The world has gone mad on us all.

Those season ticket holders sitting in non-premium seats will pay the same per-game price as they are paying for the regular season for their ALDS seats, with the exception of one section of seats.

I have a partial season ticket plan, and while I don’t get playoff privileges in my own seats like Full Season holders do, I do have a chance to get tickets in the presale (and I also get a chance through my Staten Island Yankees plan). In the past, I just haven’t been able to fork out the money for playoff tickets because of the steep increases but because of this it’s likely that I’ll be able to actually use my presale privileges for good and pick up a pair for my boyfriend and I. Even if they’re advance price, I figure they must be around the same range as current advance price which will mean they’ll wind up $40 a seat or so after the hideous Ticketmaster fees in the Grandstand Dugout (if such tickets can be snagged).

These won’t be my only playoffs, as I faxed over my order form for the Staten Island Yankees postseason today but it’s nice to finally have the opportunity to head to some October baseball games in the Bronx.

And I’ll be able to bring in a bag. What more could I ask for?

(Yes, I do realize that there is no gouging going on because they are afraid people just wouldn’t buy them but I am not complaining.)

You know you're in trouble when the scoreboard rolls over.

There aren’t many 15 inning games over the course of a season, never mind 15 inning games that last almost six hours and involve both the Yankees and the Red Sox. But there was one Friday night, and like every Friday night game the Yankees have had for the last few years I was there.

I walked into the Stadium on Friday about 6:30, expecting to get home at about 11-11:30 like I normally do (yes, even though Yankees/Red Sox games are notoriously long I was optimistic). Instead I got home at 1:30 after sitting through the equivalent of one and a half games.

There’s no need to go into a detailed game summary here, but I do want to say that A.J. Burnett was fantastic as was Josh Beckett and the bullpens for both teams did an excellent job. It was all about hanging on and completely wearing out the other team. And the Yankees were able to get to a pitcher they could truly hit before the Red Sox.

Tazawa, as a starter, could probably have pitched 6-7 innings and after Damon’s botched bunt attempts (seriously terrible), me and the people around me had moved onto trying to figure out who would pitch next. Sergio Mitre? Who’s throw day is it? I had zoomed into the bullpen with my camera to check it out and found it was at that point completely devoid of pitchers.

But then Alex Rodriguez with one swing of his bat tied Harmon Killebrew on the all time home runs list and sent us home. Which made us happy and grateful, though the man who sits next to me on Fridays was worried about how angry his wife would be at his late arrival.

There was a lot that happened between then (like runners not reaching third base and JD Drew making catches he really should not be able to!), but by the time you get to the 12th inning dementia (for fans at least, I can’t speak to how the commentator teams or players were doing).  Some people left early and those people got booed as badly as David Ortiz. Hopefully they got home and saw the game still going and felt badly.

Finally, for those who are wondering here is a summary of the general mental states of the Stadium during the game by inning:

1. Bottom of the 9th – How exciting, this game might go into extra innings and now the Yankees can only win on a walk off.
2. Bottom of the 10th – Still excited! The Yankees are putting runners on…and now Derek Jeter is 0-5 and there is no God.
3. Bottom of the 11th – Nooooo Teix don’t hit it to dead center.
4. Bottom of the 12th – Pop-ups are not pleasing. Oh no I think that’s Bruney warming up. Please be good Bruney.
5. Bottom of the 13th – Jeter and Damon are now both 0-6, that’s bordering on Corey Patterson-esque and this game will never end. I miss my family and I’m hungry.
6. Bottom of the 14th – Ramiro Pena pinch running is the most exciting thing in the universe!!! What the…JD DREW SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE THAT CATCH.
7. Bottom of the 15th – Those sure were some terrible bunt attempts, Johnny. Oh well, who’s available to pitch next—A-ROD!

Robinson Cano strands more runners on base than the rest of the team combined. Intentionally walking A-Rod twice works both times for the Jays!

Roy Halladay allows 5 runs, including 3 homeruns. And he walked THREE! Three!! My brain is still reeling. Thanks, right field porch for that third homer! Today, we are friends although tomorrow that might change.

And a special non-Yankees related throw in that is completely amazing.

In 16 starts, Dan Haren has walked 15 batters.

Update by request:

Mariano ducks out of the way to draw a walk.

Last night, we were blessed once again with an at bat from Saint Mo and it ended even better than his first. He worked a walk with the bases loaded against one of my most hated players, Francisco Rodriguez.

I’m sure he was once again told not to swing the bat, and just like his last appearance he…mostly listened. The one swing came on a 2-2 count to protect the zone (or, try to hit one out if you ask Mariano). The next two pitches were off the plate in classic BB-Rod style and now Mariano has an OBP of .500 for the year! It’ll stay that way unless the Yankees decide to pinch hit him at some point during the year. The Yankees pitchers have looked pretty good at the plate in 2009 even when they haven’t gotten hits, so maybe it’ll happen. You never know.

If you missed the glorious at bat, you can watch it here. It is a beautiful thing and highly recommended viewing.

Mariano also did something else not nearly as cool in this game; he notched his 500th career saves. Saves are a dumb stat, they are in many ways worse than RBI because of the many ways you can record one (see: Mariano’s one out save the other night when the Yankees were not exactly in peril of losing) but accumulating the amount Mariano has is very impressive because they highlight his longevity as a position where so many flame out quickly. I have been watching Mariano destroy batters since I was 15 in 1996 when he was first converted to relief and it has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I understand that had he been able to be an average starting pitcher we would never have seen this, but it is amazing to see a relief pitcher be so consistently excellent for as long as Mariano has.

And, to be honest, we’re all spoiled for it. The cries to keep Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes in the bullpen are because for the last decade and change we’ve watched Mariano come out and get the job done. No other team has had this luxury. The idea of a closer is overrated, for sure, but even when Mariano struggles we all feel that he’ll get it done. It’s not like watching Kevin Gregg or George Sherrill when you never know which version you’ll get on a night.

So thank you, Mariano Rivera, and congratulations on hitting your milestone. I am very grateful to have you around.

He took a great cut but unfortunately his liner went straight to a fielder. But still, I got what I asked for and the world got a great Mariano quote out of it:

My pitching coach told me not to swing … But I had to take a swing. I apologize to my manager and pitching coach.

You can watch it on MLB.com, and below are the of screengrabs I took of the unfolding event. There are a lot, so make sure you follow along after the jump.

To commemorate the event, here are the screengrabs I took from Cleveland’s feed (make sure you click for the full size versions):

You can find some more screengrabs here after the jump.

]]> http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/06/12/coco-crisp-now-starring-in-the-birds/feed/ 0 http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/05/21/two-nights-even-drunk-idiots-couldnt-ruin/ http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/05/21/two-nights-even-drunk-idiots-couldnt-ruin/#comments Thu, 21 May 2009 15:00:24 +0000 leokitty http://teamnerdrage.com/?p=1635 My baseball marathon for the week ended last night. Unlike the team itself I have an off day today before going again on Friday which is good, because I need to do laundry.

The crowd on Tuesday (at least in my section) was hands down one of the most annoying I have dealt with, ever, at a Yankee game. Now I admit that I am a fairly grouchy person, but as long as I can see what is going on in the game I am excellent at just bitching about it and continuing to watch the game. This was made very hard at times on Tuesday as there was a very large block of very drunk people (they didn’t appear to all be together, which made it even more frightening) who just stood up constantly no matter what was going on.

Yankees have a runner on base? STAND UP
Orioles have a runner on base? STAND UP
Pitcher is about to throw a pitch? STAND UP

In Old Yankee Stadium, this wasn’t really that annoying as you could see anyway because of the steep incline. In New Yankee Stadium, it can sometimes be hard to see if there is a big guy four rows in front of you sitting down.

This got too long but if I think too hard about it, I get annoyed all over again. In short: If you are at a game, please be considerate of the people around you. Don’t stand up and block the view during the action, and if you do, don’t be surprised when people yell at you to sit down because you are…blocking the view.

These annoyances were all washed away by the performance of the Yankees pitchers and hitters. CC Sabathia is really looking like the guy we thought he was, and Phil Hughes put together a very solid 5 innings (could have pitched 6, but I don’t disagree with the decision to pull him out on a high note). Many baseballs left the park, including Nick Swisher’s first at home. Good times all around.

The back-to-back-to-back homeruns from Swisher-Robinson Cano-Melky Cabrera was just ridiculous. The first two of that trio, not a big deal. But Melky joining in on the action? It will never happen again. Ever. Especially bizarre because Melky’s was a monster that ended up in the Main level of the stadium.

And as usual, some pictures.

May 19th

May 20th

I didn’t particularly like how the Yankees got there, but honestly Andy looked shaky from the get go so I knew something bad was coming. Melancon giving up that hit and the lead immediately was not was I was expecting but it happens.

But oh my God, the Yankees have just won two in a row against the Angels. The Angels. And tonight they came back from a fairly big deficit to do so. Not only that but the bottom of the order started this off. Everybody came up pretty big when it counted, and I am really impressed.

I don’t really want to see another game like this happen, but I am really happy that the team fought back the way they did and came up with the win.

Go Yankees!

Good managing rarely–if ever–wins you games but as you can see above bad managing sure does lose them (ask any Yankees fan about the 2003 World Series, watch their eyes turn red and start shooting lasers if that is not enough proof).

The pivotal point in this game came when the Red Sox started catching up and Joe Maddon decided it was a fabulous idea to bring in Dan Wheeler (who had pitched 3.1 innings his last outing, a huge amount for a middle relief pitcher) with nobody warming. And then kept him in when he clearly did not have anything. JP Howell only started warming up when the tying run had scored.

Here’s a recap of the 8th inning if you missed it:

- J. Bay walked
- J.D. Drew homered to deep right, J. Bay scored
- J. Lowrie flied out to left center
- S. Casey hit for J. Varitek
- S. Casey struck out swinging
- M. Kotsay doubled to deep center
- C. Crisp singled to right, M. Kotsay scored, C. Crisp out at second

So basically, on top of everything else the only reason the inning ended was becaause Wheeler got lucky and Coco got caught. Someone should have at least been warming up after the Drew homerun, and it is utterly inexplicable that Wheeler was still in after the Kotsay double.

Conclusion: All managers (in the modern era!) named Joe are horrible and you cannot convince me otherwise.