Donaldson was talking to Suzyn after the game and called us, the fans, "the common eyes." And as much as said we can't appreciate the little things that go into superior play. Like we can't appreciate the nuances of good fielding, or baserunning or situational hitting.
I was at the game. I'm writing this on my train ride back to New England. Some observations:
1) It was a very nice touch on the part of the Yanks to have an 11-year old girl originally from the Ukraine sing the Ukrainian national anthem. Pretty darned cool and well received by the crowd.
2) Billy Crystal threw out the first pitch, which I had mixed feelings about as a I'm not a big fan. I had no idea he's quite short, maybe 5'1", 5'2". He looked tiny standing next to Higgy.
3) The large cans of beer they sell nowadays are $16 each. So, if you buy a round of 4 beers for your buddies that's a $64 proposition. BOHICA.
4) They do not take cash at all Yankee stadium. All concession sales are now credit cards/debit cards only. Even for the roving vendors in the stands.......
5) .....both of them. I.e., during the entire game, I counted precisely two vendors hawking beer in our section. There were ZERO hot dog vendors, ZERO soda or water vendors, ZERO peanut vendors, and ZERO cotton candy vendors. I suppose the latter missing vendor type was ok since there were also ZERO children in the stands. The future of this game was nowhere to be seen. As a result of needing to get up to purchase everything, the lines at the concession stands were extremely long. Standing on them to buy a hot dog cost you an inning and a half of game-watching time. Money's leaking out of the bucket, Hal...do something about this!
6) Boston fans are assholes. They were all around us for some reason and they actually looked annoyed when Yankee fans cheered Yankees good plays. Massholes.
7) Castro has an unusual delivery but, man, he brings it. He whips the ball sidearm with a sort of a flick of the wrist, the way you might toss a flat rock if you were trying to skip it across a lake. This guy wasn't on my radar but he is now.
8) El Chapo pitched a terrific 9th ... 3 strikeouts if I recall correctly. He made the batters look powerless. Fingers crossed that he's back to form.
9) Stanton didn't look as bad as his results might seem to indicate. Here's hoping that Boone lets him play the field, which really seemed to put him back on track last year.
10) By contrast, Judge looked kind of bad. He had some weak first-pitch swings wear he sort of pushed the bat at the ball versus whipping the barrel around. Perhaps he was down because watched Cashman's inexplicable pre-game press conference.
11) They had a singer from Broadway in to sing God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch. The guy sang nearly the entire first verse without realizing that no one had switched on his microphone. It was bizarre. When he switched it on himself, he hand-signaled his apologies to the crowd, got everyone on his side, and then delivered the most stunning, tour de force performance of GBA you could imagine. I was blown away.
12) I thought I had read that "The Manfred Man", the highly annoying designated runner who starts every extra inning, had disappeared under the current CBA. It didn't. It's still with us and it's still highly annoying. Boston seemed to work it better than we did, even though they ultimately lost.
13) While it's good that we put up 6 runs, I honestly don't know where they all came from. No one looked particularly effective at the plate.
14) That said, LeMahieu looked like he might be back, but it's a very small sample size.
15) Don't forget that, even if the Yankees don't play any games, our poor son of a gun owner has to shell out $80MM each year to service the bonds that financed the building of the new stadium. In other words, Hal still sucks.
16) Despite everything, I enjoyed being outside in the sun on a 61 degree day with my friends. I had made all sorts of vows not to care to pay back the bastard owners but I couldn't help myself. It was great.
We don’t get the hear god bless America on the radio, But you made me wanna hear it. I found it on MLB. What that guy did was he changed the traditional place to take a breath, and it really change the song For the better. He sounds great.
What was that weird droning sound that occurred in random innings? Was it As obnoxious in person as it is on the radio? Probably has something to do with Star Wars or something stupid.
There were three in game spots for Coupa. We recently implemented Coupa Where I work. It achieved none of it’s goals. Baseball radio is a good place to forget work, until John Sterling does an endgame spot for some thing you use at work. So much for escapism.
On a freaky note, Siri will auto correct God bless America to godless America. Nice.
Thanks for that report, LBJ, and I'm glad you had fun.
But man...sounds like they're continuing to do everything possible to make the game unbearable. No cash in the Stadium??? Yeah, that won't slow everything down. And I'm sure none of the seasonal employees being paid that big, HAL wage won't decide to cadge a few credit-card numbers—or identities—here and there.
And the sorts of sound effects used to try to break Noriega, and suspected terrorists...who comes up with this?
2) LBJ - Great summary. You should send it to the front office. They need the feedback.
3) G-d Bless America - Easily the best rendition I've ever heard.
4) Bench Hicks and play Judge in Center as often as possible. I'm no longer concerned about his health long term. Gallo-Judge-Stanton with the nonstarter of DJ/Gleyber as the DH.
We started using the bullpen again- by the 4th inning. Trailing. I think we are fortunate to have won this. The RS are still gross- especially the hirsute pitcher.
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Nice work by the pen today: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 0 HR
ReplyDeleteEven the one earned run allowed by Holmes was nothing bad, just some groundballs that got through.
At one point, after a strikeout, David Cone actually said, "Up jumps da boogie!"
ReplyDeleteMagic # is 161.
ReplyDeleteHinkey Haines (formerly Unsustainable BABIP)
Donaldson was talking to Suzyn after the game and called us, the fans, "the common eyes." And as much as said we can't appreciate the little things that go into superior play. Like we can't appreciate the nuances of good fielding, or baserunning or situational hitting.
ReplyDeleteUmm ... fuck him.
Don't like Donaldson. Fuck him, indeed, even as he wears pinstripes and walks off Opening Day games.
