I still cannot get over these stats:

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A collective .157 batting average with 36 strikeouts in four games.  Take Ichiro out of the picture and it’s much, much, worse.  It’s like Al Leiter was batting for the Yankees in the whole series.  How does that happen?

Via Jon Heyman –

Yankees manager Joe Girardi made a special call to the public address announcer on the press level during a Yankees playoff game to request that Alex Rodriguez not be named when Girardi pinch-hit Eric Chavez for A-Rod, people familiar with the situation said.

So when Chavez went in for A-Rod, only Chavez’s name was announced, not A-Rod’s. Typically the announcement contains the names of both the player who is pinch hitting and the person who is being pinch-hit for.

The call by Girardi from the dugout did occur, confirmed general manager Brian Cashman.

Cashman said he believes it showed the lengths to which Girardi went to protect A-Rod’s feelings. Such a call is very unusual.

Rodriguez was pinch-hit for and benched multiple times during a postseason in which he went 0 for 18 with 12 strikeouts vs. right-handed pitchers. Overall he was 3 for 25.

Cashman said he didn’t believe the decision to protect A-Rod was the brainchild of Chad Bohling, the club’s influential director of mental conditioning, but rather was Girardi’s idea. Bohling, who came to the Yankees late in Joe Torre’s tenure, is extremely well-regarded within the organization, Cashman said.

How sweet.

Cardinals fans must be feeling pretty lousy today.

So, what’s worse, losing an LCS the way the Yankees did this year, or, the way the Cardinals did?

First, some perspective via ESPN -

The Yankees never led in the [ALCS], only the second time in their history that they’ve been beaten in that fashion (the other was in the 1963 World Series) and had some of their weaknesses exposed in October.

The Yankees were swept in a postseason series for the first time since the 1980 ALCS (against the Kansas City Royals), and swept in a best-of-7 for the first time since the 1976 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Lowest BA in Single Postseason
MLB History

	BA
2012 Yankees	.188
1965 Twins	.195
1956 Dodgers	.195
1974 Athletics	.198
1962 Yankees	.199
1920 Dodgers	.205
1921 Yankees	.207
>>minimum 7 games

The Yankees had played 36 straight postseason series without being swept. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that is the longest such streak in major-league history.

The Yankees .188 batting average in the 2012 postseason is the lowest in MLB postseason history by any team that played at least seven games.

They scored just 22 runs in nine games, for an average of 2.4 runs per game. That’s the fourth-fewest runs per game in a single postseason by any team that played at least seven games.

How ugly was the final game?

The 8-1 loss matched the team’s worst in any postseason elimination game. They lost 9-2 to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1981 World Series and they lost 10-3 to the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.

The Yankees offense disappeared in the postseason. The combination of Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Robinson Cano went a combined 14-for-125 with one home run.

Clearly, some – if not most – of this falls on the Yankees batters, themselves. They were the ones in the box with the stick in their hand.

But, should they be the only ones held accountable here? How about Yankees batting coach Kevin Long? Is he somewhat culpable as well for failure of his star players? Also, what about Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman? He’s the one who put together the starting position players for the Yankees? Should he not also be charged for assembling a team without the skill set to produce in the post-season?

What do you think?  And, what should be the course of action regarding those responsible for this epic failure?

I know that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Yankees were going to lose the 2012 ALCS.  And, I know that the Yankees bats were MIA in Game 4 – as they were for much of the post-season.  Also, I know that the Yankees defense in Game 4, yesterday, didn’t exactly help their guy on the mound.

Still, that all said, it was a “must win” game – by every possible definition – and the Yankees had their “ace” on the bump in the form of CC Sabathia.

The result?

The big man faces 25 batters and allows 11 hits and 3 walks.  He doesn’t get out of the fourth inning and allows 6 runs, 5 earned, to cross the plate.

That sort of smells of Kevin Brown in Game 7 back in 2004, doesn’t it?  And, shouldn’t Sabathia be more of a topic of conversation in Yankeeland today than he is?

Via John Harper -

If anything, it showed a rather startling team-wide lack of mental toughness. You can blame some of that on the loss of Derek Jeter to a broken ankle in Game 1, but that’s no excuse for the complete lack of fight with the season on the line.

