I may be a Yankees fan, but I can appreciate the intensity and devotion of fans of other teams. That’s why I’m so fascinated by Red Sox fans, even though they make my life hell from time to time, and why I can’t understand Giants fans, who I’ll tell you all about in a future entry. Last month, however, I got my first look at Oakland A’s fans in their natural habitat, the largely maligned Network Associates Coliseum.

Having heard many a radio broadcast and watched many a postseason telecast from the coliseum, you’d think that the place was some kind of a pit. Well, it’s not. In many ways, the Coliseum is to Yankee Stadium what the Bay Area is to the New York Area–there are some striking similarities, and yet some sharp distinctions. Two of the most cosmopolitan and colorful cities in the world, both famed for their diversity, culture, their place in American history, with lots of Old World blood mixed with an always future-minded fashion sense. There are moments when I’m there when I, as an urban-born New Yorker, feel right at home. But there are times when a familiar situation suddenly seems odd. California is undeniably different.

You can’t go anywhere in San Francisco, Berkeley, or Oakland, it seems, without being panhandled. There are bums in the streets holding cardboard signs at every major intersection: "Homeless. Hungry. Please Help." "War Veteran-Disabled." "No lies, no stories, just need help." The weather is mild enough that the winter doesn’t drive people south, and squatters set up cardboard houses under highway overpasses. While we were there, nine homeless people were arrested for taking over a city building to protest the lack of cheap housing–a building with an earthquake crack so large in it, even an East Coaster like me could see it. I suppose when you’re used to sleeping in a shopping cart, even a deathrap seems like a good thing.

Earthquakes were on my mind a lot at the coliseum, as I tried hard to remember what park the teams were in when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit in 1989, as we felt tremors pass through from time to time, and as the A’s played earthshakingly great baseball. They swept the Red Sox and then turned their sights to the Yankees.

corwin and I arrived at the park the day after the A’s drove Ted Lilly from the mound and walloped the bombers 8-1. We took the subway, just as we have to games in Boston. In our pinstripes, hats, and other Yankees fan gear, we were heckled a bit by Oakland fans, but always in a nice way. They say what distinguishes the A’s from other teams (especially the angst-ridden Red Sox) is that they know how to have fun. Their fans seem to carry that spirit as well. "You like the Yankees?" one guy said to us as the train approached his stop. "Gee, what was your first clue?" I answered back. "Oh man, just go easy on my boys tonight, a’ight?" he said, as he stepped of the train. "Y’all had enough fun last year, hear?"

On the walking bridge from the train station over to the coliseum, a man approached us. "Got any tickets?" he asked, as we expected. "Nope," we answered. "Got any loose change?" he then asked. Geez, come on man, one schtick at a time! Did I mention the incessant panhandling? At least in the Bronx it’s one OR the other, not both!

A few moments later, we were at the ass end of the coliseum, entering behind the outfield stands.

I tend to judge the dedication level of fans by the cleverness and quality of their handmade signs. At Fenway, signs are prohibited, but not so in the free-spirited Bay Area (though I did read in the rules that broom handles are not allowed… too dangerous). As we made our way down the wide ramps toward the dugout level, I saw a kid carrying a well-drawn sign sporting the A’s elephant mascot ("Stomper") that read "Trample The Yanks." Looking good!

After a quick look at the food options (garlic fries, barbecue, ballpark fare), I made my way down to the Yankees dugout. The A’s were still taking batting practice and it was early yet. I had fun showing my photos from spring training and Camden Yards to the other fans there while we waited and hoped for some autographs and photo ops. Randy Choate came out and signed for quite a while, going back and forth along the dugout. He’s such a cutie, and such a nice guy. Then the Yankees took the field, and he went out to stretch with the team.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the Yankees team stretch. I could probably lead the routine myself. After doing their leg work–jogging backward, side to side, etc.–each player got a giant rubber band and stretched his legs and torso. Then, as always, as they’d probably done since their Little League days, they warmed up their arms by playing catch.

I guess when you play catch every single day, and you’re a jokester at heart like Luis Sojo is, you just can’t pass up any opportunity to liven things up. At Camden Yards, Luis played catch sitting in a chair. In Oakland, he was throwing with Clay Bellinger, who was a sometime catcher in the minors. Somehow their normal throwing turned into Luis pitching and Clay squatting to catch. Enrique Wilson got into the act as a batter–first with an actual bat and then just miming swinging and missing. Clay called balls and strikes. You know something? Sojo’s got pretty good control.

It’s tough to know where to stand when you’re waiting for autographs. Just a few feet to one side or the other can make a difference. I felt I was in a pretty good spot, but baseball is a game of inches. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, wanted Derek Jeter’s autograph. I had some photos of him I hoped to get him to sign, but I wasn’t too anxious. Ever since I got him that once in spring training, I’ve felt like I didn’t want to take away chances from others who haven’t had the chance yet. But if he happened to come right to me, well, I wouldn’t walk away!

All eyes were on Jeter as he took BP. You can usually tell what kind of a game Jeter will have at the plate by watching his BP. This time, he didn’t really light up the audience by spraying hits all over, but he did jack a few into one section of left centerfield seats. When he was done, the Yankees were just about finished with their allotted forty minutes of BP time. Jeter then came to the dugout roof, and began to sign. He started about three feet over to my left, and unfortunately for me, then worked his way further left. He had time for about two dozen signatures before he ducked into the clubhouse with the rest of the guys.

