I’m not sure what it is but boy, we’ve been neglecting this blog of late. This is a bit late (remodeling my basement; caught snippets of the first few innings), but let’s do an in-game observation starting in the 5th. I always seem to do in-game obs for the Subway series’ and I promise you it’ a coincidence. I don’t actually believe there’s any real rivalry between the two teams. It’s an overblown media thing to increase viewership (what else is new?).

Recap of first four innings:

Both offenses struggle against big-time pitchers with great changeups. In the 4th, Teixiera hit a grand slam after Jeter, Gardner and Swisher all had varying degrees of great luck in getting on base. None of them really hit the ball with any authority, though Teix beat the ball deep over the wall in left-center. Do I dare say Teix is turning the corner? I feel like I say it any time he does something good. And then inevitably he comes back and goes 2-18 in his next 4-5 games. He’s really made me jaded. Also, CC has been rolling. Good velocity, two hits. Pitch count is at 65.

Bottom 5th:

*Jeter starts off with a beautiful shot to right field. Double!

Looks like French Bread misplayed it. Should have taken a much better angle. Or did wind sprints before the game or something. Jeter to second, Swisher is up.

*Swisher was just straight-up frozen on a breaking ball up in the zone.

It wasn’t a ball that looked too kooky. Think he was just looking fastball and was lost when he realized it was a bit slower. Ah well. I’m a lot more level-headed when we’re up by 4 with our ace on the mound.

They’re talking about the Dodgers right now. I wonder if Frank McCourt is issuing memos to his players telling them to care more about the environment by carpooling to work. This includes away games. This, of course, has nothing to do with him not wanting to spend any money because his wife needs money to maintain 7 chateaus in the south of France.

*Teix walks. Santana up to 83 pitches through 4 1/3.

This of course means Manuel will channel his inner-Torre and have Feliciano go 3 innings before his arm physically displaces itself from the shoulder.

*A-Rod given the green light on 3-0. Tied up and pops up on a fairly weak fastball on the inner half of the plate.

Boy, that’s rough. Still, he really hit a ball very hard in the 4th and had the misfortune of David Wright just being right there to make a great play.

*Cano hits a high fly ball to RF. Francoeur has the gall to actually make a good play on that. Inning over, Yankees up 4-0 after 5 innings.

Top 6th:

Every time I think, “You know what? Michael Kay really isn’t that bad,” he talks about wins and losses for a pitcher. He’s pitching worse this year than he is last year but he’s won one more game?

*Some scrub named Ruben Tejada laces a ball into RF for a double.

Swish does a damn good job of playing of the carom. He’s probably really good at pinball. Doesn’t he strike you as a Tommy-like pinball savant?

*Nice diving stop by A-Rod on a hard hit ball by Reyes. Still, a good 3B probably makes that look a lot easier. 1 out.

*Pagan flies a ball to CF, Granderson catches it.

CC is just making it look easy today. On to the bottom of the 6th!

Bottom 6th:

Lunch time. Be back soon.

*Well, not a whole lot happened here. Cervelli somehow legged out a triple thanks to Angel Pagan not having the ability to catch balls in anything less than a completely overcast day. He should request a trade to Seattle.

Also, two other discussions took place. One involved Manuel saying Cervelli should tone down his enthusiastic antics. What? Cervelli? Dude, I love Reyes and all, but c’mon, he’s not exactly the most mild-mannered of players. I think he celebrates on common singles. Seriously. Truth be told, I enjoy the enthusiastic players like Jose Valverde, Reyes, Joba, Cervelli, K-Rod, etc. Baseball, above all, is a game and meant to entertain. I find that quite entertaining. There should be more of it if you ask me.

The second debate involved what the Mets should do with French Bread and Pagan when Beltran comes back. I’ve been following Beltran’s rehab as it’s progressed, albeit slowly. I’m not sure I’d even want him in center field. I think it would be safer to throw him in RF, put Pagan in CF and tell Franceour to fuck himself. Franceouer should not be in the discussion for a starter’s job. Then again, it’s Jerry Manuel. I’m surprised he doesn’t try Frenchy out as a bullpen arm. He’s got a gun!

Top 7th:

*CC gets into a bit of a jam with a hit and a walk. He follows it up by striking out Ike “Highways” Davis and a double play to end the inning. CC looked a bit shaky that inning but rebounded well. He’s been “battling” all year long. I’ve still yet to see him with the dominant stuff he’d flashed of old. Still a tad concerned, though his fastball looks good and the change is nice. Just don’t see the bite on the slider.

Bottom 7th:

*Mejia is throwing. Jeter is up and somewhat predictably hits the ball on the ground. 1 out.

What a waste of this guy’s ability. Dropped his trade alue, lost a year of development. I just don’t get it. Yeah, he has a good fastball with excellent movement. But he’s 20 and needs to refine his pitches, along with building his arm to handle a starter’s load.

That’s not exactly what happened to Phil Hughes. Very different situation. First off, Hughes is a number of years older, had a more developed arsenal, had built up his innings. Frankly, it was a mistake to put Hughes in the ‘pen last year. They should have kept him stretched out when Wang was finally cooked.

*Pagan caught it this time. Gardner out. 2 down.

Why? Oh, you know, because it isn’t sunny anymore.

*Teixiera down on a strikeout.

I’m not even mad. Well, not yet. As I’ve mentioned, I’ll probably get all upset when he goes 0-4 tomorrow and I’ll forget that he single-handedly won us this game (assuming the Yanks hold on).

Top 8th:

*Franceour flies out to Granderson, who read the ball very well off the bat. He’s looked good in the time I’ve seen him.

*Tejada slowly dribbles one to Teix. 2 out.

Ty Pennington? I’ve seen that show. I don’t care if he’s helping people and doing good. Dude is annoying. He’s like Ryan Seacrest with a hammer. I’d like to see Ty Wiggington come out of nowhere and just hit that dude in the head with the bat.

*Reyes trying to hit the ball to Queens with a huge cut. He then meets the same fate as Tejada – a weakly hit ball to Teix. Inning over.

Bottom 8th:

*Damn, it is coming down. Rain delay.

Unfortunately, due to crap at work, I won’t be able to liveblog tonight’s game. It seems employers expect more out of you after taking two weeks off. The inhumanity!

Hopefully, my trite and sophomoric observations can be condensed into a recap after the game.

See ya then!

As I wrote a few hours ago, I did an inning-by-inning live analysis of last Sunday’s game of the Yankees v Mets. That game was awful. It was like watching the most gorgeous girl you’ve ever seen tell you off and then proceed to get down and dirty with some sort of farm animal. You’re upset because you felt personally slighted and then have the indignity of watching some vile act most thought were illegal even in former Soviet Bloc countries.

In my drunken stupor, I vowed to not do it again. Suffering through that game was bad enough, but writing about every at bat and documenting my seething rage was just the cherry on the creme poope. But you know what? I figured I’d give it another go. If nothing else it will be therapeutic to look back on the things I wrote in May and say to myself, “Wow, I sound like some short-sighted idiot on LoHud or an ESPN.com commenting board.”

So here we go, kids. Game 47. Javy versus one of the Twins pitchers that is completely like two other starting Twins pitchers — non-descript white dude with average stuff that doesn’t throw balls and keeps the baseball on the ground. Might be Baker, could be Blackburn or maybe Slowey. They’re all the same to me. The internet tells me it’s Nick Blackburn. Cool. He’s K’d 2.50 batters per nine innings. He’s never been a strikeout pitcher but really? Less than three per nine? How is that even possible? He’s also thrown 2.17 walks per nine and is sporting an ERA of 4.50 and his xFIP is 5.10. I like our chances against a guy like this.

Facing him is Javy Vazquez, who’s apparently facing no ill effects from an injury to his hand sustained coincidentally enough, last Sunday against the Mets. He feels great and is looking to move toward three straight excellent starts. It would still be nice to see him get his fastball up a tick or so, but he’s mixing his pitches better, spotting the ball effectively and has just mowed down hitters. [...]

The in-game observations from Sunday’s Mets, Yanks game worked out pretty well, so I’m going to do it again for tonight. We’ll try to make this a once-a-week thing, if not more. So please, by all means, check it out when the game starts. And let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make it better or what else could be included. I’m still trying to figure out the best approach.