Yanks Take Game 1

The Yankees took game 1 against the Red Sox at Fenway last night. Lots of controversy going on with the Yankees (mainly involving A-Rod) including:

• A-Rod being seen going to strip clubs with a hot blonde whose name is not Mrs. Rodriguez. A-Rod is then mimiced with 30 blonde masks by white fraternity crowd at Fenway. The noMaas Fenway demographic has about 3/4 of the fans out to be white frat kids and people with the last name Sullivan.
• Wang got a haircut.
  
• A-Rod screaming at rookie Toronto third baseman leading to a dropped pop-up. Fights ensue.
• Scott Proctor getting tossed from the game at Fenway last night for throwing at Youkilis' head. While certainly understandable, 3 Yankees were hit during that game. The one at Cano looked intentional, though you don't throw at someones head. You hit them in the nuts.
• Joe Torre getting thrown out of the game for arguing yet ANOTHER bad call by these little league umpires. You are getting paid to make accurate calls, stop acting like the third base foul line ump in the Snickers commercial!

As if it couldn't get any worse. Giambi is now on the DL and could likely missing the entire season. This puts more pressure on Torre to play small ball. If the Yanks fail at that, look for them picking up a bopper. The media doesn't think Bernie has a shot at coming back, but I wouldn't rule that out.

METS: they are now plagued by injuries, just as the Yankees have been. Lets see how they hold up for as long as Wright and Beltran aren't in the lineup. The Mets didn't look too pretty last night against Webb and the Diamondbacks.

Scott Proctor

Yanks Game 5-27-07 Pictures

Pretty much all of the pictures are from after the game when we waited outside for the players to get on their bus to Toronto. Enjoy :)

Yanks Game 5-27-2007 Photo Album

Yanks Game - May 27

The Yankees game was good, up until the 6th inning when Scott Proctor walked in the tying and winning runs with the bases loaded. TELL THE TEAM IF YOU CANT FIND YOUR CONTROL, WE WOULDNT CALL YOU A SISSY! My friends and I all left during the middle of the 9th inning to go get near the Press exit where the Yankees were getting on the bus for a trip to Toronto. Got some nice pictures which I plan on putting up later including shots of A-Rod with his wife and kid, Mariano signing autographs for the sailors, and derek jeter giving a wave. The A-Rod shot is priceless.

Enjoying some nice BBQ right now and gonna try to relax and stave off this sunburn that I got on Saturday and only added onto today. Well worth it though, it was a fun weekend. Saw the third Pirates movie and it was decent. Very long and I had a hard time not cramping up, but the 30-minute fight scene in the end made it all worth it.

Tomorrow Ashley is probably having people over for a barbeque which should be fun. Then it's back to work; joy!

Jones Beach Air Show

The US Air Force Thunderbirds Jet team will be at Jones Beach today from 10am-3pm. Parking is $8 but the show will be free. I will be heading down to see the show with my friend Diana, also meeting my friend Mike, who works at the State Park in the first aid department. With a high of 87 today, a slight drop from yesterdays stellar 90, there should be a major traffic jam into the park. Hopefully, because the show is early, people will try to come during the latter part of the show, clearing my path!

Tomorrow is game 3 of the Yankees' series against the Angels at Yankee Stadium and my friend Ashley offered me a ticket. Hopefully the clouds will take a wrong turn and the rain will be staved off during game time. Still, with all this hot weather, a rain shower might just be welcome. As long as it doesn't postpone the game to another day. My Toronto game got rained out a few weeks ago and they already rescheduled it to the end of September. Sheesh.

HD Experience

Parents just got a nice, new, HDTV which should be up and ready for the final 2-hour episode of 24 on Monday night. Hooked it up to the Xbox 360 and it is flippin sweet! Sony sure makes a good TV. All that is needed is an HD Cable Box which will be picked up on Monday due to Cablevisions cooky weekend hours.

In other news, the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series comes out on Friday (or as some people would like to correct me - 8pm on Thursday night) and it is called At World's End. Looking forward to it. This girl in my office is completely obsessed with Johnny Depp and doesn't let me forget with her chain e-mails.

Here's to a great weekend. Scott is down until Wednesday and we got a little baseball in down at the field. Played a hit derby where two water bottles played the 2nd baseman and shortstop while we took shots all around the field trying to score hits. Semi-subjective but fun none the less. Two close calls were rewarded with one hit and one out. The sad part is, I splintered the bat on a pitch inside and we had to use the little league aluminum for the remainder of the game. It works, but not too well on the outside pitch :)

Missed Game, New/Old Book

The Yankee game I was supposed to go to on April 25 was rained out. What made it bad was that I was one stop away from the stadium when it was announced on the subways PA system. How nice. The Yanks are 6.5 games out of first place. Terrible, but still early. They need to kick it in high gear.

