View From the Seats

My first night game of the season is a doozy. It was a battle until Robinson Cano (don't ya know?!) just launched a grand slam into the 200 section. A really nice job by Phil Hughes and some timely hitting has finally helped out the Yankees tonight (and without A-Rod or Francisco Cervelli). One of the biggest hits of the game came from Curtis Granderson after he inexplicly tried to bunt twice and then lined a double on 0-2. Two batters later, Cano--who hadn't homered in quite a while--deposited one to the seats.

Started out the night in Section Grandstand Outfield 408 but moved to some open seats in Grandstand Dugout 419. That's where you're getting your view for the night. 8-2 Yanks in the middle of the bottom of the 7th on a beautiful night from the Bronx.

-Andrew

The Yankee Clipper: A Series Win Before Heading Back to the Bronx

The Yankees lost for the first time in Minnesota since August of 2008 last night but they still leave Minnesota with a series win and head home to face what should be the easy part of their schedule (here's a look at their pitching probables from Zell's Pinstripe Blog). Since it's been a while since we've done a Yankee Clipper, let's look at how we got here, shall we?

1. A split with Boston, a 2-game loss to Tampa, and then a series loss to the Mets. Yeah, it's been a while since we've done one of these. Tampa seems to be on another level than the rest of the majors, this past week's series against Boston notwithstanding. The split with Boston was disappointing since they had every chance to win that second game including a 5-1 lead and a rally towards the end. The Mets series was even more disappointing as the bats went dead (a theme that has carried through since). Jason Bay continues to be a Yankee killer. Jason @ IIATMS looks into whether the Yankees are waiting for the big hit and while many Yankee fans were busy panicking, Steve at River Ave Blues put everything into perspective. Also to be put in perspective, the Yankees have been playing without Curtis Granderson who returns tonight and Matt from TYU looks at what Granderson's return means to the Yankees. I think it means more protection in a lineup that has recently been pretty bad throughout, especially the middle of the line-up. Getting Granderson back could allow the Yankees to move Swisher into the #2 hole, Granderson into the #6 hole and Gardner further back in the lineup where he thrived earlier in the season.
2. The Yankees still have Minnesota's number. Two one-run games (one suspended) went to the Yankees in the first two. Home runs by Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher in a park that has shown to be very hard to homer in were the difference. Jeter's bad and glove had been questioned recently so it was good for him to show up. So calls about his defense and moving him out of the lead-off spot will have to wait for now.
3. But other teams still have Javier Vazquez's number. Despite looking really good in his last two starts, Vazquez didn't look quite as good last night going for the sweep. Maybe it was that bunt attempt that he took off of his finger...or maybe he really hasn't turned a corner just yet (or maybe he's historically struggled against some of the Twins). Rob from Bronx Baseball Daily writes that just when Javy looked like he had turned the corner, last night happened, and Joe from River Ave Blues writes that there was some good, but mostly bad last night.

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Biggest Fantasy Baseball Surprises: Outfielders, DHs and Pitchers

Yesterday we looked at the biggest fantasy baseball surprises in the infield, today we'll look at those that play the outfield, are solely utility, starting pitchers or relief pitchers. All stats and rankings courtesy of Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball. Here we go:

Utility (AKA DH)

Biggest Surprise - Vladamir Guerrero. Former Angels made popular fantasy baseball draft picks from John Lackey to Chone Figgins. But who would have thought that the best former Angel was going to be Vladamir Guerrero. He was ranked the 145th best player coming into this season and is now the second best player in baseball and looking like his MVP form of the past (as well as a sure-fire candidate to go back to Anaheim for the All-Star Game). He's hitting .339 with 29 runs, 12 HR, 42 RBI, and 4 SB.  Two points to make. One is that the weather hasn't really gotten hot so the balls are going to start jumping out even more in Texas this summer. And two, the craziest point about this whole thing is that if the Rangers had completed their trade for Mike Lowell in the off-season, Vlady may be sitting with Jermaine Dye at home still looking for work. Picture from USA Today 

Biggest Disappointment - Pat Burrell. This is pretty bad. Burrell was drafted in a fair amount of leagues for those hoping to get a bounce-back year from the Tampa DH. But he rewarded those people (and the Rays) with a .202 average, 9 runs, 2 HR and 13 RBI in 84 ABs before being released. Ouch. For a small market team such as Tampa, that's gotta hurt.