Just for the record, when we were seated in the stands and Jeter came in to lead off the game, I told some friends of ours, baseball neophytes, that I wasn’t sure what Jeter was going to do in the game, but that he had hit a bunch of BP balls into that… section… of… well, before I could finish my sentence, Jeter took the first pitch over the wall into that very section of seats in left center. Thanks for making me look like a genius once again, Derek!

Before I forget to mention it, Paul O’Neill signed a bunch, too, down at the other end of the dugout. That kind of shut up some guys behind me who had been going on and on about how O’Neill had gotten too "stuck up" to sign for people since going to the Yankees from Cincinnati…

Up in the stands, we settled ourselves in my favorite place, upper deck behind home plate, and discovered one of the drawbacks to the football-favoring coliseum. The scoreboards are too damn small–instead of one big scoreboard in centerfield, there were two smaller ones in each end zone (off first and off third). I couldn’t read the Runs Hits Errors totals they were so dinky! I had not brought my binoculaurs from the East Coast, but heck, you shouldn’t need binoculaurs to read a major league scoreboard!

As long as I’m on the subject of the Oakland Coliseum’s shortcomings, here’s a big one, but one that is common to many stadia, and that is not enough food vendors wandering the aisles. I don’t like to get up during the game, and in fact, sometimes I get downright superstitious about it (e.g. if I get up now, the other team will score). In Yankee Stadium, you see a hot dog vendor about once an inning. I also don’t like to stand in line and miss any of the game when I DO get up. So I am big on people bringing me food. In Oakland, there are NO roaming hot dog vendors. In fact, the only vendors I saw were one selling Red Ropes (giant, yard-long Twizzlers), and one selling frozen chocolate malt in a cup.

I can understand why this is, if what I’ve heard is true–the A’s don’t make any money from concessions, it all goes to the Oakland Raiders. Feh, there’s that damn football thing again. So what incentive do they have to sell more food faster? They don’t.

This doesn’t explain why you don’t see hot dog vendors in many other parks, but that is an essay for another day. But Oakland is not unique in this deficiency.

Otherwise, really, the Oakland Coliseum is nowhere near as bad as people have been making it out to be for years. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with the place that couldn’t be fixed by the removal of the football influence. That includes getting rid of the sky-high seats behind centerfield, the dinky scoreboards, and the strangely zealous fans with the air horns.

Yeah, air horns. Oh, and you probably know about the drums. Some guys get seats in left field, and they form a kind of marching band drum section. I actually didn’t mind the drums–I think they’re kind of nice, but you know I love it when fans take initiative. And they beat the pants off that monotonous tom-tom in Cleveland. But the drums are another football influence. Take it from a marching band veteran such as myself–I know.

Up at our seats that night, we initiated two friends to Yankee baseball, and baseball in general. Behind us was a large group of Bay Area Yankees fans, who started the Let’s Go Yankees cheer the moment the National Anthem finished. Below us were some die-hard A’s fans with an air horn, next to them a pair with one of those giant plastic trumpets. I finally figured out what is so great about those giant foam fingers. THEY’RE SILENT. Anyway, these two groups of boisterous fans took each other’s presence with good humor and we all got along pretty well. Like I said, A’s fans know how to have fun.

For example, Jeter was leading off, with Justice batting second, and Bernie third. At one point in the game, Jeter came up to bat and the A’s fans in front of us began chanting "Ma-RI-ah Ca-rey!" because, well, Jeter used to date her in the olden days. Well, Jeter got a hit. Then came Justice. They started chanting "Ha-lle Ber-ry!" (who David was formerly married to) and lo, Justice got a hit. Bernie then came to the plate, the A’s fans shut up, and all the Yankees fans in our section started chanting "Miss-us Wil-liams!" That cracked the A’s fans up but good. But what do you know? Bernie got a hit, too!

Here’s another something you wouldn’t see in New York. It was Law Enforcement Night, which meant that before the anthem, a few dozen police officers from local precincts were introduced. The notable thing is that they each came onto the field riding a motorcycle with full lights and sirens blaring. What is it with Oakland and loud noises? Each pair of cops came riding in through a gate in center, then split up and went down the warning track to either side. It was only a few under a zillion motorcycles and the whole thing took forever–well, several minutes anyway as they lined up about thirty motocycles on a side. I suppose motorcycles couldn’ tbe worse for the field than pre-season football. And this is the land of CHiPs… When they were done, they rode off into the sunset. I will note that we witnessed no brawls during the game. Hmmm.

The A’s. What can you say about their muscular, energetic lineup? They stumbled out of the gate in 2001, but began a mid-season surge so exciting, so tantalizing, that GM Billy Beane reversed plans to dismantle the team and send soon-to-be free agents Jason Isringhausen and franchise player Jason Giambi elsewhere, instead acquiring Jermaine Dye.

When the A’s are running wild, they look unbeatable. They swept the then-favorites for the AL Wild Card, the Boston Red Sox, in the days before the Yankees came to town. And, as we Yankees fans discovered, everything has to go right if you’re going to top the A’s when they are surging.

