Jamie Insalaco
Its great to see that the big bat from old Yankee Stadium is still standing. But, it’s starting to look like crap. It’s time for the Yankee brass to put somebody on a lift with some duct tape as the hand grips are starting to fall off.
June 20, 2012
Win Streak Turns To Losing Streak
I went to today’s game (my first this year), but I didn’t have the magic and now, the Yankees have lost two in a row and their first series in a long while.
My bad.
Anyway, it was still a great day at the ballpark despite the poor pitching. Still, $12 a beer is a bit excessive.
May 2, 2011
Yankees Win Rubber Match Against Blue Jays
I watched as many innings of the Toronto Blue Jays three game set with the Yankees at the Stadium, but my schedule just wasn’t baseball friendly this weekend. In any case, here’s what I saw:
The Good:
- Brett Gardner has caught fire! I think he must have hit .500 last week.
- For a patch work starting pitching rotation, things are going pretty well.
- The homers keep on coming!
- My fantasy baseball team won! I’m now 2-2 on the year, and I’ve made the team better… try to do a comprehensive post about this soon.
The Bad:
- If Freddy Garcia is going to give up homers to the likes of Jose Bautista… I can live with that. Not good, but not Fug-Ugly.
- Derek Jeter hit another zillion ground balls this weak, but he’s at least hitting over his weight. Bad, but not Fug-Ugly.
The Fug-Ugly:
- Pitching to Jose Bautista any time runners are on base. JUST WALK HIM!
- That Francisco Cervelli‘s sacrifice but with no outs in the 3rd inning after Brett Gardner walked on four straight pitches. Who’s idea was that? Why would you sac bunt with your fastest guy on 1st with no outs in the first? WHY?!?
ALSO:
Kevin Millwood opted out of his minor league contract. From the reports I read on this guy’s stuff down in the minors, we aren’t missing anything – and this dude must think his waste smells like ice cream. As far as I can tell, he has no other offers, but that could change… If Sergio Mitre gets hurt, maybe the Nationals will grab Millwood…
April 26, 2011
Break It Down takes on Yankee Stadium
The National Geographic Channel’s Break it Down goes to work on ripping down the old Yankee Stadium – stuff doesn’t blow up, but it’s pretty epic… except when they clean out the toilets… toilets are less epic then tons of concrete and steel hurtling toward the ground. The episode debuts on Thursday, April 28 at 10PM.
April 18, 2011
Freddy Garcia And Bats Combine to take Games 2 and 3 From Rangers
Another home stand over, another series victory.
After Friday night’s rough outing from Ivan Nova, the Yankees got 6 shut out innings from Freddy Garcia – maybe the last place you’d look in the Yankees rotation for a pick-me-up performance. I suspect that Garcia is the the kind of pitcher who performs better on extra rest, but I don’t have the data to back it up; just notating that he exceeded expectations against a good hitting team after not having started a game in a few weeks. (Garcia did get that one relief inning in Boston, so this is only his second appearance of the young season.)
CC Sabathia just didn’t have it last night, most notably with his awful fastball control. The ESPN announcers can credit the text bats all they wish, but if CC is going to throw his fastball right down the middle like that, it’s akin to putting the ball on a t-ball stand for big league hitters, never mind a good hitting team like Texas. Sabathia is, however, an elite pitcher, so he has his secondary pitches to keep him in the game through 6.1 innings, most notably his change up to right handers and several good sliders. Last night, it was the Bronx Bombers doing it Bomber Banter style with homer after homer: Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all contributed with the long ball. Martin and Eric Chavez also contributed via the 2 out RBI, so these guys were all getting it done box score style. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter, the anti-box score hero, contributed with a hit of his own, but I don’t feel like he’s in the zone yet, but I do think he’s close now. Chavez has continued to prove himself to be a valuable piece as he’s hit well in limited duty and has played a solid third in A-Rod’s absence – hopefully, A-Rod’s stiffness is a thing of the past by Tuesday. For next year, the Yankees are probably better off going with a right handed bat who can also play left field for Garnder as a DH so A-Rod can spend more time there. The guy is a beast at the plate, but I just don’t trust him to stay healthy if he has to play 150 games in the field.