ReplyDeleteWarblist...that was Rizzo.
ReplyDeleteBeyond the groundballs, Zach, that run off Holmes only scored because "Thousand-Yard-Stare" Gallo misplayed a ball in the outfield.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI was at the game. I'm writing this on my train ride back to New England. Some observations:
1) It was a very nice touch on the part of the Yanks to have an 11-year old girl originally from the Ukraine sing the Ukrainian national anthem. Pretty darned cool and well received by the crowd.
2) Billy Crystal threw out the first pitch, which I had mixed feelings about as a I'm not a big fan. I had no idea he's quite short, maybe 5'1", 5'2". He looked tiny standing next to Higgy.
3) The large cans of beer they sell nowadays are $16 each. So, if you buy a round of 4 beers for your buddies that's a $64 proposition. BOHICA.
4) They do not take cash at all Yankee stadium. All concession sales are now credit cards/debit cards only. Even for the roving vendors in the stands.......
5) .....both of them. I.e., during the entire game, I counted precisely two vendors hawking beer in our section. There were ZERO hot dog vendors, ZERO soda or water vendors, ZERO peanut vendors, and ZERO cotton candy vendors. I suppose the latter missing vendor type was ok since there were also ZERO children in the stands. The future of this game was nowhere to be seen. As a result of needing to get up to purchase everything, the lines at the concession stands were extremely long. Standing on them to buy a hot dog cost you an inning and a half of game-watching time. Money's leaking out of the bucket, Hal...do something about this!
6) Boston fans are assholes. They were all around us for some reason and they actually looked annoyed when Yankee fans cheered Yankees good plays. Massholes.
7) Castro has an unusual delivery but, man, he brings it. He whips the ball sidearm with a sort of a flick of the wrist, the way you might toss a flat rock if you were trying to skip it across a lake. This guy wasn't on my radar but he is now.
8) El Chapo pitched a terrific 9th ... 3 strikeouts if I recall correctly. He made the batters look powerless. Fingers crossed that he's back to form.
9) Stanton didn't look as bad as his results might seem to indicate. Here's hoping that Boone lets him play the field, which really seemed to put him back on track last year.
10) By contrast, Judge looked kind of bad. He had some weak first-pitch swings wear he sort of pushed the bat at the ball versus whipping the barrel around. Perhaps he was down because watched Cashman's inexplicable pre-game press conference.
11) They had a singer from Broadway in to sing God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch. The guy sang nearly the entire first verse without realizing that no one had switched on his microphone. It was bizarre. When he switched it on himself, he hand-signaled his apologies to the crowd, got everyone on his side, and then delivered the most stunning, tour de force performance of GBA you could imagine. I was blown away.
12) I thought I had read that "The Manfred Man", the highly annoying designated runner who starts every extra inning, had disappeared under the current CBA. It didn't. It's still with us and it's still highly annoying. Boston seemed to work it better than we did, even though they ultimately lost.
13) While it's good that we put up 6 runs, I honestly don't know where they all came from. No one looked particularly effective at the plate.
14) That said, LeMahieu looked like he might be back, but it's a very small sample size.
15) Don't forget that, even if the Yankees don't play any games, our poor son of a gun owner has to shell out $80MM each year to service the bonds that financed the building of the new stadium. In other words, Hal still sucks.
16) Despite everything, I enjoyed being outside in the sun on a 61 degree day with my friends. I had made all sorts of vows not to care to pay back the bastard owners but I couldn't help myself. It was great.
We don’t get the hear god bless America on the radio, But you made me wanna hear it. I found it on MLB. What that guy did was he changed the traditional place to take a breath, and it really change the song For the better. He sounds great.
ReplyDeleteWhat was that weird droning sound that occurred in random innings? Was it As obnoxious in person as it is on the radio? Probably has something to do with Star Wars or something stupid.
There were three in game spots for Coupa. We recently implemented Coupa Where I work. It achieved none of it’s goals. Baseball radio is a good place to forget work, until John Sterling does an endgame spot for some thing you use at work. So much for escapism.
On a freaky note, Siri will auto correct God bless America to godless America. Nice.
Great summary LBJ...to reiterate something on another thread...
ReplyDelete7a. Castro...Met Glove, really? Get a real glove that doesn't has your old team's colors, especially those from the team in the next door county...
ReplyDeleteWhat was that weird droning sound that occurred in random innings?
The play this scratchy unlistenable noise when there are two strikes on the batter. It's just as bad in the stands as it is in the radio.
The music/sound effects in general need to be toned down. Less is more, you jerks.
Thanks for that report, LBJ, and I'm glad you had fun.
ReplyDeleteBut man...sounds like they're continuing to do everything possible to make the game unbearable. No cash in the Stadium??? Yeah, that won't slow everything down. And I'm sure none of the seasonal employees being paid that big, HAL wage won't decide to cadge a few credit-card numbers—or identities—here and there.
And the sorts of sound effects used to try to break Noriega, and suspected terrorists...who comes up with this?
Local Bargain J - I must ask - where in New England? Inquiring minds - Don't you Know - wanna know
ReplyDelete1) Mr. Bosch welcome back!
ReplyDelete2) LBJ - Great summary. You should send it to the front office. They need the feedback.
3) G-d Bless America - Easily the best rendition I've ever heard.
4) Bench Hicks and play Judge in Center as often as possible. I'm no longer concerned about his health long term. Gallo-Judge-Stanton with the nonstarter of DJ/Gleyber as the DH.
We started using the bullpen again- by the 4th inning. Trailing. I think we are fortunate to have won this. The RS are still gross- especially the hirsute pitcher.
ReplyDelete