My prediction for Saturday night’s game was that the Yankee offense would be buzzing like a bunch of frustrated hornets after the 8-1 loss the night before (the only run was a Paul O’Neill homer), and as Jeter’s leadoff homer showed, it certainly was. But even though they tallied thirteen hits, the Yankees were always fighting the tide, scratching out one run at a time but unable to get a big rally going. Meanwhile Sterling Hitchcock, the Yankees other recent stretch-run acquisition, was looking shakey on the mound. We all know Hitchcock can pitch, but as he’s still not fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, he’s only at 75-80% much of the time. The result is enough chinks in the armor that a team of hot, young sluggers like the A’s can jump all over him. And they did, scoring eight runs on eleven hits and driving him from the game after only 3 1/3 innings. It was like a boxing match with the two lineups landing blows, and with both teams within reach of the win until the very last out.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, the A’s held them off. The turning point of the game came early–in the second. After Jeter’s leadoff homer, the A’s got two back in the bottom of the inning. Going into the bottom of the second it was still 2-1 A’s, and it would have stayed that way if after recording a quick two outs, Hitchcock had been able to retire the number eight batter, Ramon hernandez (catcher) and avoid facing Jeremy Giambi, who was DHing in the nine hole. Unfortunately, Hitchcock walked the only light hitter on the team, and with Hernandez on you just knew what was going to happen… and it did. Jeremy hit a two run home run, and the A’s followed with a rally for two more runs with three singles and a walk before Terence Long, the ninth batter in the inning, grounded out. At the time, I explained to my friends that I thought the walk was the turning point, and it was all a question of whether the Yankees would be able to turn the tide back again.

Soriano tried to do it. He hit the first pitch of the third inning into the seats, but rookie pitcher Erik Hiljus (no, I don’t know who he is either…) was able to keep the damage to just the one run, despite giving up hits to Jeter and Bernie. When he left the game in the fifth it was 6-2 A’s. The Yankees scratched out single runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth, but the A’s tacked on two more–final score 8-6 A’s. If Hitchcock had not had that four run inning in the second, if he’d only gotten Hernandez instead of walking him, we would have likely won it. But as I said, everything had to go right. It’s pretty rare for the Yankees to have eleven hits and lose. Jeter went four for five and Soriano went three for four.

The rowdy New Yorkers behind us were placing bets on who would hit a home run. One fellow had Clay Bellinger as his player. Clay Bellinger, for those of you not familiar with him, is one of Torre’s favorite players, because he can play any position, even catch. But he never plays enough to be a consistent hitter and his average coming into the game was something like .170. He had hit a home run a few days before, though, which gave the poor fan some hope. "Come on Clay, hit one out!" he yelled when Bellinger came to the plate. "I’ll split the fifteen bucks with ya!" Later, when Torre lifted Bellinger for a pinch hitter, he called out, "Joe! You owe me fifteen bucks!"

Anyway, we lost. Yankees fans were thinking: Oh yeah? So you beat up on our two suspect lefties. Just wait ’til you face one of our GOOD pitchers. That’s what we were saying as we sat for about an hour in the car trying to get out of the parking lot (our friends had come by car). So, okay, put one more thing on the list of improvements the coliseum needs–better traffic control. Maybe they’re just not used to getting a sell-out crowd out of there? Our friends then took us on an excursion south to the only Krispy Kreme donuts in the Bay Area. Mmm, nothing like a good load of poping hot sugar, fat, and starch to assuage the sting of a tough loss. Very exciting game though, lots to cheer about. We just didn’t get a W out of it.

The next day we boarded BART again, and again made the walk over the concrete bridge to the coliseum. This time I actually had a ticket to sell, so I had my eye out for scalpers. My experience the day before led me to think I wouldn’t have much trouble finding someone. In the Bronx, no one ever wants to take just one ticket, though, and you can expect to haggle a bit to get a decent dollar value out of someone. But here in Oakland, as I have probably said, things are different. At least this time I didn’t get panhandled. Instead, a guy approached asked if I had any extra. I said yeah, just one. He offered me five bucks. I said how about ten? He said "Okay" and handed me ten bucks. Now, I’m sure he was able to sell it for more than that, but still, the New Yorker in me couldn’t help thinking "what a pushover…"

That Sunday Mike Mussina took the hill with Yankee pride resting on his shoulders. Let me say this about Mussina. He has been absolutely everything the Yankees wanted when they blew their wad picking him up as a free agent in the off season. Casual fans or those who don’t watch all the games, who just look at the stats, are going to see his won-loss record this year and think, jeez, this for $88 mil? But you have to see him pitch game after game (in which the Yankees usually score three or fewer runs) to realize what a master he is. Once in a while he just doesn’t have his stuff, and it’s obvious. But when he’s on, you can see him going to school on hitters, setting them up the way Coney used to (and still does, up on Boston). (NOTE: I wrote this entry BEFORE the near-perfecto in Boston…)

Mussina was masterful that Sunday in Oakland, finishing each pitch with a pounce to the foot of the mound, ready to grab an up the middle smash, looking almost like he’s ready for the batter himself to rush him like a linebacker. He looked good, struck out nine, walked none and gave up only two hits in eight full innings of work. THe gem was only marred by the twohits–back to back home runs in the fifth to Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez. You know the cliche: he pitched good enough to win.

But the A’s young pitchers are something special, and Mark Mulder was matching Mussina pitch for pitch, almost like he was learning from him every time they traded places on the mound.