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Biggest Fantasy Baseball Surprises: Infielders

As the regular season starts to heat up so to does the fantasy baseball season. A few months removed from draft day decisions we see the errors or our ways or the fruits of our search for super sleepers. Although the fans of some of these teams would not see them as surprises, 5x5 fantasy leagues do so. Going position-by-position, let's look at the biggest fantasy surprises and disappointments so far in the season (data from Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball including the rankings), starting with the infielders

Catcher

Biggest Surprise - Miguel Olivo. He came into the year ranked as the 380th best player in baseball and right now is the top ranked catcher at 124. His .297 average with 18 runs, 8 HR, and 22 RBI have been a pleasant surprise, especially considering many didn't even know if he would be the starting catcher (and he may not be for much longer). 4 stolen bases have helped his cause even further. Amazingly, he's only owned in 67% of fantasy leagues. Honorable Mention - Rod Barajas (#380, 21 runs, 10 HR, 27 RBI) and John Buck (#933, 18 runs, 8 HR, 26 RBI). Picture from the Denver Post

Biggest Disappointment - Victor Martinez. The fact that he's the 6th best catcher is irrelevant since he was supposed to be one of the best players in baseball and was drafted likewise. So far, he's put up an extremely disappointing .258, 6 HR, 20 RBI line--which has actually an improvement from his slow start. For a guy who was picked so early in so many drafts, that's not acceptable, especially considering Martinez was picked as the second catcher in most leagues. His bruised toe suffered this week shouldn't help things much, either. Honorable Mention - Brian McCann (#34, .263, 5 HR, 18 RBI) and Matt Wieters (#105, .253, 11 runs, 4 HR, 15 RBI).

First Base

Biggest Surprise - Paul Konerko. I could have gone with a lot of names here, but Konerko has been the most surprising, even considering his recent slump. His 14 HR is tops at a position where slugging is king after he was only ranked #271 coming into the season. He's the 45th best player in baseball so far and has provided the power numbers for many fantasy teams. And his 14 HR equals of the output of Mark Teixeira and Prince Fielder--combined. Honorable Mention - James Loney (#155, .298, 29 runs, 4 HR, 29 RBI, 6 SB) and Adam LaRoche (#198, .281, 30 runs, 7 HR, 32 RBI) Picture from the Chicago Sun-Times

Biggest Disappointment - Mark Teixeira. For a guy drafted in the first or second round of every draft, these are not the stats you want to see: .210, 25 runs, 7 HR, 30 RBI. While most of the offensive stats actually match up with Albert Pujols', his average is almost 100 points lower. A notoriously slow starter, Tex has gotten off to an extra-slow start this year frustrating both his Yankee fans and his fantasy owners. Him and A-Rod have made the middle of the order quite unproductive. To put it in perspective, former Yankee Eric Hinske is ranked higher on the season than Teixeira despite having only 73 ABs. Definitely can't get worse. Honorable Mention - Derrek Lee (#52, .242, 24 runs, 6 HR, 23 RBI, 1 SB) and Carlos Pena (#85, .189, 23 runs, 8 HR, 28 RBI).

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Super Bowl to Hit the Meadowlands

Quickly throwing up a post on this, because I'm sure most have heard already, but the New York/New Jersey group won the bid for the Super Bowl and so in 2014, they will be playing outdoors at the New Meadowlands Stadium. I have expressed to many friends that I am highly in favor of this move. After 16 weeks of playing in weather (plus a few rounds of playoffs) I always found it odd that the game that counted the most would be one where the National Football League would try to control the weather the most. I understood it from a financial perspective: no chance of snow delays for planes, sponsors get to do presentations outside, and, most importantly, there's the perception that there's more offense in cleaner weather.

Well I say throw it all out. There is no "slippery slope" of all games being moved to cold-weather areas (Bob Kraft already said this was a unique situation after 9/11 and the economic downturn in New York) and even if there was, why would that be so bad? The one time that New Orleans didn't host the Super Bowl, they made it--but imagine if they got to play that game in the Superdome? Why shouldn't every team that has a nice enough stadium get that chance?

And people tell me: "Andrew, but what if it snows?" Truthfully, I think it would be the highest rated Super Bowl ever. Who wouldn't turn in to see that game? And people who paid all that money for the seats will show up regardless as they do for every other game of the season. I think it'll make the game more genuine instead of one that the NFL tries to tweak. And imagine if the Jets or Giants make the playoffs in 2014 with a chance to make that Super Bowl? Imagine the pressure they'll have that year especially to do so. Amazing. I think it's a great idea and I'm excited it's coming. Honestly (and I'm not trying to sound biased since I'm from the area), I can't think of one good reason NOT to have approved it. Kudos to the NFL for doing something cool and smart.

