And by love I mean...

killer dominance.

Side Notes:

- G'damn those red caps.

- Fake umps grace Yankee Stadium with their appearance behind home plate. Leave it to the Yanks to give free Legends seat tix to fans of the opposing team.

- As I said before, I will praise Robbie if/when he picks up a hit with the game on the line.. or any hit whatsoever with runners in scoring position.

- Breaking news: It has officially gotten to the point where I don't even know what Girardi will do in any given situation. He states clearly Bruney's the 8th inning man two days ago. The 8th comes around and.. in comes Coke  and Hughes. The job was done all the same, but it'd be great if our manager didn't make an a** of himself.. more than he already has.

- Relaxed and ready to enjoy the latest A-Rod home run tear.

- That's it.. Mo's pitching forever.

Beast Of The Ballgame:

Solid stuff. 1.00 ERA in his last 4 starts. Badazz.

So.. anyone still have a problem with it?

Me too.

Side Notes:

- I'm still in awe of that Pluto shot by Russell Branyan, off the glass of the Mohegan Sun sports bar.. sick. Thought A-Rod would be the first to hit it there, but must give the guy credit. Came one strikeout shy of two back-to-back nights with the Golden Sombrero so he was due for some redemption.

- Have to quote a tweet by Ross, of New Stadium Insider, regarding Joe G. riding Aceves' magic for a bit too long. "He is bi-polar with his managing. One night he micromanages, the next he autopilots." Can't be summed up any better than that. [Aceves was stellar before that mistake though..]

- Also in the category of what-the-hell, who was that in the 5-hole? Seemed oddly reminiscent of the old Robbie Cano, but my eyes must deceive me.. Will praise him when he picks up one of those hits with the game on the line.

- And who was the guy in the 7-spot? Return of Godzilla? Would be about damn time.. Just sayin'.

- Your Quick Bit Of Hilarity: Apparently the Subway Series never ends, because we got another Met moment, courtesy of Ichiro Suzuki dropping one in right. Fans at the stadium naturally let him have it on the next pop up hit his direction, and after catching it to end the inning Ichiro exacted some revenge with a not so smart move. Unlike Suzuki, Castillo took it like a man. Fake ball toss to the stands? Bush league Ichiro, bush league.

- The latest celeb at the stadium.. Jack Nicholson. Had the best seat in the house, sitting right behind home plate. Supposedly had a ball being on the big screen in the ballpark. Did not partake in the wave. Good man.

Leader Of The Crapfest:

6 earned runs allowed on 10 hits through 5.2 innings..
Forget you were facing the Mariners?

- In other news.. Kyle Blanks couldn't handle a bit of bees? C'mon.. Joba had midges making a home on his neck.. Be a man.. Speaking of, Padres get a delay [lasting all of 52 minutes] in the 9th inning of a game they obviously weren't going to win, but the Yanks were to forced to just suck it up [it the middle of the ALDS]? Death to Bruce Froemming.. [If he happens to pass any time in the near future, I never said this..]

For your amusement:

On Deck: Mr. Badazz facing Brian Tallet to start a four game series with Toronto. Got more one-hit stuff in the tank?

So.. anyone still have a problem with it?
. . . besides this guy:

Me neither.

Side Notes:

- Got to see Joba, Hughes and Aceves before the game. Joba is a funny dude. Buttons, by the Pussycat Dolls, was being played in the stadium at one point [yeah..] and in the midst of the meet and greet Joba was jamming, bobbing his head and probably two seconds from busting out dance moves. He was the last guy to leave from the gate and took a six man entourage with him, while Aceves could've walked out of the Great Hall alone. All three walked right past me, and were all huge and brolic enough to have me scared to touch them..

- Speaking of scary.. I know I've said it before but A.J. is the ultimate badazz. Even when the guy laughs or smiles, which he was oddly doing a lot of during BP for some reason yesterday, he still manages to look sinister. I was having a convo with a friend about him and brought up something I would've liked to see during interleague. First off, I would've gotten a kick out of seeing A.J. go to bat with biker gloves.. but I would've given every dime I have to see an opposing pitcher have the nerve to hit him. I can picture Burn just breaking the bat on his knee, walking to the mound, standing 6 inches away from whoever threw the pitch and just staring him down till the guy ran away or pissed his pants.. and A.J. then taking his place at first base.

- About the game.. How about that dandy Andy? Return of Mr. Reliable? Solid stuff.

- Two days rest and A-Rod musters up this kind of energy? Do we dare to give him three?

- The stadium may be helping the Melk Man, but I don't care. 7 homers at home [1 on the road].. Fine by me.

