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While most of the baseball watching world was anxious to see if Alex Rodriguez would hit his 600th career home run Monday night in Cleveland, true Yankee fans had to be excited about the key players who factored most in the 3-2 win.

Curtis Granderson, who has been contributing butstill not measuring up to expectations offensively, followed his two home run game Sunday at home vs. Kansas City with a game deciding two-run dinger Monday night vs. the Indians.  Granderson's round-tripper followed an earlier at-bat when he ripped a line drive off the right-center wall only to be thrown out at second.  The point is Grandy is swinging a good bat right now--just what Bomber fans thought they would be seeing all year.

Javy Vazquez was solid in seven innings as he tossed five-hit ball and held the Tribe in check before getting help in the eighth from David Robertson, Boone Logan, and the 9th inning save by Mariano Rivera.  The "W" gave Vazquez a 6-2 mark in his last 10 starts dating back to June 1st.

Nick Swisher continues to enjoy a career year.  The fan's choice for the last spot on the All-Star team smacked his 18th HR of the year off of a very effective Jake Westbrook.  Westbrook yielded only four hits on the night in eight innings of work while suffering the loss.

When people like Jeter, Teixeira,Rodriguez and Cano have relatively quiet nights it's got to be comforting for Yankee fans to know that the likes of Granderson, Swisher, Vazquez, Robertson and Logan turned in strong professional performances to grind out a hard-fought 3-2 win.

Dustin Moseley now it's your turn. 

For a guy returning to the mound following a stint on the DL it's probably not fair to base an important audition on just this, his first appearance since June 4th as Sergio Mitre faced the Royals Saturday.  Here comes the but--but, if you look strictly at the numbers, Sergio Mitre had a forgettable performance: 4.1 innings, 7 runs (5 earned), 7 hits.  He yielded a prodigious blast to Jose Guillen which reached the second deck of left field, thus prompting the possible nickname for this game anyway, Sergio Meat-Tray.

On the other tray, or hand, was Dustin Moseley who continues to make you want to believe in him.  The former starter in the Angels system shutout the Royals over the final 4.2, gave up just one hit and walked only one while getting the last 14 outs.

You'd like to think that the Yanks could score enough to overcome Meat-Tray's knock-the-rust-off-outing.  But, aside from two more Tex messages from Mark Teixeira, accounting for three runs, and another solo round-tripper from Jorge Posada the Bombers' offense could not bunch enough hits together for any more.

It's likely Mitre will get another shot, after all, it's been since June 4th that he has toed the rubber in a big league game.  But, Moseley is sending a very strong message that he wants his shot, too.  Competition is great.  May the best man win, but let's hurry up and not have to absorb another "L" trying to find out who that will be.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's there was great competition and rivalry between the Royals and Yankees.  That's not the case in more recent history. But, for 7-1/2 innings the first game of the series for these two teams was pure agony as KC battled and the Yankees were enablers.  Not until Robertson and Chamberlain were able to hold the Royals down in the seventh and eighth and the Bomber bats exploded in the bottom of the eighth with four runs was the game ever in hand.

You can't say you have seen it all because just when you think you have that saying comes back to bite you.  Not all of the following elements are unusual on their own account, but when you mix them into one game the collective level of weirdness is off the charts.  Did you see all of this?

Your #1 pitcher is peppered for 11 hits and issues four free passes in 6.1 innings, you get an inside the park home run from a hustling 36 year old, two great outfield assists from your left-fielder--one of which included a nice block at the plate but a phantom tag by the catcher still resulting in an out, a balk which moved the opposing team's runner from second to third, only to have him score when, on a mishandled strike three, the catcher throws wildly down to third allowing the opponents to close within a run.  Later the catcher tries to loft a looping throw over the head of the batter running to first after a swinging third strike in the dirt, risking the tying run scoring due to poor decision and execution, but thankfully the athletic first baseman saves yet another error. The hometown clean-up hitter provided a prelude to another historic home run milestone hitting #599, and to top it all off the opponents have a shortstop whose first name is Yuniesky.

Let's see if the rest of this series can match this craziness.

Being out of the tri-state area I am forced to catch the Yankees games on the MLB Extra Innings package.  Sometimes we get YES or My 9, other times the opposing team's broadcast.  Last night vs the Angels the Extra Innings package had the feed from the opponents, but the MLB Network featured the Yankees-Angels game with the MY 9 broadcast on their network.

The reason for all of this rambling is to set-up how and what I saw on MLB Network.  When that network takes the feed from the Yankees or anyone else they don't join the broadcast until right before the first pitch--no opening comments and chit-chat, just as the pitcher concludes his warm-ups they join the feed.

As MLBN was leading up to game time last night they had great videotape of Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain in the outfield during the late afternoon pre-game batting practice session.  They showed 4-5 minutes of solid interaction with Joba demonstrating certain aspects of his wind-up and delivery and Mo being intense in his critique and coaching points of what Joba was doing.  It was great video because you could pretty much read their lips and see these two pros, one old pro and one young, working on little things to help one of them straighten out a flaw.  The session was pretty much based on Joba working to not open up the front shoulder too soon and Mo showing him the correct progression from when Joba begins his kick, to taking the ball out of his glove and getting his arm back, to beginning his drive home leading with a closed front shoulder.

