No Tex, Lots Of Texas
The bad news for the Yankees is that Mark Teixeira suffered a Grade 2 strain of the hamstring and will miss the rest of the season.
The good news for the Yankees is that likely means he’s only going to miss one game.
Ron Washington, concurring that to beat this crumbling but still dangerous New York team requires treating them like vampires, did exactly that the last two nights, managing as intensely in the 9th Inning as he did in the 1st. The results are obvious and the Yanks’ best news is probably that ex-Golden Gloves boxer “Grim LeRogue” didn’t get close enough Monday night to try to beat up Alex Rodriguez in some kind of expression of obsession with actress Cameron Diaz.
The Rangers did it for him, and not just to A-Rod. As it proves, should’ve been a sweep. The questions are obvious: why wasn’t Joe Girardi satisfied with five two-run innings from A.J. Burnett? How is Sergio Mitre at the playoffs without a ticket? Just leave the pile of queries in a box for the next manager.
One non-ALCS note: Barry Bonds at the Giants game. Just me or did it look like he lost weight? From his head!
Let’s go to the pretty pictures:
More than a little fuzzy (sorry). But the gentleman leaning on the seat ahead of him, hands together, upper left, is Nolan Ryan. In the lower right, Mayor Mike Bloomberg. This was taken Monday Night, but each deserves a shout-out. Bloomberg stayed until nearly the final out of each Yankee debacle and despite the vast numbers of empty seats, Ryan politely stayed in his 6th row locale.
Delighted to find Mgr. Washington is a viewer of the tv show. We had two nice chats pre-game and he did a heckuva job. On the right of course, Martha Stewart, who, so long ago, on Opening Day, took a picture of me and tweeted it to her followers, so tonight I took this picture and tweeted it to both her followers and my own.
Big celeb night, half the cast of Saturday Night Live in the front row (Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Jay Pharoah, producer Lorne Michaels and that could’ve easily been this week’s host Emma Stone). Across the aisle from Martha: Mark Cuban. Upstairs, Michael Jordan and Jay-Z.
And any of them could’ve pitched better than Sergio Mitre.
One more photo, this is from Monday night – a friend of the blog. That is your Toronto Blue Jays’ rehabbing reliever and author (hard at work at his sequel to the now classic Bullpen Gospels, to say nothing of trying to explain pitching to me) Dirk Hayhurst:
Baseball Nerd 
“This was taken Monday Night, but each deserves a shout-out. Bloomberg stayed until nearly the final out of each Yankee debacle and despite the vast numbers of empty seats, Ryan politely stayed in his 6th row locale.”
– sharpest thing I have read in a long time. Keep up the great baseball musings KO.
My favorite KO quote of all time: “…I like Texas.” Of course, it’s only my favorite when I take it completely and shamelessly out of context! Back to baseball though, you nailed this one, Keith. Nicely done.
Good to see you staying till the bitter end this evening. I’ve never seen you on my teevee machine at a ballgame before, but unfortunately you were not difficult to pick out by the 9th inning. It almost looked like an A’s crowd by then. 😦 And I say that as someone who likes and respects the A’s.
Sorry about Tex. I hate to see anyone get hurt, especially now, when it’s down to the best of the best.
Oh, and by the way…GO GIANTS! Still hoping you’re only partly right on that one – the short series part!
Keith, do you really think Girardi will leave? I mean, 1 world series in 3 yrs is pretty decent. I know he made some poor choices tonight (leaving AJ in a bit too long and,on my opinion, pulling Robertson when he was doing so well) but our lack of offense is not his fault.
Keith, Liked you so much better when your insight/pontifications were centered around sports, especially baseball. Frankly I’m a little surprised you didn’t take a moment to blame the Yankees lose on President Bush. Likely at the conclusion of the series. The politics thing is not doing you any favors. Get back to baseball, soccer and women’s lingerie football league.
Photo tip….the smile in the Stewart/Washington photos look as if you got a bad chili dog and are trying to push out a grumpy.
