6/27/2007 2:36:42 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

6/24/2007 7:33:24 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

6/21/2007 3:03:37 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

6/19/2007 6:00:31 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

ENCOURAGING!

   

DISCONCERTING!

  

 

6/19/2007 10:00:59 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Sorry, I’m allowed to indulge in bad sports clichés on rare and happy occasions such as these.

Now if only those jerks down in Gotham would lose a @#$%& game once in a while.

In the mean time, we’ve just gotta concentrate on winning as many of ours as possible.

Should be a really fun road trip on which to try.

But this weekend was a beaut, was it not?

It would have been nice to send Bonds packing without a home run in our friendly confines, but I suppose having his former teammate Timmy Wakefield be the guy to do it is OK, I suppose.

(Interestingly, they both “tip their hats” to each other.)

And, lo and behold, the big guy with the big head — upon which usually sits a sour scowl — actually seemed to have fun here, notwithstanding the sea of asterisks spangling the crowd, the cardboard syringes waved with gusto.

We had a good time, too.

The bats snooze no more.

The offense won the game for us on Friday and on Sunday, and when it didn’t on Saturday, Daisuke Matsuzaka bailed us out, pitching a gem. (Even if, as Mnookin argues, it was far from the best of his season so far.)

But his countryman came up even bigger in a crucial spot. Just ... wow. We are sure lucky to have him.

As the Yankees win and win, there are so many things to make one take heart about this team.

Manny and Ortiz are doing the jobs they’re supposed to do.

Little big man Dustin Pedroia is playing his face off.

Joel Pineiro saved yesterday’s game with one perfect pitch.

The chance — the chance! — that JD Drew might have found his rhythm in the leadoff spot as he goes 5 for 11 and adds 12 points to his average. (As our former tablesetter, ironically, molders, deservedly, in the nine hole — and gets paid $8,250,000 to do it.)

Hell, even Coco got a few hits.

And it was nice to see Smilin’ Dave Roberts again. Even if Okajima dispatched him yesterday with the same cold-blooded efficiency as the Members Only Guy in Holsten’s. (Or, y’know, not.)

A fine weekend, full of wins.

Now it’s back to the road a long trip of late nights out west.

But first, a stop in Atlanta, home to our “natural rivals.” Let’s beat them.

6/18/2007 12:28:01 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Apologies for not writing in a while.

Might my reticence be interpreted as a silent protest against the inanity and inequality of interleague play?

If you so wish.

Anyway, baseball is a funny game.

A crisp, quick, efficient gem can be followed the very next night by a total goatfuck.

A pitcher who comes within one out of a no-hitter can follow that performance by getting rocked for nine hits and six runs in just five innings.

(Hey, John, Tom, and Larry? Curt will take that money after all.)

A team that was 14 games behind us just two weeks ago, can suddenly chop six games off our lead. Fantastic.

At least we’re not as bad as the Phillies.

And even they don’t want Pineiro.

Just win tonight.

6/14/2007 12:20:37 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

6/8/2007 12:25:19 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

6/7/2007 12:25:46 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Then:

Now:

Lenny DiNardo?

LENNY DINARDO?

Look, I am on record saying how much I admire the guy, at least if only for his most excellent musical tastes.

And even if he’s not One of the 25, not exalted to the point of Never-Have-to-Buy-a-Drink-in-this-Town-Again status, I’m more than willing (as one SoSHer put it some time ago) to “go halfsies on a pizza and some domestic beer” should he ever return to the Hub.

But I do also think the AP is fair when it describes him as a fairly “unremarkable reliever and spot starter.”

So ... did I see what I think I saw last night?

Did Lenny D really handcuff us to the tune of two hits over six innings?

All while he walked six guys?

And we didn’t do anything with it?

Really?

What a waste of a good performance from the Dice-Man.

Five double plays. FIVE (5).

Five losses in the last 10 games.

Alan Embree saved a shutout win for Lenny DiNardo. Repeat that to yourself.

I had some weird dreams after staying up so late last night, but that was no dream.

Should we be worried?

6/6/2007 1:34:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [1] |  

It was, indeed, as Tito put it, a “heartbreaking” loss.

But it was also one helluva game.

Credit where credit’s due: The team piles onto a plane in the wee hours Monday morning after Alex Rodriguez sealed a series win with a barely-there homer in the ninth. They then fly across the North American continent, sleep fitfully, and then suit up for another game. A game which lasts three hours and 45 minutes. 

And they never quit.

Dan Haren was dealing. Seven and two thirds, just four hits and two runs.

And our fifth starter — or is he fourth, with Wake’s recent woes? — hangs tough long enough to keep us in it.

Then it’s time to get to work. A homer from the big man in the seventh. A double from the other big man in the ninth, followed by a timely RBI single from our pinch-hitting catcher.

Then a pinch-run from the queasy Coco Crisp, who was nonetheless nearly at second before Alan Embree let go of the pitch, and crossing home plate as Wily Mo bounded into second.

Alas, we got overzealous. Another Ortiz double, and suddenly Wendell Kim was back behind third base. Dustin Pedroia was out by a mile, the catcher’s glove smacking him rudely in the face.

(Congrats on yr award, big guy.)

And then we had a feeling. The bullpen had pitched just well enough. And lucky enough: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pitcher and his teammates celebrate so much in the middle of a game as they did after JC Romero pulled that Houdini-like escape in the ninth.

But Kyle Snyder, as good as he’s been for us, is not untouchable.

And that was that.

The entire bench of exhausted players was itself exhausted.

It was a noble effort.

But you can’t win ‘em all.

Let’s just hope Dice-K can win his.

As much as any team with the best record in baseball and a 10-game lead in the standings needs a win, we need this one tonight. (Sorry, Lenny.)

6/5/2007 12:15:21 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [2] |  

Did you hear?

Alex Rodriguez is “one great baseball player.”

He “remains an immensely gifted player and at the end of a week in which he made headlines for all the wrong reasons... the guy had the last laugh.”

Well, didn’t he.

Damn it all.

Of course, it had to be him.

The masks didn't work.

Oh well.

We’re still one "great" and "immensely talented" baseball team.

Character.

Sane managers.

Good pitchers.

And good hitters, large and small.

This is what wins ballgames. And I have the feeling we will win some more.

(Just please rest Papi posthaste. Seeing him wincing during BP last night gave me the vapors. Interleague is coming. We don’t need him now. But we’ll need him later.)

Enough of this for now. They’ve got their own problems to deal with.

Westward, ho.

6/4/2007 1:13:40 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |