I don't want to go on the cart!

Friday, August 26, 2005
Home Game 66
Yankees 5 Royals 1
Subway Race Winner: D train
Cap Game: #1



Bernie's not dead yet.

And from the way he looked tonight, neither is Randy. He won the battle of the phallic euphemisms for his first win of the month. Johnson only struck out 6, but he didn't walk anyone and gave up 1 run on 4 hits in 8 innings. He went right after the Royals and forced 13 fly ball outs. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you throw strikes.

I'm not quite happy with bringing Mo in for the 9th. But, with the Yanks only ahead by 2 runs he was already warming up in the 8th when Bernie hit his second dinger of the night to make it 5-1. It was a bomb in the upper deck. His first was a shot too. From the brief replay I saw when I got home, it looked like it hit the face of the Loge. Don't see too many of those. Tino popped up for the 3rd out. Since Mo was already warmed up I guess it only made sense for him to come in rather than have someone else hurry to get loose.

Bernie picked a good time to get hot. Actually he started to hit better when I finally dumped him from my fantasy team. I think I put a whammy on Gordon in the beginning of the year as well. He didn't get it together until I dumped him. Go figure.

A-Rod also hit one out in the 6th, his league leading 38th homer. I didn't know it at the time, but it landed in the black. I think this was at least his second shot out there this year.

Whoa, this is unexpected. While looking up the link to the game summary I saw this: Yanks are near a deal to acquire Matt Lawton from the Cubs. This may not be such a bad thing. He brings some speed, can work a walk, and once in a while can hit one out. In other words, he's a better option than Womack. I'm not sure how his fielding is though as I really haven't followed the NL all that much. He could turn out to be a good choice for the number 2 hole. Bernie can go to the DH spot and Giambi can get back in at first (he seems to hit much better when he's playing the field.) Anyway, if he's better than Womack, it can't be all that bad of a deal. Getting someone else in the lineup that can get on base would be a major plus.

Randomness
- I can't stand black road jerseys. Toronto wore them too. It makes them look like they're still in spring training. Anything to make an extra buck in merchandise sales I guess.

- The Friday night crowds at the Stadium are usually pretty fun. People just seem to be more into the game. Must have something to do with everyone winding down from the work week.

- Tonight was another sell-out. I never thought I would see 54,000 people at the Stadium to see the Yanks play the Royals. As a guy in front of me said, this next month is going to feel like one big playoff.

- It was football jersey night in the bleachers. There were some non-NY teams in the mix, and the Giants/Jets shirts seemed to be split. There were several rounds of "J!E!T!S! Suck! Suck! Suck!".

- Once again the box seat crowd felt the need to start the wave during another close game. This time though, it started in left field and went counter-clockwise. So when it hit the right field box seats we gave them the obligatory flip-off. The second time around the box seat folks got annoyed and chanted "bleachers suck". To which we replied "$50". They answered with "We got beer". And we answered right back with "We got weed". And that was that.