- I'm thinking Girardi should go by the name Slow Joe right now. Finally moved Cano out of the 5-hole, after a storm of criticism, and last night makes questionably weird move #82638234 removing Aceves after one batter. Yeah, textbook baseball tells you to bring in Coke for the lefties, but the micromanaging is ridiculous. It worked out so no one is throwing a hissy fit, but even Alfredo was surprised by it, walking off the mound with a sarcastic grin. Hughes probably wanted to do the same, after warming up for no reason.. Just sayin'..

- Don't know how it managed not to rain, but good night at the ballpark. Mick Foley was there [I sh*t you not].. and a Paul O'Neill chant broke out.. love it.

Beast Of The Ballgame:

Monster shot [two nights in a row].. enough said.

Crowd Quotes:

- [Following a wild one thrown over Burnett's head by CMW during BP].. "Wang, I think we've seen enough of that from you."

- [After a check swing].. "Oh c'mon.. I'm in section 430, row 15 and I saw him swing from here!"

On Deck: Double half a squiggly on the hill facing another lefty, Jason Vargas, making his first start against the Yanks. Make it an unpleasant one.

P.S. Vote For Teix.. now..

P.P.S. An update.. scaffolding is now completely surrounding the stadium next door and they no longer keep its lights on.. an extremely sad and scary sight. I don't know what it is but, despite the win, I realized the new stadium didn't give me the same "God, I love baseball" feeling walking out of it last night as the old one did endlessly. Just started sinking in that the old home is being torn down.

P.P.P.S. This = hilarious.

I should say defining embarrassment as well, to cover the Mets' display of talent this series, but that's too easy.

Manuel, I pity you.

Side Notes:

- Another night Mets escape errors, but the bonehead moves were still in abundance. Reason New York has another team = sheer entertainment.

- Wang finally picks up his first win in over a year and no one cares because Mo's the story.. tough.

- Randomness.. Wanger needs a sick haircut. Swish could probably come up with something good, but this would be pretty hilarious.

- How 'bout that sarcastic cheer for Castillo every pop-up in his own ballpark? I repeat: The guy is never coming back from that.. Bright side? Blooper/Oddity Of The Year [whatever TYIB Awards wants to call it this year] is his, hands down.

- I shouldn't put it this way, but.. Robbie, cut the crap. I realize A-Rod's new found "leave it all up the next guy" tactic [also referred to as taking the walk] has been putting the pressure on ya lately, but Alex wasn't spared the sympathy, so Cano, figure it out.

- Sorry to put it so bluntly but could someone tell me the worth of Hideki Matsui?

- Closer vs. closer, bases loaded, 3-2 count... and a walk to force in a run. Classic. As a wise man once said.. "It couldn't have happened to a better guy on the mound."

Beast Of The Ball Game:

500th save and an RBI to boot. Can't touch The Sandman.

Mo, thank you for being a Yankee.

On Deck: Joba on the mound, following a solid start in Atlanta, to face Brandon Morrow, currently transitioning back to the starter role, for Seattle. Make it 6 straight.

P.S. For your Off Day Boredom Relief, what Godzilla should consider doing:

[Not what he did on the first pitch.. Matsui is already doing a lot of that.]

P.P.S. Must quote the ever classy Mo from the ESPN interview shown after the game because it defined the man..

When asked about chasing Trever Hoffman, Mo's response:

"I play the game because I love it.. I don't chase records, period. I don't play for records. I play for the New York Yankees."

When asked about PED's.. 

"I don't even drink coffee.. If the talent that God has given me is not enough, well I have to quit. When I leave this game, I know, deep in my heart, deep in my mind, that I was clean.. Nobody can point a finger at me."

Amen.

          With this interleague road trip finishing up with the final game of the subway series tonight on ESPN [blehck] thought I'd open up another live blog to suffer/celebrate together, depending on the outcome.. however, with the way the Mets have played, I'm thinking it'll be the latter. Time for the Crazy Stein.

Game Time: 8:05 p.m. ET

Not a single error made in the field tonight by the Mets, and wouldn't you know it.. they look just as helpless.

Beast of the Ballgame:

7 innings, 10 strikeouts, one hit.. just nasty.

A.J. could really rock the throwback McMahon entrance.
[No doubt he got the belt tonight.]

Side Notes:

- Seems the Jorgie - A.J. duo is working mighty well. Both have a fiery intensity that the Mets just got burned by tonight [no pun intended]..

- Citi Field a massive fly ball serial killer? Yankee bats say otherwise. Two more bombs tonight making it seem like there are no dimensions the lineup can't handle.

- Who else is loving the youth takeover? Melk, living for the competition, took the baton from Gard tonight, picking up a couple of hits, while making a couple incredible plays in left. Peña contributed with a double and a solid play at short. Daniel Murphy was robbed thrice because of the two of them.