And there were sparkling defensive plays all around. We had brought a friend with us to the game this time, a Giants fan, who remarked at one point what a remarkably well-played game it was. Our answer was, well, actually, this is what we’re used to seeing regularly! The Yankees are not an overpowering team–they don’t homer you into submission, their pitching depends on rock solid defense, they have to manufacture runs. They take advantage of errors and don’t let their own hurt them. And every team, even the lowly Devil Rays, raises their game when they play the World Champions. So yeah, we’re used to seeing a high level of play all the time, we’re used to a lot of one run and two run games. We’re spoiled rotten, in fact, and we love it.

By the fourth it was clear that this game would not be an offensive romp for either team. Mussina hadn’t allowed any hits yet, and Mulder had allowed only a Bernie Williams double. "Betcha fifteen bucks Clay hits a home run," I said to corwin, who laughed. Well, I should have made that bet, because the big moment for Yankees fans came in the eighth, when Bellinger came up to the plate. Soriano was on first, having singled. You figure Clay’s one advantage is that he plays so rarely, opposing managers don’t have much of a book on him. But, well, the one thing they ought to know is that bench guys can hit the fastball. That’s the only pitch they see (in BP), and that’s the only pitch they’ll sit on. Bellinger sat fastball, got one, and hammered it into the seats. Everyone in blue in the stadium went bonkers. corwin was up getting food at the time and when he got back I said "You owe me fifteen bucks!" Tie game, 2-2.

The excitement came back for the A’s fans though, in probably the most dramatic way. Ninth inning, tie score, Mike Stanton on the mound. Stanton traditionally goes through a slump in August, but we thought he had a shot to be great here. He struck out Menechino looking, then walked Johnny Damon on four pitches, oops. Again I felt the walk was the downfall, because if he had gotten Damon out, then we wouldn’t have reached Jason Giambi that inning. Instead, with a man on he struck out pinch hitter Saenz, and then there was Giambi. One on, two out, tie game, bottom of the ninth.

Stanton worked the count full and then threw ball four.

Unfortunately for us, Giambi–who was the real winner of the All-Star home run derby this year, as far as I’m concerned–golfed that ball into the right field seats for a walk-off game winning two-run homer. I just knew that was going to happen when Damon walked. And sure enough, it did. The A’s had swept the Yankees and had won eight straight. The crowd stayed in their seats, not a single one moved for several minutes until Giambi came out for a curtain call. I’m glad I like Jason Giambi because otherwise it would have been a hard moment to take. As a Yankees fan, it was a tough loss, but as a baseball fan, what a scene, what a moment. Giambi is a great player, and on that day, his greatness was greater than Stanton’s.

The idea that keeps Yankees fans from worrying about the postseason, though, is that this is the absolute best the A’s can be. They are at their peak, whereas the Yankees will take it to another level when October comes. At least, we hope so. Last year, there were moments of doubt, as the team sputtered in September and squeaked into the postseason with only 87 wins, and then ran hot and cold in the ALDS and the ALCS, pouring it on only when things began to look desperate. But they did reach that higher level of play, and by the time they faced the Mets, they were clicking on all cylinders.

This year Yankees fans look forward to the same thing. At the time I write this, the Red Sox are deep into their patented annual slide–they fired their manager and immediately slid further in the standings, and were just swept by the Yanks at Fenway 3-1, 2-1, and 1-0–they are now nine games out of the AL East and eight behind the A’s in the wild card race. With Seattle running away with the West, it looks likely that the Yankees will face the same opponents they did last year: the A’s in the best of five series, and the Mariners in the best of seven, or possibly the other way around, depending on how hot Cleveland is.

The A’s and their fans are great. But we’ll see you in October.

The last two standing are the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Cardinals were one of those two last-day squeak-in wild card teams who made it into the postseason as much as a result of the Atlanta Braves’ collapse as their own mojo. The Rangers, of course, have a lot of prove after getting smothered by the Giants in the World Series last year.

I have no real rooting interest in this series; I mostly just wanted to see dramatic baseball. Thus far, this postseason has had plenty of that, but tonight’s performance was over the top.

I started my evening listening the the XM Sirius pregame show, which turned out to be quite good. They had Nolan Ryan on, as well as Rangers GM John Daniels, and even an interview with tonight’s pitcher, Colby Lewis, which had been taped during yesterday’s rain delay/cancellation.

That’s right, there was even an extra smidgen of anticipation in the air in St. Louis tonight because yesterday’s game had to be postponed due to weather. Lewis’s backstory was much talked about last year, as well–a guy who went to pitch in Japan when no more big league opportunities presented themselves, figuring that he had seen the last of MLB. And now he’s been in the World Series two years in a row.

The XM pregame was very Rangers’ heavy, actually, and several times interviewers or hosts made it sound like the Rangers’ winning was a forgone conclusion. Maybe it was just that at the point where I tuned it, it was all Rangers’ people they were talking to. Ryan was gracious and thanked the fans for their support this year (some kind of new attendance record in Arlington?) and for making the trek to St. Louis, too. Sounded like lots of Rangers fans made the trip and the XM hosts commented on it.

However, it was far too early to count St. Louis out… though it took eleven innings to prove that.

I’m trying to decide how to recap all the action in this game, which was a serious seesaw. In the words of Inigo Montoya, “There is too much. Let me sum up.” And since this is the Internet, that means MAKE A TOP TEN LIST.

Top Ten Things I Don’t Want to Forget About This Game:

1. Mike Shannon was on fire tonight on the KMOX broadcast. In the first inning, he repeated about a dozen times that Colby Lewis “has never given up a run in the first inning of a postseason game,” because “not that we want to jinx him or anything…” After the Berkman blast, he said, “we usually don’t like to jinx people like that up here, but what the heck.”

