West Coast Done, Bring On The Scum

So Derek Jeter leads off the game with a home run off Hisashi Iwakuma, his 8th of the year.  Funny, he doesn't look like a guy who didn't deserve to be re-signed. And Iwakuma didn't exactly pitch like a pitcher the Yankees have never seen before.

The Mariners scored 2 in the bottom of the 1st, and that's the way it stayed until the top of the 8th, as Ivan Nova, Clay Rapada and David Phelps didn't let it get any worse than 2-1 Seattle.

To start the 8th, Mariner reliever Josh Kinney hit Jeter with a pitch. So, tell me, umpires, how many times are you going to let Yankee batters (particularly those with Hall of Fame numbers already) get hit in a single series? It's not like the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, who clearly have received an edict from the Commissioner's office that they can get away with anything. (That comes this weekend.) (rolleyes)

Mariners manager Eric Wedge pulled Kinney for Lucas Luetge, and Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out. After a Curtis Granderson popup, Joe Girardi sent Jayson Nix up to pinch-hit for Raul Ibanez. Wedge pulled Luetge for Shawn Kelley. Nix doubled to left to clear the bases and give the Yankees the lead.

Eric Chavez was intentionally walked to set up the double play. Andruw Jones struck out. But Russell Martin singled to left to provide the final score.

Yankees 5, Mariners 2. WP: Phelps (2-3). SV: Rafael Soriano (26). LP: Luetge (1-1).

So the Yankees take 2 out of 3 in Seattle, salvaging 2 out of 7 on this Pacific Coast roadtrip.

Today is a travel day, and then... The Scum come to town. Pitching machups: 

Friday night, 7:05: Phil Hughes vs. Aaron Cook.

Saturday afternoon, 4:05 (Fox Game of the Week): CC Sabathia vs. Jon (Mo) Lester.

Sunday night, 8:05 (ESPN Game of the Week): Hiroki Kuroda vs. a Sox pitcher to be determined.

Bring 'em on.

*

Last night, the Major League Soccer All-Star Game was played at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Union. The All-Stars played Chelsea, the Champions of Europe... the 6th team in England, the 3rd team in London. The Chavs played French club Paris Saint-Germain in the 1st soccer game in the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday, and drew 1-1.

Not surprising that "Fat Frank" Lampard scored "in Philly," America's foremost food city. Fancy a cheesesteak, Frank? But Eddie Johnson of the Seattle Sounders scored in injury time to give the All-Stars a 3-2 win.

Champions in Europe, chumps in North America.

In fact, there's a lot of that going around: Most of the English teams touring North America haven't been doing well. Liverpool played Italian club AS Roma at Fenway Park last night, and looked horrible. Roma won, 2-1, the winning goal coming from American star Michael Bradley.

*

Hours until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 33, tomorrow night, at Yankee Stadium II.

Hours until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 34. NBC will broadcast the Opening Ceremonies tomorrow night, although I'm not sure when they're actually taking place; so, for us, 8:00 tomorrow night is the official start. Nevertheless, the soccer tournaments are already underway, with the U.S. women, including my fellow East Brunswick High School graduate Heather O'Reilly, coming from 2-0 down to defeat France last night, 4-2. The U.S. men didn't qualify.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 2, on Saturday night, away to the Montreal Impact. They beat the Philadelphia Union last Saturday, 2-0, with Kenny Cooper scoring both goals, both of them on Thierry Henry assists.

Days until the Red Bulls play Tottenham at Red Bull Arena: 5, next Tuesday night. I won't call this preseason match a "friendly," because it's The Scum.  t least I won't have to watch Harry Redknapp twitching in shorts, like I did when they visited for the 2010 New York Football Challenge.

Days until AC Milan play Real Madrid at Yankee Stadium: 13, on Wednesday night, August 8.  I really would like to see this one, but will so many Italian-Americans in the Tri-State Area, and probably more of them being fans of Milan than of any other Italian club, this may be tough to get a ticket for. But then, the Chelsea-PSG match only got around 38,000, so I may have a chance.