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of reading Casino Royale by Ian Flemming, after being obsessed and watching the movie about 15 times over the past 2-3 weeks. Can't get enough of it. The book is just as good and appears to follow the same story line, with minor changes in detail. The movie is present day and obviously the book was written in the early-to-mid 50's. Though the book holds a rather archaic release date, it manages to stay contemporary in every sense. You will notice, though, that he is not driving an Aston Martin :)

Long Time

Well it has been a while (ok, about four days) since I have blogged. Part of that can be associated to the Yankees' 5-game losing streak, being swept in the 3-game series by the Red Sox and then a 2-game series by the Devil Rays. The bullpen is doing a terrible job and moves have to be made to get rid of guys like Mike Myers while the starters are having trouble going into the late innings.

Work has been getting tougher, though not as overloading as when all the protocols needed to be learned in the early going. I am familiar with the vendors now so there is no lack of communication when something goes wrong. I no longer need a liaison to get answers. As a comfort factor kicked in, new challenges immediately arose as I was given more responsibility with an extra co-packing plant put under my control, this time on the west coast.

I will be going to the Yankee game tomorrow night with my dad, despite "few showers" in the forecast. Andy Pettitte is pitching tomorrow and hopefully he will give then innings like Wang did tonight (only to hand it over to the bullpen inevitably leading to a blown game).

Here We Go! Yanks v Boston Game 1

The Yankees play Boston tonight on YES/ESPN at 7pm for the first time all season at Fenway Park. Peter Abrahams, a beat writer for the New York Yankees, said "I’m not making this up, the Yankees were watching “Rocky Balboa” before the game." This, of course, solidifies the win.

Yankees have some good taste. I bet Boston was watching "The Little Mermaid."

UPDATE: Well it didn't solidify the win. Actually, it was a terrible game for Yankee fans. I'll try to take a few good things out of it: Pettitte, my boy, pitched strong, and A-Rod is proving to everyone that he is a monster. Good for them.

YANKS: A-Rod's Bomb 2

Can you believe it?! Another walk-off homerun for Alex Rodriguez! Total loss of words.

That was A-Rod's 10th homer in 14 games. No other player in the history of baseball has had such an April.

The Yankees swept the Indians, winning the final game of the series, 8-6.

Great Picture - Yankees and Rocky

Saw this picture on NoMaas.org which I thought was great because it combines two out of my three obsessions. The other, as you can tell from the previous post, is James Bond! Looks like Kei Igawa is starting to fit in... 6 innings and two runs against a powerful Indian lineup. Getting there.

Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

On impulse, if you could have anything material in the world, what would it be?



... without question.

It combines classiness with brute strength. Its thick design and stylish curves made it the perfect automobile for Bond. There is something about its shape that no other car, I feel, can imitate; making a harsh blow through a brick wall look professional.

For more on this car, visit the Aston Martin website. You will notice the car is slightly improved over the one in the pictures above. In my opinion, you need to keep a car simple to keep it cool.

YANKS: Slump

I won't even begin to say how bad of a slump the Yankees are in when the best closer in the game can't nail down the save against a terrible Oakland offense. The #9 hitter, to say the least.

Lets just hope some passion is regained. Tough two series coming up against the Indians and Red Sox. Despite being only 11 games into the season, these are still testing times.

YANKS: Wang Expected Soon

Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang is expected back in the rotation by April 24th. He has about 1 more rehab game in which the Yankees will then determine if he is ready.

Wang will be a welcome relief for the Yankees, being known last season for going deep into games. A sinkerball pitcher, Wang induced a great number of double plays. Lets hope that the Yankee defense can continue where they left off with Wang. With all the errors early in the season, you have to wonder, but the Yankees are a veteran team and should improve.

One thing is for sure, the Yankees bullpen isn't going to last all season with their starting pitchers topping off at 5 innings a piece.

YANKS: over A's

I have to admit, after Jeter's error in the first, leading to a 3-run inning for the A's, frustration kicked in. The Yankees certainly look sloppy out on the field in the early goings. But even with all the defensive errors, the damaged/relatively ineffective starting rotation, an overworked bullpen, Hideki Matsui on the DL, and Minky/Melky not hitting worth a lick, the Yankees still manage to win and remain only a game behind the healthy, newly-improved Boston Red Sox. Yankee fans are drueling for the end of this month when they will see the return of Wang, not to mention Matsui coming off the DL. Injuries, especially to the starting rotation, have certainly made things hard on the Yankees.

The Bombers beat the A's off a solo homer by Jason Giambi in the 13th inning. Brian Bruney closed it out for the save.

