AROD Makes The Right Move

Alex Rodriguez has opted to go for surgery right now which may cause him to miss 6 to 9 weeks. With this surgery he may need a full surgery later on down the road. The target for his return would be around May 1.

According Dr. Marc Philippon this is a partial surgery by inserting a tube in the hip repairing the damged portion of the labrium. Philippon is confident in the "85-90 pecent range" that Rodriguez will be able to play through the remainder of the 2009 regular season. He may then require surgery which may keep him on crutches for up to four months.

During the procedure, Philippon will shave down the bone at the hip, which has become rough through time. This should reduce the fraying. Also, the labrum will be set in such a way that it's more snug against the bone, making it much less likely to fray.

Philippon added an athlete can play an additional one to three years without the more invasive procedure. The Yankees need to find a third baseman now who can spell and/or fill in for Alex during the duration. Maybe Aaron Boone is available?

Well If You In-Cyst!

Alex Rodriguez will miss about 10 weeks of action due a cyst in his right hip. Just how deep or large the cyst is is unclear. The doctors are calling it hip surgery so it's no walk in the park.

Joe Dunand, Alex Rodriguez's older brother, told Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com during a phone interview that immediate surgery was recommended, and that rehabilitation would take about 10 weeks.

Manager Joe Girardi said it was bothering him last season. Why they didn't get it checked then is anyone's guess.

The discovery of the cyst also means that A-Rod will not be able to participate with the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic.

To be continued . . .

SPRING IS IN THE AIR AND ALEX IS ON THE BACK PAGE

OK if you are tired of seeing Alex Rodriguez on the back page of the news and post please raise you hand. OK you can put them all down now. What is it about the press? Don't they want to work in October? If they bug A-Rod they can get him to a point where it can keep the Yankees from getting through the post season. Do we need to know that A-Rod is moving by Madonna? Do we need to know who he was with on Valentine's Day? I don't think so.

It will be interesting to see when Alex faces Roy Oswalt in the WBC how they will react after Oswalt opened his big mouth. Alex let your bat do the talking.

Lot of fans are disappointed with their new relocation assignments. Stub Hub has over 7000 seats per game on sale. I have a feeling they are going to be very surprised. As one of my fellow webmasters said be patient this year next year you can sit wherever you want. A lot of scalper seats will go unsold this year.

I Want My DTV (DIGITAL TELEVISION)

OK Yankee fans the President is about to extend the life of the primitive TV signal AKA analog until June 12. The reason being is that too many people are not ready for it. Mark my words the same people won't be ready for it then either.

Digital is a much cleaner and ghostless signal. It is far superior to the old analog signal. So why wait? It doesn't affect most views because most views have cable, a satellite dish or fiber optic TV connection anyway. It is for those Flintstones out there that are sill using the roof antenna or worse rabbit ears.

The government issued $40 coupons, limit of 2 per family, to help alleviate the cost. Sure if you buy you converter box in a store like CVS or Sears that would make you responsible for $10 to $20 per box. If you went to a place like Target it could cost you only $5 or just the tax at Walmart. (Tell me again why NYC is against Walmart?)
It is the same thing when they tried to push the metric system on us. It is much more logical than the English system. BUT they left people an alternative and they ignored it and it just plain didn't work.
If the actually need more funding to help the turnover then fine extend it. You would think the ABCs and NBCs of the world would help fund it as well. They don't want to lose their audience.

Up and Around

Well Bomber Buddies it seems that Andy Pettitte will be back in the fold this season. He signed a contract which was incentive driven and more than fair. He stands to start the first exhibition game in the new cathedral.

I see over at Pride of the Yankees at NJ.com they doubled their staff. So now it is Dave, Aziz, Mike and Steve, the Pre Fab Four. A job that I use to do by myself, I wonder if the share the $50 a month four ways? Dave and Aziz do a great job, I haven't had time to check out the other two yet. I would love to partner up on a blog. It would make interesting reading. Any takers?

Until next time...

DEEP IN THE POCKETS OF TEIXEIRA

Special Guest Blogger Don Cyoti

No, not Jesus. Jacob, as in Rupert. Or what would Dan Topping? For that matter, what would Big Stein have done? For those of you younger Yankee fans who aren't mired in history, Rupert & Topping were former owners of the Yankees way back in the day BG (Before George). In my opinion, our Yanks have never played "down" to their competitition economically. We've always been a gorilla and we've always performed like one in the player marketplace. Read up on the signing of Dimaggio in the 30s. Or the financing of Harry Frazee's play.

