Farewell to Yankee Stadium

Sunday night, September 21, marked the end of an era and the beginning of another. Yankee Stadium finally closed its door on 85 years of wins, losses, world series, and perfect games. The pre-game ceremony was awesome...seeing all of the Yankee legends in the stadium for the last time was great. Yogi Berra is awesome. And it was nice seeing Bernie Williams at the stadium and being acknowledged by the fans...everyone was clapping for a few minutes, at least.

The game itself started out a little rough with Angel Hernandez being a horrible umpire, like usual, and the Orioles actually trying to win. Andy didn't pitch his best, but then again there are rumors of a possible injury, or just plain exhaustation. But the offense got to work, and won the game. JoMo hit the last hr at the stadium, Gardner scored the last run, Giambi the last hit, and Cano the last rbi. It ended perfectly with Jeter getting the last at-bat (for the home team, at least) and Mo coming in for the final 3 outs. It was amazing how many flashes went off when the first pitch was thrown and when Mo threw his first pitch. I got chills when Mo came out!

Afterwards Jeter came up with a speech at the last minute and the team saluted the fans - that was really cool of them. I only watched a little bit at the end of the game, I recorded the rest and still have to see what else happened after the game. All in all, the night was great. I'm looking forward to April 16, 2009 though!

Do the Yankees have a Future?

Well, the Yankees finally won a series, despite it being against the Royals, but it's a start. Brett Gardner delivered the walk-off hit in the 13th inning on Saturday afternoon, his 2nd of the year. The Yankees bounced back after being down 3-0 in the 1st inning to defeat the Royals 15-6. ARod, Giambi, Nady, and Ransom all hit homeruns, the highlights being ARod's game-tying 3-run homerun and Giambi's grand slam. Moose settled down after the 1st inning and struck out 5 over 6 innings. He got his 16th win of the season! Jeter also went 4-4 in the game, bringing his average very close to .300 (only 3 yankees have an average over .300 - nady, damon, and arod).

The Yanks have a day off tomorrow, but it's also an important day because they will decide whether or not Matsui is ready to possibly join the team on Tuesday. It will be awesome if he can join the team and provide a solid bat in the lineup. As everyone knows, our offense has been lacking recently, minus today's game, and they can't afford to go to sleep over the next few series. Hughes or Pavano will also join the team to possibly pitch against the Orioles. Poor Hughes had a rough start in Scranton tonight, so maybe he won't be ready to join the majors again.

Next Series:
Rasner, RHP (5-9, 5.18) vs. Burnett, RHP (15-9, 4.67) @ 7:07 ET
Pettite, LHP (12-9, 4.30) vs. Purcey, LHP (2-3, 5.93) @ 7:07 ET
Ponson, RHP (7-3, 4.19) vs. Halladay, RHP (14-9, 2.64) @ 7:07 ET

Damn, why does Halladay have to pitch on short rest? And come off a CG against the Red Sox. But Ponson's pitched very well for us his last few starts so hopefully he can keep it up. After the Blue Jays we face the Orioles then the Red Sox.

Current Standings:

AL East

Tampa Bay Rays (74-48)
Boston Red Sox (71-53) 4.0 GB
New York Yankees (66-58) 9.0 GB
Toronto Blue Jays (64-60) 11.0 GB
Baltimore Orioles (60-63) 14.5 GB

Wild Card

Boston Red Sox (71-53)
Chicago White Sox (70-53) 0.5 GB
Minnesota Twins (70-53) 0.5 GB
New York Yankees (66-58) 5.0 GB
Toronto Blue Jays (64-60) 7.0 GB
Texas Rangers (62-62) 9.0 GB

Random News

-Melky Cabrera was optioned down to Triple-A Scranton today and Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom were called up. Gardner will play CF and Ransom can play all over the infield. Hopefully that means we won't see much of Betemit anymore. I've never liked the guy..he swings at almost everything he sees, occasionally hitting a hr or a double. Plus, he's not that great defensively. Melky better get his act together down in AAA. He's got a great arm out in center field, but it's not worth it having him int he lineup if he's an automatic out. This also will hopefully wake up Cano. Anyone notice that when we went on an 8-game winning streak Cano was getting a hit like every game?
-Sexson was released. He didn't really do much for us. It's too bad, but hey, at least it didn't cost us much.
-First-round draft pick Gerritt Cole decided not to sign with the Yankees and is instead going to UCLA. Fine, waste a perfect opportunity. If I played baseball and the Yankees wanted to sign me before I went to college, I'd totally do that. They're the YANKEES, for crying out loud.
-The new Yankee Stadium is opening on April 16, 2009 against the Indians. I am so excited! That's also my half-birthday. I don't know, thought I'd add that in there.
-Yankees are back home tonight to play against the Royals. I think I'll cry if we don't win at least 2 out of 3 from them. No, I actually WILL cry. The Yankees need to get rolling and tonight would be perfect to start that.
-Dan Giese was placed on the 15-day DL with rotator cuff tendinitis. Why am I not surprised? Players injured so far this year: Matsui, Chamberlain, Damon, Rodriguez, Wang, Posada, Hughes, Kennedy, Bruney ... let me know if I'm forgetting anyone. It gets hard when there's so many on there.

Yankees-Twins Game @ the Metrodome

I went to my final Yankees game of the season last night. Luckily they came twice to the Metrodome this year, instead of once. I now hold a 3-0 record ;D. I think they won 8-1 or something like that in 2007, my first Yankees game, and then we won 6-5 back in May and then 9-6 last night.

Got there early again and watched batting practice. Some cute little kids shouted Arod's name when he was about to leave and he looked up, smiled, and waved at them. We went back to our seats, way over by left field about a section away from the foul pole.



-Johnny led off the game with a homerun on the 2nd pitch. Every person around us was like "what just happened?". I don't know why he wasn't in the game yesterday - we need him! The game seriously like dragged on. Leads were taken then given away. We put a lot of men on base, but did nothing with RISP. It was frustrating. And Moose pitched a good game, he gave up a lot of hits like his last start, but only came away with giving up 3 runs. He pitched through the 7th, too which was encouraging.
-Like I said, the game dragged on so all of the innings basically blurred into one. It was probably the 5th inning when there were 2 outs with a runner on 2nd I believe. It was 3-3 and Jeter was up at the plate. Suddenly the guys behind me started a "Jeter Sucks" chant..I heard that at the last game I was at..and Jeter silenced them with a run-scoring single up the middle that put us ahead 4-3. I was like "Who sucks now?!". And then I called him Captain clutch and my friend goes "He's not clutch, what are you talking about?". Hah, Sorry elise if you're reading this, but you don't understand. Coming through with 2 outs in the game tied is definitely clutch, that's what he's been all these years. Maybe not as much this year because he's definitely not having his best offensive year, but he's still Captain Clutch.
-Is it wrong if I wanted to slap this dumb old man who was sitting almost in front of me? He was such an ignorant asshole. He rambled on about how Jeter sucks and shouldn't be an all-star and all this other stupid shit. He had no idea what he was talking about. He was like "Now morneau is THE all-star 1st baseman". Um, yes he is quite a good first baseman..it's not like the Yankees ever thought they had one...I disliked him so much for his ignorance.
-OH, and I wanted to literally hit this guy and his wife or whatever behind us. They were the most annoying people ever. By like the 6th or 7th inning they were so drunk. The guy bitched about how Arod sucks. He hit a foul ball right by our seats and the guy was liek "throw it back! i wouldn't want a ball hit by arod! i wouldn't want one by mickey mantle either ! blah blah blah". I seriously wanted to slap him when Moose intentionally walked Morneau with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd. There wre the boos, of course. I understand that, but what I don't understand is why the guy had to call Mussina a pussy about six times then tell the next batter to hit Moose in the throat. That's just fucking sick. If he said like hit him in the balls, I'd be like oh, hah hah, you're funny. But the throat? Wow.
-I was pretty much shocked into silence when Mo blew his first save of the season. You can't really blame him much though, Marte was the one who put them on base in the first place. I forgot for a second they had 2 men on base, so I thought it was just a 1-run game. And Young got lucky, his ball just hooked fair. Then the assholes behind us wouldn't shut up with their incessant screaming and whistling..their yells literally reverberated in my head..OUCH!
-The bullpen held it down for the next few innings. We left after the 10th though because Sarah didn't feel well. We listened on the radio and Arod hit the go-ahead hr in the 12th, Pudge followed with a double, Nady hr, Robbie single then Betemit dp. Edwar got his first save of the season and Veras got the win.

