The Enemy Uptown: The 2012 Yankee Thread

[Frayed Knot]

I was in and out of this game so can't comment on all the goings-on, but I didn't have a problem with Girardi's machinations in the 9th. Once you start the inning by giving up single + triple there's only so much you can do. Walking Longoria was a no-brainer and seeing as how Mariano isn't prone to walks walking the 2nd guy is OK too. Then given how many squibbers he gives up you can certainly make an argument for the 5th infielder.

The Madden deal with the bunt is a whole different deal. That he did it with two strikes was even more off the wall.



The best part was Zobrist's triple. That's the kind of pitch that, in MR's prime, would have moved just a couple more inches inside and blowed-up the bat of a left-hander into many pieces. But pitches don't tend to move as much when you're 41 y/o and that, as much as a few lost mph, is the difference between great and ordinary.

[Fman99]

God I hope he spends the whole year doing that. DELIGHTFUL.

[Ceetar]

What seems funny to me is that they walked the bases loaded and pitched to Rodriguez. Rodriguez is the guy they intentionally walked in the first to get to Pena. They also intentionally walked him later on too, as YES graphic said he had two IBB. So he's scary in the first but you seek him out in the lineup in the highest leverage part of the game? that's just wacky.

[Edgy MD]

C.C. Sabathia intentionally walking somebody in the first --- whether he's Sean Rodriguez or Babe F. Ruth = Living. Like. A Looza.

[MFS62]

I was at work today, but we followed the game.
The best part to me was reminding a particularly annoying Yankee fan (is that redundant?) that Cee Cee gave up 5 runs in six innings to lineup that had Jeff Keppinger batting cleanup.
Let me repeat that.
Jeff Keppinger batting cleanup.

It was the highlight (other than the MFY loss itself) of an otherwise slow day.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

I didn't see the beginning of the game, but if you're IW-ing somebody in the 1st inning of the 1st game of the season just to set-up a lefty-lefty situation with your supposed ace on the mound then, yes, THAT is over-managing.
At least the IWs in the 9th inning were dictated by the situation where only the first run mattered anyway.

[MFS62]

Our third straight triple-happiness day.

And Jeff Keppinger is on a TEAR, I tell ya'.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Hi, I'm 2-3 with a double, a homer, and three RBI. I'm also currently catching a three-hit shutout.

My name is...

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Hi, I'm 2-3 with a double, a homer, and three RBI. I'm also currently catching a three-hit shutout. My name is...

Montero. (I had to look it up)

The pitcher? his trade partner Hector Noesi.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Big blow to MFYs as Brett Gardner goes to DL with an elbow injury described in terms that could suggest 15 days might not be nearly enough. Kuroda in the meantime got lit up and seemingly for the first time in our lifetimes, the Twins have a chance to win a series (4 games) against the MFYs tonite.

[Guest sharpie]

Pineda out for season. Torn labrum.

[Vic Sage]

schadenfreude is not a German beer.
it's the way i feel right now...

[Frayed Knot]

Were this the old days, that elder Steinbrenner character would right now be petitioning the league (or at least threatening to via the press) for a reversal of the trade on the ground that the Mariners knew he was damaged goods. He would then claim anti-NYY bias as the reason the commish allowed the deal to stand.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Cashman simply blamed the Mets for abusing him.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Wow, Swisher became a twat. Such a shame.

[metsmarathon]

sharpie wrote: Pineda out for season. Torn labrum.

good for the yankees!

you know, not that i think the mariners knew he was injured, but i'm fairly certain they suspected that an injury was on it's way. his second half was bad, and his velocity was way down at the end of the year. if those aren't impending shoulder-failure warning signs, i don't know what is.

it may have been the case that he developed some amount ofweakness or tiredness or fatigue in the muscles around his shoulder last year, and maybe he didn't work hard enough in the off season, but that weakness followed him to this season. and when he tried to turn it on and get back the velocity, or power thorugh some soreness, he shredded it up good.

i hate to see a promising career fall to pieces, but if a promising career is to fall to pieces, i'm glad for it to happen to a yankee. particularly when their fallbacks include freddy garcia, phil hughes and andy i haven't pitched in a year pettitte.

i'm really rooting hard for montero to be the stud everybody thought he would be.

as a side note - any time a team is willing to trade a sophomore pitcher who had an impressive rookie campaign, particularly a rookie campaign wherein the latter half had som red flags a-waving, you might not want to trade your top slam-dunk uber-prospect for him. i'm just sayin'

[Gwreck]

The Second Spitter wrote: Wow, Swisher became a twat.

What do you mean, "became"?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Gwreck wrote: Wow, Swisher became a twat. What do you mean, "became"?

Point of order: Swisher is much more of a shmuck or twit than a twat.

[metsmarathon]

for once, i actually agree with michael kay.

i know. shocker.

since when in the history of ever is a ball tossed into the stands by a ballplayer or ballboy intended to go into the hands of an okay-looking woman with an older lover, when there is an unrelated toddler immediately nearby?

now, look, i'v e never been on the receiving end of a foul ball, or a ball tossed into the stands, and i know that when i've gone to ball games in the past, i've always dreaded getting such a ball and having a little kid nearby that i'd be tempted to hand over my loot to. but i'm pretty sure that i would. especially if i didn't catch a batted ball all by my lonesome. a ball tossed into the stands goes to the munchkins. everybody knows that.

and when you're sitting next to the muinchkin, and he's asking for the ball, and crying that he didn't get the ball that everybody knows was meant for him, you give it to him. you don't pretend that the kid doesn't exist. he's right. next. to. you.

do the right thing.

on a related note, i really need to take minimm to a game soon, so that we can get a baseball given to [crossout]me[/crossout] [crossout]us[/crossout] him just for being a cute little munchkin.