We got to see the big three again last night – Joba Chamberlain was not great in relief and surrendered a run, but Rafael Soriano was downright nasty as he took down all three batters he faced with authority. Mariano Rivera came in and was Mo – that’s all there is to that.
I do want to take a second and mention that the new ESPN Sunday night baseball crew is twice as bearable as the old one. I guess they got a new director in there, too, because everyone is a lot more focused on what’s happening on the field rather that showing us the announcers in the booth, talking about nonsense or pimping topics/interviewing other things/people that have something to do with something that’s going to be on ESPN on another day. I think this puts ESPN slightly behind of FOX Sports in my ‘Totally Unbearable To Watch Sports On Your Network’ race – meaning FOX is currently the most unbearable. On the other hand, ESPN’s constant badgering of the Yankees leading MLB in home runs was annoying – I don’t care what anybody says, LEADING THE LEAGUE IN HOME RUNS IS NOT A BAD THING!
The Yankees are off today and will be back tomorrow at Toronto to face the Blue Jays. The Jays will be pesky again this year, but I don’t see them as a playoff team this year.
April 7, 2011
Pass The Hat For Yankee Stadium Area Parks, Heritage Field
If you follow the Yankees (or MLB) closely, you might have heard about a story that occurred off the field concerning concerning Red Sox first-base coach Ron Johnson’s daughter, who was struck by a car while riding her horse, which cost her a leg and nearly her life. Unfortunately, the horse was put down.
The Red Sox didn’t screw around; they passed the hat around and got money to the Johnson family to help with the enormous financial burden being unhealthy in America becomes. Kevin Youkilis bought her a new horse. Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long is a friend of Johnson, and he passed the hat among the Yankee players, and they also sent money to help the Johnson family with their burden. The Red Sox offered Johnson an entire year off with pay if he needed it. Just months after the accident, Johnson’s daughter’s life was heading back to normal, and she’s riding horses again.
Money doesn’t solve all problems, but it sure can help, and when you have the means, it’s pretty deplorable to ignore your obligation towards those in need, especially when its children. I told you that story so I could tell you this one:
In 2006, construction began on the new Yankee Stadium, a $1.5 billion dollar project completed before the 2009 season began. Instead of building the new stadium where the old stadium resides, Macombs Dam Park was sacrificed, but this was only supposed to be temporary.
Five years since the demolition and counting, the replacement park is still not finished.
Now to be fair, part of the park is finished – the section that features the track, a football/soccer field, hand ball and tennis courts has been done for some time, and it’s a lovely spot. But there isn’t a single baseball field to be played on – Macombs Dam Park used to feature four ball fields. (Or was it 5? There seems to be a disagreement about that. I never bothered to count and didn’t spend enough time there to notice.)
So why is it taking so long? No idea; some people think it’s because the city wanted to sell off the old Yankee Stadium as memorbilia, piece by piece, and not just tear the place down in one fell swoop. Heritage Field, which when completed will feature 3 ball fields, is a $51million dollar project and seems small in scope to the Yankee Stadium project across the street, so it’s easy to point a finger at the city and again ask what is taking so friggin long. The over all redevelopment of the parks in the area includes refurbishing 8 other parks, and I understand that all of those parks have been completed, which is great.
However, it just looks bad to have a big hole in the ground next to your building, and it certainly isn’t making Bronx residents happy. Can you imagine being a kid without a ball field for 5 years? That’s essentially half of your childhood. If you were 12 in 2006 and lived in the area, you know where you played? Nowhere, I presume. A local parochial school used to call the Macombs Dam Park baseball diamonds home, but they’ve now been without a field for all these years. I read in the New York Times that during one particular season, they played some of their games in Staten Island… that’s a pretty serious hall from the Bronx.
The Yankees haven’t necessarily sat by idly; they provided money for buses for at least one year and yes, most of the projects are finished, but it’s hard to accept the cold irony of taking away the kids place to play baseball in favor of a new Yankee Stadium and not expediting the construction of the new park.
It’s a bit late in the game, as estimates have the project finishing this fall (too late for this season), but the Yankee players need to pass the hat around the locker room and do something nice for the kids. I’m not saying the Yankees don’t do things for the community, but its time to step up. They have the means, they just need to act.