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 20, on Wednesday night, August 15, against arch-rival Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, a house of horrors for the Stars & Stripes, as we have never won there. And as long as Jurgen Klinsmann is still the manager, I don't expect that to change, because he cannot pick a lineup! Sack him, Sunil Gulati!

Days until Arsenal play another competitive match (not counting preseason friendlies, which are already underway): 23, on Saturday, August 18, home to Sunderland, a.k.a. the Dirty Monkey Mackems. A little over 3 weeks. I had been under the impression that it would be the preceding Saturday.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 34, going down to Washington to face D.C. United on Wednesday night, August 29. They travel to Foxboro to face the New England Revolution on Saturday, September 22, and to Chester to face the Union on Saturday, October 27.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 37, on Saturday September 1, at the Superdome in New Orleans against Tulane University. Not exactly a rivalry game, although Tulane was founded by a Princeton man. And thus, in 5 weeks, will begin the Kyle Flood Era. Good luck... 

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 43, on Friday, September 7, home to South Brunswick. Just 6 weeks. I'm glad it's a home game: It's always good to open the season at home, and South Brunswick is particularly tough to get to: Despite the distance, it's not close to public transportation. But that's the only thing I have against them: Though they are neighbors, they are not rivals.

Days until the Devils play again: 78, opening the season on Friday night, October 12, away to the Washington Capitals. Just 11 weeks. The home opener is the next night, against the Boston Bruins.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 83, on Wednesday night, October 17, the 3rd game of the season, the 2nd home game, at the Prudential Center, against the Rangers, the 1st meeting between the teams since Adam Henrique put The Scum in their place. The 1st meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers will be on Thursday night, November 1. I'd say the game will be at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, but that's dependent on the arena's name not being changed... again. The 1st meeting with the New York Islanders will be on Saturday night, November 17, at the Nassau Coliseum. Barring a big change, there will be only 3 seasons left at the Coliseum -- and possibly only 18 more Devils-Islanders games, unless the Isles build a new arena, move to the Barclays Center, or somehow make the Playoffs in the next 3 seasons.

Days until the 1st Nets game in Brooklyn: 95, on Thursday, November 1, against the now actually crosstown Knicks. A little over 3 months. 

Days until the 2012 President election: 100, on Tuesday, November 6. That's right, just 100 days. Register to vote... and on November 6, vote! 

Days until the next North London Derby: 112, on Saturday, November 17, at the Emirates Stadium. The return fixture will be on Saturday, March 2, 2013, at White Hart Lane.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 119. Under 4 months. Come on you Boys in Green! Beat those Purple Bastards!

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 400 (estimated around September 1, 2013). This is taking his current injury into account. A little over a year.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 556 (February 2, 2014). Less than 19 months. 

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 680 (estimated). 

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,520 (estimated). 

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,540 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, and he might get it early in the 2017 season, at age 41).

Resistance Is Futile

Back in the 1980s and the early 1990s, the Yankees would routinely go on road trips to the Pacific Coast in July and August. If they were in good shape for the American League Eastern Division race at that point, they would get knocked out of it by this trip. If they were struggling, that would be intensified by it.

Years later, after Star Trek: Voyager debuted and developed a character by the name, I began to retroactively call such roadtrips "Borg roadtrips" --  because the Yankees tended to lose Seven of Nine.

These were the days when Bobby Meacham, Wayne Tolleson, Alvaro Espinoza, Dan Pasqua, Don Slaught, Charles Hudson, Greg Cadaret and Wade Taylor were considered acceptable in Pinstripes. Resistance was futile.

*

This weekend, the Yankees were swept in 4 straight by the Oakland Athletics. Despite the epic failure of their Moneyball philosophy -- such that, instead of winning Pennants like they did in 1972, '73, '74, '88, '89 and '90, the A's have won none, and are in danger of being moved out of the San Francisco Bay Area entirely -- this weekend, the A's took the Yankees and partied like it's 1989.