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24 Recap: The Heart of the Tragic Hero Wins Out in His Own Redemption

Jack Bauer is a man who is defined by many character traits, but heart and compassion aren’t always the first two that come to mind. But those were two traits that categorized the end of Jack’s reign on the television version of 24 which ended last night. I’m sure the reviews of last night will be mixed. Some people I know loved it and thought it was a great ending for a great television show that revolutionized how we watch TV. Others (our body count man from the bottom of the posts, Ari, for one) hated it and think that it was an injustice for the last two hours of a great action drama like 24 to have so little actual action and drama. Myself? I come somewhere in the middle. I think the writer’s took an easy way out but because they are making a movie and because of the American-superhero-like persona that Jack represents, it was the right move for the ending. But as the show’s final minutes ticked down, I don’t know whether I was sadder for Jack or sadder for the show which I’d been watching since a freshman in college was coming to an end. The truth is that unlike LOST (which the writers swear up and down is over in any and all forms including spin-offs), 24 is still an unfinished book and until we see the movie(s?), we haven’t really seen how 24 and the Jack Bauer story wraps up. But let’s recap the end of the television version one last time, shall we?

Redemption

Redemption is not just the name of the made-for-TV-movie that Jack and company did as a prequel for Season 7—it’s also a theme that kept on coming up last night. First redemption for those who kept 24 alive amidst cries to cancel the show before Season 8 even started. It wasn’t on the level of Seasons 1-5, but Season 8 was the best season since and was redemptive for the 24 writers who got royally killed (in this blog and elsewhere) for Season 6 and the ridiculous end to Season 7. But it was also a form of redemption for Jack Bauer the character who wanted nothing more than to finally get the justice he deserved for the people who were behind Freckle’s death. Sort of...maybe...ugh, not really.

I assume that’s where most of the audience’s frustration lies. Jack—personally—got no redemption. He didn’t kill Yuri Suvarov, the Russian mastermind behind the attack. He didn’t kill President Taylor who was behind the cover-up. He didn’t even kill Logan’s Executive Assistant who was spared by pulling the “D card” on Jack: he had a daughter. But most of all, fans like me are somewhat frustrated that he didn’t pull the trigger on Charles Logan. The man responsible for the deaths of President David Palmer, Michelle Dressler, Freckles, President Hassan, and many others was a man that Jack had in his grasp so many times—but was never fully able to pull the trigger. When Jack finally relented on pulling the trigger on Suvarov, he had a chance to just take out Logan and call it a day.

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Trivia Tuesday: Pitchers Edition

Since I've been busy this week writing LOST and 24 posts, I figured I'd let ESPN's Jayson Stark, one of the kings of baseball trivia, take it away this morning:

@jaysonst: Today's Mike & Mike trivia question coming up in 5 minutes: Name the only 4 active pitchers with 100+ wins & an ERA under 3.50.

Bonus question from ESPN's TMI blog: "In Sunday’s game Trevor Hoffman recorded a hold while his teammate picked up the save for the first time since September 12, 1993. Who closed the game for the Padres on that date?"

Post your answers in the comments below. I will reveal the correct answers later.

Open Thread: The End of An Era Part 2 -- Goodbye 24!

One show down, one to go. Before LOST, there was another save-the-world-type thriller and that was 24. Before Jack Shephard was a flawed male lead prone to heroic actions and sacrifice, there was Jack Bauer who was much less outwardly flawed. He was the ever-do-good hero. Then Season 8 came and Jack Bauer has been unleashed. It seems no one can stop him and that may include President Taylor and even Chloe O'Brien. So how do you end this show? How does this final episode lead into the movie they are planning to make? And is there any way that Jack Bauer dies tonight (I say no)?

While LOST was beginning during the Iraq War, 24 debut coincided with 9/11. 24 has been eerily close to prescient on certain world actions (go back and watch Season 2 and realize the whole season scarily mirrors the build-up to the war in Iraq) and, at times, has seemed more like a reality show than most reality shows. It's a show that's shocked us and surprised us at times, made us laugh at others, and made us cheer on occasion. It also has left us debating heavy topics like whether it is worth sacrificing one person to save a lot more, whether it's all right to commit a crime to save a loved one, or whether torture is okay in any form or in any situation. We also debated quite a bit which Seasons of 24 were the best (my favorite is Season 1 followed by probably either 3 or 5).

It's also made us change our view on television a bit. The style and the pace of the show, the cliff-hangers, and the action have all been somewhat revolutionary. FOX is known for taking on these types of shows in the past (The Simpsons, X-Files, and Married with Children to name a few) and this was certainly one of those times.

But for those of us who love 24, the past few years have been tough. The show had a great first five seasons and then lost it's luster through a writer's strike and two sub-par outings. The plotlines were either ridiculous or predictable (oh no, another mole!) and the characters that were brought in to replace the Sherry and David Palmers and the Nina Myers of the world weren't able to live up to the task. Season 8 has changed the game a bit and provided a season that while ranking behind the first five, I believe has been worthy of 24. Tonight is the final two episodes and I'm hoping that 24 ends on a good note. I don't expect it to be a happy-go-lucky ending, but I hope it ends well and closes out a great second-half of the season.