2. How it was “Albert Pujols’ last at-bat in a Cardinals uniform” at least three times. (And who know how many more tomorrow?)

3. My vote for NL comeback player of the year (if I had one), Lance Berkman. Two-run homer in the first inning to give the Cards a lead. Game-tying hit with the Cards down two runs in the bottom of the ninth and down to their last strike! All told: 3-for-5 with a walk, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBIs!

4. Texas scored in six of the 11 innings. St. Louis scored in seven.

INN   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10  11  R   H   E
TEX   1   1   0   1   1   0   3   0   0   2   0   9  15   2
STL   2   0   0   1   0   1   0   1   2   2   1  10  13   3

5. Texas’s homers kept looking like the death blow: Beltre and Cruz with back-to-back shots! And Josh Hamilton (who has a hernia and has been suffering this series) hit a Kirk-Gibsonesque two-run blow in the 10th inning! But somehow the Cardinals kept clawing their way back!

6. The wacky defense. (And wacky overall play…) Not only were there five errors in the game, there were some miscues that don’t show in the box score. None bigger than Nelson Cruz not getting to at least one, maybe two, balls that turned into game-tying hits. Oh, and Mike Napoli turning his ankle at second (shoe-in for MVP if the Rangers win), and Holliday’s “slide” out of the baseline… and later getting picked off third base by Napoli! Last time guy picked off third in a World Series was Gene Tenace in 1972, if the other writers I follow are to be believed. (Tenace was picked off in Game 5 of the ’72 series according to Retrosheet.org, but I can’t verify if anyone else was in the meantime…)

7. The Cards were down two runs and down to their final strike TWICE (in the 9th and the 10th) and came back to tie both times. Both times what I posted on Twitter just before the game-tying hit was “Please don’t let this be the last out of the baseball season!” And both times I got my wish. (Which I then also had to tweet.) This is the equivalent of a Hollywood movie having not one but THREE boss fights in the third act. And all of them being heart-pumping, suspenseful, and wonderful.

8. Pitcher Kyle Lohse had to pinch hit in the 10th inning. (Sac bunt.) Not as wacky as catcher Brent Mayne being the winner pitcher in an extra-innings game in Colorado, but worth a mention, especially since it did contribute to them tying the game.

9. Jake Westbrook, remember him? Winning pitcher. Whoever had him in their office pool must be cleaning up. Oh, and must mention Darren Oliver, who got a “hold” in the game, because in one-third of an inning he gave up two hits, and earned two runs, but… well, this is why the “hold” has never caught on as a stat. It’s like the “quality start” for relievers, a “consolation” stat. Anyway, Oliver is 41 years old. That means he (born October 1970) has been around longer than the Texas Rangers, who came into their current incarnation in 1971. (In 1961 they started as a version of the Washington Senators.) The Rangers are the oldest franchise not to have won a World Series, if the TV commentators are to be believed. Anyway, it’s totally full-circle time for Oliver, who was drafted by the Rangers originally, and in 1993 had his big league debut for Texas (appearing in 2 games). You know who else played on that 1993 Rangers team? 46-year-old Nolan Ryan, now owner of the team.

10. David Freese is a hometown St. Louis guy, and he had a clutch triple, and then the walk-off homer in the 11th. Storybook, can’t make this stuff up, my entire Twitter feed of MLB players, coaches, and media just blowing up with “love baseball” and “can’t believe it!” not once but three times in the game.

And I’m probably forgetting something. I imagine that the media corps probably had to delete a lot of ledes tonight. Most of what I want to remember about tonight, though is that a spine-tingling game of baseball was played, one that moved people to extremes of emotion, even those who didn’t have a rooting interest.

As with an extra-rare cultivated fruit or aged wine, it took all season and all postseason to get to this point, and what resulted was something to be savored.

Yesterday started usually enough. corwin and I packed up rain ponchos and scorecards and headed for the stadium at 5pm from Riverdale (the hoity toity part of the northern Bronx where a good friend and fellow fan has a welcoming fold-out couch). It takes about a half hour to travel down the Grand Concourse from here to the environs of the Stadium. On weekdays, the parking spaces around the courthouse become legal to all comers at 6pm. If you get there by 5:30, you too can sit in your car in one of those spaces until 6pm and then leave. There are even a few local characters who act like “parking attendants” directing people to park in the spaces. I presume once in a while some tourist gives them some money, but they seem to do it just for the fun of it.

On a normal day, we’d lock the doors and walk to the Stadium one hour before the first pitch. However, because this is the postseason, first pitch wouldn’t be until 8:37 pm. That meant we had plenty of time for dinner at El Molino Rojo (The Red Mill), a Dominican joint just two blocks from the Stadium. Look into that dining room on any night before game-time and all you will see is a sea of pinstripes and NY logos. And cops. A lot of the local cops eat there.

After stuffing ourselves well for very little money, we moseyed the rest of the way to the Stadium. Compared to many postseason visits to the Stadium, this was a warm night. We took a lap around the lower deck concourses, just soaking in the atmosphere. corwin remarked at one point on our walk, “Isn’t it remarkable that this never gets boring?”

It never does.

We were in our seats in plenty of time to take in the ceremonies, which included the usual introductions of all the rosters of both teams. Miguel Cabrera was the only Tiger who seemed to be booed much (and later in the game was serenaded with chants of “DUI, DUI” from the bleachers).

