The Great One
Ivan Nova gave up a long home run to the second batter of the game but the Yanks jumped on Brandon Morrow for two runs in the first, two in the second and one in the third giving Nova something he’s been unaccustomed to so far in his brief Major League career–a lead.
Then in the third inning Lyle Overbay lead off with a double that fell in the right-center field gap between Curtis Granderson and Austin Kearns. Aaron Hill hit the next pitch even deeper into the same gap for an RBI double. Pitch after that was a ball outside, so Jorge Posada went out to the mound and stood on the outfield side of his young pitcher, uphill so they could see eye-to-eye, and handed him the ball. Posada didn’t take off the face mask. His back was to the TV camera. Before he was finished speaking, Posada placed his right hand flat on Nova’s chest, and left it there for a good five count.
It was a simple, calming gesture, a throwaway really. But it’s that small stuff, those kinds of details, that I find so compelling these days when we’ve got so much access to the games and the players but such limited access to really knowing them as personalities, at least in the way that we knew recent generations of jocks and celebrities, through the print media.
Of course, watching Mariano smile in the ninth inning, enjoying a laugh and handshakes all around once again is one of the distinct pleasures I’ll ever know. It never gets old and I appreciate it each and every time, knowing it will not last forever, knowing the bulk of his great career is behind us now.
Nova wasn’t terrific in his fourth start, didn’t pitch long enough to get the win, one out away. The bullpen didn’t give up a run, Curtis Granderson had two more hits and three RBI, and Fat Elvis had a couple of hits too, as did lil’ Nunez and Pena. Robbie Cano doesn’t look himself, and John Flaherty was on to something when he suggested that this might be a decent time for him to get a couple of days off. Otherwise, it was another happy day in Yankeeland, an ideal way to kick off the holiday weekend.
Final Score: Yanks 7, Jays 3
Hoo-Ha.
Feels so good…ya heard?
[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, Bags]
I felt bad that Nova didn't get the win, but I feel there will be a whole lot more of them in his future. The kid certainly inspires more confidence than Javy and AJ at this point, and maybe even Phil.
I fuckin' hate the Eagles, man...
Hate all these day games too..yo Boatzilla, if you're out there, I'll take you up on that offer for bagels, coffee and the game on your widescreen Mac at your office. Let me "schedule breakfast meetings" during the playoffs.
Having lost interest in the actual season, Red Sox Nation turns to these stories:
Doctors at Mass. General inserted screws into My Little Hoof today.
New Rocky Manny Delcarmen made his first National League appearance yesterday and his NL ERA now stands at 108.00.
And finally, what a perfect Manny Ramirez interview from Pete Abe (not exclusively his interview, but he put it in a blog entry).
[4] Thanks for that Manny link. Classic stuff. Chris Rock would probably concur.
[4] “I think everything was my fault,” he said. “You’ve got to be a real man to realize when you do wrong. Hey, it was my fault, right? I’m already past that stage. I’m happy. I’m in a new team.”
“I said, ‘Hey, what happened between you and me, I’m sorry. It was my fault,’ ” Ramirez said. “It takes a real man to go and tell a person, ‘Hey, it was my fault,’ and that’s what I did.”
At what point does a person transcend being merely an asshole and become a sociopath?
[6] I don't think you are fully appreciating the awesomeness that is Manny. It's hard for me to articulate.
He did go and apologize, after all (Youkalis confirms this), and he is "manning up" and admitting he was at fault in other flare-ups. And at the same time he seems to be taking credit and pumping himself up. It's amazing! How many people can do that? (You could almost see A-Rod pulling it off, but he would never do it in that peaceful easy style.)
Sociopath? Asshole? He transcends infinitely both of those petty human categories.
[7] Well said!
He may be an asshole, sociopath, whatever, but the truth is it's not unusual for guys to give themselves credit for being "a real man". I've heard it many times, and it's often when they've done something that they once probably considered weak.
I feel like it's almost a self-reassurance, as if they need to keep telling themselves they are still masculine and powerful even though they did something "weak" like actually say they're sorry or admit doing wrong.
[9] That may be true to a certain extent, but if the major portion of your comments are self-congratulatory, are you not undermining your point? At any rate, I don't care.
[10] Absolutely. I'm only saying what he's doing is quite common. At least that part of it.
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[9] [11] Exactly.
And my bet is that Manny actually thought, "Yeah, that's what ballplayers do, they do the apology thing and then everybody thinks they're awesome. I'll do that."
I just have to smile, is all. Whoever first said he's basically a seven-year-old in an Olympian's body hit the nail on the head.