The Grandyman Can

They keep replaying John Sterling's Granderson HR call from last night's game on MLB Network Radio on XM. It's pretty comical. For those that haven't heard it, it starts out with "Oh Curtis. You're something sort of grandish" and it ends with Sterling singing, "The Grandyman can. The Grandyman can." Funny stuff. At least he changed it from just "you're something sort of grandish." That's apparently from some old school musical call "Finian's Rainbow." Yeah, it was over my head too. The call is still kind of silly, but it's much better with "the Grandyman" lines added in.

Personally, I think sterling's HR calls are more of a joke than anything else. Who can forget such classics as "For the Betemit of the Yankees," or "Fill it up, Phillips"? God those are terrible. I'm not a big Sterling fan. Sometime he's tolerable but most of the time I find him to be God-awful. But that's just me.

Want more Sterling? Check out IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS....caught. You want funny? Go there now.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Kickstart My Heart

Man oh man. I didn't think today's Yankee victory could top yesterday's Yankee victory, but I was wrong. I was happily wrong.

Mark Teixeira has finally arrived. This series against the Twins so far is proving to be Teixeira's coming out party as a Yankee. Mark went four-for-four today and was two-for-four yesterday. His average has jumped 35 percentage points and he's now sitting at .238. More importantly, he's 9 for his last 16 w/7 RBI. Barring a huge slump, I think it's safe to say his days of being below the Mendoza line are behind us. It's on now. We can expect a lot more of: "A tex message to the left center field bleachers. You're on the mark Teixieira." Oh John Sterling. You are such a tool.

I love the tradition that A.J. Burnett seems to have started with the pie to the face of the guy who hits the walkoff. I love it. It brings a whole new dynamic to the team. I don't ever recall a time where they've all seemed to be so loose and having so much fun. Yesterday's victim was Melky Cabrera. Melky is having a pretty solid year. I still don't think he deserves to be on the roster but there really isn't a better option. But if Melky can keep doing what he'd doing, I won't complain. He just needs to start hitting with runners on base. Melky is hitting a whopping .239 with runners on base. That's a huge drop from the .385 average he has with the bases empty. He's even worse with RISP, hitting .167. With RISP and 2-outs, he's hitting .133. The Melkman needs to be better than that.

A-Rod was today's victim of Burnett's antics. How great for Alex! Coming through in a big way. It was insane how much that mirrored his last walk off. It felt like deja vu all over again. As I watched him round first and put his hands up, I couldn't help but think of that walkoff. I'm pretty sure if you ran those two split-screen it would like almost identical. Alex hasn't exactly been tearing the cover off the ball since his return. But he got the job done today. Hopefully that kick starts things.

The Yankee bullpen is still terrible. Like they have been in recent years, they continue to be plagued by a lefty that can't seem to get out the lefty in a big spot. Phil has now given up 4 HRs this season, 3 to lefties. He's only given up 6 hits to lefties, but 4 have been the longball. Phil's problem is that he gives up a lot of fly balls. I don't think I've ever seen anybody point up in the sky indicating a pop up, or in Coke's case a deep fly ball, as much as I've seen Coke do it. Coke will be fine if he can find a way to keep the ball in the park. Giving up 1 HR every 4 innings is not a good ratio. And I'm really puzzled by the moves Joe Girardi is making. Specifically, why is he using Jose Veras when the team has a lead? I know that everyone out there pretty much sucks, but come on Joe, Veras?

Joba looked good today. It looks like his arm strength is just about there as he was hitting 96 on the gun. He still needs to work on his control. 61% of his pitches today were strikes, which isn't bad, but he walked 4 and that got his pitch count up. It would be nice to see Joba, or any starter, pitch deeper into the game. They need to have the bullpen pitch as little as possible. His stuff is good enough that he can afford to throw more strikes. He should have gotten the win today. That's the 3rd time this year the pen has blown the lead for Joba. Friggin' bullpen.

Despite pitching only 5 innings on Friday, I thought Phil Hughes had an alright outing. He battled his way through that game. It could have been a lot worse for the Yanks had Phil not wiggled his way out of trouble. He worked out of a 2-on no out jam in the 2nd. He had the bases loaded in the 4th with 1 out and only let 1 run score. It wasn't a great outing but I think on the whole it was a positive. I hope Phil's confidence goes up after that. It could have been a lot worse.

The Yanks are on a roll right now. They've won 4 straight and have won 6 of their last 8. The 2 walkoff wins have to be huge for the clubhouse. It's hard to believe that they have the 5th best record in the AL. A-Rod missed 28 games. Wang has an ERA of 34.50. The bullpen is one of the worst. There's been a good number of injuries. After all that, they're only 3 back in the loss column behind the Blue Jays. I am very happy with the current state of the Yankees.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

I Need A Guest Blogger

Since I have to play softball on Wednesday nights, games start at 7:10, I miss a lot of every Wednesday Yankee game. For example, when our game ended today, the Yanks were up 1-0 through 4. I get to listen to the game on the ride home, but it's not the same. If anybody wants to take a crack at writing an entry of sorts, feel free to whip something up and I'll copy/paste it word for word into an entry. I might have some comments based on what I heard/saw (I have it on now, 4-1 top of 7) and will post those, but I find myself extremely tired by the time I'm home and get settled in. For example, the wife told em I smelled when I came in so I have to shower. Hence, I'll miss some action.

So if interested, like I said, all you have to do is send me what you want to say in an e-mail, contact info is at the top right. I'll post everything I get sent, which I'm imagining won't be a lot, sometime tomorrow morning, with my own little entry coming tomorrow as well. Depending on how this goes, maybe this can be a regular thing if/when I miss games.

I do have 1 comment about tonight's game and it has to do with John Sterling. If you check this blog out regularly, you know I'm not a fan of Sterling, or Michael Kay. sterling's stupid sayings drive me nuts. They're horrible. I heard one today that takes the cake. After Wilson Betemit hit a HR, Sterling says, "For the Betemit of the Yankees." Gag me with a spoon. Yeah, I just went 80's on you guys. For the Betemit of the Yankees? Horrible. Just awful.

Yanks up 4-1 now mid 7. Moose is in line for the win. 3 outs til Mo. Let's go Yankees!

J-Boogie

Really John? Really?

I just got back to my desk to find the Yankees up 4-3. Cano and Betemit just went back-to-back to extend the lead to 3. I'm listening to the game on the radio and after Betemit's HR, John Sterling's witty comment was something to the effect of "The Yankees bet on Betemit." That might not have been the exact line but it was something to that effect.

If you're a long time reader of this blog then you've probably read me ragging on Sterling in the past. I can't stand listening to Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. It's brutal. I'd rather listen to Michael Kay. One of the biggest problems I have with sterling are the absolutely stupid sayings he comes up with when someone goes deep. "Bet on Betemit" takes the cake. It's 1000 times worse than "Andy Phillips fills it up," or "Robbie Cano. Don't ya know," or what used to be his worst "Johnny Damon. Simply. Demonic." Ugh. For my money, "It is high. It is far. It is gone." is all he needs to say. He fails miserably whenever he spouts off with these inane quips, which you can tell he thinks are pure gold. Give it up John. You sound like a bigger tool than you already are.

Oh my God. It just got worse. Joba Chamberlain just struck out David Dellucci to end the 8th. Sterling closes the segment with "What a joba by Joba." Gag me with a spoon.

Anyway, Joba just bounced back and shut the door. The Yanks will be taking at least a 3-run lead into the 9th. I can hear the bassline to "Enter Sandman" now.

J-Boogie