And while A-Rod blamed two weeks of postseason futility at the plate, saying it “sucked the energy out of us,” another player privately made a far more indicting observation: that the ballclub was affected by the hostility from the fans at Yankee Stadium last weekend.

“I really think the booing spooked a lot of guys,” the player said. “A lot of guys hadn’t been booed before, and they couldn’t believe how nasty it got in the stands.”

Obviously Nick Swisher admitted to being sensitive to such treatment after Game 2, but the player said Swisher was far from alone in his reaction.

“A lot of guys were talking about it in the clubhouse,” he said. “I was surprised by how much it bothered them. I really don’t think they ever recovered.”

If that’s true, well, so much for the big, bad Yankees.

And, in any case, it’s time that GM Brian Cashman considers how poorly this team has played in October, other than 2009, when he starts making decisions about next season and beyond.

Something has to explain how the Yankees seemed a half-step slower than the Tigers in everything they did on Thursday. For that matter, when Mark Teixeira was doing a Jason Giambi impression with his glove at first base, you had to think that neither their hearts nor heads were really in this game.

Afterward Rodriguez basically said not to blame him.

“You can take one guy,’’ A-Rod said, referring to himself, “and say, ‘Let’s blame him, let’s get him, put the coffin on him, knock his ass out.’ But at the end of the way I felt the wind was sucked out of us the last two weeks.”

Rodriguez is probably right about how heavily the overall offensive struggles weighed on this team. Yet there’s no avoiding the obvious here: the last few days made it look and feel as if a divorce with A-Rod should be imminent.

Booing at home  the problem this post-season? Oh, Em, Gee.  Grow a pair, will ya?

Blaming the fans…that is soooo weak.  Ugh.

Via the AP -

The Yankees failed to win a game in a postseason series for only the fifth time. They hadn’t been swept since a best-of-five ALCS against Kansas City in 1980. The last team to sweep four straight against them had been Cincinnati in the 1976 World Series.

Detroit also beat New York in the division series in 2006 and last year. The Tigers became the first team to win three straight postseason series against the Yankees, according to STATS LLC.

New York never led in this series — the only other time that’s happened to the Yankees was when they were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 World Series. The only other team to sweep an LCS without trailing at any point was the 1984 Tigers, who won three straight against Kansas City, STATS said.

New York scored seven runs at Baltimore in the division series opener, then was held to four or fewer in the next eight games. The Yankees’ longest previous stretch like that in postseason play came in 2001, when they were held to four or fewer runs in all seven games of the World Series by Arizona.

Ouch. Man, that stings. And, it’s gotta leave a mark on somebody’s resume, no?

Feel free to use this entry as a place for you to share your opinions, observations, complaints, rooting, and other sundry comments with fellow fans during the playing of the Yankees game this afternoon.

Here’s two great reasons:

Via Jerry Crasnick: From @ESPNStatsInfo: In 20 postseason games since 2009, A-Rod is hitting .164 with no HRs and .459 OPS.

And, via Buster Olney: From ESPN Stats/Info: Alex Rodriguez ranks 170th among 173 major-leaguers in OPS (.458) vs. right-handers since coming off the DL Sept. 3.

Pretty sure General Joe has this data in his binder too…

Via John Harper today -

[Yankees G.M. Brian] Cashman on Wednesday said he remains committed to patience and power at the plate, especially lefthanded power — the approach the Yanks have lived by forever.

“I believe in this philosophy,” Cashman said. “I was taught by (former GM) Gene Michael and we are still executing the Gene Michael playbook, which is predominantly lefthanded hitters that take walks. They’re typically big, hairy monsters, as I describe them, that hit the ball over the fence and are selective at the plate.

“What you are seeing right now is not a reflection of that. These guys are better than this. We have a lot of guys that got cold at the wrong time, and it looks bad, but this is not a reflection of who they are.”

Somebody help me out. Where are the Yankees starting players who are “predominantly lefthanded hitters that take walks”?

Tex? Cano? Granderson? Swisher? Last time I checked, Granderson and Cano don’t walk a lot, or, as much as they should…

Maybe Granderson does walk some…but, it doesn’t change the fact that his OBA this season was .319.

O.K., that leaves Teixeira and Swisher. And, that’s not a whole lot, is it?