Angels-Yankees Series; Upcoming Games

After Thursday night's game, I'd say you'd be kidding me if the Yankees could split a series with the Angels, the best team in baseball right now.

-After getting a spanking of 12-6 on Thursday night, I knew Sidney Ponson would be pitching the next night. Just like every other Yankee fan, negative thoughts were swirling in our minds. Instead, Ponson comes out and pitches one of his best games in pinstripes against the best team in baseball. He threw 7 innings of 2-hit, shutout ball. He had a no-hitter going through 5. We couldn't even reward him for his great effort. Our offense was complete shit against Ervin Santana. I knew it was over when Mo came in in a 0-0 game in the 9th. His stats in save opp. compared to non-save opp. are interesting. He gave up one run and that was it.
-Yankees got their revenge yesterday when Mussina came out and pitched 7 innings of 2-hit ball. It was very nice to see him get back on track. He's been our ace, and I'm lovin' it. Can you imagine this team with CMW pitching? We'd have one crap pitcher in Ponson or Rasner. But with IPK knocking on the door, we might only have one now. The Yankees got their offense rolling to a 8-2 win. (Oh& can we say congrats to JoMo for a 3-3 day including his first hr of the year?)
-Today was one of the craziest, best comeback wins of the year. I'm super pissed I missed it. I got to see the awesome first inning when Rasner sucked worse than a Grandma pitching out there. He only gave up 2 runs. But we were down 5-0, then only 5-1 on Pudge's first hr (WTG, bud!! Glad to see he's getting it together). The unpredictable happened when we tied the game up, then got ahead on Nady's 3-run hr to make it 8-5 (part of a 6-rbi day). Of course it all unravels when Edwar Ramirez gives up a grand slam to Texeria. I thought we were done for then, it was the 8th inning after all. Thanks to some costly errors by the Angels and good base-running by Justin Christian, we were able to take the final lead.

Hey, if the Yanks offense didn't suck on Fri night, we could've taken 3 out of 4 from an excellent team. The team to beat. Instead we split it and now face the Rangers.

Upcoming Schedule looks a little like this:

8/4-8/7 @ Texas Rangers.
8/8-8/10 @ LA Angels
8/11-8/13 @ Minnesota Twins (I'm going to one of these games!!!!!!)
8/15-8/17 vs. Kansas City Royals
8/19-8/21 @ Toronto Blue Jays
8/22-8/24 @ Baltimore Orioles
8/26-8/28 vs. Boston Red Sox
8/29-8/31vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Manny Traded; Yankees get Pudge, Nady, Marte

I'm back from Pittsburgh and so much has been happening since I've gone and now come back.

-Yankees took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox this weekend, an exciting 1-0 win on Fri with Joba outdueling Beckett, striking out 9 in a 7-inning shutout effort.
-Yankees struggled after their loss on Sunday tot he Red Sox, losing the first 2 games of the series to the lowly Orioles. They bounced back yesterday afternoon, however, with Abreu slamming 2 hrs, Nady finally coming through with a few RBIs and runs scored.
-The Yankees received Xavier Nady (Pirates OF) and Damaso Marte (LHP Reliever) for Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf, Dan McCutchen, and Jose Tabata. A very good deal for the Yankees, minus Jose Tabata who had great potential to be a very good player. Nady has a .330 avg, .383 OBP, and 13 hr. He's a power hitter who can take over left field when Damon is DH'ing. Eventually he can take over Abreu's job in right field since this is his final year in his contract. Marte is a left-handed reliever...yay finally! He's done well and will hopefully fit well into the bullpen.
-Kyle Farnsworth was finally traded for Catcher Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez. I was surprised, angry, then satisfied with this trade. First off, thank god Farnsworth is gone. OK, he had done surprisingly well this season, but he can't be trusted in big spots, especially down the stretch and potentially the playoffs. I didn't think Pudge was doing well this season, but then again all you hear is how the Tigers suck and gradually started getting better. But he'll be a big offensive upgrade from Molina. He's an everyday catcher, while Molina is back-up. And he's great defensively. I wish him all the luck in his first start as a Yankee tonight @ Yankee stadium.
-Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the White Sox today. Mmm, interesting.
-Biggest news of all, of course, is that Manny Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers in return for OF Jason Bay of the Pirates. RHP Craig Hansen (Bos), OF Brandon Moss(Bos), INF Andy LaRoche(LA), and RHP Bryan Morris(LA) were sent to the Pirates. Also, the Red Sox will be paying the rest of Manny's contract ($7 million). Manny is in the NL where there is no DH, so he's going to have to play LF. You can tell the Red Sox just wanted to get rid of him, he wasn't trying and was a huge distraction for the Red Sox who got swept (again) by the Angels and almost no-hit, too. Jason Bay has good numbers, not a great avg, but a decent OBP. He's no manny, however, who is historically a Yankee killer. Do you know how different the line up is when a pitcher doesn't have to go from David Ortiz to Manny Ramirez? Bay is being thrust into the spotlight where a team is in the race for the postseason when he's spent his baseball career with the Pirates.

HUUUUUGE series starting tonight for the Yankees. They're playing the Angels who are 10-2 since the break (Yankees 9-3). They just came off a sweep of the Red Sox and have excellent pitching. I hope the Yankees can at least split the series with them. They need to prove themselves agaisnt a great team. 2 out of 3 from the Red Sox is good, 3 out of 4 from the Angels is even better.

Tonight: LHP Andy Pettite (12-7, 3.76) vs. RHP Jon Garland (9-6, 4.30) 7:05 ET
Tomorrow: RHP Sidney Ponson (6-2, 4.59) vs. RHP Ervin Santana (11-5, 3.57) 7:05 ET
Saturday: RHP Mike Mussina (13-7, 3.56) vs. LHP Jered Weaver (9-8, 4.11) 3:55 ET (I hope Moose is back on his game for this match-up, it's the only game I get to watch in this series!)
Sunday: RHP Darrell Rasner (5-8, 4.92) vs. RHP John Lackey (9-2, 2.93) 1:05 ET (Great, the guy who threw an almost no-hitter against the Red Sox)

Yankees Sweep Twins Out of Town for Final Time

Well, the Yankees did exactly what they needed to do against the Twins, with a few lucky bounces going their way. The Twins made costly errors and when the pitcher made a mistake with a pitch, the Yankees made them pay for it.

-Robbie Cano has been awesome since the start of the second half. If he keeps up this hitting, he can really help the team out down the stretch. The rest of the offense is finally clicking, too, but the bottom of the lineup still worries me. Jose Molina? Melky Cabrera?
-The bullpen has been solid, combining for a 1.60 ERA over the last few weeks. Hey, even Farnsworth has thrown nine consecutive hitless and scoreless innings! Way to go. He gets a gold star.
-The starting pitching has been solid as well, thanks to Moose leading the way. He threw 8 shutout innings today with 7 k's. There's been talk about a possible trade for Jarrod Washburn which doesn't seem like too bad of an idea, but what would we have to give up to get him?

The Yankees have won 10 straight at the Stadium and are 6-0 since the start of the second half. They outscored the Twins 25-7 in the series (13-5 against the A's). Up next is a 3-game series against Boston at Fenway Park. I'm of course nervous for this series. The Yankees offense is finally clicking, but I hope they don't get shut down by the likes of Beckett, Wakefield, and Lester. After traveling to Fenway they'll be back at home to face the Orioles and then the Angels, which will be a very tough series.

