Archive for October, 2011

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October 4, 2011

The Yankee Fan’s Prayer

by Jamie Insalaco

a-j-burnett-new-tattooLord, protect us from your servant, A.J. Burnett.

Protect us from his fastball command,

Protect us from his 59 feet curve balls,

And give strength to that new tattoo that is not helping at all.

 

Lord, guide Russell Martin’s Canadian glove hand,

Let him block pitches and wield a mighty April-like bat.

 

Lord, help Derek Jeter hit with runners in scoring position,

Seriously – people are booing A-Rod and Jeter has left a small village on the base paths.

 

And Lord, speaking of Alex Rodriguez and, while we’re at it, the middle of the order -

Can you do something about Mark Teixeira while you’re at it?

 

Lord, keep Joe Girardi’s head in the game and out of the match up binder.

Make sure he doesn’t stick with A.J. for too long like he did with C.C. Sabathia last night.

I still can’t believe he let Brett Gardner bat in the 9th inning when they were down by one with a runner on.

 

Lord, How did it come to this?  A season in the pitching hand of A.J. Burentt;

Is this because Jesus Montero didn’t get into the game last night?

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October 3, 2011

NY Giants: Better to be Lucky or Good?

by Jamie Insalaco

The New York Giants were able to get another win, this time over the Arizona Cardinals, even if it was in dubious fashion.

Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz fell to the ground untouched and then got up as if the play was over and dropped the football as he rose from the turf. As you can see by the expression on Eli Manning’s face, he and everyone else on earth thought it was a fumble, but it was ruled that the Cruz ‘gave himself up,’ which is akin to a quarterback sliding or a player running out of bounds. You can see the video here. Apparently, the official rule goes something like this:

Official shall declare ball dead [...] when runner declares himself down by falling to ground.

Eli Manning

Eli confirmed that I was not alone in my disbelief.

And I guess it does look like that’s what Cruz did – he clearly thought the play was over, but I thought the rule was that the play was NOT over until a member of the defense touched the ball carrier. I guess this means that the player has the right of way, so to speak – meaning it’s up to the offensive player to decide when the play is over, not the defensive player – so after the offensive player falls on the ground, they reserve the right to either drop the ball intentionally (and I think it’s clear that Cruz dropped the ball intentionally and did not fumble) or get up and run again. I don’t think that’s a good rule, but that appears to be the letter of the law.

Check out the video, make up your own mind… but it’s a strange case indeed. For Giants fans, I think we can all just say, “Whatever. Better to be lucky than good.” As for Cardinals fans,I’m sure they’re pissed… and they’re not wrong, either.

 

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October 3, 2011

Yankees @ Tigers in Swing Game

by Jamie Insalaco

PREDICTION: Whoever wins tonight’s game will win the series.

After rain on Friday, additional rain on Saturday and ending yesterday’s game with (Surprise!) more rain, it’s pretty exciting to check the weather in Detroit and see no rain in tonight’s forecast. But at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.

After Ivan Nova and Robinson Cano finished things off in game one, we experienced the sadness of game two. While the strike zone seemed fairly large for lefties, the righties seem to enjoy a slightly closer to normal strike zone – something that did not benefit the Yankees line up laden with switch and left handed hitter as they faced a right handed pitcher. Finally, the Yankees got some business done late in the game, but it was too late.

Now the Yankees head to Detroit for game 3, the series tied at 1 game a piece. This one is for all the marbles – C.C. Sabathia vs Justin Verlander is about as epic as it gets, and whoever has the most success holding down the opposing offense is probably going to be the MVP of the series – assuming they do it in their own typical, dominant fashion and the game isn’t a slug fest. Given that A.J. Burnett is going to start game four, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees winning that game, so they really have to win tonight. Besides, even if A.J. wasn’t pitching tomorrow, the Yankees would be facing elimination on the road, which is never a good thing.

So this is it for the Yankees as the season comes down to one game tonight – win now and force a game five or lose tonight and face elimination tomorrow, on the road, with A.J. Burnett on the mound – a game that will have an all but certain conclusion.

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