Interesting stuff via Bill Madden -

Was Alex Rodriguez in the Yankees’ original lineup for Game 4 of the ALCS?

It depends on who you talk to.

According to Tigers manager Jim Leyland, he received two different Yankee lineups in the late afternoon, the first one listing A-Rod hitting sixth and playing third base. But then, a courier from the Yankee clubhouse brought a second lineup to Leyland’s office – the one that was officially released which omitted both A-Rod and Curtis Granderson and had Eric Chavez at third base, hitting sixth, Brett Gardner in center field and Nick Swisher back in right field after being benched the night before.

“Is something else going on over there with A-Rod?” Leyland asked the Daily News before the game was postponed by rain Wednesday. “I got two lineups from them, one with him in it and the second one with him out.”

Joe Girardi explained the two-lineup mystery as a mistake on his part and not a last-minute decision to bench A-Rod again.

“We talked about some different lineups during the day,” Girardi said, “and when I handed the lineup to (third base coach Robbie Thompson), I didn’t realize which one it was. It was actually a mistake on my part. We had people in different spots. So I called over there (to Leyland) and told them we gave them the wrong one.”

Here’s a wild thought: How about…Girardi had A-Rod in the starting line-up for Game 4, and, when Alex saw that, Rodirguez said to Girardi “Play your boys, Chavez and Ibanez, because, obviously, you like them more than me”? Or, maybe, if A-Rod was benched in Game 3 for throwing pick-up baseballs at bikini models back in New York, Alex was pissed over that and told Joe “Not today. I’m not playing”?

You have to remember, when it comes to the Yankees – especially when it comes to Cashman, A-Rod and Girardi – there’s always a difference between the “truth” you see and are being told and the “truth” which is actually “the truth.” So, it’s always possible that maybe there’s a chance that A-Rod was in the line-up for Game 4 and then took himself out of it.

If this did happen, eventually, we’ll find out. That’s the beauty of the truth. Three things that cannot be long hidden are the sun, the moon, and the truth. In time, the true story will come out.

Cards up, 2-1.

To be candid, I have watched zip of this NLCS in real time.  There’s just not enough time in the day to be watching the NLCS and the ALCS, for me.

Anyone paying attention to this one?  Is it a good series so far?  Who is favored now?

Or, does no one outside of Cardinals and Giants fans really care about this one?

I am interested to see who wins – just for the sake of seeing who the A.L. will have to face in the World Series.

Both N.L. teams have an interesting angle as they were both recent World Champions – especially St. Louis, since back-to-back World Champions are so rare…

Yankees fans now worried/pissed that CC Sabathia will miss a Game 7 start because of yesterday’s rain out?

That’s sort of like every middle-aged man in American lamenting about performance issues for when they met Angelina Jolie for the first time and she says “Take me.”

Why worry about something that’s never going to occur?

Game Seven? Really? Have you not been watching the Yankees this post-season?

Feel free to use this entry as a place for you to share your opinions, observations, complaints, rooting, and other sundry comments with fellow fans during the playing of the Yankees game this evening.

But, Swisher gets to play.

The Yankees have played 8 games so far this post-season.

In those games, they have scored 7, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 0 and 1 runs.

Yes, in 6 of the 8 games, they have scored 3 runs or less.  And, in 4 of the 8 games, they have scored 2 runs or less.  And, in only one of the 8 games did they score more than 4 runs.

By the way, this is a Yankees team that averaged 4.96 runs per game during the regular season.

This all gets worse when you realize that most of the Yankees scoring came against Jim Johnson and Jose Valverde meltdowns.

What a joke, or, is it choke?

Of course, now that the Yankees are down three-oh in the ALCS, all the pressure is off.  It’s hard to choke when you are already dead.  And, the Yankees will probably score 8 runs tonight…

Feel free to use this entry as a place for you to share your opinions, observations, complaints, rooting, and other sundry comments with fellow fans during the playing of the Yankees game this evening.

Is it just me, or, is it odd that the game today is in 3.25 hours from now, as I write this, and the Yankees line-up for this evening has not been released to the public yet?

Via the Post –

Shameless Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez was playing so poorly against the Detroit Tigers Saturday night that he was yanked from the lineup — but that didn’t stop him from trying to score.