Then came the ceremonial first pitch. For those who don’t think the first pitch is a Big Deal, all I can tell you is that I overheard at least two different conversations at the Red Mill speculating on who it would be, and earlier that day I’d remarked to corwin myself that I thought they wouldn’t bring out the “big guns” like Yogi until the World Series. “Tino, maybe?” corwin thought maybe we’d get lucky and it would be Bernie and he’d play the National Anthem, too. I thought that would be more likely in the ALCS, should we get that far. “I bet we might get Pettitte,” I guessed.

I thought for a moment I might be right when they started introducing the person throwing out the first pitch… but it quickly became obvious it wasn’t Andy the announcer was talking about. As it turned out, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by a hero of similar vintage to Pettitte, but one who is still in uniform. Mariano Rivera took the ball.

And then they introduced his catcher, and Jorge Posada came out in full catching gear, and I admit I got a little choked up. So did a lot of folks. It’s difficult to encapsulate what people feel about Posada. His bad baserunning and slumps drive a lot of folks crazy. But we can’t help it. We love the guy. He’s been here so long, and been a part of this team’s success for so long, it’s staggering to realize how many team leaderboards he’s on. He was never a Superstar like Jeter, but people forget how punishing the catching position is, and just how difficult it is to produce as a catcher year after year. Look at Joe Mauer for an an example of a guy who looked headed for the Hall of Fame when he won the batting title, and now looks human, all too human, when troubled by injuries and of late pneumonia. (Yeah.)

Posada waved his glove at Mo, as if to say “Go from the rubber!” So Mo did, and threw a ball that was just a bit outside. It seemed weird to have current players doing it, and yet it created an emotional moment. And the Yankees are not above doing what they can to enhance the drama of October. Heck. That’s the whole point.

So, we had the pitch, and the anthem with the giant West Point flag, and the introductions, all like usual. The Stadium always looks even more like a giant birthday cake than usual when all done up with bunting.

And then the actual game, the much touted match-up between aces Justin Verlander, the shoe-in for this year’s Cy Young award, and CC Sabathia, one of the two who probably would get runner-up for the award if such a thing were given. Scouting reports on Verlander were to watch his velocity. If he was getting into the upper 90s, it would mean he was too hyped up and was vulnerable. CC, meanwhile, has had some rocky starts of late, but would be going on extra rest.

CC took the mound first, and looked sharp, hitting the corners in two strikeouts, and then giving up a solo homer to Delmon Young that just cleared the wall into the short porch in right. It looked for a second like maybe Swisher had a chance to rob the homer, but no, it went out. CC and the crowd shrugged it off. CC still looked good and that would have been an out in any other park.

Verlander, meanwhile, started the inning throwing 93-94 and got faster as the inning went on. But he also threw ball one a lot, showing his control wasn’ quite there. He also walked two men. But although he didn’t allow a hit, he still let in the tying run. Derek Jeter, leading off the game, did something that happens fairly rarely: he reached on a dropped third strike. (Official scoring: strikeout wild pitch.) And he ended up scoring the Yankees’ first run, moving over on a walk to Granderson, then a Cano groundout, and then A-Rod grounded out to bring him in.

The next batter was Mark Teixeira. (I did not see an explanation as to why Cano was batting third and Teixeira fifth instead of the other way around.) Just as Tex worked the count to 3-2, it began to rain. He walked. But then Nick Swisher grounded out.

CC had a one-two-three second inning, but the rain had not let up. What had been a 20% chance of showers turned into a steady, heavy rain. The tarp came out, and I checked the weather radar on my phone. The forecast was not good. A line of showers appeared to be passing not across the Bronx but ALONG it, keeping us in steady rain while some other areas very close by were getting no rain at all.

After more than an hour delay, MLB announced that the game would be postponed until Saturday, and Saturday’s game would be moved to Sunday at 3:07pm.

This was a disappointing turn of events, to say the least. After all that build-up and to have barely gotten anything of the game in!

But what else could we do? We made our way back to the car in the pouring rain, and drove home. We got a good night’s sleep. (corwin slept 11 hours.) Then we got up and went into Manhattan for a late lunch. We went to the Momofuku Noodle Bar, David Chang’s hipster ramen restaurant, and we were not disappointed with that foodie adventure. And then we discovered Veniero’s Bakery, continuously operated as an Italian pastry shop since 1894. There were a bunch of bakeries in that neighborhood but this was the only one with a line out the door. Seemed a good recommendation. So we loaded up with pastry to eat later during the game. Then we trundled up to the Stadium, arriving at the courthouse at almost exactly the same time as the day before. Unfortunately, it now being Saturday, the prime parking was not available, but we found a space on the street just two more blocks down.

It wasn’t quite six o’clock when we approached the Stadium this time, and so the gates were not open yet. People were lined up outside. We went to buy some bottled water (Tip: buy it for $1 outside and keep it sealed and they will let you bring it in. The same water is $5 inside.) and ended up watching some of the Phillies/Cardinals game on the big screen TVs at the McDonald’s. We had been listening to the game on the drive, and things had looked good for the Cards then, leading off the game with a three-run homer from Lance Berkman. The Cards’ Kyle Lohse escaped a jam and worked around an error in what we watched, but we’d later see that for naught as the out of town scoreboard would reveal Howard and Victorino going back to back. But that was later.