I'm starting this because I wanted to bring Tex's signing to the forefront here. I also didn't want to reply on page 6 unless it was the NY Times Page 6. On the matter of signing Tex, I'm blasphemously ecstatically totally famously happily stoked!I'm only sorry that Mike Cameron won't be roaming center field and whiffing for us.That being said I also have a little guilt. I'll have to explain to my 35-year-old step son who roots a little for the Pirates that the Yankees pulled off the Trifecta because we can.

Many true Yankee fans are feeling our Yanks are being piggish in the signing. That's a legitimate feeling and I understand. I also would like to see Brett Gardner get worked into the lineup and now I think he will.

Someone, made a pretty good arguement that there a lot of home grown Yankees on the roster. Others take swipes at our lack of faith in our farm system but he didn't analyze anything.Our farm system is arm heavy but position player poor. We've got some terrific kids down there who are not too far from helping us on the hill. Some will help this year. But, AJAX & Montero are the only position players who are close to the majors and only one of them has a position. If Montero is going to have to convert from catcher to 1st base then his path just got blocked. But, the reality is Theo started the farm system upgrade a couple of years before Cash was able to convince George to let him so the Sox have been flush with homegrowns the past couple seasons. We've got some kids in the low minors who will get there I think but we needed to add a young position player who will be here awhile. We just got one.Okay, I'll apologize to Bud and Gammons and the other Damn Yankee haters at FOX & ESPN who will be weighing in.

I'm sorry our GM has a plan that included a gamble that cost him last year but came to fruition this offseason. It's no accident that we're getting rid of contracts and will be getting a luxury tax break due to building a stadium. We passed on Johan Santana because there was a guy coming up who was as good and wouldn't cost us players. I hate that we had a plan but it's what Evil Empires do. But, whether my apology is accepted or not by Fox or Gammons or Every Sox Pals Nation is immaterial. We've just upgraded ourselves enough that even Dayn Perry has to admit we have a chance to compete with the Rays & Sox. Maybe he'll pick us at least second in the division with a chance for the wild card now.Have we won anything yet besides Winter? Nope.

Will the Rays & Sox roll over. Nope. They've got horses of their own. The Sox didn't need Tex and we did. So, we did what was necessary & legal. I pray there is never a salary cap in baseball. I'm a fan of the Tennesee Titans also and had to endure a cap purge a couple of seasons ago.

Baseball doesn't need the New York Yankees having to do a salary purge to get themselves down to $100 million payroll. For one thing, the Pirates & Padres & Marlins and a bunch of other teams would likely fold because the luxury tax money wouldn't be available as their crop subsidy. There's no crying in baseball and there should be no communism either. Actually, there is likely to be crying about the big bad Yankees. But, it's who we are and what we do. We're gorillas and its okay to thump our chest a bit. Otherwise, they wouldn't write plays about us.

"Nice Yankees" would never make it to Broadway.

By The CC

To put it in algebraic terms C = New York and C + C = Da Bronx. All said and done it is being reported that CC Sabathia has decided that pinstripes are more slimming.

The hefty lefty has accepted a seven-year, $160 million contract offer from the New York Yankees, the New York Post reported on its web site Wednesday. It is the largest contract ever given to a pitcher. The enormous contract was set president by the contract tendered to Barry Zito by San Francisco two years ago.

The decision came late Tuesday night after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman left the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas to speak with Sabathia and his wife Amber at the lefthander’s home in San Francisco. During the meeting, Sabathia expressed that he wanted to come to the East Coast, play in the American League and shoulder the responsibility that comes with being a superstar in New York, the report states.

It was reported that Tuesday’s meeting between Cashman and Sabathia was the third this week. The first took place on Sunday, when the Yankees brought along manager Joe Girardi and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

Yanks Cancel Going Away Party

In what was being rumored as the biggest Yankee Stadium send-off has been scrapped. The Yankees have canceled plans for a send-off ceremony to be held November 9th at The Stadium, citing the fact that the last party at the cathedral should be a baseball game.

Rumors that the likes of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Paul Simon were to be entertaining at the venue that afternoon just never materialized. The event would have included remembrances of many of the non-baseball events at Yankee Stadium. I put this same catagory as when the Yankees stopped their own Fanfest because the crowds were just too large for the venues. (Simple solution was to only sell enough tickets for the venue) The last Yankees Fan Fest was at the Javits Center, guess where the All Star Fan Fest was this year?

