Mo Makes Things Interesting In Yanks Win

I didn't get to watch the game today. We made a little roadie to my niece Grace's 4th birthday party. They live just outside of Syracuse so it was about 3 hours from good 'ol Buffalo. We left the party a little after 4pm so I got to catch the radio broadcast. Talk about exciting. I was on the edge of my seat during the 9th inning. I don't think you can beat the radio when it comes to suspense. I highly recommend listening to a game as opposed to watching it every now and then. It's a blast. The only problem today was that we took the wife's ride so I didn't have my satellite radio. They don't carry Yankee games on any Buffalo radio station, so I had to hope that I could pick up the game from the Syracuse and Rochester affiliates for the entire ride. The last time we did this I missed the last 2 innings because the signal faded. It started to happen today but the game ended at just the right time. Wow, was that some tension.

As you all know the Yanks took a 2-0 lead into the 9th behind the stellar pitching of my boy Mike Mussina. Mooooooooooose! Man he's locked in. Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that Moose would be enjoying such a great season. His record now stands at 11-6 and it'd be higher if this team could score him some runs. The Yankees have now scored 2 runs or less in 4 of Moose's last 5 starts. In those 5 games, Moose is now 2-2 with an ERA of 2.91. Had the offense come through for him, he'd be looking at a record of 13-4 and would probably be starting the All-Star Game, not to mention well on his way to what could be the 1st 20-win season of his Hall Of Fame career. Yeah, he's headed for the Hall. No doubt he gets enshrined. The big question I'm wondering right now is if Terry Frankandbeans will select Moose for the AL All-star team? Moose definitely deserves it. Moose took care of it himself today. Offense schmoffense. Just get me a run and I'll do the rest. Thankfully, they got two.

I was absolutely freaking out in the 9th inning. It didn't help that my son chose then to be extremely loud. i was already struggling to hear the radio. That just made it worse. I kept having to lean forward and ask my wife if she heard the call, which she never did. Mariano has been automatic all year. He worked for that save today. Definitely not Mo's best outing but he still found a way to get the job done. Two singles, two hit batters, bases loaded no outs and he gets a huge strike out of Coco Crisp. HUGE! He then worked his way past the slumping Sox captain and ended up getting a huge gift when Julio Lugo stepped into the box. If I'm a Sox fan, and thankfully I'm not, but if I were, I can't think of a worse person to have up in that situation. Mo and the Yanks got a huge lift by having the weak part of the Sox lineup stroll up when the game was on the line. Lugo misses strike 3. Yankees win. Thuhhhhhh Yankees win, and I can finally breathe.

Even though the Yanks won, I'm still disappointed with the offense. 2 runs is nothing to go crazy about. They had their chances again today but as usual they came up empty. Bases loaded with 1 out in the 3rd....no runs. Runner on 3rd with 2 outs in the 5th....no runs. Bases loaded 1 out in the 6th and they managed 1 run on a sac fly. They have to find ways to get these runners home. Whatever they're doing now isn't working. They can't rely on the pitching every time out. Throw out the 18-run explosion against Texas and this team has managed to score 13 runs in 7 games. Considering the firepower in the Yankee lineup, that's absolutely unacceptable.

7 hit batters today. I didn't see any but from all accounts from what I've read, none were intentional. I still think Papelbon throwing Jeter up and in on an 0-2 count with 2 outs was a bit cowardly. Had he buzzed the 1st batter of the inning, OK, I can see that. Had he done it first pitch to Jeter, maybe. But 0-2 with 2 outs, sorry, but I see that as a dick move. If anyone wants to try and make a case that Mariano hitting 2 guys today in the 9th was remotely close to that, I'd love to hear it. No outs tying run at the plate....yeah, that's a good time to hit a guy. Tying run on 2nd with 1 out....another inopportune time to hit someone. Tying run on deck with 2 outs and an 0-2 count on the batter....seems like a good time to me. It's kind of funny to me that I haven't heard much made about that buzz of Jeter so maybe I'm the only one that took exception to it? I think it didn't get played up because 1)Jeter didn't get all up in arms about it. Like the classy player he is, he got up, dusted himself off, and got back into the box, and 2)ESPN wasn't broadcasting the game so they weren't there to stir up the pot. But if you ask me, it was an intentional brushback. 2 outs, 2 strikes, a 2 run lead, and the cocky Jonathan Papelbon sends the face of the Yankees to the ground. Hmmm. Joba makes his 1st start against the Sox tomorrow. I'm interested to see what, if anything, happens. If anyone is going to do something, it's Joba. We'll see.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie