Yankees v Orioles ~ Saturday's bogus double play ends the game

My friend, Teri, is a huge New York Yankees fan, and she'd never been to Oriole Park at Camden Yards (i.e. until this weekend).  With the race to first place in the AL East coming down to the wire, I talked her into going with me to Saturday's Yankees v Orioles game.  She didn't need much convincing, once I planted the idea and before you knew it, we had a couple of tickets to the game!

Saturday night was a great ball game.  Covered from the rain in section 49, we watched the Yankees and the Orioles battle. 

We watched CC Sabathia serve up meatballs and Orioles hit homeruns.  We also saw CC hit Nick Markakis with a pitch.  It's going to be a while before Orioles fans see Markakis at bat.  Reports that I read say that, Markakis is out for six weeks.

It was a great game, but the ending was very unfortunate. 

As the Yankees were rallying from a 3-5 deficit in the 9th inning, I saw the supposed "double play" that ended the inning and the game.  It didn't take a genius to see that Mark Teixeira was safe.  Umpire Jerry Meals made a bad call, and I agree with Teixeira.  My guess is that Meals either wanted to go home or just got ahead of himself.  Either way, it was what it was, and the game was over. 

If I was Teixeira, you wouldn't have been able to pull me off the base.  How frustrating...  That's baseball, and that's life. 

The Baltimore Orioles won the game 5-4, and as a result both teams are tied for the lead in the AL East.

THE WIRK

Teixeira hits a homerun and Yankees defeat the Twins - ALDS, Game 1

Last night was the first night of the MLB postseason.  I was able to attend Game 1 of the ALDS between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins.  Earlier in the evening, baseball fans were treated to something special when Philadelphia Phillies' pitcher, Roy Halladay, pitched a no-hitter!



Wow.  Coming off watching the celebration in Philly, I was expecting big things at Target Field.  I didn't witness a no-hitter, but I did see a great game.

CC Sabathia and Francisco Liriano went pitch to pitch, but the bats were hot also.  10 runs were scored, but the Yankees ended up winning 6-4.

CC Sabathia on the mound

My 3rd base favorites, Alex Rodriguez and Scott Ullger

Twins congratulating Cuddyer after his home run

There was not a no-hitter to witness at Target Field.  In fact, the crowd seemed to "boo" a bit when Sabathia hit Thome in the arm with a pitch.  Come on, people!  That's no big deal.  Don't you know that that's how former Tribe players greet each other?!?! 

The Yankees were down 0-3 for a few innings, but then the Yankees found their offense.  I was sitting next to Kunal, a Yankees fan, and he was stressed for most of the game.  I think he finally relaxed in the 8th or 9th inning.  What most people thought was a "gimme" game for the Yankees turned into a bit of a nail biter, even though the Yankees were up 4-3 heading into the bottom of the 6th.

In the bottom of the 6th with Sabathia loading the bases, I started to panic.  However, he was able to work himself out of the jam after only walking in one run.  Great. Game was tied at 4.

In the 7th, with Nick Swisher on base, Mark Teixeira hit a home run to put the Yankees up 6-4.  That would be the final score of the game! 

Mariano Rivera handled the rest.

In today's game that starts at 6:37PM ET, Andy Pettitte takes on Carl Pavano. 

Should I stay or should I go now?!?!

Oh and  I have to mention that since Randy Moss returned to the Minnesota Vikings yesterday, it seems like the people in Minneapolis dusted off their Moss jerseys and decided to wear them to the game.  Welcome back, Randy.  Seems like Vikings fans can't wait to see you.

Lastly, guess what?!!?  I found $20 on the ground on the concourse.  Woohoo! Winner!!!  :-P

Fan of Teixeira?  Pick up a shirt.  Man his name is hard to spell...  "I before E, except when sounded like Teixeira"...


THE WIRK