Well at least the final game at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21, was a Yankee victory over the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3. "The event at Yankee Stadium was suppose to be for the charity BAT (Baseball Assistance Team)," the club said in a statement. "However, the Yankees realized that the final event at Yankee Stadium should be a baseball game which already took place with the fantastic closing ceremony. Accordingly to the Daily News, rather than having a fundraiser, the Yankees will be donating $500,000 to BAT."

New York Yankees: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports

By Danniel J. Brush – David Horne – Marc CB Maxwell

Foreward by Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

A new book is on the shelves and this book actually is enhanced by your computer. Appropriately in the Sports By The Number Series, this book brings you tons of info on America’s best loved and most hated team The New York Yankees.The book is layed out so you don’t have to read it cover to cover, but you probably will wind up doing so anyway. It is a paperback laid out in ten chapters. In each chapter you have 100 facts, lore, records and mini stories.

They are all numbered 1-100 in chapter one, 101 – 200 in chapter two etc.Each number corresponds to an event or story in Yankee history. For instance #30 tells us: The number of times Dave Winfield grounded into a double play in 1983 plus a few more facts to boot. Each chapter also features a Yankee in their own right.

For instance Chapter one is George Steinbrenner and Chapter ten is simply The Legends.Scattered throughout the book are SBTN-All Star and SBTN-Hall of Fame Logos. These logos direct you to the website and give you even more information. Unfortunately the site is not released yet and I couldn’t access it.A great book for any age or fan of America’s Game and Team. A must read.

SUNDAY CEREMONIES

FROM YANKEES.COM


Yankee Stadium gates will open at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday as the Yankees invite fans to take one last memorable stroll through Monument Park. Fans will also be allowed to exit Monument Park onto the field where they will be permitted to walk along the warning track around the outfield and behind home plate. Access to Monument Park is via the staircase at the end of the aisle between the Field and Main Level seats in Section 36. Wheelchair access is via the elevator in Section 24. Field exit from Monument Park will close at approximately 4:00 p.m., prior to pregame batting practice for each team. Monument Park will remain open until 6:45 p.m.
Pregame ceremonies, scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m., will encompass the chronology of Yankees greats who have played at the famous Stadium. Among the distinguished alumni scheduled to take part in the festivities will be Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry, Graig Nettles and Bobby Richardson. A historic artifact from the Yankees’ past will also be unveiled during the ceremony. The Yankees are urging fans to be in their seats by 6:50 p.m.
Only fans with valid ticket(s) for Sunday’s game will be admitted and there will be NO RE-ENTRY. Bleacher ticket holders who would like to visit Monument Park should enter the Stadium through Gate 2, 4 or 6.

Fans and media are also reminded that Sunday’s game will NOT be the final event at Yankee Stadium. A ceremony will be held at a later date this fall to celebrate the Stadium, details will follow.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
1:00 p.m: Gates open to the public, Monument Park opens
1:00-4:00 p.m.: Field access for fans
4:15 p.m.: Yankees stretch begins
4:40-5:40 p.m.: Yankees batting practice
5:40-6:20 p.m.: Orioles batting practice
6:45 p.m.: Monument Park closes
6:50 p.m.: Fans are asked to take their seats
7:05 p.m.: Pre-game ceremony begins8:15 p.m. (Approx.): First pitch

Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of "The House That Ruth Built"

A Review By Phil Speranza

Well it was the book that took 86 years in the making but Harvey Frommer’s Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of "The House That Ruth Built" has finally hit the shelves. While most of the Yankee Stadium tributes hit shelves in the spring, it was only fitting that RYS waited until now to become a Fall Classic. Yes Bomber Buddies it was well worth the wait. My initial reaction was that the official release had better photos than this fantastic release but after closer review RYS beats any Yankee Book out there hands down. You go deeper than the aerial view of a packed stadium or the cars lined up in the once vacant Bronx on Opening Day 1923. Every picture in this book triggers off a string of memories. You get up close and dirty with everything from Derek Jeter diving head first into the stands to the ground breaking at the new stadium himself. The 9-11 photos can make you tear up all over again. Mickey Mantle, his swing never looked so sweet.