7/25-7/27 @ Boston:

RHP Joba Chamberlain (2-3, 2.52) vs. RHP Josh Beckett (9-6, 3.98) 7:05 ET - This will be a very interesting matchup. Joba will be in Boston, with their rowdy fans, pitching as a starter for the first time there. So far he has had trouble keeping his pitch count down and I don't think the Red Sox lineup will be any help. David Ortiz is predicted to return on Friday, which is not good news for the Yankees. Manny, however, might sit out with an injured knee. If the Yankees can get to Josh Beckett and give Joba a lead to work with, there's potential for a win here. The Yankees have not given Joba much run support at all which needs to change and hopefully with two sweeps behind them, they'll have much more confidence offensively.

LHP Andy Pettite (11-7, 3.86) vs. RHP Tim Wakefield (6-7, 3.69) 3:55 ET - If Andy pitched as well as he did last start, the Yankees should be all set. But once again it comes down to the offense. Often Wakefield makes batters look foolish with his knuckleball, Yankees included. If they can work the count against him and make him make the mistake of leaving one up, the Yankees can get something going against him and give Andy some support. Andy's a grinder, let's hope he gets through the intimidating Red Sox lineup.

RHP Sidney Ponson (6-1, 4.37) vs. LHP Jon Lester (8-3, 3.20) 8:05 ET - If my memory serves me correctly (and damn that memory) Jon Lester pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees in the last series. Sidney Ponson has been notorious for giving up a ton of hits, but escaping with limited damage. I'm most nervous for this game. If he keeps giving up hits, the Red Sox will make him pay. Generally, however, the Yankees have given Ponson a ton of run support. We'll have to see how this game turns out.

Keys to the Series:
-Offense, offense, offense yankees!
-Get to the Red Sox bullpen early - they've lately blown the lead (aka: the angels series). And will be more likely to give up runs rather than the strong starting pitchers the Red Sox have.
-Strong starting pitching will hopefully get the offense going, rather than playing catch-up the entire game.

7/28 - 7/30 vs. Orioles ; Home
7/31 - 8/3 vs. Angels ; Home

Sweep-tastic; Twins-Yankees Series

Well, couldn't have asked for a better start to the beginning of the second half of the baseball season from the Yankees. A sweep of the A's was very nice. We got great pitching and enough offense to allow us to survive the games. The first game, Moose was amazing. I watched a few highlights on Baseball Tonight and Molina's glove didn't even move when he caught his pitches. Plus, the Yankees were able to score with RISP, what a grand concept! Richie Sexson, the newest Yankee, proved himself against the lefty Smith when he came through with an RBI single with 2 outs. Robbie Cano also hit a 3-run hr, that's what we like to see from him. The second game was a little more crazy. Joba pitched well, but Veras blew that for him and let the game be tied. Mo came in for the 9th inning, in a tie game, and of course gave up the go-ahead run for the A's. However, it was so surprising when, with 2 outs, Wilson Betemit came through in the bottom 9th to tie the game up! It ended in the 12th inning with Molina getting HBP with the bases loaded. The last game featured Andy Pettite and Justin Duchscherer (lowest ERA in MLB). Pettite was solid through all 8 innings he pitched. The announcers were commenting on how he was putting on a clinic show for any young pitchers watching. He was working with a 1-0 lead, after an Arod sac fly, but he allowed the tying run in. But the next inning Giambi came through with his 20th homerun of the season and that proved to be the winning run.

Now the Yankees have to face the Twins. I'm a little nervous because we don't have our best pitchers facing them (aka: ponson and rasner). I hope they pitch well against them and don't allow the Twins to get hits with 2 outs and RISP. Mussina pitches the final game of the series. I also hope our offense decides to show up and be clutch once again when it's needed. The Twins have a surprisingly strong rotation, despite them being so young. The Yankees need to work the counts because many of their pitchers have gone deep into the games they've pitched and they need to get to their weaker bullpen. If the pitchers can hold down the Twins offense, it will give the rest of the team a chance to win it.

Tonight: RHP Sidney Ponson (5-1, 3.96) vs. RHP Nick Blackburn (7-6, 3.65) 6:05 CT
Tomorrow: RHP Darrell Rasner (5-7, 4.97) vs. RHP Kevin Slowey (6-6, 4.36) 6:05 CT
Wednesday: RHP Mike Mussina (12-6, 3.49) vs. LHP Glen Perkins (7-2, 3.84) 12:05 CT

All-Star Game; A Look Ahead

The final All-star game at Yankee Stadium was last night. The pre-game ceremony was awesome. It was really funny when they called out Papelbon's name and all you could hear were boo's. And then of course a standing ovation for Mariano Rivera - how it should be. Then they had HOFers all stand at their positions and then the All-star starter was called out - really, really cool. They interviewed Yogi Berra during the game and he seems like the coolest dude ever.

The game itself started out well - it was pretty much a pitcher's duel with only a few players getting on base. Then Ervin Santana gave up a solo homer to Matt Holliday. Later, in the 8th inning Papelbon gave up a single, Navarro screwed up a throw to 2nd to try to catch a runner and they made it to 3rd. After that they scored on a sac fly. It was hilarious listening to the Bleacher Creatures shout out "mariano!" and "overrated!" Serves the asshole right. Later, JD Drew hit a game-tying 2 run hr. Out of all of the Red Sox, I am glad it was him who hit it. I know I, as well as all of the other Yankee fans, were very angry when we saw K-Rod in for the 9th. He gave up a lead-off walk then got 1 out and was taken out for Mo :D. Mo was great, as usual. He even got out of a jam in the 10th with runners on 1st and 3rd. The game continued...and continued...and continued. There was one point where the AL had the bases loaded and got 0 runs in. It was so sad. But it finally ended in the 15th when Michael Young hit a walk-off sac fly.

Credit: Lohud Blogs

Overall, the ASG was really great, especially at Yankee Stadium. The game obviously went on way too long. If it ended in the 10th, as it should have giving Mo the win, that would've been fine. Terry Francona did a good job managing (though he got people off the bench early so our entire bullpen and players were pretty depleted by the end of the night) and acted very classy regarding the Yankees. He took ARod and Jeter out in the middle of the innings so the fans could give them an ovation. Jeter got his "Der-ek Je-ter!" chant :). And bringing in Mo for 1 2/3 inning was nice as well :).

The Yankees start the 2nd half on Friday against the Oakland A's. This is, unfortunately, my last day of free MLB.TV :(. Booo. I really hope the Yankees pick it up. They may have ended better than last season's first half with a record of 50-45 but I don't feel like the team is playing with any real purpose or passion for the game. Andy Pettite bluntly put it: "We stink right now for the most part. As a team we've kind of stunk it up lately" Derek Jeter has the best quote as saying the Yankees are consistently inconsistent. It sums up the entire team. The only players who have been consistent for us are Johnny Damon, Arod, Giambi, and Mussina. Damon's out with a shoulder injury (and will hopefully be back next week!!!). Arod hasn't been spectacular but he's been effective, even with the whole Madonna drama. Giambi has been great this year. Mussina has really shone this year. The pitching hasn't been terrible this year. I feel comfortable with Mussina, Pettite, and Joba pitching. The 4 and 5 starters? Er, not so much. Hey Darrell Rasner, you kind of stink lately (minus his last start - he battled through that game). Sidney Ponson, you're not seriously going to be on our team the rest of the year. We need someone to fill those spots.

The offense sucks...pretty much. With our line-up we should be scoring a ton more runs. Nobody really cares though, that's the sad part. Robbie Cano is finally heating up though. Melky's breaking out of his slump..a little bit. Brett Gardner is trying - he's gotten quality at-bats in and they're starting to pay off. Hey even Jose Molina is hitting singles and doubles and recently he's had some long at-bats of 5 or more pitches. But if they're going to get anywhere their offense needs to wake up and get going, along with some more solid pitching.

