nyc -- FAC (fancy a coffee) for japanese opening day games?

wish i could join you. it's gonna be REAL early here.

Like the world cup all over again. But I'm going to drag the TV over to the bed.

Too early for me.

I'm just waiting for the reruns on YES to see Piniella sleeping in the dugout; hand down his pants, head falling forward, drooling all over himself.

Zimmer's more likely to fall asleep in the dugout (does he travel with the D-Rays??), but Piniella would look funnier.

i will probably just not go to sleep. maura i'm sorry but i don't live in NY :( are you a yankees fan too? i think we're getting close to countering the bosox contingent here.

Maura's a Rocco Baldelli fan.

I'd totally be there, except it's early, I am with regular job, and I am not an NYCer. If Maura styles some Baldelli-wear, however, I MIGHT be able to make it (winky).

I have a question that maybe you baseball people could answer, she says by way of explaining her untimely appearance on this board. Do baseball people always wear suits when traveling to foreign countries or are they showing their respect for the more buttoned-down culture of Japan, or did they just want to look good in their press shots? 14 hours is a long flight. They look great though.

Players aren't playas unless they dress sharp, dig?

(They invariably dress like that, so far as I know.)

I'll watch, definitely. I live in Park Slope. When are they on/who's got the tivo etc?

From my observations, most players wear suits when travelling "on business" (air travel, charter bus, etc.) Players en route to their home stadiums may be less inclined to dress up. After the game, players usually wear their "casual" clothes (my quotes, these folx make lots of $$$). In SF, you're more than likely to run into some players/managers catching a drink at the Curve Bar right across the embarcadero from Pac Bell SBC Park.

yes, when players get on planes, they wear suits. and sometimes, when they're rookies, they get even more dressed up.

(ps: i am going to be working at mlb again this season. just one or two nights a week, but still, whee)

The NYT offers this:

Although the Yankees wore sweatsuits and slippers during the long flight, they arrived at Tokyo International Airport wearing jackets and ties, in contrast to the Devil Rays, who arrived in casual clothes.

i love the tokyo dome, i strongly recommend catching a game there at some point in your life.

the yanquis got wiped 11-7 by the hanshin tigers (who tied the D-Rays the day before). it was their b-list pitching squad though (i didn't recognize a single name).

Michael Kay's "Seeya-nara" call on Matsui's HR in the Yank / Giants game made me want to swallow my tonsils. And, then, going to break, w/ the Matsui homer being shown behind the box score, he says it AGAIN! As if it was so damn clever the first time. Stupid gaijin asshat.

Note: while hating on the Yanks is a unavoidable pre-req for luvin' the BoSox, I'd be less likely to hate as often were the cadre of Yankee announcers not such a bunch of ignorant, ill-informed, crusty ass-kissing bumblefucks. And Googlers can suck it.

That is all. Carry on.

sadly gygax the starter was apparently donovan osborne, who due to lieber's groin injury will be in the rotation until at least may. i can't find a box score so i don't know who was working relief.

New York Yankees
Batter Pos AB R H RBI
D Jeter SS 3 0 1 1
F Escalona SS 2 0 0 0
H Matsui LF 3 0 1 0
H Bush LF 2 0 0 0
A Rodriguez 3B 2 0 1 0
E Wilson 2B 2 0 1 2
Ja Giambi 1B 2 0 0 0
T Clark 1B 3 1 2 1
G Sheffield RF 2 0 0 0
B Crosby RF 3 0 0 0
J Posada DH 3 1 1 0
R Sierra DH 1 0 0 0
J Flaherty C 3 2 2 2
J Girardi C 1 0 0 0
M Cairo 2B 3 2 2 0
K Lofton CF 2 0 0 0
D Bragg CF 1 1 0 0
Totals 38 7 11 6

Hanshin
Batter Pos AB R H RBI
M Imaoka DH 5 1 2 1
N Akahoshi CF 5 1 2 1
M Kinkade 3B 4 1 1 0
T Kanemoto LF 3 2 1 2
A Kataoka LF 1 0 1 0
O Hamanaka RF 2 0 0 0
S Hiyama RF 3 1 3 0
I Katsuragi RF 0 0 0 0
G Arias 1B 4 2 3 5
K Hirashita LF 1 0 1 0
T Toritani SS 5 0 0 0
T Kuji SS 0 0 0 0
A Yano C 5 2 3 1
A Fujimoto 2B 5 1 2 1
Totals 43 11 19 11