I've already detailed the Thursday and Friday games. On Saturday, Phil Hughes and Boone Logan combined to pitch 9 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. That should have been enough to win.

Except that Jarrod Parker (no, I'd never heard of him before this, either) allowed just 1 run on 5 hits, all singles: 2 by Alex Rodriguez, 1 each by Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Raul Ibanez.

A's 2, Yanks 1. WP: Parker (7-4). SV: Sean Doolittle (1 -- no, I'd never heard of him before, either). LP: Hughes (a hard-luck 9-8).

Hard game. At least the Red Bulls beat the Philadelphia Union 2-0 earlier in the day, with me in the house. Kenny Cooper scored both goals off Thierry Henry assists.

*

And then yesterday, I thought the Yankees had it.  They scored 3 in the 3rd and another in the 4th, the latter on Curtis Granderson's 26th home run of the season. Plus, CC Sabathia, who grew up in nearby Vallejo, California as an A's fan, was on the mound for New York, in what was once his home park. What could go wrong?

Joe Girardi could go wrong. The A's closed to 4-3 by the 7th, so maybe replacing CC with David Robertson for the 8th wasn't a bad idea. Then Girardi went to Rafael Soriano for the 9th.

It was Robertson's injury that made Girardi stick with Soriano for 9th innings when Robertson came back. This may have been a terrible mistake.

Soriano gave up a home run to Seth Smith to send the game to extra innings. (Yet another A's player I'd never heard of.)

As they say in soccer, "Four nil, and we fucked it up."

David Phelps pitched the 10th and most of the 11th. Clay Rapada got the last out in the 11th and the first in the 12th. Then, as he usually does when there's a lefty who must be gotten out, Girardi replaced Rapada with Cody Eppley, ignoring the first rule of pitching: When you've got a pitcher who is pitching well, you leave him the hell in!

Eppley allowed a single to left by Derek Norris. Not Chuck Norris. Not even Mike Norris, the A's pitcher that Billy Martin burned out in the early 1980s. Derek Norris. (No, I'd never heard of him, either.) Jemile Weeks bunted Norris over to 2nd. And Coco Crisp (finally, a name I recognize) singled to right to score the winning run.

A's 5, Yankees 4. WP: Jerry Blevins (3-0). No save. LP: Eppley (0-2).

Jerry Blevins? Isn't that the old-time Philadelphia disc jockey? "The Geator with the Heater"? No, wait, that's Jerry Blavat. Besides, the A's moved out of Philly after the 1954 season, at the dawn of the rock and roll era.

*

I looked at the A's roster, to see how many names I recognized. There was the aforementioned Coco Crisp. (No, I'm not confusing him with a breakfast cereal.) Fellow outfielders Jonny Gomes, Josh Reddick and the Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes. Infielders Brandon Inge (the former Detroit Tiger star) and Chris Carter (although this is a common name that I recognized; the player in question with the name, no). Catcher Kurt Suzuki (who homered off CC). And pitchers Bartolo Colon (last year's Yankee who started this game for the A's) and Grant Balfour.

That's nine.  Eight if you don't count that Chris Carter.

The Yankees lost to these guys? Making it look like one of those old Borg roadtrips?

Captain Kathryn Janeway is looking at this series on his tricorder, and she can't believe it. She demands an explanation for this bullshit!

Well, the character is from Bloomington, Indiana. The closest major league city is Cincinnati (unless Indianapolis one day gets a big-league team), so she probably wouldn't be a Yankee Fan. I doubt that she actually requires such an explanation.

And besides, Rick Berman, Gene Roddenberry's anointed successor, went out of his way to tell us that, in the Star Trek Universe, baseball died in 2042.

And World War III happened just 11 years later.  Post hoc, ergo propter hoc... or karma?