My thoughts on Yankees-Twins, Game 1

I was pretty grumpy for the first half of last night's game, between CC Sabathia looking shaky, and Jorge Posada's passed ball contributing to a run. (I wondered on Twitter whether Jorge would blame CC for it!) And the fact that the Yanks looked flummoxed against Francisco Liriano for the first five innings ticked  me off.

But then the sixth inning came, Jorge Posada redeemed himself, and Curtis Granderson proved to be something sort of Grandish (I wonder how John Sterling called his big hit -- I hope it was better than the TBS announcers, who muffed it!)

I really thought that after the Yankees scored  four runs in the sixth inning, that Joe Girardi should have had a reliever ready to go, especially since CC may be needed to pitch on short rest in the series. Sabathia looked D-O-E-N  DONE, as Jerome from Manhattan would spell it! As great as Sabathia has been for the team this season (they wouldn't be in the playoffs without him), he labored yesterday, throwing 27 pitches in the sixth, 111 overall. He walked three batters his last inning, including the tying run. Yet he ended up with the win, thanks to Mark Teixeira's homer (another call the TBS broadcasters messed up on.)

I thought CC should have been pulled earlier -- getting the Yankees the win, not CC the win, should have been the priority. Others disagreed with me on Facebook.  Fortunately it all worked out, though.

But how about the messed-up call on Greg Golson's catch last night? The Yanks had to get 28 outs, thanks to that. Joel Sherman wrote this in support of instant replay in his blog today:


... "this is strictly about the blown call. There is a way to get a high percentage of them corrected, so why would we not want to do that. One argument I hear is that it would eliminate the human element. Stop. The human element is that Jorge Posada has trouble catching the ball, not umpires messing up.

After years of cheerleading for Jorge, Sherman's really down on him, isn't he?

Anyhow, had a late night watching  the game, so I'm way off schedule. Coming later today -- more thoughts on Carl (Iron Man) Pavano!

Twittering twit John Henry is missing in action

I wrote a piece for The Faster Times today wondering when Red Sox co-owner John Henry would Twitter again. Not-so-shockingly, he hasn't written on Twitter since the David Ortiz/Manny Ramirez scandal broke. Go here to read it.

In other news, I was missing in action myself last night. After getting some sun, I got home and fell asleep just before six p.m. last night. I was so exhausted, I ended up sleeping through the game and missing the whole thing! So not only did I miss seeing the Yankees beat up Roy Halladay, I also missed seeing if the fake umpires made a return to a Yankees-Blue Jays game!

What a nightmare it was to wake up in the middle of the night, and feel like I was on another planet, after sleeping so long! Hopefully, I'll be able to stay awake for tonight's game.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Fake umpires have lots of fun in the Legends seats this weekend

Talk about living the dream. Those two Blue Jays fans who dressed as umpires for the Yanks' May series in Toronto got to sit in the first row of the seats behind home plate for free yesterday, courtesy of the YES Network.

The two fans - Blue Jays ticket holders Tim Williams and Joe Farrell - made me laugh every time the broadcast showed them doing their moves. Not only do they have authentic umpire gear, but they mimic the umps for the entire game.

It's funny, though, that the Yanks got those too-expensive seats filled by bringing in fans who root for the other team.

AOL Fanhouse did an interview with the fake umps after they went on the road to see the Blue Jays at Nationals Park. Williams told Fanhouse:

"There are 7 billion people on the planet. Do you know how many of them travel to another city to fake umpire a game? You're looking at 'em."

What's next? Will fans dress up as grounds crew members? Vendors? Ticket takers? The possibilities are endless!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!