BATTING
2B: M Cairo, T Clark, M Imaoka, A Yano
HR: John Flaherty (0) off Katsuhiko Maekawa in the 4th ; Tony Clark (0) off Keiichi Yabu in the 5th ; Akihiro Yano (0) off Jorge De Paula in the 5th ; George Arias (0) off Jim Mann in the 6th ;
Team LOB: Ny Yankees 7, Hanshin 10

BASERUNNING
CS: H Matsui

FIELDING
E: M Kinkade
DP: Hanshin 1



New York Yankees
Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR
D Osborne (L,-) 2 9 7 7 1 1 0
J De Paula 3 4 1 1 0 3 1
J Mann 1 2 3 3 1 0 1
A Graman 1 2 0 0 0 1 0
S Proctor 1 2 0 0 0 2 0


Hanshin
Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR
K Maekawa (W,-) 4 8 4 4 1 3 1
K Yabu 3 1 1 1 0 5 1
J Riggan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
J Williams 1 2 2 2 1 2 0


HB: M Cairo by J Williams
SO: NYY: F Escalona 2, J Posada 2, B Crosby 2, T Clark, G Sheffield, J Flaherty, Ja Giambi HAN: M Kinkade, G Arias, M Imaoka, T Kanemoto, T Toritani, A Yano, A Fujimoto
T: 2:54
Att: 52,000

sorry about the formatting, the site moderator disabled PRE tags making tables unreadable in a copy/paste.

yeah just a bunch of 25 y/o+ minor league scrubs (except i have no idea who mann is), although they'll probably all get professional pt this year anyway what with the yankees' excellent chances for pitching injuries (proctor for gordon and de paula for brown i will all but guarantee).

Hey, John (or other Yankers) - what's the 411 on El Duque (or El Duquecito (sic))?

el duque - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1757132 - signed w/ yanks a short while ago. supposedly couldn't crack 80 when scouts from the yanks and sox were looking at him. won't be "ready" till midseason.

el duquecito (adrian hernandez) - i believe he signed with the brewers this offseason.

Couldn't break 80? Surely that's not a good sign.

He's the new Frank Tanana.

i was waiting for maura, but i guess i'll have to be the first one to bring it up:

game #1 of the 2004 MLB season:

TAMPA BAY DEVILRAYS - 8
NEW YORK YANQUIS - 3

The D-Rays hold the Yankees to SEVEN HITS (.206 BAA). Moose got rocked. Granted both teams are across the planet, completely out of their element, but still!

heredia is 100% worthless. i can't stress that enough. he doesn't get lefties out better than ANY of the rightes, OR gabe white, so he shouldn't be a loogy. he doesn't get righties out better than anyone else either. he's not a long reliever. he's just worthless. god yankee management is so fucking stupid.

hopefully moose just had a bad game - he's a classic "routine" guy. giambi looked exactly like the giambi of last year to me. this is a guy that used to be able to make good contact and crack the ball hard to all fields, now he just cracks it straight up in the air if he hits the ball at all. no way in hell he ever bats three fucking forty again.
here's what the yankees could STILL do to improve a helluva lot:
-get a real fifth/sixth starter (ie, an actual major leaguer)
-get a decent lefty in the bullpen
-get a real second baseman, preferably a good glove. vidro is completely unnecessary.
-switch a-rod and jeter

that would all cost about 3 middling prospects (and a disgrunteled jeter - GET USED TO IT), and would add at least a handful of wins to the team.

what the lineups SHOULD be:
vs. RHP
Jeter 3B
Bernie DH
A-rod SS
Giambi 1B
Sheff RF
Posada C
Matsui LF
Cairo(Hairston/Roberts?) 2B
Lofton CF

vs. LHP
Jeter 3B
Bernie LF
A-rod SS
Giambi DH
Sheff RF
Posada C
Matsui CF
Clark 1B
Cairo/x 2B

lofton doesn't bat against LHP, giambi gets to rest his knee, bernie gets his PT.

woo hoo! what a way to wake up this morning.

nothing better than waking up and seeing tino hit a home run off YANKEE PITCHING. ha ha ha ha.

(as you can tell, i overslept this morning)

Baseball cuties from the Daily News