Water acquired, on to the Stadium we went. The place felt deserted. There were more FanFoto photographers in the Great Hall than fans. We were stopped by several and let them take our pictures.

Then corwin had a brilliant idea. “Let’s go to Monument Park!” We discovered no line at all to get in, and the place only sparsely filled.

I saw something there I’d never seen at the Stadium: a goldfinch. The FanFoto guy assigned to the MP logo pointed it out. It was a tiny, cute yellow bird, hanging on the netting and looking at us all suspiciously. Then it flew off and tried to get through the windows of the batter’s eye bar, but failed.

“I hope his cousin the Bluebird of Happiness is around, too,” I said as the bird flew off.

We had a leisurely stroll through the Monuments. I’ve never had such a relaxing time in Monument Park since the new Stadium was built. It’s always been crammed with people when I’ve gone. But while we were talking to Babe Ruth (I know I’m not the only one who talks to the Babe, am I?) it started to rain again. The wind was biting, and I began to wonder if we were even going to get this game in. But it was only 6:30. More than two hours to go.

Up at our seats it was deserted. And cold. Very cold. Yesterday’s balmy temperatures were gone. And it was raining again. We tried drinking hot chocolate, but we were still cold.

“Do you think I should buy a blanket?” I asked corwin.

“Just think how cute the photos will be of our kittens sleeping on it,” he said. That decided it. I went in search of a souvenir blanket prepared to pay whatever exorbitant price they offered.

The first two souvenir stands I visited, though, did not have blankets. Both advised me to try the big store. I took the elevator back to the Great Hall and went into the really large team store there, asking a uniformed employee where the blankets were. “There might be some downstairs,” he said. “Someone’s trying to bring some up, but I don’t know how long it’ll take.”

“Wait, you mean you don’t have them in stock, but you might have them in storage?” I asked.

“Basically.” He shrugged. Two more people came up and asked him the same question.

Just then a guy pushing a cart full of inventory boxes came into the store and several other store employees pounced on him. “Is that the blankets?” “Are the blankets in that box?”

He shook his head. “This is hoodies. Just hoodies. Lots and lots of hoodies.”

“What about blankets?” several people asked him.

“I don’t know about blankets,” he said. “We sent someone around to all the stores to see if they have any.”

Well, that didn’t sound too promising, but I tried the large store at the top of the escalator, too. No dice. No blankets. And for once there were none of those “get a free gift for signing up for a credit card” offer stands, either! Many times in the past they’ve offered a blanket, but I’ve never been that tempted. Tonight I would have happily gotten a credit card with a ridiculous APR if it would have gotten me a blanket.

Instead, we just had to huddle for warmth. By the time of the first pitch, the seats had filled in a little. I’d say it ended up about 85% -90% full which was certainly far better than I had feared a few hours before. If anything, the crowd was more raucous than the night before, perhaps because of the cold and perhaps because it was all die-hards there.

Because the “first pitch” of the game at 8:37 pm was actually the 53rd pitch of the game, there was no national anthem. The umpires met at the plate and then the game jumped right into the bottom of the second inning. The lineups were the same, but the starting pitcher’s were not.

Doug Fister was on the mound for the Tigers. They got him from Seattle at the trade deadline, and he had gone 8-1 with an ERA under 2.00. In fact, the Tigers had gone on a tear at the end of the season. Another way to look at it, though, is that in their final 50 games of the season, the Tigers faced a team with a better than .500 record only four times. How much of Fister’s success was facing weak opposition?

Well, the Yankees looked poised to jump on him right away. Jorge Posada led off the night’s festivities with a single that brought roar out of the crowd. That was followed by a Russell Martin double, and with men on 2nd and 3rd and no outs, it really seemed the Yankees had spent all night grinding their teeth waiting to get up to mash the ball.

But. Then Gardner hit a soft grounder to third and for some reason Jorge Posada was caught halfway to home plate with a deer in the headlights look. He was tagged out, and then there were men on first and second and one out. Not nearly as much fun. Fister then balked! So, it was men on second and third again, but Fister wiggled out of it, striking out Jeter and Granderson to escape.

In the top of the third, the Yankees took the field for the first time that day, and the Bleacher Creature roll call seemed even louder than usual. What ensued was a pitchers duel in which Ivan Nova and Fister traded 1-2-3 innings for a while. In the top of the fifth, Nova got into and out of trouble, helped by a some fabulous defense. After striking out Victor Martinez, he walked Alex Avila. Ryan Raburn then had a soft hit, and Avila went to second. Up came Jhonny Peralta, who lined a shot into center field, but Granderson came up throwing, pegged Jeter, who pegged Martin, who pegged the baserunner Avila in a play that wasn’t even that close! The runners moved up to second and third, but then there were two out, and Granderson hauled in a fly ball in left center to end the inning.

Fister also had a modicum of trouble in the fifth, but this time the Yankees looked on the verge of getting to him. First Gardner led off with a shot to right that went to the warning track and on a warmer night or one where the wind wasn’t blowing briskly in (brrrrr, it really was in our faces the whole night) it would have been a home run. Jeter grounded out, but then Granderson singled and it felt like a breakthrough, first baserunner since that first inning of the night (which was actually the second). Cano followed Granderson’s hit with a long drive of his own, which bounced off the top of the wall. This ended up going to video review to prove it was a double and a good call. Cano stayed at second, but Granderson scored to make it 2-1 Yankees, at least. A-Rod followed that with ANOTHER long drive to the warning track, this one to center, this one caught.