Mets Game 4/11/07

YANKEES: Just to get this off of my chest before I talk about the Mets game that I went to yesterday with my friend Chris. Heard the Yankees lost the third game to the Twins. It's not the loss that bothers me as much as the Yankee bullpen getting overused. Oh yea, and Mike Mussina is now injured. The Yankees are cursed and in desperate need of a strong pitcher. Clemens, Hughes, anyone?! Lets hope it's the former, for now.

The good news: The Boston Red Sox were 1-hit by Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez. It came up on the Mets' big screen that Hernandez was throwing a no-hitter into the 8th. The reliable sportscast on my phone showed JD Drew getting a hit on the first pitch, first at bat, in that inning. Matsuzaka's line showed an unimpressive 8 hits and 3 runs in 7 innings throwing over 100 pitches. I love how that wasn't the focus, especially since his first game was against the lowly Royals. Wait till he faces a lineup like Toronto.

Speaking of Toronto: they won. Toronto now holds the lead in the AL East. We're coming for you!

METS: The Mets game vs the Phillies was fun. We sat behind home plate and I got a better idea of how fast the ball comes on the batter. I decided that the Mets should consider me to replace Shawn Green in right field.

The weather was nice, despite rain in the forecast. Signs of showers only started to show in the last inning of the game and we were a few rows back under cover so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

The Mets lost, to Chris' disliking. I failed to see the thought process of all Mets fans screaming YANKEES SUCK at this one (probably drunk) Yankee fan as their team was down 5-2, showing a Yankees score of 1-0 over the Twins. Despite the eventual Yankee loss, poor timing!

What really screwed the Mets over was the starting pitching by Oliver Perez, who decided to walk 42 batters in one inning. They put in a relief pitcher when Phillies pitcher Adam Eaton came to bat which, although it made perfect sense, I thought it looked like the ultimate insult. There were 2 outs.

David Wright stunk, Jose Reyes was picked off because he got too cocky, and Shawn Green shouldn't be on the team. Somebody please put speedy Endy in the game!

Status

Single.

Hopefully not for long.

HINT: I'm not talking about Jeter.

Pavano and Bauer

CAUTION: SPOILER.

Pavano gave the Yankees a good outing, leading them to an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. The bullpen wasn't overused and finally the Yankee Team can walk away with some confidence in their starting staff. Andy Pettitte pitches tomorrow.

Jack Bauer (24 TV series) has finally put an end to the apparent Nuclear threat in the United States. But, just as you got closure on the weapons threat, a new threat has opened and Jack finds someone close to him held as a trading chip. Things will likely blow up and cause a much bigger problem than a small terrorist group with a couple of nuclear bombs. It's hard to imagine.

YANKS: 2nd Time Around

First off, I hope everybody had a happy Easter.

The Yankees have come full circle and are back to the beginning of the rotation with Pavano on the mound tonight pitching against Sidney Ponson, ex-Yankee in the short-term. The Yanks desperately need a few strong starting pitching performances because the first time around was a disaster. There will be no "cold weather" excuses this time as the Yankees travel to play the Minnesota Twins in their temperature-controlled Metrodome.

Hideki Matsui is on the 15-day DL, Johnny Damon should be back in center, and Kevin Thompson was called up to replace Matsui. Chien-Ming Wang is expected back in the rotation soon.

YANKS: A-Rod's Bomb

I still get chills...

There must be no greater feeling in the world.

UPDATE: Video no longer available due to copyright infringements. And I'm drunk haha... HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!

YANKS: A-Bomb X2 for A-Rod

Things are going bad for the Yankees.

• Derek Jeter is limping around
• Johnny Damon is flirting with the DL
• Hideki Matsui was diagnosed with a hamstring strain
• Bobby Abreu was HBP with a very loud smack to his back knee
• Yankees Starters have an 11.42 ERA the first four games
• Yankee Starters are overworking the bullpen, with Pavano, Pettite, and Mussina failing to get out of the 5th inning
• Kei Igawa bombed in his first major league appearance
• Chien-Ming Wang is currently missing from the rotation
  
• Melky Cabrera just stinks
  
• Yankees have more errors than Microsoft Windows

However, they still manage to win.

• Jeter, Damon, Matsui, and Abreu are all expected to be OK
• Wang is on his way back from a minor scare
• The bullpen has been fairly dominant
• A-Rod has been even more dominant (2 outs, bottom of the 9th, down by 1, bases loaded, GRAND SLAM!!!!) - TODAY AGAINST THE ORIOLES
  

Lets just hope that things take a turn for the best and Melky doesn't give us many more reasons to cry for Bernie Williams.

One thing is for sure: A-Rod's grand slam should shut people up for a couple of days!