For those that know me and even those that don't. This next week and a half is going to be one of the most stressfull/joyful weeks in recent years. My beloved Yankees are back in the World Series for a record setting 40th time and looking to capture their 27th championship.


I am by no means a front runner, I've been a baseball fan for as I can remember, playing little league as a 7 year old and idolizing Don Mattingly and the New York Yankees. In fact me and my buddy Keith often play a game where we spend 10 minutes rattling off obscure Yankees of the late 80's and early 90's. (Andy Stankiewicz, Mell Hall, Eric Plunk, Greg Cadaret, Scott Sanderson, Roberto Kelly, Matt Nokes etc.)


I have experienced the full gamut of emotions during my 20 years as a fan from heartbreak (2001 WS, 2004 ALCS, 1994 Strike, Don Mattingly's retirement are some that come to mind) to absolute joy. (See 1996 playoffs, 1998 season, 1999 WS, 2003 ALCS). This season has an extra layer of meaning. It's the first season in the new house, we finally beat our playoffs nemesis in the Angels, we are arguably the best team in baseball for the first time in a few years and it's going against the 2008 World Series Champs.


My disgust for Philly is almost as much as my hatred for Boston and the vast majority of fans that live in those cesspools. Going to school at the University of Delaware I was exposed to wayy too many Philadelphia sports fans, the reputation they have earned for some of the worst fans in all of sports is being kind. I actually think Boston fans are more informed sports fans in general.


Some of my best friends are Philly fans, but the gloves will come off for this match up and I've already heard my fair share of Philly chatter. They are not fans of the game of baseball but are more about getting as drunk as possible and rooting for whatever team is doing well at that time. I still hear those horrible echoes of E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES chants wherever and opportunity presented itself.



Not to mention I made a nice little bet with my buddy Drew who happens to be a big Philly fan. Last year he proposed a bet to me that the Yankees wouldn't win the WS in the next 5 years and if they did he'd pay me $500, and if they didn't win I'd pay him. I liked my odds when I made the bet, but with the acquisition of CC, Tex and Burnett, I like my position even more.

This is for ultimate bragging rights for years to come. Philly has a very formidable ball club and this will be a great series! My guess is Yankees in 6.


LETS GO YANKS! 


I'll see you at the Canyon of Heroes in 2 weeks

The Yankees lost a heart breaker last night in Los Angeles. Burnett gave up 4 runs in the first and there was a lot of trepidation with the crowd I was watching with that we'd have to dip into the bullpen early and claw our way back for a win.

I think I would've been happier if we lost 4-0 instead of scoring 6 runs in the 7th to take a 6-4 lead only to give up that lead in the bottom half of the inning. The turning point in this game was Phil Franchise's performance. He had Vlad at a 1-2 count with 2 outs. On the previous pitch he made him look silly on a nasty curve ball in the dirt. With the reputation Vlad has for being a free swinger, why not throw the same pitch and see if he'll chase. Instead Hughes shook of Jorge and went for a fast ball up and in. He missed his spot and left a fastball in the heart of the plate and Vlad got his game tying RBI. Fast forward to the top of 9th. We load the bases all with 2 outs and Swish works the count full. As a kid you dream for this situation, unfortunately Swish popped out on a fastball right down the middle.

I caught the game at my buddy Adam's where he has a ridiculously awesome private deck where the game was broadcast with a HD projector on the wall. It's probably 8ft by 10 ft. The best part about this screen is the ability to throw beer cans at the screen when you're frustrated. Needless to say there were plenty of beer cans both full and empty being tossed at the screen from the 7th inning on.

This game 6 is a must win for the Yanks. By pitching CC in game 7 it will ultimately screw up the rotation for the pending WS games. Obviously we need CC to pitch game 7 if that situation presents itself. I just hope the big game pitcher we all know and love, Andy Pettitte, shows up.

Now to the elephant in the room, there will be endless talk about 2004 especially if we lose game 6. The Yankees had 2 games slip out of their hands when they had the chance to bury their opponent. This is not a situation any Yankees fan wants to be in. So in short, lets hope the Yankees drop a crooked number on Saunders early and Pettitte cruises for 7 strong innings.

I love October baseball, especially when the Yankees are involved. I'm not sure if I can take much more of this drama though.

LETS GO YANKS!

This upcoming November will be called Movember for all intensive purposes. For all of those not familiar with Movember it is a month dedicated to Men's health. More specifically prostate health. Men should grow out their mustaches for the entire month and be proud of their facial hair!


I participated in Movember last year as a team leader and raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $500. Also as a team leader I was sent 2 electric shavers, mustache stickers, rubber wrist bands and some other schwag.


I thought I would include my  "Greatest Hits Album" below.

(Justache)

I watch a ton of ESPN and of course they have the tendency to blow sports stories out of proportion. They bring in all sorts of experts to debate and profess their point of view to the point of insanity. I read God Save the Fan by the former editor of Deadspin, Will Leitch. The book was basically a 300 page blog but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One chapter in particular places Leitch in a self made situation where he forces himself to watch 24 straight hours of ESPN broadcasts. This includes ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN2 etc. By the end of the 24 hours he was just about delirious. I enjoy the highlights and all but everything else I could certainly do without.

This rant was necessary because ESPN of course had major coverage of the MLB umpires mistakes this postseason. They even had a top 10 umpire mistakes of the 2009 playoffs!. Yesterday was pretty bad with 3 missed calls in the game. Thankfully these calls didn't really have an effect on the outcome of the game and Tim Mcclellan clearly screwed up.

All of the ESPN analysts are calling for instant replay. I however don't believe that instant replay is needed in baseball. MLB employs 6 umpires during the playoffs to make their lives easier and one blip on the radar in 2009 has everyone up in arms. Yes it seems that the Yankees have gotten more than their fair share of calls but that's the breaks.

In the one game playoff, Brandon Inge was hit on his uniform with the bases loaded, this would've given the Tigers the go ahead run and changed the landscape of the game. Instead he was not given the HBP and we subsequently made an out. The Twins won the game and made it into the playoffs. Fast forward to game two of the ALDS and Joe Mauer hit a ball that was called foul. By all accounts the ball was clearly fair and should have been a double. Mauer wound up reaching first on a single and the Twins loaded the bases only to squander the opportunity and lose the game in the bottom half. Ron Gardenhire spoke to the press afterwards and said that's the breaks. Sometimes the calls go your way (like the one game playoff) and sometimes they don't.

Baseball is America's pastime, it took long enough for MLB to use instant replay on HR calls. I don't think it belongs in the postseason. A sport proud of it's tradition and slow to change thinking should not jump ship because of one poor postseason by the umpires.

In case you haven't noticed, a good portion, if not all of the posts in the month of October will be about my beloved Yankees.

The Yankees continued their dominance of the Minnesota Twins with a 3-0 series sweep. That's a record of 10-0 this season against the Twins in 2009, I wish we could play them 162 games a season with numbers like this. We also have dominated the Twins in each of our last 4 playoff matchups. When the Twins beat the Tigers there was that feeling in my gut that we had the Twins number but they were playing sooo well that it made me nervous.