingly sent a text to my brother suggesting we try it. He, of course, took the ball and ran so to speak. He bought tickets for both games on Stubhub – four tickets total in two different parks for $31 – and we left the house in Rockland County at 11 a.m. to start our adventure.

First stop, Yankee Stadium, the Bronx N.Y.:

Me and my brother in the great hall

Yesterday’s view:

And here’s Andy Pettitte warming up before the start of the game:

As you all know the Yankees won yesterday’s afternoon game 4-2 over the Toronto Blue Jays. We immediately left the Bronx, took the D train down to 42nd Street and transferred to the 7 train to head out to Queens.

We arrived early so we headed into Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. I had always seen the Unisphere and New York State Pavilion from afar – usually when making the trip out to Long Island to visit relatives – but had never seen them up close.

The Unisphere (yes, it’s instagram’d – sue me):

After wandering around for a few minutes, we headed back toward Citifield – big thanks to the Citifield employee who took this shot for us:

Me and my brother in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda

My brother went close to the field during Phillies batting practice, hoping to catch a ball – it didn’t happen. We also went to Shake Shack because for once, there wasn’t a line.

After eating dinner – pulled pork sandwich from Blue Smoke for me and a cheeseburger from Shake Shack for my brother – we headed up to our seats:

During the fifth inning, we shared some fried dough. It’s so bad for you but it’s so good. I had walked a lot yesterday so I figured I could splurge a little.

I met up with a Twitter friend in the sixth inning and we all ended up watching the last few innings together. He’s a fellow Yankee fan but his good friend and his good friend’s dad are Mets season ticket holders. There was a lot of good-natured ribbing going on.

It was fun.

The poor Mets ended up losing on a ninth inning two-run home run by Ryan Howard. They were up 2-1, were an out away from winning and then BOOM!

I actually felt really bad for them and for the poor pitcher. The Mets lost the game 3-2.

We finally arrived home from our day long odyssey at 1 a.m. We were tired but it was definitely worth it. I didn’t think I’d get to do something as fun as a dual Stadium doubleheader so I’m thankful my brother was able to do it with me.

All in all it was great day of baseball, friends, food and fun and if you ever have the chance to do a dual Stadium doubleheader in your city, I highly recommend it.

So I was perusing Twitter last night and noticed a link to a tweet by someone named Twinkle Mets. Naturally, I was curious because the person who tweeted the link was a fellow Yankees fan and her reaction to it let me know that it was probably something I should click on.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Oy vey…

Look, I get that you are happy for David Wright. Being able to say that you’ve had walk-off hits against both Mariano Rivera and Jonathan Papelbon is a pretty big deal for an MLB player but why on earth would you bring Derek Jeter into this?

And do you know how baseball actually works? From what you tweeted, I would assume you don’t.

So here’s some things you need to know so we can clear this all up:

1) Derek Jeter plays on the same team as Mariano Rivera and has since 1995 so it would be impossible for him to get a walk-off hit against him. You know, because Mariano Rivera is the Yankees closer and Derek Jeter is the shortstop for the Yankees. So unless it’s an intrasquad game in Spring Training, it can’t happen.

2) I understand that you’re a ‘big’ Mets fan – or act like you are one – so why bring Derek Jeter into something that David Wright accomplished? Oh right, because you’re jealous of everything the Yankees have accomplished during their illustrious history. I understand that. I get jealous when other teams win the World Series too. It’s only natural. Plus, as a Mets fan you constantly hear about how great the Yankees are.

3) I’m sorry I’m still stuck on the Jeter-Rivera thing. Do you really not know how impossible this would be?

4) Brett Gardner also has a walk-off hit against Jonathan Papelbon, does that make him better than Derek Jeter? I’ll answer that for you. No, it doesn’t.

Anyway, Twinkle Mets, I hope this helps.

Remember, closers cannot pitch against their own lineup. And again, congratulations to David Wright on his amazing accomplishment. I’m sure Derek Jeter will be crying about it while polishing his five World Series rings.

If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter, you probably know what I’m going to say but if you’re new to the blog, here are three things I am sick of hearing people talk about.

1) “I hate Nick Swisher!! He’s a douche!”

As everyone who watches baseball knows, Nick Swisher is a happy guy. Is he a little too happy sometimes? Maybe, but really? Who cares? It’s actually refreshing to see someone love playing the game of baseball as much as he does. And I get that fans of other teams aren’t going to like him because he’s a Yankee but the amount of hate thrown Swisher’s way is a little crazy. Especially this past weekend during the Subway Series. With the way Mets fans were carrying on, you’d have thought Swisher had kicked their dogs, pissed in their corn flakes and spit in their faces at the same time.

