I spent yesterday afternoon into the evening in some far off place called Bergenfield, New Jersey, chilling with my old friend Steinski listening to records. In truth, Bergenfield is just about ten minutes away from the George Washington Bridge. Stein moved out there just about a year ago. He took me to a pond near his place that was littered with duck dung and, well, ducks. The place could have been called Shoe Polish Pond as the water was as black as the night.

Now, I was chased by a white swan one time when I was a kid, so I’ve never really been down with the duck posse. But Steven wasn’t ascared and we walked right through a school of them to a park bench. Some of the real schnorrer’s in the group came pretty close to us looking for food, looking at us all sideways, jerking their dopey necks around. That made me type skittish, but I held it together.

When Stien’s wife came home they took me to a barbeque joint in Hackensack called Cubby’s. The outside of the place looks similar to a Sizzler’s, and Cubby apparently is a cartoon pig who loves his barbeque. I had a b-bque chicken sammich and let me tell you, it was outstanding. Nothing like pigging out in Hackensack.

Afterwards, Stein was kind enough to drive me back home to the Bronx. All of which is a long-winded way of saying that I walked into the apartment and the Yankees were leading Tampa Bay 4-3 in the seventh inning. Emily informed me that it had been a good game. That Javey had another tough outing, walking the bases loaded, and committing a balk, something she had never seen before. But Quantrill saved the day, got out of the bases loaded jam and the Yanks had the lead.

I caught the last two-and-a-half innings. Just in time to see Sweet Lou throw a tantrum and get himself run from the game. He didn’t kick or throw or bite, but he was plenty pissed, which is always good for a laugh. Tom Gordon was great in the eighth and the Yanks tacked on a run in the bottom of the inning. However, Mariano Rivera had a rare off-night, and his pitches were up. He allowed a lead-off double to Julio Lugo who would eventually score on Tino Martinez’s pinch-hit, RBI single. With the score now 5-4, Rivera loaded the bases. Two outs, and Rocco B at the plate. Rivera goes to a full count before getting Rocco to pop up to Tony Clark in foul territory to end the game.

Whhheeeww. The Yankees remain six ahead of Boston who shut-out Texas at Fenway Park last night. Today gives Old-Timer’s Day in the Bronx. The geezers play at 2:00 and the regular game starts at 4:00. Em and I are headed down to Chinatown to eat and shop. She’s running full-steam ahead with operation Feng Shui, so we need to get chimes and colored paper and a whole host of nonsense. I’m easy, so I’m just playing the old “Yes, dear,” card, and everything is rosey. Hey, whatever floats your boat, right? A small trade-off for a woman who watches baseball with me (not to mention by herself).