Buried Treasure I’m here in the land of the polygamists and the arcane liquor laws, the land where I grew up and where my parents still live, Salt Lake City, Utah. Tomorrow I head off to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then to the wilderness of the Beartooth mountain range for a backpacking trip with my …
Archive of entries posted by Jay Jaffe
When It Raines It’s not quite the Griffeys hitting back-to-back home runs for the Mariners, but Tim Raines and his son set a milestone of sorts on Tuesday: the first time in modern baseball history a father and son have faced each other during a professional regular-season contest. Raines the elder (a.k.a. “Rock”), on a …
The Other Mendoza Line There’s no middle ground in the Yankees bullpen–either you’re among the charmed (Mariano Rivera, Mike Stanton, and uh…) or the damned (Jay Witasick, Mark Wohlers, Randy Choate). Fortunately, Ramiro Mendoza is among the charmed. Since the beginning of July, Mendoza is 4-1 with 3 saves and a 2.09 ERA in 38.2 …
Remembrance of Ballgames Past Yesterday, I attended a hell of a game at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks fell behind the Seattle Mariners 7-1 by the second inning, but crept back. They closed the gap to 7-5 by the eighth inning, then loaded the bases in both the eighth and ninth, before finally losing 7-6. Still, …
Clay’s OK Clay Bellinger has been making the most of his latest opportunity. Bellinger’s played third base for the Yankees in ten of the last eleven games, and he has four homers in that stretch, including two off of Tampa Bay’s Paul Wilson on Wednesday night. He had a stellar night at the hot corner …
Jimy Williams, History’s Greatest Monster Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams was fired yesterday after shocking evidence of his heinous crimes against the Red Sox was made public. It was Williams, brandishing a sledgehammer, who injured Nomar Garciaparra’s wrist so badly that Nomar required surgery and missed four months of the season. It was Williams, …
Take Me Out To The Brawlgame Bill Simmons, formerly known as Boston’s Sports Guy, has been writing some hilarious stuff for ESPN’s irreverent Page 2 lately. His piece on Tom Seaver’s aborted comeback was funny and poignant at the same time, one of the best articles I’ve read all year. In the wake of the …
Nice Kitty-Cat Tino Martinez and I have reached an agreement: I’ll keep lambasting him so long as he keeps hitting those game-winning home runs. We’re both dialed in, so to change this successful formula would be a mistake. I was at the game last night, and I was just as surprised when Tino hit it …
Jason Giambi, Wrecking Machine Yesterday’s game-winning home run by Jason Giambi felt like the most foregone conclusion I’ve seen all season. As Giambi strode to the plate, I sat there solemnly, rooting for the Yankees, yet knowing that it wasn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. Not because the fix was in, not …
Burst This Thought Balloon Here’s a scary thought for Yankees fans: what if George Steinbrenner drives Joe Torre away from the Yankees? Chew on that one for a moment. Torre came to the Yankees in the winter of 1995. At that point, the team was 14 years removed from its last World Series appearance, and …