Results tagged ‘ Aaron Small ’
Yankees Win Causes Wave Of Nostalgia
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The Yankees' 3-1 victory over the Indians tonight, coupled with the Red Sox's loss to Toronto, put the Bombers in sole possession of first place for the first time since 2006, according to Brian Hoch's report on MLB.com. No, a half-game isn't exactly a runaway lead, but I decided to take a ride in the way-back machine and see what was going on with the Yanks in '06.
Torre was still the manager and Bernie was still on the roster, and A-Rod was still married to C-Rod as opposed to dating Kate Hudson.
Jeter, Mo and other current Yankees were around, of course. But how about all the bit players, who eventually shuffled off into baseball oblivion? Like...
Bubba Crosby
Sal Fasano
Kevin Thompson
Craig Wilson
And a couple of pitchers who left their mark in very different ways...
Aaron Small
Tanyon Sturtze
Good, good times. But what's heartening is that the 2009 Yankees are a better team than the 2006 model that won the division, and tonight's victory over the Indians showed why.
Pettitte may be 37 with an apparently stiff back, and he put runners on base in every inning. But he held the Tribe scoreless for five-plus. Not bad for an end-of-the-rotation guy.
Alfredo Aceves may not be the second coming of Ramiro Mendoza, but he's been doing a decent imitation. So what if his idol is Dennis Rodman, the mascara-wearing cross-dresser? As long as he leaves the eye makeup at home and gets people out, he's OK by me.
Jeter has excelled in the leadoff spot, and credit goes to Girardi for flipping him with Damon in the lineup.
Posada came off the DL tonight and promptly went 2-for-3. And Mo? He notched his 58th save for Pettitte, surpassing the duo of Welch and Eckersley. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's a god among men.
Sure, there are big problems with our bullpen and the issue of RISP must be addressed. Still, the 2006 team was stuck with Giambi at first instead of Tex, Wil Nieves as a backup catcher instead of Cervelli/Molina/Cash, and Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright on the mound instead of CC and AJ. This year's herd is looking better and better.
One final note: the bugs. They were back in Cleveland. No, not in plague-and-pestilence-size quantities; just in little clusters here and there. But what's up with them? For all I know, they'll spend the rest of tonight mating, and by tomorrow night Progressive Field will look like this. Please, no.
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Goodbye, Darrell. I’ll Miss You. In a Way.
But first, my nightly fire update. More planes dropped water on Montecito/Santa Barbara today. Actually, it’s not water. It’s some sort of chemical.
The winds have stayed calm, which means I’m still safe in my house blogging as opposed to being stuck in a Red Cross shelter. Jeff Bridges wasn’t so lucky with his house, which burned to the ground. Same for the house of Christopher Lloyd (the actor from “Back to the Future”). I can’t really go outside because the air is full of gross particles and I’m supposed to wear one of these.
(The protective mask, not the zippered sweatshirt.)
Despite the toxic air, I consider myself very blessed. South of here, near L.A., they’re getting hit with the kind of hurricane-force winds and raging, out-of-control fires we had Thursday night. Just awful to contemplate.
So I’ll move on to another topic, which is the departure of Darrell Rasner.
According to ESPN, the Yankees sold the rights to Darrell (can you really sell the rights to a person?) for $1 million.
The recipient of all these bills are the Golden Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League.
I don’t read Japanese either, but it probably says, “Let’s go Eagles!” Apparently, Darrell wanted to play in the Land of the Rising Sun and asked Cashman to facilitate the deal. So now he’ll be heading to the mound with this on his head.
Not as cool as the interlocking N-Y, but not a bad logo, all things considered. The Golden Eagles are based in a city called Sendai in northwest Japan.
And while Sendai doesn’t have the excitement of Manhattan, it does have something called the Tanabata Festival, which is probably similar to the Puerto Rican day parade down Fifth Avenue.
And you’ll never guess the name of the stadium where Darrell will be working.
It’s called the Kleenex Miyagi Stadium. No kidding.
And people say there’s no crying in baseball.
Anyhow, I’d like to wish Darrell and his family well in their new country. He wasn’t the greatest Yankee who ever lived, but he came up from Triple A last year and pitched respectably for awhile. He was sort of the 2007 version of Aaron Small.
Only without the 10 straight wins.
Farewell, Darrell. And thanks for the beautiful semi-sweet memories.
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