Well, once again my gut feeling was wrong and yours was right Keith– it was the beginning of the end before last night’s game. A tip of the cap to you– or Kirk Gibsonesque pump of the fist. Anyhow, as much as I enjoy your show I need an escape from politics and baseball gives me that. The downside is– I want to escape this awful feeling now I’m getting from baseball and Johnnie Walker just doesn’t seem like the healthy choice. But even before last night’s loss, I found this postseason to be a pain. And I started thinking about how great it would be if TBS had hired you to cover baseball. You have the voice and use of language to be a great play-by-play guy. I’m not sure if that’s in your background. But it’s not in pathetic Ernie Johnson’s background either. If you do happen to meet “E.J.”– you seem to meet everyone who is someone, and maybe he qualifies– please let him know, as much of a shock as it will be to him, that Ron Darling was a pitcher too, like John Smoltz! After today– small consolation– I won’t have to hear him turn to Smoltz ( who is smoldering with Yankee hate) and ask, “So which pitch would you throw here, John?”
“…five two-run innings from A.J. Burnett?” So he gave up ten runs? Shuuldn’t that be “five innings of two-run ball?”
GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–now I have to do shower off the stench of the foul Antichrist Martha Stewart–and hope my sight returns in time to watch Game 6 Friday night. Thanks lots, Keith. 😦
This is not exactly on point but: Am I the only one sees the centerfield at the Arlington ballpark as seeming to present a symbolic representation of Dealey Plaza? First there is the grassy knoll in dead center; behind it the art deco-like stands have large rectangular openings with arches on the upper level, just like the windows of the Texas School Book Depository; to the right, the columns on the grandstands are a useless affectation but are reminiscent of the column-like façade on the Dallas Records Building which likewise is just to the right of TSBD. No, this is not part of any new conspiracy theory but it does seem odd to me.
Keith: Read “The Bullpen Gospels” upon your recommendation; actually listened to the audiobook while I was in Iowa recently (which included a ‘bucket list’ pilgramage to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville).
Great book; looking forward to the sequel. Thanks again.
And any of them could’ve pitched better than Sergio Mitre.
As a lifelong Cubs fan, my wife is well aware that her team of choice is often populated by players of less-than-stellar talent. Occasionally the team is smart enough to dump them, or perhaps other teams assume these players will revert to (or explode into) star status once they leave behind the Friendly Confines. This does, in truth, happen — witness Lou Brock and some others. However, the ineptitude of former Cubs is well-enough documented to rate an actual descriptor: “Cubness.” As in, “Derrek Lee goes homerless in his first XX games after leaving Chicago for Atlanta. That’s Cubness for you.” Whenever we’re watching WGN and an ex-Cub does something egregious to damage his newly adopted team’s chances — booting an easy ground ball, striking out in a key situation, or giving up a walk-off home run — the tuneful chant arising from her lips is inevitably, “Cubness raises its ugly HEAD!”
Sergio Mitre’s “performance” was nothing more than Cubness, only this time his former teammates were NOT the beneficiaries of his largess.
And any of them could’ve pitched better than Sergio Mitre.
As a lifelong Cubs fan, my wife is well aware that her team of choice is often populated by players of less-than-stellar talent. Occasionally the team is smart enough to dump them, or perhaps other teams assume these players will revert to (or explode into) star status once they leave behind the Friendly Confines. This does, in truth, happen — witness Lou Brock and some others. However, the ineptitude of former Cubs is well-enough documented to rate an actual descriptor: “Cubness.” As in, “Derrek Lee goes homerless in his first XX games after leaving Chicago for Atlanta. That’s Cubness for you.” Whenever we’re watching WGN and an ex-Cub does something egregious to damage his newly adopted team’s chances — booting an easy ground ball, striking out in a key situation, or giving up a walk-off home run — the tuneful chant arising from her lips is inevitably, “Cubness raises its ugly HEAD!”
Sergio Mitre’s “performance” was nothing more than Cubness, only this time his former teammates were NOT the beneficiaries of his largess.
And any of them could’ve pitched better than Sergio Mitre.As a lifelong Cubs fan, my wife is well aware that her team of choice is often populated by players of less-than-stellar talent. Occasionally the team is smart enough to dump them, or perhaps other teams assume these players will revert to (or explode into) star status once they leave behind the Friendly Confines. This does, in truth, happen — witness Lou Brock and some others.
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