Who better to write and compile a tribute to an icon such as Yankee Stadium than renowned baseball/Yankee author Harvey Frommer? Frommer makes great use of every Yankee and baseball player he either wrote about or met over his illustrious career. Who else can have a forward written by the Voice of Yankee Stadium, Bob Sheppard? If I have to explain who he is you are reading the wrong book, but Harvey explains who he is as well as his son Paul (Sheppard).
The body of the book like any good Yankee History book is the life of Yankee Stadium from 1923 through today. What makes RYS different is that the glue holding or bridging these stories together is made up of what Harvey Frommer refers to as the voices. The voices are players, celebrities, broadcasters, writers or fans just like you and me. He has documented the people’s memories and used them to personalize the history. By doing this it brought out memories in my mind that I haven’t thought about in years. As a matter a fact BehindtheBombers.com is proud to have four of us fans who had their voices heard (and sent forth). Sharing their Yankee memories from BTB were Dan “Knuckles” McCourt, Gary “Lefteroo” Lefkowitz, Sue Tucker and myself. It was an honor being interview for such a strong tribute to “the cathedral in Da Bronx”.

There is also a section what he calls Stadiumology, where he gives stats like all time Yankee attendance, Plaques in Monument Park and when they were dedicated, the all time Yankee Broadcasters, Stadium Firsts and much, much more.

This is all topped off by one of my favorite, yet minor sections of the book is where the author takes a number and associates it with a player or record or some sort of stat. For example he mentions the 1½ is for the number on the late opera singer Robert Merrill. Who version of the Star Spangled Banner was played at the stadium for as long as I can remember and often sung live by the singer/fan himself. Even for the number 28 which he associates to Thurman Munson’s rookie number.

This book was truly a labor of love, both on the parts of every fan or player he interviewed and especially of Mr. Frommer himself. Will there ever be another stadium that will demand the documentation that Yankee Stadium has gained respect for? Probably not, with Remembering Yankee Stadium on your bookshelf, Yankee Stadium will live on for decades to come. This book is so good I could have filled it with clichés. My Yankee Cap is tipped to Harvey Frommer who has outdone himself once again.

You can pick up Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of "The House That Ruth Built" on Amazon.com

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT.....

Can this team get an worse? Are you millionaires done teasing me? Are Robbie and Melky ever going to stop by for good? Gee Wiz as much as I wouldlove being at the last game at Yankee Stadium I really wouldn't mind it if you would make the playoffs.

You guys better start winning before Hank thinks it is a good idea to let Manny be Manny in Da Bronx next season. Imagine that...."The House That Manny Built!"

Can we find any other ways to lose. We sure have been creative. Aren't you just dying to know who the TBA on the mound ond Wednesday is? Ian Kennedy may have talked his way out of pinstripes the other night. You know what they say about excuses IPK, but you are just looking at yourself through rose color glasses.

Dave Righetti's No Hitter

Can you believe it was twenty five years ago that Dave "Rags" Righetti threw the first Yankee no hitter since the 1956 World Series? It was 1983 at year when there was not much to cheer about in Yankee lore (sort of like this year). It was July 4th, the boss's birthday, New York City only had cable in Manhattan. The Yankee game was broadcasted that day on now defunt Sports Channel. If you wanted to see it in one of the other 4 boroughs you had to be a Wometco Home Theatre (WHT) subscriber. The play by play was the legendary Mel Allen with the classic trio of Phil Rizzuto, Franke Messer and Bill White rotating between there and radio. A side note is that the classic you see of this game has the radio audio. It would have been great to hear Mell Allen do the game.

Rags thanked a lot of people that day but three people he didn't thank was my friends Tommy Maiorana, Jerry Cunningham and myself. You are saying, why should he thank you guys? OK, I will tell you. You see we were offered the Morgan Bank Main Box seats to that game that morning but turned them down because of previous commitments, plus the fact that it was in the mid 90s. You are now saying "so!". Well I'll tell you so, you see if we were in the Stadium we would have changed the karma and Righetti may not have been so lucky.

Steve Kemp of all people who was probably the most unproductive 300 hitter the Yankees ever had made a great play in the field to save the no-no. As you probably know Rags struck out future Yankee Wade Boggs to end the 4-0 game in front of 41,077 fans a video that has played on the Diamond Vision over and over again. Boggs later admitted he felt t hat if he had broke up the no hitter he would not have got out of the stadium alive. Little did he know how much New York would one day love him.

Dave Righetti, the 1981 Rookie of the Year in the American League, was later converted to a releiver when Goose Gossage signed with the Padres and excelled at the role for the rest of his career, although it was "suppose" to be a temporary move. Little did Righetti know that he was going to have only 18 more starts before becoming one of the premiere closers in the game.

This year the Yankees once again play the Red Sox on July 4th. With the Myth and Aura take over again? Will lady luck smile down upon Dave Rasner? Wouldn't it be a Fairy Tale FInal Season cookie for us all to munch on? Will Yogi be in the building? All I know if someone phones me in the morning and offers me tickets behind home plate . . . I ain't going!