Upcoming Schedule:
7/18-7/20 vs. Oakland A's ; Home
7/21-7/23 vs. Minnesota Twins ; Home
7/25-7/27 vs. Boston Red Sox ; Away
7/28-7/30 vs. Baltimore Orioles ; Home

Yankees Red Sox Rivalry; Opinion on the ASG

Last night's game is too good not to write about. It started out very well. Joba was awesome last night, right from the start, you could tell he was focused. It was the first time I'd seen him pitch live, tho not in person unfortunately, so it was sweet to see what he could do. I was impressed, he wasn't just constantly blowing fastballs by everyone, as sweet as that was to see. He ran into trouble during the 5th inning when there were two runners on, and Youkilis scored on a wild pitch by Joba to tie the game (after an ARod homerun to left field). After that, there were 2 outs, with 2 runners on, and Joba got bitchslapped by the umpires when they called a no-swing on Ellsbury. That was fucking bullshit to the max, he swung through the zone, it was so fucking obvious. That pissed me off because it would have ended the inning, instead it loaded the bases and then Pedroia came up and hit a dinky two-run single. If there's any player I can't stand on the Red Sox, it's a three way tie between Pedroia, Manny, and Youkilis. He's such a bitchy little player, I can't stand him. What makes it worse is that he can hit, too.

Anyway, so it was 3-1 at this point and I felt the despair creeping in. It was already the 5th inning and the Yankees were hopelessly flailing at Wakefield's knuckleballs. They had managed 1 hit off of him, an Arod blast off a pitch that was left up. But then in the 6th inning Giradi came out and bitched out the awful home plate umpire, Laz Diaz. It was about damn time, his strike zone was complete BS. He called an awful pitch for a strike on Molina that looked way up and in. Molina just stared at him like he was crazy. Then he called a strike on Gardner that was way out of the zone. IT was awesome seeing Giradi get so close to Laz Diaz and he was so angry, too. Throughout the game the players just glared at the umpire on some of his BS calls. Even yesterday, Moose was so pissed at the other home plate umpire for some of his calls on him. So Giradi obviously got ejected. After he got ejected, Gardner hit the next pitch he saw right up the middle. Jeter singled after that, allowing Gardner to race home and bring the score to within one. Then in the 7th, we got the offense rolling again. Arod hit a leadoff single (it was funny cuz he just reached out to get it and popped it into right field..not something you see too often from him). Then with 1 out, Hip Hip got a hit as well. After that Robbie was up and hit a game-tying triple!!!!!! It was SO AWESOME. There was some debate about Hip Hip touching third base, but he did, tho just barely. It sucked when Melky hit a high chopper back towards second base and Robbie was called out at home with 1 out. It was a pretty bad play there.

So the game ended up tied at 4-4 (Dave Robertson gave up a run in the 7th). Krazy Kyle came out to pitch the 8th and did awesome, I was happy about that. I'll admit I was nervous as hell when he came out in a tie game. He did his job, getting the 3-4-5 hitters out. Then in the 8th inning, Gardner hit a pitch that squirted over 3rd base and TOTALLY BOUNCED IN FAIR TERRITORY, but it was called foul. That was fucking BS as well, it clearly bounced in the line, it looked like it might've hit Lowell's glove, too. It would've been a lead-off single, or maybe even a double. Instead, we failed. In the 9th, Mo came in. I was scared, I'll admit. Mo tends to do worse in tie games, instead of a game he's trying to save. Casey led off with a single, so I was like shit. Crisp hit a sac bunt to advance Casey to second. Then Varitek came in as a pinch-hitter...yea uh right? He sucks. Idk if he was meant to, but he got Casey to third. So now there's a runner on 3rd, with 2 outs. Then Manny comes in, oh boy. He struck out looking on THREE PITCHES. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. All of Mo's pitches were just placed perfectly. He came in a pitched a perfect 10th, too, after we failed to score in the 9th. Then, bottom 10, Robbie Cano led off with a nice single. Melky sac bunted him to 2nd (he was really close to being safe at 1st, too). Betemit came in to pinch-hit for Molina and failed, swinging at the last pitch. So now, with 2 outs, Brett Gardner comes up. OK, not exactly the guy you'd want in a tie game in extra innings with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd. I had faith though, I like this guy a lot. He showed he is patient at the plate, not swinging at every pitch he sees, or hitting the first pitch. He got robbed of a few hits, and when he did get on base, he stole 2nd (and once 3rd). It was funny because at this point, he had more steals than hits in the Majors. He was facing Papelbon, ugh, right. He was patient though, and fouled off a ton of fastballs. Then in the 8th pitch of the at-bat, he hit a dribbler up the middle. Cora got there just in time. He was on the ground, so he would have had to get up and throw it hard to 1st, which he could've possibly gotten Gardner out, but he is quite speedy. Instead it bounced off Cora's glove and Pedroia couldn't recover it and Gardner, for the second game in a row, delivered the game-winning RBI!!!! I was so happy for him!

The All-Star Teams were announced yesterday. Um, I'm just a slight bit irritated that there are SEVEN Red Sox players on the team. That's a bit much. They have Manny, Pedroia, and Youkilis starting. I don't think Manny is deserving just because of his terrible defense, but of course his offense is good. He has been in a bit of a slump lately. Pedroia did not deserve it over Ian Kinsler. The stats prove it. Just because Pedroia has a high batting avg since June, doesn't mean anything.

Kinsler:
Batting Avg (86 games): .332
OBP: .391
SLG: .545
He has 23 stolen bases, 14 hr, 53 rbis, and 79 runs.

Pedroia:
Batting Avg (89 games): .312
OBP: .355
SLG: .458
He has 9 stolen bases, 9 hr, 41 rbis, and 60 runs.

The stats prove Kinsler is much better at 2nd base. People counter with, well then why did Jeter make it over Young? I'll admit, Jeter's stats aren't as good compared with Young, but can anyone honestly imagine the final ASG at Yankee Stadium without Jeter starting? It's a poor excuse, but it's not like the Yankee players won every single position. They have three guys on the team..THREE. I am hoping Giambi makes it in for the final vote. He's been awesome this season. Tho, unfortunately, Jermaine Dye might make it, or Evan Longoria (haha can't get over that name). I think it was a disgrace that the players voted Varitek into the ASG. He's been downright terrible offensively this season. I saw a stat last night that since May? I believe he's had an avg of .130! I think, if anything, it's for his presence, not his offensive capabilities. Anyway, it should be a good ASG..I've always liked it just because you're able to see the best players in the AL and the NL face off in the same stadium. It's rare to see something like that, which is why I enjoy it. This post is super long, so I'm going to stop blabbing.

Baseball All Around

Don't doubt the power of the 'stache...

Holy shit. That's all I have to say. When the Yankees offense comes alive, I LOVE IT! Thursday afternoon the Yankees played the Blue Jays. CMW has SUCKED recently, no lie. Something's bothering him because he has not been the same. Melky had a brain fart in center field and the ball bounced off of his glove, allowing a few runs to score. Ick, the score was then 7-2, but the Yankees fought back. Wilson Betemit brought the game to within 1 run after a 2-run blast. Kyle Farnsworthless gave up a run, but settled down and got the next few outs. ARod singled, Matsui brought him home so the game is back to a 1-run deficit. So now Jason Giambi is up at the plate with the tying run on base. There are 2 outs. He's down in the count, 0-2 and he just unleashes the fury tat is the Giambino and crushes a 2-run game winning homerun!! It was the craziest thing EVER! I was jumping around the house for about five minutes after that. One Yankee classic in the books for the 08 season.

