Tagged: Derek Jeter

California Dreamin’

All the leaves are turning brown, but the sky is anything but gray with the Yankees’ postseason run. Just one loss so far, and with one more win tonight out in Anaheim, the Bombers will be back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 2003.

You should all know A.J. Burnett’s story by now. Last year he was in bed with his wife watching postseason baseball wondering what it would be like if it were him pitching in a big game. Tonight, Burnett doesn’t have to wonder. Tonight, Burnett can pitch his team to his second and the teams 40th World Series appearance.

So far in the postseason, with the exception of being a little wild, Burnett has given the Yankees two solid starts. He’s pitched 12.1 innings, allowed a combined three runs on six hits, and the Yanks have won both games by the final of 4-3. As fans you would probably like to watch games without wearing out the leather on the edge of your seat. However, regardless of how they did it, they won both starts and are just one win away from baseball Shangri-la.

Five more wins. Coincidentally for Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, five more wins equals FIVE GOLDEN RINGS! Calling birds, french hens, turtle doves, and partridges in pear trees sold separately. Christmas is just a little over two months away you know. I couldn’t help myself.

History is still the future

I went to the Rays-Yankees game last night hoping Derek Jeter would go 4-for-5 and break Lou Gehrig’s all-time franchise hit record. After he struck out his first three times at the plate, I knew the chances of anything happening were slim and none, and slim just went on vacation.

Such is life. I did see David Wells perfect game in person, so I have that going for me, which is nice. It’s not like receiving total consciousness on my deathbed, but still, nice.

Anyway, as the players kept coming up and I kept hearing their musical selections, it got me to thinking. What song would I come up to if I was a Major League player? I thought for a second and then it hit me:

Ah, AB Logic’s Hitman. It may be a little brash, or egotistical, like I am going to get a hit everytime I go to the plate, but isn’t that the idea?

Now I want to know what song you would come out to if you were striding to the plate at Yankee Stadium. I will mention the best responses in the “Off the Wall” podcast tomorrow!

Yankee Mount Rushmore

mountrushmore_375_081909.jpgAn interesting question arose the other night in the studio before Yankees Batting Practice Today presented by Audi began. Who would be on your Yankee Mount Rushmore? Which four Yankee legends would you carve into rock for eternity?

The most popular and obvious choices amongst the crew and myself were: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle. Four Yankee legends and really a no-brainer. Think of the players you are leaving off though. Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Don Larsen. The list could just keep going and going like that stupid battery bunny.

It got me thinking and I am curious to know who would make your Yankee Mount Rushmore – or Mount Mystique and Aura? Leave a comment with your four choices. Also don’t forget to check out an all-new Off the Wall podcast with me and the Godfather of YESNetwork.com, Joe Auriemma.

The Outlaw – Allan James Burnett

SOLID START
A.J. Burnett was absolutely lights out picking up Chien-Ming Wang once again. Burnett had a 2-0 lead and a no-hitter into the seventh. Then gave up his first hit, the shutout and the lead, all in the Rays’ half of the seventh.

He didn’t crumble after he gave up two runs. Joe Girardi didn’t even get anyone up in the bullpen. Burnett got out of the jam and the Yankees rewarded their starter with a run in their half of the eighth to go back out in front, 3-2. Burnett then worked a perfect eighth inning and his night was over. Eight innings, three hits, two runs, one walk, and nine strike outs. He is now 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA. 

Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, so far in Yankeeland 2009, I give you your cure for Janet Jackson Disease: Mr. A.J. Burnett.

OFFENSE
Brett Gardner exploded Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla., (3-for-5, 2 2B, RBI). I’d like to reiterate my comfort level from my Homegrown Gardner blog from March 30:

“Gardner will be the Opening Day center fielder for Joe Girardi and the Yankees, and even though some “experts” aren’t comfortable with him being there, I am in a lazy boy with the fridge and a case of beer, and comfortable.”

Do they still make the recliners with the refrigerators? 

The top two guys in the lineup, Derek Jeter and Gardner, went 6-for-10 with four RBIs.  How about Swish at the dish? Nick Swisher was in the four hole and went 2-4 with a solo home run, his fourth of the year. Oh by the way, Swish is hitting .458. He thought it was heady to be hitting in the three hole with Mark Teixeira out of the lineup. I wonder how he felt hitting clean up? I’ll ask him Thursday when I am at the new Yankee Stadium for Opening Day.

Sleep well Yankee fans. See you for the Sprint at 1p.m. ET, then for Yankees Batting Practice today at 3 p.m. 

Trying to defend A-Rod

arod_cover.jpgIt’s been a tumultuous couple of months for Alex Rodriguez. He admitted using performance enhancing drugs, he had surgery on his hip and will miss close to the first two months of the season, and everything the slugger has said since his admission is put under a microscope, with every microbe of verbiage dissected and broken down until every proton and electron is examined.

I want to defend A-Rod with every fiber of my being for admitting he was wrong and doing everything the right way to start moving his life back in the right direction. He should also not be the only player dragged through the syringe filled mud. There are 103 more names from 2003 that didn’t come to light.

Rodriguez said in one of his many interviews he DOES NOT want those names to become public. He is bearing the brunt of the scrutiny and he just wants to move forward.

It seems he can’t move forward because almost every time he opens his mouth he proceeds to start a media frenzy. Take for example when he commented on Jose Reyes, a Dominican teammate in the World Baseball Classic. Rodriguez was asked if he watched the way Reyes ran the bases. He smiled and said quote, “I wish he was leading off on our team or playing on our team, that’s fun to watch.” Immediately some of the press surrounding him took that as a knock on Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter. Please. The last thing this guy wants to do, after getting the support of his teammates at his press conference, is to publicly humiliate them.

Even though the comments were innocuous, Rodriguez sent someone outside the clubhouse to make sure everyone knew it wasn’t a knock on Damon and Jeter. To his own admission, Rodriguez knows he is not a strong public speaker. You’ll learn that and more in an interview A-Rod gave the YES Network. Michael Kay sat down with the Yankees third baseman in our upcoming Pride, Power, and Pinstripes special which airs Tuesday March 24 after the Yankees take on the Red Sox in Grapefruit League action.

You would think if he is a self admitted bad public speaker, and always catches himself saying the wrong things, he wouldn’t make himself so available to the media constantly and maybe one of his crisis management people tells him to knock off the interviews for a while. Well that advice wasn’t available to him in recent months. Case in point, after Sports Illustrated outed him as one of the names on the list of 104 that tested positive for PED’s in 2003, and before he joined his teammates in Tampa, Rodriguez did an interview and a photo shoot with Details magazine. The pictures were in the New York Post. After seeing them, I’ll take the fifth, and refer to Forrest Gump in saying, “That’s all I have to say about that.”