GARDNER RECALLED

Brett Gardner, Yankee prospect outfield will be in the Bronx tonight to help out with the outfield injuries.
No word on who is going to be moved to make room for Gardner. Could be that Johnny Damon is more hurt than they are letting on.

SI Yankees Drop second Straight

While it is only the second game of the season, which is equal to the second game of Spring Training, The SI Yankees dropped their second game in as many meeting with the Brooklyn Cyclones by a score of 9-3.

It wouldn't be an Oepning Day on Staten Island without the element of rain, so to make us all feel at home there was an 1:15 rain delay. Missing from the sold out crowd were fixtures that we have grown to come accustomed to in St George. Our condolences go out to Baby-Bombers.com's Robert Pimpster and his dad who lost their Grandfather and Dad repectively. We missed you both tonight. Also missing were Charlie who has been going to the games since CSI and Chris Caputo and company were not on hand to enjoy the David Hasselhoff video.

The free food lines were long and slow and Jane even donned a Ceterplate apron and pitched in, although the Baby Bomber might have need her to pitch in on the mound. Luke Greinke (0-1) took the loss without getting out of the third inning.

APRIL FOOL IN JUNE BTB MINUTE

MINI BOOK REVIEWS

New York Yankees: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports
By Danniel J. Brush – David Horne – Marc CB Maxwell
Foreward by Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

A new book is on the horizon and this book actually is enhanced by your computer. Appropriately in the Sports By The Number Series, this book brings you tons of info on America’s best loved and most hated team The New York Yankees.

The book is layed out so you don’t have to read it cover to cover, but you probably will wind up doing so anyway. It is a paperback laid out in ten chapters. In each chapter you have 100 facts, lore, records and mini stories. They are all numbered 1-100 in chapter one, 101 – 200 in chapter two etc.

Each number corresponds to an event or story in Yankee history. For instance #30 tells us: The number of times Dave Winfield grounded into a double play in 1983 plus a few more facts to boot. Each chapter also features a Yankee in their own right. For instance Chapter one is George Steinbrenner and Chapter ten is simply The Legends.

Scattered throughout the book are SBTN-All Star and SBTN-Hall of Fame Logos. These logos direct you to the website and give you even more information. Unfortunately the site is not released yet and I couldn’t access it.

A great book for any age or fan of America’s Game and Team. A must read.

THE LAST REAL SEASON
By Mike Shropshire

Mike Shropshire who brought us Seasons in Hell brings us back to earth with his upcoming entry The Last Real Season.

He brings us back to the day before the players made millions. When the AL umps wore those cheesy red blazers.

The story is sort of an autobiographical account of the 1975 season by the author as he covered the Texas Rangers. The Rangers that year were managed by Billy Martin so that alone was worth price of admission. So in this case what happened in the clubhouse didn’t always stay in the clubhouse and quite a bit made it into this journal. That that did is hilarious.

There is a warning however, this book may make you yearn for old time baseball, when players played for the love of the game. I would put this one on your shopping list.

OK IT IS NOW OFFICIAL

Pink is the new Black and the New York Post is now the new National Enquirer.

Look out Yankee fans the Yankees have a 30 year curse upon them!! Why do you ask, because some momo allegedly burried a Red Sox Jersey in the cement foundation of the new Stadium. The New York Post had the photoshopped photos on the front page Saturday to prove it. The photos are allegedly from a camera phone, they are way too sharp for a camera phone. Not only that it was such a big story it took three Post flunkys to write it. You would think they would have needed Joel Sherman or at least George King to cover such a newsworthy item.

But noooooooooooo the tabloid sent out Jeremy Olshan, Jason Nicholas and Chuck Bennent for this tough assignment. It's a good thing the Dog Show wasn't in town, who would cover that?

Well this so called "Gino" from the Bronx buried his own Red Sox Jersey, a $100-200 plus value, for only 30 years of bad luck. Hey Gino you can't hate them that much if you only hexed them for 30 years. Heck our Hexman Louie can undo any hex you can put on. Besides I always thought that you only bury things when they are dead? Are the Sox dead? or their fans? Are you saying that every item buried in any time capsule has a curse as well?

The only curse that is coming out of this act is that this mo-mo has to go out and buy a new jersey for his 15 minutes of fame. If you were really proud of yourself you should have printed your last name Eugene. Sources unknown to BTB claim that it all stems from Eugene (Gino) never being picked for a team at the grounds where the new stadium now stands. They did let him go buy them sodas in the local delis.