Oh, they're not done yet, though. Today's game was frustrating, thrilling, and bound to give a few people heart attacks and drive people to drink the game away. We lost a heartbreaker last night (fuck you, ump giambi did NOT swing at that pitch, you asshole!) to the royals. And I thought we'd lose again today. We were quickly down 5-1, but in the bottom of the 4th we came back to tie it up (arod single, giambi walk, jorge double, robbie single, betemit sac fly, melky single, johnny single). In the bottom of the 5th, Giambi hit a monster homerun to give the Yanks the lead. Things turned ugly in the 7th when Pettitte gave up a run to tie the game, then a grand slam (he was over 100 pitches, but still no excuse. he has given up all of the leads we've given him the last 2 starts). In the bottom of the inning, however, Arod hit an awesome 2-run homerun to make it 8-10. Then the bottom of the 8th, Robbie singled, Betemit struck out swinging, Melky singled, wild pitch, and a Johnny Damon 2-run single tied the game at 10-10. Then the unexpected happened in the 9th inning. Mo gave up a first pitch homerun to DeJesus. Well, that was a big slap in the face. Mo looked so disappointed. But hey, we can't blame him. He's been lights out this entire season. He finished the rest of the inning on only 9 more pitches, 1 of them a ball. So it's the bottom of the 9th, but the Yanks are facing Soria, who killed 'em last night. He had an era of just about 1 and had not blown a save all year (then again, neither did Mo). So Giambi lines out, and shit there goes one of our hopes. Then Hip Hip comes up and just hits a bullet homerun to tie the game! Yeah, freaking AMAZING! So there's hope. Robbie then proceeds to ground out (though nice play by Pena to get him out), and then Betemit walks, Melky singles, and Johnny's up at the plate with 2 outs. Can he do it? He was 5 for 5 (4 singles, 1 double). Then he rips one down right field and into the corner for a ground-rule double but it doesn't matter because THE YANKEES WIN!!!!!!!!!! Another historic win because Johnny is the first Yankee to go 6 for 6 since 1934!!! Fucking amazing, he is. He's been on fire lately as well as Giambi. Just an instant classic and I was so relieved we won!!!!

Think for a Second

Can you believe it's June already? I can't. It's the worst first day of unofficial summer...ever. It's cold and rainy. Ick. I swear, I've had the best fortune today! Last night I took like an hour-long power nap and stayed up to watch the end of the 3rd/3OT of the Pittsburgh/Detroit game and proceeded to wake up close to 11 this morning. God, I needed the sleep. I've been waking up early a lot, even on the weekends. So there was that. Then my mom suggested we go out to Sati Coffee (a coffeeshop that has the best crepes). We got ready and my mom was taking forever, like usual. We got there around 1 and my mom parked really closely to this big, black Chevy Suburban (with a little scratch on the bumper ;) ) and asked if I could get out OK or she could park somewhere else. I was like don't worry it's fine. We entered and I saw 4 kids sitting at a table with mini Jamba juice smoothies. I was like aw, that's so cute. So we go up to order and I am standing there and look back and the kid's father is there bending over and talking to one of them and I was like wait, his voice is so familiar and he looks really familiar. I then franctically poke my mom and go "MOM! THAT'S KEITH CARNEY!" She knew who it was, thank goodness. I was like FREAKING OUT majorly. and then we sat by them (the kids had their own table and he and his wife had their own table right next to it). I was like "Don't stare, Kelsey. Don't stare" so I start texting Elise and typing as fast as my fingers will go. And when I looked up he nodded and smiled at me. I was like AHHH. Seriously, he is really good looking despite his age. I mean, he's not that old, but for hockey he's getting up there. They were all dressed nicely...I don't know where they were going. But the three little boys were all SO cute. They had nice sweaters on (one had a baby blue argyle sweater with a polo underneath, I just about died. He was my favorite and his hair was parted it was SO cute). They were some good-looking kids! My mom and I stayed awhile, to say the least. Two guys who were sitting at a table started talking to Keith about the hockey game last night. Gah, it was so exciting seeing him there and WAY unexpected! I've had the best fortune of seeing a ton of famous sports stars in the last week or so (Yankees game haha).

Ok well as fun as that was and all (like way cool) back to the original point of my post: I was reading the startrib this morning about this guy who caught the ARod homerun ball last night and threw it back. Personally, I thought he was a complete idiot. But what bothered me the most (and from my experience at the game) is how people view the Yankees. One guy was quoted in the paper as saying "Typical Yankees. You think you can buy everything." Not only is this untrue, but it shows his ignorance of the Yankees today. Yes, back in the wonder years of the 90's the Yankees were "the Evil Empire" buying players right and left and trading like no other. But I think this year they showed they were willing to bring up players from the system and develop them into Yankees. Exhibits A, B, and C: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy. They took a huge risk this year putting them in the starting rotation (though Joba's first ML start is tonight). They're young and have no major league experience. As for the Yankee's payroll, have you seen the Red Sox? I'll admit, it's amazing how much baseball players are being paid, especially the Yankees. But if we accept that all players are being paid a buttload of money, the Yankees were right in giving ARod, Posada, and Rivera big money in their new contracts. Sure, they're aging and dthey don't know what to expect in a few years (at least for Posada and Rivera and then there's Andy Pettite), but considering how much they mean to the team, it's so worth it. You're telling me any Twins fan would be like "Get rid of Morneau or Mauer" if they were wanting too much money? I'd say...NO. If people want to bitch about the Yankees and how they pay too much to their players and everyone hates them because they win all the time and basically they're "the Yankees" they need to do a little reality check. 1) The Yankees are in 2nd to last place in the AL East with a record below .500 2) The Red Sox are in 2nd place in the AL East. 3) Their payroll is huge, too. 4) Who has won a world series title twice in the past 4 years? 4) Who has not won a World Series title since 2000?

You answer those questions and come back to me on why you dislike the Yankees so much and make sure you check out those Red Sox because honestly people, they're the team to beat. Not the Yankees.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Hi, all. It's been a long time. I needed to update because well, I want to procrastinate from studying and I have to write about the Yankees game I went to last night! Ah, it was so exciting. I just love baseball. Your mood can go from complete elation to complete sourness after one pitch.


5:30 - We arrived at the Metrodome on the light rail and were lucky enough to meet some fellow Yankee fans who were optimistic about the game tonight. We got our tickets - Section 117, Row 20. Sarah had to get her Mini Donuts, too.

6:00 ish- We found our seats and immediately moved down to the first row to see the Yankees batting practice/warm-ups. I got to see Arod blast a few out. And Joba was hanging out in right field catching a few balls and even tossing some into the crowd. His one flaw: not giving the balls to Yankee fans! ;) Like um, ME! After they were done with BP, Joba started signing autographs for people and he was literally like right in front of me. It was pretty much.....*sigh* amazing. I was about two seconds away from getting his autograph until he decided he had signed enough.

6:45- Saw Moose come out to warm up. :D Hey, so he had a few rough starts, doesn't mean I can't revel in how awesome he is. Molina even walked past and someone a few rows back shouted out to him and he shook Molina's hand and they talked like they were buddies. It was so cool. Haha. It was amusing watching warm-ups and seeing the Yanks run around in the field. And dayum, can Robbie Cano stretch or what?!

7:15- Game time! Jeter was up at the plate first. Well, he didn't exactly excel last night. But then again all of the games he's played since he was injured haven't stacked up to his offensive potential. Good news was that Bobby drew a walk, stole second, and eventually scored on Matsui's bloop single. The second half of the inning could have gone better. Moose k'd Gomez, but after that things turned sour. The defense forgot how to dive for balls, throw properly, and basically help Mussina out. Though the blame shouldn't be placed solely on the defense. However, Mussina only gave up 2 earned runs out of the 4. Shelley Duncan's overanxious throw caused Jeter to stretch out and catch it, but he was already off of the bag. But, Jeter saved a few runs later that inning when he made a great diving stop and throw to get the force out. It was a relief the inning was over and we were only down 4-1. I told Sarah, "Hopefully it will be just one rocky inning and Mussina will cruise the rest of the way." Boy, was I ever right. Faith is all it takes. 4 consecutive Twins got hits and runs in.

4th inning - I liked this inning. Melky ripped a 2-run single to tie the game. He had a great game as well as Bobby Abreu (TWO triples!), ARod, and Matsui. They were basically our offense for the game. For 5 consecutive innings, we had a lead-off hit. Matsui made a great running catch in foul territory when it looked like Arod and Jeter were not going to catch it. Arod completely robbed a Twin of a hit with a nice jump (Jeter made a similar play with a leaping catch which was awesome). However, some bad baserunning caused the game to be so close and no more runs to score after the 7th.

7th - Mussina lasted 6 innings throwing 109 pitches, 36 of them in the first inning. Pretty impressive. However, Veras came in and I was like why the hell is he in a 2-run game? Of course he proved himself by walking the lead-off batter and lasted 1/3 of an inning. Edwar came in after him (thank god) and got out of the inning unscathed!