After being replaced in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, the highest-paid Yankee openly flirted with a pair of pretty women two rows behind the dugout — even sending them a ball bearing a note asking for their phone numbers, a witness told The Post.

“I watched him flirt with two admittedly very cute young women nearby,’’ the witness said.

Instead of rooting on his teammates as they struggled to stay alive during the tense game at Yankee Stadium, A-Rod, 37, had a ball boy toss the young women a baseball inscribed with a message asking for their numbers.

“Alex was holding a pen and wrote a note on a ball which was thrown at the women by a ball boy,’’ the witness explained.

“The girls, who had already caught two balls, seemed bemused at first and tried to hand the ball to another fan, but other fans noticed the note on it and yelled at them to read it.

“The note asked them to write their phone numbers on the ball and throw it back,’’ the witness said.

“One of the girls, with darker blond hair, wrote . . . on the ball and threw it back at A-Rod, who gave her a big smile.”

“They exchanged a few glances after that,’’ as A-Rod took a powder while a pinch-hitter took his place at the plate.

Raul Ibanez performed under pressure, tying the score in the bottom of the ninth.

In the 12th, team captain Derek Jeter broke his ankle — and A-Rod finally wised up, the witness said.

“The flirtation stopped once Derek Jeter got hurt,” the source said.

The Yanks wound up losing 6-4.

They also lost again to the Tigers 3-0 on Sunday.

Fans sitting behind the dugout at Saturday’s game said they were disgusted after witnessing A-Rod’s shenanigans, which were more befitting a sixth-grader than a serious ballplayer.

“I was absolutely stunned that even . . . A-Rod would not be focusing on such a critical game, supporting his teammates, and was instead more interested in adding another couple of phone numbers to what must be a very, very large collection,’’ one said.

A-Rod’s rep referred questions to a team spokesman, who didn’t get back to The Post last night.

Rodriguez is currently dating wrestler Torrie Wilson.

The joke is on Alex. One of the girls was Louise Meanwell.

And, yes, I am killing.

What if the Yankees manage a way to beat Justin Verlander tonight? I mean, after all, he ain’t God, man. In fact, there have been 88 times since 2005 where Verlander started a game and the Tigers went on to lose it.

And, what if CC Sabathia is a stud in Game 4 of the ALCS and carries the Yankees to a victory in that one?

That would turn this ALCS into a “Best 2 out of 3″ with the Yankees having the home field advantage.

Would this all change the Yankees odds to get to the World Series this year? Would it mean a sellout crowd for Game 6 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium?

What do you think?

See this game.

Game 3 will probably be a lot like that one.

Via David Lennon nine days ago:

The architect of these Yankees offers no apologies for the all-or-nothing attack of the 2012 Bronx Bombers . It’s no happy accident that they led the majors with 245 home runs (the most in franchise history), went deep in a major league- record 131 of 162 games and relied on the long ball for a third of their RBI production.

This is by design, and general manager Brian Cashman loves what he sees from this power-mad roster.

“I want a team that walks and mashes,” Cashman said. “And if you can mash and hit home runs, then you can hit singles and doubles, too. We’re not going to hit triples. But we’re built the way we are for a reason.

“I’m still using the Gene Michael playbook, and this is about getting big, hairy monsters that mash and are selective at the plate. There’s a reason we’re perennially at the top of runs scored.”

That’s the bottom line, right? There’s no extra credit for taking longer to get around the bases, no additional style points for nifty bunts or dramatic steals.

When Joe Girardi faced questions earlier this season about the Yankees’ occasional lapses with situational hitting– as he often does — he explained that home runs are just part of his team’s DNA.

As for runners in scoring position, well, Girardi pointed out that his players don’t need to be standing at second base for that. It happens as soon as they step into the batter’s box.

“Our bread-and-butter has been the long ball,” Nick Swisher said. “The Yankees have been doing that for years. On some teams, a guy may get a base hit, steal second and then there’s a single for him to score. With us, we might walk and then hit a two-run jack.”

Great plan. It’s working out really well this post-season…

Here are the Yankees batting stats, this post-season, for the ALDS and ALCS, combined:

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It is truly amazing how much Cano, A-Rod, Swisher, Granderson and Martin have been terrible this post-season.  And, now that Jeter is out, it only leaves Teixeira, Ichiro and Ibanez as the sole guys who have provided some support this October in the line-up.