This is an open thread so the comments are now open until the show starts. Let us know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and theories on what's going to happen tonight. Recap will be up tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy it!

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Lost with LOST: Peace, Love and Closure

Namaste! If you were to tell me two years ago that the final episode of LOST would answer no questions, I would have been pissed. I would have probably stopped watching. I would have been wondering what was the point of continuing with the show. But last night's finale was exactly what I needed to close out such an emotionally charged series: closure. It's a funny word to use considering [spoiler alert] everyone dies in the end, but I can't think of another word that describes the feeling I was hoping for--and was achieved--at the end. It was a magical journey through the years, one that kept all of us guessing and theorizing and debating. But in the end, I've always said that the show was about the characters and their battles with redemption, love, and faith--and the finale was all about those three themes. One last time, let's go under the waterfall and go down the rabbit hole, shall we?

Overall Summary

I usually do the conclusion at the end, but I'm sort of going to skip ahead to this step for this 2 1/2 hour episode. The episode had four parts in my mind. The first part was ridiculously (for the topic) funny* and self-referential. The second part was action-packed, choppy (how many freaking commercial breaks?) and tense. The third part was emotional, reflective and enlightening. And the last part was happy and satisfying. I truly believe the end filled my deepest desires to finish the show on a strong, emotional, and clear note. After the show, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had a few fake "alternate endings" and one was a replica of the Sopranos. The hope was that LOST would end on a more clear note than the Sopranos and with a stronger finish than Seinfeld and I think it delivered.

*Side Note: Speaking of funny, the Target ads were great (if you caught them in between furious fast forwarding of the DVR). The "smoke detector" one was the best. Kudos to Target to be the only company to treat this like a Super Bowl. And as for the self-referential, I had no clue for the first hour or so if the lines were meant for the character in the show or for the audience. I'll take the homage to me but in some ways, it got a little cutesy (more on this in about 10 seconds)

The ending was not without flaws, though. I felt at times it was getting too self-referential to the point it was cheesy at times. Things almost seemed to work out too perfectly and the "reunion episode" feeling of the final scenes were a bit too easy for me as did some weak plot twists. I loved the scene where Detective James Ford goes into the hospital room to see Jin and Sun and they're just smiling ear-to-ear since they know so much more than him, but I could have dealt without some of the other cutesy moments that I felt were easy outs (like the Boone line about how hard it was to get Shannon back). So was the whole "purgatory" idea when the creators swore up and down the show wasn't about that (though, to be fair, I guess "The Island" wasn't that place). And I'm not a big fan of Sayid's constant being Shannon--a whiny brat who he had a week affair with (as Ari said during the show, it was his "white girl phase") and they needed to find a way to write her back into the show for the finale--instead of Nadia or somebody else (hey, I'd have taken Rousseau who was his "constant" for the entire first season). And didn't it feel like a ton of the narratives just sort of ended with a bloody knife like Dogen? But that's the end of my larger quips for now since I really did love the finale. On to the recap, which, unlike last night's episode, will be presented commercial free.

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Open Thread: The End of An Era Part 1 -- Goodbye LOST!

It's a one-two punch to the gut. LOST ends tonight with 24 following tomorrow. I don't think there's any question that 24 revolutionized television in a way with its unique format, topic, and style, but while we'll talk about 24 a ton tomorrow, today is set for the other revolutionary show: LOST. At a time when we as a nation were dealing with questions about spirituality, questioning authority figures, love, science vs. faith, loneliness, redemption and maybe were all feeling a bit, well, lost, a show came around and blew all of our minds. It was never without its flaws (*cough* Nikki and Paulo), but LOST was generally an A grade experience, ranking it someplace very close behind Seinfeld on the TV pantheon (in my humble opinion). I waited excitedly for it every week and when the show finally came, all I wanted to do was discuss it with everyone.

That's why tonight feels like a break up you knew you needed to do, but still can't bring yourself to go through with it (and tomorrow will be rinse and repeat). For a while now I moved my LOST discussion from e-mails and water cooler talk to this blog and it's been cathartic every day-after to pound out a post and see who agrees with me and who thinks I'm crazier than Hurley in the mental hospital. But even though the show is ending, I think we're far from over with discussing the show. The plan is to have an open discussion here where you can post all your last thoughts, theories, feelings, question and whatever else you want--as long as they don't contain any spoilers. Then at midnight tonight, you can come back here and talk about anything you want from the show that happened. As usual I'll throw up a recap tomorrow but once I digest, I'll have another LOST post for later in the week with some more thoughts on what went down during tonight's 2 and 1/2 hour epic.

But this is your place to vent so go ahead and start chatting below as we all prepare for the end of an era.

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