8th- When I saw Kyle Farnsworth warming in the bullpen, I was like fuck. He's taking over Joba's job and it was only a 2-run game. I mean, he's been ok this season, but lately he has sucked. Just like that it was a 1-run game with him on the mound. Morneau hit a lead-off hr (after Tim called it). But after that he did ok....thank freaking god. I was abotu to have a heart attack that inning.

9th - Oh, wow. The sight of Mariano Rivera warming in the bullpen was awesome. Seeing one of the greatest closers of all time in person was sweet as hell. Twins fans all over were breaking out their cameras and cell phones to snap a picture of him. The guy in front of us even took a picture and he was wearing a Twins jersey and very pro-Twins and anti-yankees. Earlier in the game, some fans a few rows back started a "Let's go Yankees!" chant and "Yankee Baseball!" It was sweet! Oh, and some dumb fans also shouted "JETER SUCKS!" It must've taken them awhile to think of that one. They wouldn't know clutch if it hit them in the face. Also, there was one asshole who shouted at Mo (while he was warming) "You suck! You're old!" I was like oh, no don't make me go over there and slap your silly ass out of this ballpark. You don't say that to Mariano Rivera. Show the man some respect and grow some balls. Yes, he may be aging, but he still can throw 92 mph and pitch lights out. I wouldn't say he sucks if he has 14 saves in 14 save opportunities this year with an ERA of 0.38. So back to the actual game...there were 2 outs and the Twins decided to pinch hit Monroe (who pinch hit in the other game and delivered). All of the fans got really excited, but Mo had other plans. It was so satisfying to see the Ump signal the strikeout and the game was finally over!

It was a great game. The Yankees could have played better defensively (though they got better by the end) and their baserunning could have improved, A LOT. They pounded out 16 hits and only had 6 runs to show for it. They could have completely blown the game out of the water a few times. But a 1-run game was so exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Plus, I was lucky to see Mo pitch! After the game was over, we were waiting to leave the Metrodome and I looked over (while the line was slowly moving) and guess who I saw in his motorscooter and all? Harlan Chamberlain. Joba's Dad. At the metrodome. I wasn't as starstruck as I was after seeing Joba, but it was still an amazing sight. He suffers from polio (his whole left side is paralyzed) and he raised Joba as a single dad. He tries to get to every single game he can to see Joba pitch. A few Yankee fans said a few words to him like go yankees and go joba. I told Sarah who it was and we kept glancing over at him and getting excited. He noticed, smiled, and said Hi to us! :) It was an exciting moment.

Alas, the game is over and there is another one starting in 90 minutes. Chien-Ming Wang vs. Boof Bonser. I hope CMW can pitch a good game, as his last few starts haven't been his best. Let's go Yankees!!

Hello..Goodbye

So I'm sitting here at my laptop, keeping track of the Yankees/Rays game on MLB Gameday and staring blankly at my open math binder full of identities to study, when I realize, I haven't updated my blog in a long time! OK, maybe procrastination pushed me to hit that "New Post" button, but in reality I've been running around like crazy these past few weeks. Ever since returning from Connecticut and getting back to school, life has hit the gas pedal.

I've had lacrosse, tons of homework, and a lot of errands to run which means less time to futz around on my laptop while I run around this crazy state of Minnesota. This post will be very short because I really do need to study for my test tomorrow. Anyway, can you believe that baseball season has started already? And there's already been a series between the Yankees and Red Sox? I can't either. I lovee knowing that if I need a distraction, a baseball game will almost always be on! Along with that comes the Stanley Cup Playoffs where the Wild and Avs have gone to OT in all 3 games they've played so far. Being the dedicated fan I am, I stayed up until past midnight last night to catch little PMB score the winning goal. Of course my dad yelled at me for staying up that late, but honestly? I wouldn't have missed it for the world! I plan on staying up late again tonight. Damn you Mountain time.

It's finally getting warmer and I'd like to put that 30* Saturday behind me, as well as the snow we received in early April. I want sun and beautiful days to remind me of summer!

Well, if I had more interesting stuff to tell you, I would. But I won't be back on until either next week or weekend. Junior retreat is on Thursday and we won't get back till Saturday morning, after which I will either have plans or will be doing my english paper, history research, or formal lab for chemistry. Hope life's been treating you well.

Thoughts from my Trip

For once, it's not good to be back home. I wish I stayed in Connecticut for much, much longer. Like the rest of my life. Haha. Here are random thoughts/happenings from my 3 days away.

Today it was actually warmer in Minnesota than it was in Connecticut. But it's abnormally cold in Connecticut at this time. Minnesota....well, it's quite a surprising state.
Let's start with Thursday:
-I was nervous that I was going to get sick on the plane, so in turn, I felt sick. I get really bad motion sickness (car rides, plane rides, you name it). But in the end, I was fine once we were up in the air. I even got a little nap in.
-Once we landed, I just knew i was home. It sounds dumb, but it was a gut feeling. My mom and i picked up a white chevy cobalt. It was actually super nice. There were even heated seats. We rocked that car with its Florida license plates.
-We stayed at the Mariott Courtyard in Cromwell. So it was an extremely familiar area.
-That night, I went to see Lorraine (my godmother and one of my mom's friends from when she worked at g.fox, a retail store when she was just out of college). She had a friend over, Gloria and they couldn't get over how much I looked like one of her granddaughters who is 11. They were like "oh, you are SO beautiful!" I had a yummy dinner.
-I had probably the worst time ever trying to fall asleep. I guess you could factor in the events of the day and how I was sleeping in a hotel bed. But honestly, I kept falling asleep and waking up. Then I looked at the clock and it was only 1230 in the morning. I thought I had been sleeping all night. Also, factor in my mom snoring and you have an awful night.

Friday:
-730 AM wake-up call. All righttt! My mom and I went out to Dunkin Donuts (& i totally just typed drunkin donuts, my bad). God it was wonderful to have that again. None of this Caribou bullshit, though it is quite yummy. They seriously make the best hot chocolate (talking about DD now).
-We headed up to Massachusetts. I got to sleep on the way there, woohoo. Oh, and since I'm on the topic of driving..well sort of. Honestly, thank god for CT drivers. I mean, I know there are some assholes on the road, but at least they can fricking drive. I noticed it when we were back in MN again today..but seriously MN drivers SUCK. I swear I heard more horns beeped in CT/MA than I have heard my entire time in MN. Because they don't patiently wait for people to realize the light has turned green, or if they're taking a long time to take a left turn. By the way, this is a positive thing, haha. Oh, and I noticed how many people from different states are in CT and MA. It's weird. I saw tons of license plates from MA, CT, NJ, VT, NH, ME, MD, & PA. If you don't know the state abbreviations, you're dumb.
-It was rainy and sleeting. Disgusting. Also, there was an accident on 91-N, so they completely closed it off. I saw tons of ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. There was ahuge plume of dark smoke coming off of something, idk what and I saw the fire trucks spraying the fire.
-College visits. Yay! Just to note on that, the campuses were beautiful. Soooooo much better than the Midwest. & you know what I realized once I went back to CT? The people are actually friendlier. Like I know we can come off as snobby, but seriously they are a lot friendlier than Midwesterners.
-As a comparison, I loved seeing New England again. It's so beautiful compared to Minnesota/Wisconsin (the midwest states i have been to). It was a cloudy day, but in Massachusetts where we were driving in a certain part it got really mountainous/hilly..whatever it was, but the clouds sort of covered the trees, but not fully. It was gorgeous. Also, I LOVED SEEING TREES AND HILLS. Ah!! So much better than the flatlands out here. I loved going down the highway and being surrounded by trees. And the roads were familiar and ah! I can't get over it. It was absolutely surreal being back home. 3 years is along time.
-Also, Friday night I got to see ALI!! Omg, it was great to see her again. We met at Bertucci's (um fricking yum!!!). We caught up on the old times and wow, she hasn't changed. I realized how much I missed her when we were talking. When we got back together, I was like we are going to stay the same around each other, no matter what.
-Another terrible night of sleep for me. I don't know why!!!!

