With two men out in the top of the 12th inning, Dean Anna checked his swing at a 3-2 breaking ball that tailed away from him and into the dirt. Checked it enough to draw a bases loaded walk, just like Wade Boggs did back in the ’96 Serious. It pushed the Yanks ahead 2-1. Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano followed with base hits and the Yanks escaped Tampa happy to get a series split.
The bullpen had a good day; five relievers (Phelps, Thornton, Warren, Kelley, Claiborne) combined for seven shutout innings, complementing five solid from starting pitcher Vidal Nuno.
Final Score: Yanks 5, Rays 1.
One more thought. Jeter singled to right in the 11th inning to extending a hitting streak to ten. It’s his 15th hit of the season and the 3,33oth of his career. If he’s lucky Jeter has a little more than 100 hits left but it’s getting to the point where I’ve started to savor each one of them. Pretty soon he’s going to be down to double digits of hits left in his career.
Got to remember to appreciate and relish all of them.
[Picture by Bags]
Whew.
Now that's the bullpen we all know and love.
Poor Nova. He was poor to terrible even before he popped his elbow. I hope Nuno can pitch well enough to stick around.
Most likely he was poor to terrible because the elbow was on the verge of going ...
Vidal Nuno & the Bullpen Boys were solid? I'm stuck at home today so going to cue up the game and enjoy the free beisbol.
Poor Nova..this year's pitcher injuries have been crazy.
Nice win for the Yanks. Didn't see much. There was good wine and a little girl with a bunny rabbit that had my attention. Feel bad for Nova but I really like Nuno. He is poor in relief but has a real good idea as a starter. Moves the ball around, changes speeds and uses both sides of the plate. I hope they stick with him.
I was flying -- took off in like the seventh inning. But on Jet Blue, so I could watch ESPN live! I didn't get to see anything except the Anna walk, but I was watching the scrolling scores.
Also, man, the Orioles really wanted the Red Sox to win. Gave them three runs on two errors in the sixth, then Matusz WPs Pedroia to third with one out in the bottom of the ninth tied. Of course they IBB Ortiz (even I can't complain about that). Darren O'Day comes in to hit Mike Napoli with a fastball, and then Mike Carp sacs in the winning run.
Hey, everyone remember this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQeJ8YQuqh8
Bonds was really something else, that swing is just beautiful.
Took the dogs to the park in the morning, and hey, there are these green things coming up from the ground, then cleaned up the yard (dogs, again) and a nice lazy, Sunday afternoon that turned out well.
Looks like many of us were on the move. Driving across the state of PA myself. The game was perfect entertainment and literally ended the minute after I pulled into my gf's driveway. Kept me alert the whole way which was nice. I was frustrated by the offense but pleased with the pitching obviously. And great finish with Anna walking in the winning run!
I read the end of the game thread. Heading back over now to see the commentary on Gardner's double.
[8] scratch that. not much there. Looks like most folks were traveling or otherwise busy.
[8] But I did just watch the highlights. I thought I had heard some business about it should have been a home run but I don't see that so really not much to discuss there.
I'm loving the replay btw. I just like getting the calls right. Even replay won't be perfect but I feel it's much more accurate in baseball than in football, for example. There are some good reasons for that (most plays are in predictable locations so getting good camera angles is fairly easy). And I think that they'll work out the inefficiencies as best they can over time and it'll get quicker.
[6] I was at that game with my son. We had seats from some company right behind third base. I've never witnessed a ball hit like that. It was as if the ball was cast out from a fishing rod. It was in the upper deck seemingly in less than a second. Bonds' legacy is complicated. But the best hitter of a generation.
Best hitter to take PEDs, that's for sure.