I went to yesterday’s Yankee game not just because I got a terrific deal on tickets, but to make a statement about my faith in the team. I wasn’t going be the equivalent of one of those fans who fled for the exits in the seventh inning of a playoff game Tuesday night. I could hear the trash talk from Yankee haters Tuesday on Facebook, and I hoped that the team would shut them up Wednesday.
And I had bit of an ulterior motive in taking Squawker Jon to yesterday’s playoff game. I was hoping that he would continue his good luck for the Yankees. Even though we didn’t actually see Game 4 of the World Series in person (I dragged him to the simulcast at Yankee Stadium instead), I always think that Jon’s presence in Yankee Stadium had some karmic connection to Damon’s Dash!
Jon noted that in the last three Yankee games he attended, “the Bombers have hit ten homers – three [Wednesday], five on August 24 in Toronto and two on June 19 against the Mets.” I wasn’t at the Toronto one, but in recent years, Jon was also at the first night game with me in the new stadium (a win), and the first time A.J. Burnett threw a pie at a Yankee!
As for my own game attendance record, while I have some good memories (Jeter dives in the stands game, the Pine Tar Game, etc.), I’ve also got some terrible ones as well. For a variety of reasons (money, job obligations, etc.) I was able to get exactly two sets of playoff tickets in the 2000s (how is it that we went through that decade without ever giving it a nickname!) The two times I went to see the postseason: Games 6 and 7 of the 2004 ALCS! In the nineties, I did get to see the Yankees clinch twice against the Texas Rangers when I lived in Texas, but I also saw the Bombers get their butts kicked in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, after I spent money flying in from Texas to see the team.
So, if there is any good luck charm for the Yanks between us, it’s the Met fan! Jill, one of my Facebook friends, suggested we send Squawker Jon to Texas to help the Yankees’ luck. I totally think he should do it — he could go eat fried butter at the State Fair, then watch the Yankees win! Sounds like a plan to me!
Not only did we get to a Yankees’ victory yesterday, we saw Lance Berkman fall on the ground and not be able to get up for a few minutes. I think most fans were looking on in horror, thinking that the Yanks would be out another first baseman, after Mark Teixeira’s untimely injury, but fortunately, all that was hurt was Berkman’s “pride,” as he joked about later.
Squawker Jon thought that Robinson Cano, who batted third yesterday, was finally hitting where he was supposed to be. He also wondered if Jorge Posada were insulted that he was batting seventh, behind Marcus Thames and Berkman. If Posada did have his nose out of joint about it, he took it out on his bat!
C.C. Sabathia actually gave up more hits than C.J. Wilson, although C.C. didn’t walk anybody in the battle of the initials. But he limited the damage, and kept his team in the game.
And not only did Robinson Cano continue to be the Yankees’ MVP, but some other batters showed “signs of life,” as a fan’s sign said. Everybody got on base, with the exception of Brett Gardner. Curtis Granderson had three hits. And even A-Rod, who had looked terrible at the plate for the series, seemed much better.
I think the Yankees will win his series — after all, I did predict the Yanks in 7. But even if they don’t, they won’t be going down meekly.
What do you think? Tell us about it!
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