Saturday:
-Woke up at 730...again. This time, we met Bethany & Ingrid for breakfast at Bob's Coffee Shop (best place EVER in rocky hill, my hometown). I knew Bethany better than Ingrid, but they both worked with my mom in CT. Bethany got engaged and I got to see her ring. Ingrid is German and she has an accent, it's so cool.
-Sinec I'm talking about Rocky Hill. Wow, there have been some changes. New restaurants and stuff like that. But it's still the same, ya know? I drove by my old house....oh, god. Nostalgia x1000. They changed the color of our shutters and door, but it's still the same. I loved going down my neighborhood. My mom said it looked so old now, but I love it.
-We checked out of our hotel then went to West Farms Mall. Best mall ever. Met Grace & her mom. It was awesome seeing Grace again!!!! We walked around the mall a few times, stopped in some stores. Haha one time, we passed this creepy kid who I swear like growled at us. What a weirdo. I'm glad I got to see my two best friends again.
-My mom and I headed to the airport. We hung out for awhile there since we were a bit early. Um, the Bradley airport is sooo much safer than the Mpls/St. Paul one. At the security check-in, you had to stand in this little thing where it puffed air at you and made sure you didn't have anything on you. Plus, it's a lot nicer, I think. I was eating at McDonald's and there were some Harvard kids sitting next to me. They went to see Cirque du Soleil which was in town (I saw the tents).
-I fell asleep on the plane on the way back listening to my music. My iPod surprisingly lasted both ways...YAY!!! Btw, if you haven't checked it out already, listen to "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hasard. It's from "Once". Beautiful song.

Ok, I realize this is super long, but I don't fucking care, ok? Haha. I missed CT and this was an amazing trip for me, albeit short. I seriously like cried when I was back in MN. I don't want to be here. If i could transport my friends I made here and the MN Wild team back to CT, I would do it in a heartbeat. But this is my "home" now, and I have to accept it. I have for 3 years, but not sincerely. New England is so different. There's so much history. I fit in there. I love it and I'm almost 98% sure I'm going to college back there, even if it is in Red Sox Nation. Because there's a history there nobody can take away from it. Good night all. I'll be at the Wild game tomorrow, having a blast.

Going Away

Hi all. I'm getting very excited. Tomorrow at 1:00 I will be on a plane headed home. Home? Nope, I'm still in Minnesota. Instead I'll be headed to Connecticut, my original home of 14 years. I'm so excited because I have not been back there since I left in June of '05, quite awhile in my eyes! Of course I'll be visiting colleges up in Massachusetts as well, so it's not all fun and games haha ;). I'll be quite busy and I'm not bringing my laptop, so it's up to Elise to fill me in on all the details of happenings in Minnesota....uhhh...aka: the Wild game! One good thing is that it's supposed to snow here tomorrow, so I'll be leaving all of that behind for slightly warmer weather! I come back on Saturday night, sadly. I'm excited because I know I am at least seeing two of my best friends in Connecticut. It'll be amazing to see how much we've all changed. But I shouldn't be too down in the dumps because there is like a 90% chance I will be going to Sunday's Wild game at Colorado! A perfect way to end Spring Break (which flew by!).

Other happenings in my life don't include much, haha. I've been stuck at home while all of my friends have been away - texting really is a life-saver. The other night, the Wild had a terrible loss to the Oilers (so bad, in fact, that I started watching another show) but it's almost all good now because Elise & I just determined (through texts, of course) that it was all because my popcorn bag ripped while I was trying to open it. Terrible karma, I'll say. Tonight that will hopefully all change when the Wild face the Oilers on their home ice. Last night I had the good fortune of watching the Uconn women's #1 basketball team play #8 Texas who beat the Gophers the other night. They got off to a terrific start. Big East Player of the Year, Maya Moore, was amazing. From what I got to see of the game (they switched around a lot), she scored 4 straight 3-pointers and had an awesome block on one Texas player who had a clear breakaway. The final score ended up being Uconn with 89 and Texas with 55. Maya Moore ended with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. But get this, she's only a FRESHMAN. She's going to be quite some player when she's a senior. So, the women head to the Sweet 16!

Anyway, I will catch you all on Sunday...maybe. Feel free to send texts my way while I'm gone.

i want it alllll

Hello all. I haven't updated at all this week because honestly nothing much has happened. Tuesday and Wednesday I went to lacrosse practice. On Wednesday there was only a handful of girls there. Thursday I headed over to Sarah's with Ashlee and we were SOOOOOOO bored. Hahaha. The rest of the weekend I really did not do much. Fri & Sat night I texted Elise like crazy while watching the Wild games. She informed me that we sent 150 messages last night. It's weird because it doesn't even feel like it. Good thing we both have unlimited messages!!!

Currently, I am watching the Uconn women first round game against Cornell. They're killing them so far which is nice to see :). I want them to make it far because the men got booted out way too early, but at least it's not the only upset of the men's tournament (duke, georgetown..)

BTW, Happy Easter to everyone. I kind of forgot about it until yesterday because it came so early. Maybe due to the fact that there is still SNOW on the ground and it's still only in the 30's! I want SPRING. I want to be outside and stop wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts haha. Damn Minnesota weather...ya mostly hate it!

Well, seeing that this post is the most random and pointless thing ever, I'll leave right now and try to find something to do. Have a good night.

Field Trip.......to Dairyland!

Sigh! I'm FREAKING EXHAUSTED!!!!! I woke up at 6 AM, which is very earlyyyyyy. My parents and I left at the lovely hour of 7:15 and headed east towards Wisconsin. It was snowing/raining and there wasn't a lot of people on the road. After the llong drive, I realized how much I dislike trucks! They're so annoying especially when they pass you and spray your car with dirty stuff from the road! Well, my parents and I made it there alive, after a good 4 hours of driving, probably more. I was forced to drive the entire way (in my car tho, so i had complete control over the radio). Let me just say, Appleton IS SO FREAKING CONFUSING! The roads are set up so oddly and oh god. I had to parallel park in downtown Appleton, which was not fun. We got some Subway then headed over to Lawrence. Uh there was ONE other person on my tour, so it was my mom, dad, me, a guy from Madison and his mom. It was SO awkward!!!!!! Then it started to snow hard on our tour which sucked and it was cold and my hair was soaking afterwards.

We finally left around 3, but our little direction thing (omg totally blanking on the word) screwed us up so it took us an extra 30 min to find the highway. For the first time, I got pissed at this dumb Wisconsin driver. They were going slow (speed limit was basically 65 mph the entire time) so I went into the left lane and then passed them and went in the right lane, THEN they sped up, went in the left lane, got in front of me AND WENT SLOW! i was like you're the stupidest person ever! Then this other time, this guy was passing me too, then he cut RIGHT in frotn of me (nobody else was around and i mean NOBODY) and splashed water all over my car. My dad was like "what an idiot". Haha my dad & I bonded on this trip,w e made fun of everything. They called one highway..highway "x" then there was highway "xx". We went through the "first city" of wisconsin and the "most friendly wisconsin town" too. I also saw a HORSE & BUGGY cross the HIGHWAY. it was SOOO FUNNY!!! Then we saw a sign for "Chubby's".......a gentlemen's club which looked like a LOG CABIN! Oh boyl, what an eventful trip! P.S NEVER DRIVE ACROSS THE ENTIRETY OF WISCONSIN, IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO BORING AND FULL OF FIELDS AND FARMS. Cruise control was my friend<3 I just cruised around 70 mph most of the way back so it was super nice, but wtf there were cops all around with their radar guns..theyre stupid.

In the sports world:

-YANKEES BEAT THE RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were up 7-0 after 2 innings, and eventually won 8-4.
-WILD WON!!!! They beat the Avs and we're in first for now! It was such an important win!
-Uconn women are #1 seed for NCAA tourney and Uconn men are #4 seed for NCAA tourney as well!

Spring Break

Finally. It's Spring break, what I've been waiting for for weeks. This last week has been busy to say the least. My school day was filled with me trying to get homework done during my free periods because I had lacrosse practice after school from 530-7. Oh boy. I was sore after the first day, how sad. I struggle so much at lacrosse, but I really do want to learn and get better every day. We had the day off on Friday which was nice, but we have practice next week. Friday I did absolutely nothing in my classes, which although it was awesome, it was boring too. We made ice cream in chemistry, I studied during 2nd period, French we ate food, talked, and watched Notre-Dame de Paris, la comedie musicale, did nothing during 4th period, played games in Math, nothing during 6th&7th, and took my history test 8th period. I found out I was getting an A-, 92% in history! I'm so proud of myself, I think that's my first A in history in awhile, unless I did well last quarter..i forget. I guess that 98% & 94% I got on my last two tests really helped.