- Brun.. I've missed ya. An easy 8th.. retiring the side on 7 pitches.. Was actually warming up to the porn 'stache tonight.

- I've just realized there isn't even a lot to say about this one.. summed up simply: dominance.

On Deck: Wang to take the hill against Livan Hernandez. Wanger improving but Hughes will undoubtedly be ready to backup, should Wang have difficulties. Will be hosting another in-gamer for this one. Sweep?

Semi rounding up this past week [rather randomly]:

- Baseball is funny. Exhibit A [B, C, D and especially E]: The New York Mets. At this point I really don't know if I should further their embarrassment.. but I'm going to anyway. *Virtual bowdown* to the art form of losing they've developed. First Luis Castillo's epic failure, and now 3 errors in an inning by all infielders but Luis Castillo.. irony at its best.

- I live for interleague play. Because of it, a pitcher did the honor of knocking the other out of a game, the big man became an offensive threat and Mariano, the Sandman, Rivera put on a batting helmet and hit it hard. I'm seriously thinking the Yankee arms could pinch hit in non-interleague games, if necessary.

- Mike Gonzalez is a ginormous weirdo. How does he not get the slow play fine for his windup alone? It's like a minor rain delay every pitch. [And like we haven't had enough of those..]

- A-Rod.. glad to have you back. [And I'm not just talking about your bat.. back to women that don't have biceps bigger than yours is a good sign.]

- It's pretty clear right now that Joe G. is going to play the hot bat to handle the outfield situation. That currently has Swish sitting out.. [for last night at least.] What does the Red Bull Manic do on the bench? Sharpie his bat. Classic Swishness.

- Happy belated to the Capt'n. Don't know if he's in the lineup tonight, but if he isn't.. jeezus, Peña makes a hell of a backup. If he is, the Mets are the perfect opponent to kill the funk.. considering he hasn't driven in a run in two weeks, since last facing the blue & orange. DJ's cologne bottle is just laughing at him. Yeah, double plays aren't fun to ground into, but imagine how fun they are to watch. [Funny how the move to leadoff was supposed to solve that problem huh?] [That didn't quite turn out to be the Happy Birthday I had in mind..]

- Brett The Jet = Beast. Yeah, the kid has legs.. but 5-6, with a homer at Citi? Beware the beast.

Lastly,

Yours truly is officially a high school graduate. [I'm as surprised as you are.]
Now which Yankee wants to sign my yearbook?

P.S. R.I.P to the man that gave the world P.Y.T.

P.P.S. Will live-blog it tomorrow, for the last game in this interleague road trip. Hope all stop by for the ESPN bashing at least.

Here's a radical concept for ya.. stress-free baseball..

I don't know how the Yanks managed to follow a series that ended exactly the way it shouldn't have with a game that went exactly the way it should [despite no A-Rod, no DH, a limping Capt'n and youth, their weakness, on the mound for the Marlins], but thank you.

Side Notes:

- First on the agenda.. Alex. Right about now, I would question/criticize Girardi's overdue move to finally bench A-Rod like everyone and their mother understandably was doing tonight, but I took a second to digest it.. and I've come to the conclusion that Joe G. really has zero say in when Alex Rodriguez does or does not play. Given the fact that Alex's ex-wife stayed as long as she did with him, despite his multiple acts of infidelity made public, and the fact that A-Rod still scored a hefty contract with the Yanks, despite all threats given by the organization that he would, under no circumstances, be dealt with after the opt-out ordeal.. it's pretty obvious Alex is quite a persuasive dude. Girardi may be the manager, but when A-Rod says he's playing, he's playing.. and apparently, when he says he isn't, he isn't. As for A-Rod's timing.. pretty clear he's attempting to limit his chances to choke in front of his family.

- Sean West, sorry you had to be the kid the Yanks realize they need to tee off against, but tough luck.

- Andy with a great outing and a double and ribbie to boot. Got my dose of hilarity watching him round the bases.. and so did the bench:

I seriously love interleague play.

- Probably obvious, but LandShark Stadium is weird and massive, and sounds like someone should sell naming rights.

- Swish needs to double up his intake of Red Bull.. and fast.

- Been a while since I could look forward to the 8th inning and it's infinitely great to have a guy who can do his job back in the bullpen, but who's the bright guy giving Brun physical appearance advice? Going baldy and now the porn star 'stache? Really? Look, Big G barely pulled it off last year. Though the "Support The 'Stache" campaign and 'Stache Day at the stadium was pretty funny.. it's been done man. Tattooing Macho Man on your forehead would probably give you more cool points.. Just a thought.

- In other news, Papelbon attempted to make things clear today regarding one of his many trivial attempts to make headlines, this time surrounding his willingness to play in pinstripes when his contract expires, by stating "I don't want to go (expletive) play for the Yankees".. Haha, like we'd ever let him.