But Swisher did have the last laugh on Sunday night when he hit a three-run homer off Mets starter R.A. Dickey. So there. *Stacey blows a raspberry at Mets fans*

2) “The Yankees hit too many home runs and it’s going to come back to bite them in October!!!”

I know I’m not the only one who is sick of this argument. Countless articles have been written, it’s been analyzed for hours on both TV and radio sports shows and the conclusion seems to be that the Yankees are going to be doomed when the playoffs roll around – you know, if they even make the playoffs in the first place.

People are citing last year’s ALDS ouster as the main example of what will happen this coming October.

My advice is to calm yourselves. I know the Yankees have had issues with runners in scoring position, it’s been talked about so much that if you were to have a “RISP” drinking game during Yankee game broadcasts, you’d be dead from alcohol poisoning before the first pitch.

Things have become so crazy that during last night’s win over the Cleveland Indians, Robinson Cano hit a double with runners on first and third and the YES Network’s Michael Kay called it like it was the game winning, World Series winning, walk-off home run. It was quite hilarious.

For all of his carrying on, he might as well have yelled out, “OH MY GOD THE DROUGHT IS OVER!! THE YANKEES GOT A HIT WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION!!!!”

Hitting home runs is not a bad thing. It’s the way the offense has been built. They have a lot of home run hitters in the lineup. Now, would it be nice to see some timely hitting? Of course it would. And who knows? We’ve watched enough playoff series to know that sometimes problems and even assets that are present in the regular season don’t carry over into the postseason. (See 2002′s pitching staff.)

3) “If George Steinbrenner were still alive [insert something that annoys people about a specific player].”

I’ve seen so many examples of this one on Twitter that it makes me want to pull my own hair out and I finally got my hair to a length I really like, so please stop this nonsense. Think about the hair, people.

If George Steinbrenner were still alive, he would be thrilled that the Yankees have the best record in the Majors, that they beat the Mets five out of six times and that guys are mashing home runs everywhere they go. He really wouldn’t care that Rafael Soriano untucks his jersey when he picks up a save. He also wouldn’t fire Joe Girardi after a three-game losing streak that followed a ten-game winning streak.

Enough already.

The Yankees are a good team. Stop acting like they’re bad, stop acting like they’re classless and for the love of God stop saying stuff like “If George Steinbrenner were alive…”

Like I said in my recap last night, I had a feeling the much hyped CC Sabathia vs R.A. Dickey matchup was going to turn out to be a letdown. And it did.

But for Yankee fans, it was still a good night as the Bombers were able to win despite extremely sloppy play in the field.

In fact, let’s not even speak of the horrific defense tonight. I want to forget it ever happened.

Let’s instead, talk about the home runs because home runs are good and home runs are what helped the Yankees score six runs to win the game.

The big blow came when Nick Swisher hit a three-run home run off Dickey in the third inning. The Yankees were up 4-0. Mark Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring in the inning, ending Dickey’s nearly month long scoreless inning streak.

CC Sabathia also had a rough go of it which was also not helped by his shoddy defense which I still won’t talk about in detail because it’s too painful. Sabathia finished the night giving up five runs – only one of which was earned – nine hits, two walks and he struck out three in 5 2/3 innings.

Dickey lasted six innings and gave up five runs, all earned, five hits, struck out three and walked three.

The Mets were able to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth thanks to again, the bad defense and also Sabathia who just couldn’t get anything going all night. Plus, he walked Vinny Rottino on four pitches. I mean, who does that? And again who the hell is Vinny Rottino?

Cory Wade came in to replace Sabathia and promptly gave up a single to Ruben Tejada allowing Rottino to come around and score.

The game was 5-5 in the top of the eighth when Robinson Cano hit a Miguel Batista 2-0 offering over the apple in centerfield giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

Boone Logan, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano combined for three scoreless innings giving up only two hits and striking out four. Soriano picked up his 15th save of the year.

So the Yankees were able to rebound from Friday night’s loss and win the second round of the Subway Series 2-1 and finished the season series against the Mets with a 5-1 record.

Not too bad.

Thank goodness, interleague play is finally over.

Courtesy of repicematcher.com

Man, oh man.

This game had the potential to be one of those ‘break your remotes out of frustration’ games until the seventh inning when thanks to home runs by Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez, the Yankees stole what seemed like a sure victory out of the Mets’ grasp.