[Ceetar]

did the kid ask for the ball? I've been busy and I'm not sure I'd 'follow' this story closely anyway, but I saw some talk that the kid was crying already, that it wasn't about the ball, and that Michael Kay basically just blew everything out of proportion (because clearly from the occasional camera view shown him he knew the whole story exactly while broadcasting the game on the field)

[Fman99]

metsmarathon wrote: for once, i actually agree with michael kay. i know. shocker. since when in the history of ever is a ball tossed into the stands by a ballplayer or ballboy intended to go into the hands of an okay-looking woman with an older lover, when there is an unrelated toddler immediately nearby? now, look, i'v e never been on the receiving end of a foul ball, or a ball tossed into the stands, and i know that when i've gone to ball games in the past, i've always dreaded getting such a ball and having a little kid nearby that i'd be tempted to hand over my loot to. but i'm pretty sure that i would. especially if i didn't catch a batted ball all by my lonesome. a ball tossed into the stands goes to the munchkins. everybody knows that. and when you're sitting next to the muinchkin, and he's asking for the ball, and crying that he didn't get the ball that everybody knows was meant for him, you give it to him. you don't pretend that the kid doesn't exist. he's right. next. to. you. do the right thing. on a related note, i really need to take minimm to a game soon, so that we can get a baseball given to [crossout]me[/crossout] [crossout]us[/crossout] him just for being a cute little munchkin.

That happened to us last year at the spring training Mets/Nats tilt we took in at Melbourne. Only problem was, they gave Fgirl a ball and not Fboy. Luckily I had a couple of minor league foul balls at home and was able to give one of those to him instead.

[Frayed Knot]

ABC News included this "story" as part of their national "news" broadcast last night.

[metirish]

Frayed Knot wrote: ABC News included this "story" as part of their national "news" broadcast last night.

Christ, in a way I feel for the douchy couple, getting married this weekend to boot.It was on NBC News with Brian Williams too. Didn't help though that they practically taunted the kid. Still , leave them the fuck alone .

[metsmarathon]

well, as you can see on the video replay, the ball is tossed into the crowd, in the general direction of the kid, and probably right towards him. he's the only munchkin in the vicinity, and ballplayers have an uncanny ability to toss balls at munchkins. the kid also has a glove on, so he's primed to expect that he'll get a ball. the ball is coming towards them, the dad stands up or is standing, and reaches up for the ball. the ball drops, and hte dad bends over to reach for it.

at this point, the movement and jerking around has clearly begun to upset the tyke, but he also recognizes that the ball is intended to be his. as a toddler, everything is intended to be his, but hte actions of his dad and the expectations of the glove have magnified this assumed intention. the ball was coming to him, because it was thrown to him, and it is his. the toddler knows it to be true.

the old dude picks up the ball and holds it up, right in the face of the toddler. not intentionally, but still, it's right there. the toddler thinks he is being presented with the ball. he reaches. he expects the ball to be given to him. the ball is given to the fiancee instead. the kid cries.

having been in the company of toddlers, i know for dead certain that the kid, while blubbering away, is saying "i want the ball!" "i wanted it!" and "my ball" and words to that effect, and the parents are surely tring to soothe him by saying, "you'll get another ball" "we'll catch a different ball" and "do you want some ice cream?"

i don't care how loud hte stadium is. if you're sitting next to a toddler yelling "i want the ball" after you just picked up a ball that was at his feet, you cannot claim to have neither noticed nor heard nor realized what had happened. especially since they claim ot have kids of their own, who surely once were toddlers. they surely noticed the toddler before the play in question, and tehy certainly noticed him afterwards. they were tying relaly hard to pretend not to so as not to feel the need to make the kid happy.

if they were a bunch of college kids, or oblivious young adults, fine - maybe its excusable because they're ignorant of how awesome it is to make little kids happy. but they should know better. in fact, i'm certain they do know better. and for that, shame on them.

never in the history of baseball has a foul ball been tossed into teh stands by a ball player or a ball boy to an old guy sitting with his better looking, younger fiancee instead of hte toddler sitting next to them. never. the ball wasn't theirs to begin with. it was always the kid's.

[metsmarathon]

also, yes, it's one thing for the clip to become internet famous. its another entirely for it to make actual news.

[Edgy MD]

I'll guess the kid was over it by the time America got wind of it.

[Fman99]

The kid should be happy his dad didn't plummet to his death like that guy in Arlington did last year.

[metsmarathon]

Edgy DC wrote: I'll guess the kid was over it by the time America got wind of it.

no doubt. kids are fickle. it helps that someone in hte rangers dugout eventually tossed him a ball, too.

i'm pretty certain the toddler in question will be bringing that baseball to bed with him every night, like it's his new favorite stuffed animal.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I agree with his first comment: "This is just a blip. There's gonna be much worse to come, kid." This generation needs to toughen up.

[HahnSolo]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: I agree with his first comment: "This is just a blip. There's gonna be much worse to come, kid." This generation needs to toughen up.

I generally agree, but the couple didn't have to be total asshats about it.

If I were the dad of the kid, I wouldn't have asked for the ball, but were it given to my kid, I would have bought the couple some food and drink and all would be well with the world.