On Deck: A.J. on the mound tomorrow to face Josh Johnson, who's sporting a stellar 2.76 ERA and 6-1 record to match. Pitching duel?

.. and they rather cleverly tag-teamed with Mother Nature this time to prove it. Add this series loss [to a team 18 games behind in their division in the middle of June] to the.. surprises of the Subway Series and you get their point. Don't underestimate the level of their cruelty [or count your wins before they're in the books.. or something like that..]. As if winless against Boston so far this season wasn't enough, we must witness this:

Thanks.

Side Notes:

- New schedule proposal: 20 games against the Mets next year, how 'bout it? At least then the Yanks could play crummy baseball and still win the games.

- I swear Adam Dunn = Seth Rogan + Wheaties/'Roids.

- Congrats to Francisco Cervilli for becoming one of the few in the game to make a great play that could very well be labeled a blooper at the same time. Most hilarious dive for a ball ever.

- Also in the category of stellar plays is Gardner's catch and crash. Can't even bow down enough to the effort [and overall grittiness] being displayed by Brett The Jet. That collision last night really didn't look pretty. Not a moment's hesitation from entire team to jog out to center when he went down. The kid is vital.

- In the category of "about damn time" is Bruney's re-return and Jose Veras' disappearance. No offense to JV, but that DFA was a long time coming.

- I'd still love to know why this lineup can't, for the life of them, hit rookies. The opposition can pick any random AAA arm out of a hat and put him on the mound if they want a win against the Yanks these days.. and hey, look, a rook is on the mound for the Marlins tonight.

On Deck: Pettite will face a 23 year old by the name of Sean West to start a 9 game interleague roadtrip. Though the Yanks will probably continue to make young guns looks like Cy Young, pitchers bat in NL parks.. and one might just slip.

Some pics from Tuesday's game, if interested:

Okay I lied.. that was more than some.

P.S. Almost forgot.. first homerless game in the Bronx this season last night. Never thought it'd happen.

Because I'm too worn out [and lazy] to really recap what I've failed to blog in a week [and because the last two series got more than enough headline coverage.. for two separate reasons], I'm going to keep it simple and give ya what's on the brain:

- I don't know how it's possible for the Yanks to score 9 runs off Johan Santana, and yet only manage to muster 4 hits off Fernando Nieve.. but it's pretty funny.

- Epic Failure = Luis Castillo.. Sorry Mets fans, but you can never come back from that. A-Rod didn't even yell "Ha" on that one.

- Today was my last official day of high school [g'damn, it lasted forever], but something tells me I shouldn't be enthused. When a grown man throws a fit because someone dared to make a minor insult about him, the whole "high school never ends" thing really gains some credibility. Bruney voiced his opinion and K-Rod responded oh so brilliantly by acting like a sissy. Way to show his comments really didn't bother you smart one. Brun actually intended to apologize, but  apparently 'Cisco needed to act big first [while standing 3 feet shorter..].. would never have guessed those two are the same age.

- Though the guy pulled off a miracle, pitching two scoreless innings without walking a guy on Saturday, Jose Veras is still a disease, as his incapability to find the plate has spread to the starting rotation, which has forced the pen to work overtime.  You can thank the tattoo-bearing, thrown out of a bookstore badazz A.J. Burnett for saving the arms yesterday.. but it'd be nice if you'd manage to kick a** against the one team we really can't afford to be embarrassed by, A.J... Just sayin'..

- Speaking of Boston.. I have no choice but to hand it to ya.. With an 0-8 record, can't even attempt to deny the fact the Sox have owned the Yanks so far this season.. but the fans at Fenway are something else.. "You used steroids" chant? No offense, but leave it up to Boston fans to state the obvious. C'mon.. I honestly expected more.

- What I didn't expect.. the Yanks letting Big Papi come out for a curtain call for his every HR without retaliation.. Granted, they're very rare from him these days, but.. it's amazing the incredible amount of things a player can get away with if he isn't in a Yankee uniform.

- My last thought.. *virtual hour long standing ovation for Mark Teixeira*.. Gotta commend a guy who endured a month long.. um.. initiation, without a single complaint, while continuing to work till he got it right.. which he has, as he is tearing it up, and doing the little things.. The guy really plays his heart out.

On Deck: I'll be attending tomorrow night's game while CC is on the hill. The opposing pitcher probably doesn't matter.. it's the Nationals.

Also On Deck: St. Louis vs. Detroit.. the Jeffy-Allen showdown.. oh boy =)

P.S. Interesting story here.. Next time you want to have a few words for an ump, watch out.. apparently they can eject more than just the guys on field these days..[in high school games at least]..