Last night was the Swarm game which was really fun. We won, 13-9 and Sean Pollock scored!!! Watching them play made me really want to be good at lacrosse, but obviously it's unrealistic as some of those guys are just so athletic and skilled. I didn't take any pictures, sorry! Today I'm heading over to Sarah's house with Elise and Ashlee, and we're going to hopefully watch the Wild game if Sarah gets HDNet, whatever channel that is! I basically watched all of my Tivos today, but I still need to catch up on One Tree Hill, which I became engrossed in over the summer. Hey, teen dramas are awesome, ok? Speaking of being lazy, I should probably take a shower as well, but spring break is meant for me to relax and not do anything.

View from my old room.

My to-do list for Spring Break:

-Lacrosse practicing.
-Sleeping. A lot.
-Look into volunteering @ Humane Society
-History research topic for my paper.
-Work out.
-Hang out with friends.
-Clean my room....
-Read my pile of books
-College visits.

My pooooooool, that I miss!!

-Go home to Connecticut @ the end of spring break!!! I am SOOO looking forward to it. I have not been back there since I left which was the summer before 9th grade. I'm planning on seeing my best friend, Ali & her mom. I'm also hopefully seeing Michelle, Brittny, & Grace! I'm going to Friendly's & Dunkin Donuts & Bob's Coffee Shop <3 I'm going to see lots of trees and hills and my old house, all which I miss so much. I'm going to remember everything I haven't seen in awhile and remember all of the familiar streets I went on, and maybe go to the malls I miss, Westfarms and Buckland. It's going to be tough to do everything I want in only a few days, especially since one day is dedicated to going up to Massachusetts.

8th gradeee<3>

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUU!!

I just had to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to MIKKO KOIVU!!!! yay!!!! Go buy as many sweaters as you want, buddy, cuz it's your day! &yes he's special enough for his own post.

Spring is Coming

I am excited for multiple reasons:

1) Phil Hughes is pitching in the Yankees Spring Training game today against the Twins and it's on TV. If you can't do the math, I get to see Phil Hughes pitch!!!! I think I saw him pitch a few times last year, but it's rare when you're stuck out here in MN. Oh, & I hate the Rays (minus garza and bartlett) because they ALREADY injured one of the Yankees' prospects! 22-year old catcher, Francisco Cerelli, has a fracture in his right wrist and is going to be out 8-10 weeks. Honestly, do the Rays have to play dirty ball already? It's SPRING TRAINING! You don't injure players during spring training ! Carl Crawford already slid in really hard in their game last Wednesday against Houston. Nobody's going to feel sorry for them anymore if they play dirty. I mean, I know they're trying hard and all, but it's just a spring training game. /end rant.
2) The Sharks play the Wild today! OK, technically that's probably really bad for the Wild who are struggling, and the Sharks who are not (8 wins in a row). But I'll get to see, in High-Definition, Devin, Torrey, Matt, and Marc-Edouard! Woohoo! P.S. Happy Birthday Brent Burns!
3) This Friday is SPRING BREAK & THE SWARM GAME!!!! 2 blissful weeks without school and warm(er) weather. We don't even have lacrosse practice on Friday, so Elise and I can get to the Swarm game early and get our free bobble-head. Excellent. Friday will be so much fun. But it still sucks that the Swarm have lost 3 in a row now. Bummer.


Well, that's my exciting news for the day. I bet you all got really excited about what's coming up today and the rest of the week, too. I should probably head out to get my lacrosse equipment because I have a busy day ahead -> 12 PM = Yankees game 3PM=Wild game. In between= english project (4-5 page creative paper).

Hockey games are pretty fun

Yesterday was quite successful in the fact that Elise and I got about zero studying done for our history test on the 1920s and 1930s, but that's ok because we were preparing ourselves for one of the better Wild games. For full details, check out her blog.

Brent Seabrook being gross.

The game was quite fun, despite the fact that we kinda sucked, but hey, what're ya gonna do? Elise and I spotted Toews and Kane right away on the bench since we were only 9 rows back from the visitor's bench. And boy, Kane does look short. But I like that. Toews was looking quite funny in his full-out cage. James played well and Mikko could've done better. While in the concession line, Elise and I spotted two seniors from our school, one of whom was in my writing sem class last semester. When they finished paying, he said hi to me. Potential awkward situation resolved.

That'd be our boy, Mikko!

One of the more .... disgusting moments during the game was when Elise realized I had something in my hair. I reached up and felt something wet. Yeah, FREAKING GROSS. I was freaking out because I couldn't tell if it was beer or spit. I washed my hair quite thoroughly last night.

& this, just to bug elise.

Fun Days Ahead

Well, hello all! Procrastination is quite fun, but even better when it's for tomorrow night's homework. OK, really I'm not that much of a nerd, it's only because tomorrow night I am going to the Wild game! So, basically I have zero time to do any work, except Elise and I will be getting a bit of the Great Depression studying in for the history test. Anyway, the game is against the Chicago Blackhawks. I decided to like them only because my friend Elise does. OK, I'm not really a follower like that, but they're a young, likeable team (minus Seabrook and Booby...Khabibulin- I call him that b/c it's hard to type out). Plus, Elise loves Jonathan Toews, a 19 year old ice hockey wonder. And I've taken a liken to Pat Kane, his buddy and fellow 19 year old. He's a bit on the cocky side, but I'll take it. Plus, he's short and likes the Yankees. Can you give me any better reasons to like him? ;)

Oh and I forgot to mention that there was a power outage yesterday and I was in the middle of watching the Wild game! I was so mad. I was bored out of my mind so I was keeping track of the game on my cell and reading by flashlight. They told us the power wouldn't be on until tomorrow, so I showered in the dark while there was still hot water, and a few minutes after I get out, the power is back on! Well, today..my day was quite uneventful. Just another Monday for you. There was a lot of homework and our chemistry presentations are finally winding down - I am so sick of PFC's already! Oh, in English today (Genders in Lit) we did a fun little arts & craft project regarding a passage we were given. Zuhra and I turned ours into a book..Mrs. Polk loved it. It wasn't as artsy as everyone else's, but hey I was born to do other things, ya know?

Anyway I will probably update with pictures tomorrow about the game. I'll leave you with two pictures of Jonathan Toews (1st pic) and Patrick Kane (2nd pic). See ya tomorrow.

Hi!

Well, this blog is going to be very random. I'll give updates on my life, but most of it will probably be revolved around sports in some way, mostly the Wild & the Yankees, my two top favorite sports teams ;). We'll see how it goes. I need somewhere to rant!

Today was really boring and uneventful. I went to Sports Authority and Dicks to look for lacrosse equipment for the spring. Practice starts in 9 days and I've never played before so I need to start looking for a stick, mouthguard, cleats, protective eyewear, gloves, etc. I used to play field hockey, so I'm used to the mouthguard & cleats. I think now they require you to wear protective eyewear, so this will be new for me. I still miss field hockey a lot. I still have my stick, but it's probably way too small for me now haha. I don't think I have any balls left over, so I can't ever go out and practice.

Next Tuesday I'm going to a Wild game! It's going to be so much fun. It's on a school night, so it's a nice reprieve from my mundane schedule of going home and doing homework. Plus, it's against the Blackhawks, who have as Elise calls them the "wonder duo", Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Two 19-year olds who just happen to be amazing at ice hockey. We have to think of a clever sign to make.

Oh and Spring Training has FINALLY started. It's so exciting!! The Yankees played their first day today and WON, 9-3 against the Phillies. Shelley Duncan had 5 rbis, and ARod already hit a homerun.

Anyway, not much else is going on right now. We'll see how the week goes. Here's a really funny/unfortunate picture I will leave you with of the Yankees during spring training: