A nine inning, 3-2 ballgame, that took 3 hours and 25 minutes to play – without any weather, injury, lighting, or brawl related delays.
That’s a long time for a game like this one. It’s nice that the Yankees won in the end.
For some perspective, the Yankees were in K.C. on August 18, 1998 – and they beat the Royals 3-2 in that game too…in 3 hours and 58 minutes…but that game was a 13 inning affair.
Ian Kennedy didn’t break in this game – when he could have folded in many spots. You have to like that in a pitcher. Plus, I’ve noticed in both his starts now that he tends to mutter to himself on the mound. As a fellow person who is prone to talk to himself in spots where some motivation or self-control is required, I like to see that from Kennedy as well.
So, the Yankees magic number is now 19…to clinch the Wildcard. All good stuff. September 7th was a good day in Yankeeland.
Speaking of good things, finally, a word about Harlan Chamberlain. I’m both a son and a father, so, I am very touched by his story, challenges, achievement and the tremendous amount of love between him and his son, Joba. And, since I find it moving, I can understand all the media attention that’s being focused on the Chamberlain family.
However, to be candid, we’ve been hearing from and about Harlan Chamberlain for five weeks now. There are many other players on the Yankees and I’m sure that many of them have fathers who are very proud of them. And, I would bet that many players on the Yankees have families with stories of things that they’ve needed to overcome, etc. (Jeter, Wang, Phillips, Posada and A-Rod quickly come to mind.) Yet, they’re not getting the focus and attention of Harlan, Joba, etc.
Therefore, I think it’s time to have the Harlan Chamberlain story to come to a rest.
Again, it’s not that I don’t think it’s an awesome thing (because it is)…and, there’s an appropriate level of exposure that it deserves…but, it seems to be bordering on sensationalism, at least to me, if Harlan Chamberlain is going to designated as “the official father of the New York Yankees” and we’re going to have to hear from him, etc., for the rest of this season and in the years to come.