Oh yeah the Post trio went to get a fans opinion from Liza Oviedo who said "That shirt is cursed. They should dig it out and have a bonfire with it." Where was Ms. Oviedo when they asked her this question? In a Sports Bar across from the Stadium. You make your own conclusions.

Some other quotes in the article were; "It is an outrage!" the Boston-born NYC Mayor Bloomberg told The Post before the Yanks played the Sox last night. "The one thing that I'd really like to be able to do is to go in there and pitch for the Yankees and beat the Red Sox with a perfect game. (Wang came close last night) That would be a way to end the curse," the mayor said. Yogi better added his opinion as he was cheering on the NJ Devils in Newark last night. "I was never superstitious, but maybe we should bury one over there at Fenway too," Berra said.

The article goes on to state that just in case the buried jersey does indeed bring a curse, Bonnie Thompson, a 37-year-old witch from Hicksville, LI, cast a spell to sweep away the jinx.

"I cast out all negative energies from the Red Sox jinx. Their buried T-shirt has no effect here," the Wiccan priestess said while wearing an all-black dress and Yankees cap. "All negative thought-form be gone." She then laid a Red Sox jersey on the ground and beat it with a broom.

If it was up to me I would dig this jersey up, (if it is really there) it could bring in big bucks for a worthy charity on EBay. After that I guess you could wipe your butt with it better yet use the Post, at least it won't be covered with cement and who would notice a little more ...never mind.

OPENING DAY BTB MINUTE

Being I have been a fan for quite a while I started calling the stadium the "new" stadium since it reopened in 1976. I wonder what I will call it now? Andy Pettitte pitched 6 shut out inning in the intersquad game and declared himself fit to pitch Saturday against Tampa Bay.

The Game of My Lifetime...

SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER

Frank Midolo AKA FrankieYankee

AKA The Big Guy With The Blue Jacket

I have received an I-Tunes gift card from my in-laws for my birthday, and decided to use it yesterday. I have a lot of music on my I-Pod, basically everything I want, so I decided to browse through some video stuff. Of course the first thing I went to was Yankee video's, and I downloaded 2003 ALCS, Game 7, the Aaron Boone game. The video comes in full of the entire game and post game interviews and stuff which was pretty cool.

Have you ever watched an old game, and you know the outcome, but you still get mad at how the game is going? That was me yesterday. Trot Nixon hits that 2-run HR, off Clemens, and I have to hear Joe Buck, "At the track, GONE." Oh was I mad. As the game goes on the Sox take the 4-0 lead, and now I'm fuming. Giambi hits a dart over the center field fence, off Pedro, and then again bombs one to CF, off him again in the 7th cutting the lead to 4-2. Wells comes in and throws a hanging curveball to Big Sloppy that shoots out of the park. 5-2 Sox. At this point of the game, I still couldnt believe how the Yanks game back and won this game. Down 5-2, bottom of the 8th, 1 out, nobody on base, and Pedro pitching an excellent game. Then steps up Jeter. Double over Nixon's head(should have caught that ball), Bernie base hit makes it 5-3. That's all for Pedro right? WRONG. Watching it again, what the hell was Grady Little thinking? Emberee was up and ready for the lefty Matsui. Pedro stays in, Matsui rockets a double down the 1st base line. 2nd and 3rd. Up comes Posada and Grady keeps Pedro in, flair to center field, TIE GAME. 5-5. Posada's emotions gave me chills, I was on the train watching this on a little I-Pod screen, holding in all my emotions. It was awesome.

A question came into my mind, as I was watching Pedro implode. How good was life in the baseball world, pre the 2004 debacle? Man was it sweet. The "1918" chants, and knowing the Red Sox season will ALWAYS, end in a disaster.

Before this whole steroid mess, lawsuits, congressional hearings, and all this other stuff that has impacted baseball in a negative way. Man, I felt good. Mo pitches 3 spectacular innings, and then Aaron Boone steps up to the plate. First pitch from Wakefield, "and the Yankees are going to the World Series." What a moment. I got off the train, and walked home with a pep in my step. Opening day is only 4 days away I said to myself. I want that feeling again, that special feeling that doesnt come around to often, when rooting for your sports teams.

Boone said after the game "This is just stupid." Your telling me Aaron? This was the greatest baseball game of my lifetime, of course if your a Yankee fan.

I want that feeling again.