Could you imagine what would be happening now if George Steinbrenner were still alive and in his prime?  Kevin Long would have been reassigned to the instructional league during the playoffs.

I suppose that Martin is not a total shock.  For most of the season, he was a joke at the plate.  But, it’s almost impossible to be as bad as Cano, A-Rod, Swisher and Granderson have been this post-season.  Look at their numbers.  Give CC Sabathia a stick and send him to the plate and he could probably do better than the numbers those four have produced so far.

Then again, maybe we should not be shocked with the others as well?

Seriously, A-Rod’s been in a decline for a while now and it has really accelerated this year.  Plus, outside of 2009 – where he had help from the Canadian Dr. Feel Good and the benefit of facing the Twins and Angels who never get him out – he’s always been a bust for the Yankees in the post-season.  So, this should not be a surprise.

And, Granderson, this season, like he was doing in Detroit before he came to New York, turned into Dave Kingman at the plate.  Sure, he can crush a mistake fastball.  But, his swing has more holes to exploit than the Bunny Ranch and these post-season pitchers are having an orgy facing him.

Swisher?  Check the career post-season stats on ‘Lish, The Red Light Clown:

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Swisher just may be the worst hitter (with a minimum of 100 PA) in post-season history. Therefore, what he’s doing now is what he always does in October: Choke.

And, that leaves Cano.  How a guy can hit six-fifteen in his last 9 games of the season, and then set a major league post-season record for going hitless in 26 straight at-bats, the next minute is beyond reason.  Unless, of course, Cano is the new A-Rod for the Yankees.  And, then, naturally, it makes sense.

For Yankees fans, the good news is that Swisher should soon be gone and Granderson will not be far behind him.  And, for all we know, Cano may leave New York once he becomes a Free Agent.  But, Brian Cashman is the G.M. who brought in Swisher and Granderson.  So, as long as he’s still in charge, their replacements may be more of the same.  And, A-Rod’s not going anywhere, most likely, because of his contract.  (Unless, like he did in Texas, Rodriguez brokers his own deal out of town.)

Then again, maybe  the Yankees will turn this all around this post-season and make all this lamenting seem silly? Just don’t bet the house on it.  Because, if that happens, then that will be truly shocking.

Via Mr. Met Carig -

Yankees fans turned their backs on the struggling Nick Swisher, and during Sunday’s 3-0 ALCS loss to the Tigers, the soon-to-be free agent turned his back on them.

In the middle of another brutal October for Swisher, who has been booed throughout the postseason, the rightfielder barely acknowledged his fans. It was a stark departure for Swisher, who arrived in a 2009 trade, then made himself a favorite with his jovial personality and his constant interaction. The lovefest ended Sunday.

“It hurts,” said Swisher, who said he was disappointed by the fans’ behavior. “Sometimes, I’m a sensitive guy. Some of the things people say, they get under your skin a little bit. But hey, man, I’ve been lucky to be here for the last four years, bro, and we’re not going to go out like this.”

But if the Yankees are knocked out in Detroit, Swisher’s critical remarks about the fans likely will be his final act in New York. The 31-year-old will be a free agent at season’s end and is unlikely to re-sign.

After his final plate appearance, Swisher said fans serenaded him with: “Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.”

Swisher’s regular-season performances have been overshadowed by consistent postseason failure. To more boos, he finished 1-for-3, which put his 2012 postseason average at .154 (4-for-26).

Swisher acknowledged that getting booed for poor performances is “part of the game,” especially in New York where, “there’s a lot of expectations.” But he also railed against jeers he heard Saturday night when he had trouble with a line drive in the 12th. One play later, Derek Jeter fractured his ankle.

“Prime example,” Swisher said. “I missed that ball in the lights and next thing you know, I’m the reason that Jeter got hurt. It’s kind of frustrating . . . They were saying it was my fault.”

He added, “When things kind of turn like that, it obviously hurt a little bit because this is the type of city and crowd that really rallies around their team and that’s the reason we’ve got 27 championships. But to go through a stretch like this where it’s kind of a negative attitude, a negative-type setting, that’s tough.”