Ivan Nova wasn’t bad, his defense failed him on a couple of occasions and he ended up leaving after 5.2 innings. He gave up two earned runs – three runs total – on five hits, walked three and struck out seven.

The top of the seventh started innocently with a walk to Mark Teixeira which was followed by a Nick Swisher double – hit # 1,000 of his career – which moved Teixeira to third.

Most Yankee fans were wondering just how the offense was going to screw up with two on and no outs, especially with the runners on second and third. That particular situation seems to be the one they have the most trouble with.

Well, Raul Ibanez didn’t give us enough to time to think of any horrifying scenarios because he hit the first pitch he saw from Chris Young out of the park.

The game was tied and the Yankees had new life.

After Jon Rauch and his scary neck tattoo, replaced Young, he struck out Russell Martin for the first out. Eric Chavez was brought in to pinch hit for Clay Rapada and hit an 0-2 pitch into the left field seats giving the Yankees and Rapada the lead.

Rapada pitched a third of an inning and he earned the win. I love baseball.

The Yankee bullpen pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings and recorded eight strikeouts. Boone Logan had two huge strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh – both Lucas Duda and Daniel Murphy went down swinging. David Robertson did his usual Houdini act in the bottom of the eighth. It started off well with him striking out Scott Hariston but then he walked Omar Quintanilla and Josh Thole.

Terry Collins inserted Justin Turner to pinch hit for Tim Brydak who pitched the top of the eighth and Robertson struck him out, then struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis swinging.

No harm, no foul.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rafael Soriano came in and struck out Jordany Valdespin to start the inning, gave up a single to David Wright, struck out Duda swinging and got Murphy to fly out to Swisher to end the game. It was Soriano’s 14th save of the year.

After it was all said and done, Clay Rapada picked up the win and the Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak. They also won the season series against the Mets.

At the time of this entry, we’re under 24 hours away from tomorrow night’s much anticipated matchup between R.A. Dickey who hasn’t lost a game since Burger King was a Prince – or so it seems – and CC Sabathia who is looking to shut the doubters up and show that he is still worthy of the title of ace. Why do I have this weird feeling that it’s not going to live up to expectations? Probably because match ups like that rarely ever do.

Don’t forget that tomorrow’s game is an ESPN Sunday Night Game. Also, don’t forget to mentally prepare yourselves for it. One last thing, nap during the afternoon since you never know how late it will end.

You can all blame me for this. It’s okay, I can take it.

In the three starts since I spoke about how well the starting pitching has been and after I said that the streak of great pitching would not last, what has happened? Three iffy starts that have resulted in three Yankee losses.

Last night, Andy Pettitte gave up five runs in the first inning for the first time since a 14-0 loss in September 2001. He was an out away from getting out of a jam and then all hell broke loose. The big blow was a three-run home run by Ike Davis that barely scraped over the wall and was aided by Nick Swisher’s glove. But Mets manager Terry Collins wouldn’t mention that, right? Home runs that just go over the wall are only bad and worthy of complaints when they happen in Yankee Stadium.

The good news is that Pettitte shut the Mets down after that shaky first and ended up pitching six innings. The bad news is that the deficit was too much for the offense to overcome – apparently so was Jonathan Niese – though they did make it exciting and came close to a comeback against the Mets bullpen. Though as everyone knows, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

As usual, the Bombers hit home runs but two of the three were solo shots – only Robinson Cano’s occurred with a man on base. Alex Rodriguez hit a monster shot that nearly destroyed the home run apple to make it 5-1 and Andruw Jones hit a solo shot to left to make it 5-2. Ironically, Cano and Rodriguez’s home runs were well over 400 feet. So much for the Yankees only hitting “Yankee Stadium” home runs.

Cano’s blast pulled the Yankees to within two (6-4) but that’s how the score would remain.

Frank Francisco came into the game in the ninth and while not striking out the side and nearly loading the bases, he picked up the save.

So congratulations to the Mets and their fans on their World Series victory. I hope the parade is fun. Oh, you mean they didn’t win the World Series? With the way some of their fans reacted last night you’d have thought that they had.

Whatever.

*I’m battling a migraine. Perfect timing for one, don’t you think?

CHICKENS
Jeter 6
Granderson 8
Teixeira 3
Rodriguez 5
Cano 4
Swisher 9
Jones 7
Martin 2
Pettitte 1

METS
Torres 8
Cedeno 6
Wright 5
Hairston 7
Duda 9
Turner 4
Davis 3
Nickeas 2
Niese 1