Thursday, June 18, 2009

Imagine! John Lannan shuts down Yankee bats

So much for my partner in blogging being the good luck charm for Yankee walkoff wins.

Squawker Jon and I have seen two of the most exciting Yankee thrillers of the year in person together - the Melky walkoff/Brett Gardner inside-the-parker against the Twins, and the Luis Castillo dropped ball game on Friday.

And for a while there it looked like we were going to see our third walkoff win together this year. But Robinson Cano hit into a double play, and there was the end to that dream.

I had a whole vision in my mind of what would have happened if the Yankees had somehow hung on and won the game. What if the Yanks had gotten wind of it, and decided having Squawker Jon watch their games in person was their good luck charm? What if the Yankees had decided to have Jon attend all their games until his streak ended? Is that a good movie idea or what - a diehard Yankee hater ends up inadvertently being the good luck charm for the team he despises! Alas, it didn't happen.

Squawker Jon has already covered much of our experiences yesterday. We met "Confessions of a She-Fan" author Jane Heller, Rebecca of This Blogger Bleeds Pinstripes, and Squawker reader Peggy at a very loud Stan's Bar for Jane's book signing. We also were excited to meet LoHud's Peter Abraham on the main concourse before the game.

In addition to those blogging names, there were many members of the New York Giants in the house, including Tom Coughlin, Justin Tuck, and Eli Manning. Eli's big brother Peyton was also spotted. You know, he's really got a great personality. Maybe he should do some commercials or something!

A few other observations:

It's getting old to see the Yankees struggle against a starter they've never seen before. I know John Lannan actually is a good young pitcher, but he's not that good!

Chien-Ming Wang was pretty decent, all things considered. Even though he got the loss, he can look back on this as a successful start, and hopefully build upon this.

Why is it that Alex Rodriguez is getting criticized for walking last night? I don't get it. And the booing of him by so-called "fans" is getting really old. Do they really think it's going to help him?

Jeanne, one of our readers, asked why Joe Girardi didn't have Alex try to steal second, or have Angel Berroa pinch-run for him. I don't know the answer to that. If Berroa is going to serve as a part of this team, that should have been the place to have him in. (Then again, he literally hasn't stolen a base since 2006, which makes me wonder - again - why he is on this roster if he's not even going to get A-Rod a day off once in a while.)

It stunk that Robinson Cano hit into a double play, but 1) at least he did a gutty at-bat, and 2) he also hit a homer earlier in the game, so I can't get on him too much. The Yanks shouldn't have had to need ninth-inning heroics again to win this game.

Speaking of which, as soon as Derek Jeter gets back in the lineup, can Girardi please, please give A-Rod a game or two off already? Thanks!

Oh well. At least I still have this memory, from the Subway Series game Squawker Jon and I attended. (I saw this video on New York Sports Jerk):

8 comments:

Uncle Mike said...

John Lannan? Lisa, how could you let that go with only one pun?

Help! I need somebody!

I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it today, yeah!

It's been a hard days night!

Someone may call Joe Girardi a Nowhere Man, sitting in his Nowhere Land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody. And someone might ask him, "How do you sleep at night?"

Of course, we could switch to the Mets: "Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream... "

Bad Beatles/Lennon jokes? Then, "Woman, please let me explain, I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain... "

Look at the bright side: A-Rod didn't get nonchalant after walking and get picked off. Instant Karma was not gonna get him.

And if this rain holds off, it'll be just like starting over.

Let's get some runs! Preferably of long-distance variety! Power to the people, right on!

NAM said...

Uncle Mike,

Pedro Martinez a Yankee - now there's a headline for you. It seems the Yankees are one of four teams to watch him pitch in the DR this week.

Now whose your daddy?

NAM

Bklynfan said...

NAM -

Hopefully the Yankees will ONLY be watching. I couldn't stomach Pedro being a Yankee.

NAM said...

Mike will go into convulsions when he hears this is a possibility.

The Emperor said...

Pedro in Pinstripes? I hope the Yanks have finally learned from their mistakes of the past regarding signing players by virtue of their legacies but that are far past their primes.

I hope they won't be that stupid.

Uncle Mike said...

Pedro Martinez will be welcomed into Pinstripes as soon as Bill Clinton is welcomed into the Republican Party.

As Fran Drescher would say, "It begins win an N and ends with an A. Nev-a!"

What are they waiting for: Call the game already! It's not going to stop raining tonight, and even if it does, the field is unplayable!

Paul from Boston said...

Uncle Mike...thank you for filling the conversation with a more appropriate amount of puns. C'mon Lisa - beautiful opportunity wasted! :)

Pedro a Yankee? Hmm...the thought is very amusing and if he pitches against the Sox like he did when he was a Met - fine. On the Sox pre-game they're saying Pedro himself has confirmed talks with Rays and Cubs (I think I saw that yesterday so not really new).

Good luck getting your game in...not much better up here and the weekend isn't looking too promising. These should be fun to try and squeeze in...or we're in for a bunch of 5 inning games.

Stay dry and cheers from Boston!

She-Fan said...

It was great seeing you guys at Stan's. Thanks to you both for coming. It felt like a blogger fest! Now if only the Yanks had won that game. UGH.

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