Game 3: Yanks VS. Sox

Here’s the lineup:

YANKEES
Johnny Damon CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jorge Posada DH
Jason Giambi 1B
Jose Molina C
Alberto Gonzalez SS
Phil Hughes RHP (0-1. 5.00)

RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
J.D. Drew RF
Manny Ramirez DH
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Sean Casey 1B
Jason Varitek C
Coco Crisp CF
Julio Lugo SS
Daisuke Matsuzaka RHP (2-0, 1.47)

Funny thing is, the game starts with Dice-K walking Damon and Abreu. Then, as soon as A-Rod came up to the plate I said to my girlfriend (a Sox fan), hopefully he won’t hit the ball to third and ground out into a double play. Promptly after I said that, A-Rod did. A-Rod has been grounding to third a lot with pitchers jamming him on the inside part of the plate. He’s going to have to figure that out.

Well That Was Quick

Thanks to nysportsfan for the link:

NEW YORK – So much for the curse. The New York Yankees have ended a construction worker’s attempt to jinx their new stadium with a buried Boston Red Sox jersey.

Team officials watched Sunday as construction workers removed the jersey, with slugger David Ortiz’s name on it, from 2 feet of concrete in a service corridor of the stadium that’s under construction.

The team says a construction worker — who is a Red Sox fan — recently buried the jersey there while on the job. Two other supervisors found the tattered shirt Saturday.

The Yankees plan to donate the jersey to charity, and may pursue a lawsuit against the construction worker.

The Yankees had an excavation at the new stadium and it was based on the presence of a Red Sox t-shirt. The t-shirt was actually a David Ortiz jersey. Maybe the Yankees should have left it in there. I mean, David Ortiz hasn’t hit a lick all season and that’s a good enough reason to leave things as they are :)

Here’s a bit of hilarious commentary about the situation from Hank Steinbrenner and Castignoli, the guy who buried the t-shirt in the stadium’s cement:

“I hope his coworkers kick the s- – - out of him,” said George’s boy, who now runs the team with his brother Hal.

Hank put no stock in talk of curses or in Castignoli’s cruel bid to hex the Yankees’ new $1.3 billion home.

A buried jersey, he reassured worried fans, means nothing.

“It’s a bunch of bull- – - -,” Hank said.

But Castignoli scoffed at the top Yankee honcho’s ready dismissal.

“So, then, why is he making such a big stink about it?” asked the would-be hexer. “If it’s no big deal, why not let it lay? Apparently, it’s bothering him.

“Tell Hank he can come meet me if he wants to try – and tell him to bring [catcher Jorge] Posada, because he’s the one Yankee I can’t stand.”

These quotes pretty much sum up Hank’s tenure so far. Classic stuff. I also enjoy Castignoli’s challenge to fight not only Hank Steinbrenner, but also, randomly, Jorge Posada. How surreal is this entire thing?

The Stubborn Moose

Everyone is wondering why Mike Mussina pitched to Manny Ramirez last night. Let’s face it, it was a stupid move by Mussina and he and the Yankees paid for it. Moose, although one of my favorite Yankees, has always been a rather stubborn type when he takes the ball. You can see it whenever he challenges someone with back-to-back fastballs, fastballs which gently touch 87 mph on the gun (if he’s lucky). It is his ability to concede and acknowledge his loss of stuff that has allowed him to succeed thus far in 2008. Tonight, we saw what happens when Mussina gets greedy.

Mussina momentarily forgot, essentially, who he is and what he’s capable of. To give him credit, I think Moose pitched a lot better than what the box score might indicate. He had some tough hits in the first inning (one by Pedroia comes to mind) and he really had only 2 bad pitches tonight (both of them were, unfortunately, hit very hard by Manny Ramirez). Also, to play devil’s advocate a bit and to defend Mike Mussina, Kevin Youkilis is off to a hot start, hitting .317, and he would have faced Mussina with the bases loaded if Moose walks Manny. He’s also a .294 hitter against him.

Moose figured he’d take a chance with Manny, get ahead with a pitch on the outside part of the plate, and then toss him junk until the cows came home. Youkilis doesn’t chase that junk at all and neither does Manny, really, but he’ll go after it a bit more than Youkilis will. Again, I’m not trying to substantiate Mussina’s move, I’m just trying to go along with his thinking process.

Either way, it didn’t work. Hopefully, next time he’ll swallow his pride and walk the damn guy.