Of course these things are not revolutionary.  They are very fundamental to pitchers starting their careers at any level of ball.  Dave Eiland, Joe Girardi, Yankee catchers and certainly Joba's pitching coach at Nebraska have all preached the same thing.  To see the game's best closer emphasizing and reinforcing what it takes for Joba to be more consistent, and Joba intently listening and trying to replicate the teaching points Mo was making, it showed that the game is not that complicated.  It's all about consistency.  Like a golf swing, it is about being to replicate that same motion and rhythm.

As simple as that segment was it was great to see guys working on the little things that have to work on day after day after day.  Props to MLBN for doing a nice job of getting inside the game.

I am not trying to conjure up stories passed down from generations ago, but do you remember the days when fans were passionate not just about the team they followed, but also the game itself? The whole package needs to be addressed at some point; I am mostly concerned with sportsmanship, respect for coaches and officials, as well as respect for other fans that happen to be within earshot.

The topic is much too large to be discussed in one writing here, but let’s take a look at parts of it. There were two different incidents that I witnessed within a week’s time that really caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand at attention in regard to sportsmanship and fan behavior.

The first incident was last Tuesday at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, CA. The “Mid-Summer Classic”, as it is known, began in 1933. The game brings together the “best of the best.” Through the many years there have been different means by which players were selected for the prestigious honor. All-Stars have been picked by the fans, the coaches, the players, or some combination thereof.

One of the great traditions to open the All-Star Game is the introduction of the respective rosters—first the non-starters for both the American and National League teams, followed by the starting lineups and coaches for each. With the game being hosted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim there was a natural home field American League partisanship in attendance. Second to that was a Southern California bias for teams in the general neighborhood; aside from the Angels, there was a swell of applause heard for LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres players.

What stood out more than the natural and very much expected roar of support for the above teams was the incredible cast of loud boos for the Angels east coast competitors from New York and Boston, and to a lesser degree the Dodgers rival to the north, the SF Giants. The players from those teams who were the targets and victims of such poor sportsmanship don’t deserve treatment like that, yet it is commonly accepted today as a normal means of behavior at a ballgame.

Don’t get me wrong, if an opposing player does something to or against my team that is classless, against the rules, or perceived to be bad sportsmanship I say let the boos rip…in fact, that goes for my team’s players, too. But, to shower All-Stars visiting your stadium just because their team may have beaten yours in recent years play-offs? Grow up. A strange twist on this is the fact that All-Star games now reward the winning team and league with home field advantage for the World Series. So, in effect, the Angels fans were booing their own “home team” members when they were booing the Yankees and Red Sox. Nice job folks. No wonder the AL lost to the NL for the first time since 1997. Congratulations.

I find it amazing that parents who watch their children play various organized youth sports—i.e. baseball, soccer, basketball to name a few—stand, applaud and smile as both youth teams perform the choreographed and mandatory lineup to exchange a shake of hands with the opponent at game’s end. These are the same people yelling profanity and booing with their kids alongside at the college and pro games. Maybe the kids can help straighten out the parents.
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The second incident that gave me a World Wrestling Federation kick to the solar plexus was just last night when the Chicago Cubs were hosting the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday Night Baseball.

The Cubs are struggling through another long season. They are 9.5 games out of first and playing just .452 baseball with a 42-51 mark. They were about to close out a win over the Phillies in the eighth inning when the Phils’ all-star first baseman, and one of top power hitters in the NL, Ryne Howard, lifted a home run into the left-centerfield bleachers. The ESPN cameras tracked the flight of the ball and showed it landing among a group of fans that included a younger middle-aged father and two cute sons, probably between 5-7 years of age, each of whom had their baseball gloves ready for such a lucky opportunity.

It was not clear if one of the youngsters actually caught the ball, but one of them did come up with the ball soon after it splashed down in the crowd. What happened next makes no sense and it is on par with the idiots in the above story.

For reasons that are foreign to me, though I am willing to listen to any sensible, well-grounded individual try to explain it, the youngster was enthusiastically prodded by the throng of Cubs’ fans near him to throw the ball back onto the field of play. As fans were cheering and wildly waving their arms, acting out the verbal message of “throw the ball back”, the little guy eventually fired it back onto the green lawn of the outfield which then sent the bleacher bums into ecstasy. Yes! We persuaded the 5 year old!

Now tell me, isn’t it most fans’ dream to come away from a major league baseball game with a legitimate souvenir? Foul balls are okay, but a home run ball is something special! If not, why is it that there are dozens of kids and young adults who patrol Sheffield and Waveland Avenues outside of Wrigley Field during games just for a chance to chase down a home run ball? Let me get this right, just because the home run was not hit by a Cub we are going to exhort this little kid to throw the ball back, basically saying—“Take that Ryne Howard; we don’t want your stinking home run.”

If that is me and my son there is no way that ball is going anywhere but home to be secured for special exhibitions, like a show and tell for the kid at school. In this case Ryne Howard is well on his way to a terrific career. He just signed the largest contract for a NL player and it is not inconceivable that he could continue to chart a path to the Hall of Fame.

This ridiculous idea of pressuring fans who, through luck or skill, come up with a major league home run to turn around the throw back onto the field is senseless. Did you ever see any old clips of anyone throwing home runs from Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle back from the bleachers? Absolutely not.

For the poor kid, and even for the father of that youngster who jumped on the band-wagon and endorsed his son’s move, it will be a shame sometime later in life when there is a conversation about the great Ryne Howard of the Phillies. Then they can have an awkward exchange like this, “Oh, yea, we got one of his home runs at Wrigley Field. Really? You have a Ryne Howard home run ball? Well, not exactly; we did have it …but I threw it back. Hey, Dad, why did we throw that ball back?”

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