Yanks Win A Wild One & I'm Still Waiting

It's approaching midnight. I've got the TV tuned to ESPN. The University of Miami is beating the University of Arizona 14-10 after 8 and a half innings. I've been waiting patiently to see the end of today's Yankees/Royals shootout. I watched the game today through 6 and a half. Jose Guillen had just drilled a grand slam putting the Royals up 4. We had to go out and run some errands and that seemed like a good time to go. Knowing that the Yanks were far from done, I set up the DVR to record the rest of the game and the postgame show. Upon completing our errands, we swung by the in-laws so our son Cooper could see his grandparents. I hopped on the Internet to see the final score and much to my surprise the Yankees roared back to win on a Johnny Damon walkoff single. My mood changed from happy to extremely giddy. I couldn't wait to get home and watch the climactic ending on DVR. And wouldn't you know it, the DVR stopped recording with a 2-1 count on Damon in the 9th. The game ran well over the allotted time and even ran over the hour I had set up to record the post game show. No problem though. I'll set up the DVR to tape the replay. I sit down to watch that after the wife goes to bed and that ends while the game is in the bottom of the 8th inning. Son of a monkey. I bring up the channel guide and see that Baseball Tonight is scheduled to start at 10:30. 15 minutes. I can wait. And hear I am almost an hour and a half later, waiting. Waiting for this college game to end. Who do they think they are? Yankees and the Red Sox?

And Pettitte got rocked today. He had a weird outing. Started out crappy, had 3 phenomenal innings in the middle, and had the worst possible ending possible. I haven't seen the movie but it sounds like a review I read for the new Indiana Jones flick. I'm not sure what's up with Andy. He' been pretty inconsistent all year. His outings have typically been about the same too. Good and bad all mixed into one. The Yanks need him to be more consistent if they want to make a serious run at the postseason.

How 'bout that Johnny Damon? I don't know if there's a hotter bat out there. He has been absolutely on fire. He was hitting .250 on May 20th. With today's' 6 for 6, yes that's right, 6 for 6 performance, JD is now hitting .326. He's raised his average 76 points in 16 games. Over that span he's hit 34 for 67 (.507) and had 10 multi-hit games. Talk about being in the zone.

Sports Center has been on for 10 minutes. Still waiting. It's all about Big Brown.

The 'stache comes through again! The Giambino picked up another long ball. It's hard to believe he's the same guy that was hitting .191 on the 18th of May. He's on the same kind of streak that Damon is on. In his last 15 games, Giambi is 21 for 49 (.429) and has raised his average 68 points. Tack on 5 HRs and 12 RBI and that's a good couple of weeks. Memo to Jason Giambi: don't shave ever again!

Today's game was a polar opposite of yesterday's where today we were treated to lots of offense and horrible pitching. The pitchers owe the hitters a big thank you. That's what I call slugging your way to a victory. You shouldn't have to do that against the Royals. KC is one of the worst offensive teams in the league. How can you give up 11 runs tot he Royals? Unreal.

I was shocked that Mariano got taken deep. I wasn't expecting that. But it fit with the way the game went today. I'm glad Jorge and Damon picked him up.

Still waiting for the highlight. They're paying homage to the legendary Jim McKay. May he rest in peace.

And we're off to a commercial break.

It's nice to have a healthy lineup isn't it? I think it's about time they yank Betemit from the lineup. Playing him results in a hot bat riding the pine. I know I ragged on him a few day ago for exhibiting a lack of power and just being all-around horrendous, and then he hit a few HRs. Even still. Who wants him playing in place of Giambi, Matsui or Damon? DFA him.

Sports Center is back and the focus is on the NBA Finals. Celtics v. Lakers. Yawn. Enough already. Give me my highlight.

Thumbs up to Jose Veras.

It's about time. Here comes the highlight. Nice, but I really wish my DVR had held in there for 5 more minutes. I'm ticked that I missed the post game celebration. I guess I have no choice but to DVR the morning replay (and the 3 shows that follow it) to see that. I knew ESPN wouldn't devote a lot of time to that. All that build up for nothing. Kind of like Joba's debut as a starter. Speaking of which......

Joba makes his 2nd start tomorrow. He should pitch a little deeper into the game than he did last time out. I don't see the Royals showing a lot of plate discipline and assuming their offense returns to form, Joba might have 5-6 innings in him. Can't wait.

Back to .500 again. Ugh. Here we goa again.

J-Boogie