Swisher arrived at Yankee Stadium Sunday determined to keep his distance. He typically takes warm-up throws near the rightfield fence, within earshot of fans. But he took his tosses closer to the infield. He began his “Swisher Salute” in 2009 to acknowledge the Bleacher Creatures during the traditional roll call. This time, fans in rightfield noted on Twitter that he offered only a lackluster greeting.

Looks like the grinning WWE-wannabe ass hat is heading out of Yankeeland on a low note. I’m just surprised that it took him four years to wear out his welcome.

Kuroda pitched his tail off today, on three days rest, and got his line hijacked by a blown call at second base.

Still, if the Yankees go scoreless in the 9th – and it’s the top of the 9th as I write this – the ump missing the call won’t matter.

I saw the stat on Cano’s last At Bat where it said that he’s now set a record for going 0 for 25 in a post-season.  Amazing, this is the guy who hit .615 in his last 9 games of the regular season.  At this rate, Modell’s should stop selling Cano shirts…because they’re a choking hazard.

And, don’t even get me started on the strikeout kings, A-Rod and “The Grandyman.”

The Orioles are probably watching this game and thinking “How the hell did we lose to those guys?”

Now, I just hope that the Yankees rally in the bottom of the 9th and make all this complaining look silly.  But, I am not counting on it.

It’s weird.

I know what happened to Derek Jeter. I watched it, live, on television, as it was happening.  And, I got all the details as I stayed up to watch the post-game coverage on YES.

And, my 8-year old son knows that happened.  I told him as soon as he woke-up this morning.  And, he then quickly ran to his iPod to watch the video replay.

But, that’s it.  This morning, we’re both going about our business, taking care of what we need to get done, etc.  And, we’re not talking about Jeter, or the Yankees, at all.  And, that’s strange – given our passion for the team and the fact that they have a playoff game to play today.

Shock?  Denial? Our brains and emotions overtaken by the somber event?  Some combination of all that?

Are we the only Yankees fans feeling this way, the morning after?

Click here for the fort reference. And, now, the story from Jeff Passan -

For the second consecutive playoff game, swaths of empty seats filled Yankee Stadium, entire rows without a single fan. And on Saturday night, instead of letting them sit embarrassingly open for Game 1 of the ALCS, ushers were told to fill them with fans from other sections.

“We were up there,” said Bill Brady, 46, of Roxbury, N.J., pointing from his new seat in Section 334 to the top of 434b. “Way up there.”

Brady was one of dozens of fans ferried by ushers in the bottom of the fourth inning to Section 334 down the left-field line, which just an inning earlier had nine people sitting among more than 100 unfilled seats. One usher, who asked not to be identified, said he was told by a superior to start sending fans to the higher-priced seats.

“I don’t know what it’s about,” the usher said. “I guess they want to make it look better on TV.”

While some Yankees fans mobilized on Twitter and other social networks to rationalize the second consecutive non-sellout, fans in Section 334 were miffed and disappointed that a metropolitan area of 22 million couldn’t sell out a stadium with a capacity short of 51,000. The announced attendance was 47,122.

Empty seats during playoff games are the domain of Atlanta – and even the Braves sold out their wild-card game this year. To see Yankee Stadium with giant blue patches not only down the left-field line but in Section 207 in right field was stunning and inconceivable for a game played at the old Yankee Stadium, which was shuttered in 2008.

“At the old stadium, a playoff game, Saturday night, it was electric. It was a zoo,” said Charles Weimer, 33, of Staten Island, who was sitting in the sixth row of 334. “There were guys in jersey-shirts, drinking $8 beers. They’re gone, and I don’t know if they’re going to come back. Your $10 tickets are $50 tickets now.”

Well, you can’t blame this one on the 5 PM start time.

What I really find amazing about this – and sad – is that the Yankees, and the Mets (for what it’s worth), won’t let you “sneak down” to a better seat during the regular season, even if it’s the 7th inning of a blow-out game, and, yet, the Yankees pull this move in the post-season, clearly, just to cover their embarrassment.  Sad.

That’s the saddest thing I have ever seen on a ball field.

And, it means that A-Rod probably plays every inning for a while now…

Welcome to Sunday.

I wonder how many hours these teams will have between the end of this game and the start of Game 2, later today?

He’s the Latin Roy Hobbs!
And, I love him.