It could have come apart for Nova in the top of the sixth, but it didn’t. After a leadoff walk to Austin Jackson, Magglio Ordonez swung the bat in a hit and run… but Cano ran to cover second and the ball was a hopper up the middle. It meant Ordonez hit into an easy double play instead of avoiding it by starting the runner. Cano snagged the ball right at second base and threw easily to first to complete the double play. And then Delmon Young sent a flare into right that Nick Swisher caught in a full body dive to end the inning.

It could have come apart for Doug Fister in the bottom of the sixth or he might have escaped it. But he did not escape this time. Teixeira doubled to lead off the inning, but Swisher stranded him there staring at a called strike three. Then Jorge walked, but Martin grounded out. One more out and Fister would wiggle free. But Gardner hit a seeing eye single through the infield, scoring two, and then Jeter followed that with a hit-and-run single that send Gardner to third. Granderson then walked to load the bases, and with the score still 2-1, manager Jim Leyland went to his bullpen. On came Al Albuquerque, whose last name is so long, the poor clubhouse guys had to sew his name onto the back of his jersey almost in a full circle around his number.

On Albuquerque’s second pitch, Cano hit one almost all the way to Albuquerque. It was a no doubter, grand slam, into the second deck. If a stiff wind hadn’t been blowing in, I think it would have been the third deck. The score was suddenly 8-1 Yankees, and that was pretty much the ballgame.

There was a smattering of action toward the end. The Yankees scratched one more off a reliever names Daniel Schlereth in the eighth, and Nova finally reached 100 pitches in the 9th (but it was like the 7th since it had been the third when he started pitching) and the Tigers finally reached Nova. He’d given up only two hits prior to the inning, but with one out he gave up two hits and a walk, and left the mound to a thunderous ovation. Luis Ayala came in to mop up, but only made more of a mess, giving up two more hits and allowing two men to score, at which point Girardi had had enough and just went straight to Mariano Rivera to get the final out of the game.

Three pitches later Rivera had mowed down Wilson Betemit, good morning, good afternoon, and good night. And now it is time to say good night. I’ll be back at the Stadium tomorrow for the 3:07 pm first pitch.

In the tremendous (yes, I’ll use the word tremendous) eighth inning rally, the Yankees employed the strategy an old coach of mine called “hit it hard somewhere.” The Yankees call it “keeping the line moving.” Tremendous? Yes. According to the Stats Inc. tweet-feed, there have only been four other games in postseason history where a team overcame a 4-run or larger deficit in the 8th or later. Yes, what we saw tonight was rare.

That explains the morose expression of Nolan Ryan, caught by TBS’s cameras sitting next to George W. Bush looking very disgruntled, to say the least. All that was missing was a cartoon thought bubble reading “%$#&* Yankees!”

The Yankees had plenty of chances to lose the game. CC Sabathia was not sharp and seemed like he couldn’t find Gerry Davis’s strike zone. How much of that was Davis’s zone appearing arbitratily small in the first inning, at least according to TBS’s strike zone graphic, forcing Sabathia to feel for it? And how much was just 8 days of rest leaving too much rust on the big lefty? There are not many ways for a game to start worse than letting the first two men on and then giving up the three-run homer. Fortunately he wasn’t too rusty to get a big out at the plate on a wild pitch, and fortunately no one in the bullpen suffered the same rust. Kerry Wood did have some command struggles against the first batter he faced, Ian Kinsler, but then he picked Kinsler off, erasing the mistake and deflating the Rangers just that much more.

Fangraphs has a dramatic graph of the win probability changing from the Rangers’ favor to the Yankees’ (here) that must have been nearly as much fun (or painful) to watch live as the game itself.

Pretty much everyone had to contribute to the win. Brett Gardner sparked the big rally with a head-first dive for an infield single. Marcus Thames had the go-ahead hit on a broken bat line drive. Both Jeter and A-Rod had nothing at the plate in the early innings; both were part of the steamroller eighth. Cano’s solo shot in the seventh can’t be forgotten, especially when it turned out to be a one-run game. The bullpen never gave the Rangers much hope, and it was fitting that Dustin Moseley, who pitched two innings and struck out four, was tabbed with the win.

I’m still wondering what the heck Nick Swisher was doing trying to bunt in the ninth. Swish proved that he’s not good at it, popping up to produce a useless out. But at least he was only trying to get an insurance run, which in the end Mariano did not need. With the tying run in scoring position and Micchael Young at the plate, Mariano did not look nervous, but the same can’t be said of Yankees fans everywhere. Young had faced Mo 22 times, gotten 7 hits (.318), and only struck out thrice. He put on a big battle, too, getting Mo to throw lots of pitches, but in the end Mo won the battle, striking him out and bringing the Rangers’ own entry into the MVP sweepstakes to the plate. Josh Hamilton, who thrilled us so much at the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, no doubt had dreams of sending a ball a long way here, too. But on the very first pitch, he grounded softly to A-Rod to end the game.

A couple of other notes. Posada appears to be keeping up with this pattern of hitting the ball hard, but right at a fielder. Teixeira didn’t show us mucch in this game, but he had a good ALDS, so I’m not worried yet. Swisher didn’t do much either. It’s likely Cliff Lee will shut everyone down again tomorrow, but can he pitch yet another complete game? Or will the bullpen be lying in wait?

Only time will tell. See you here tomorrow, my friends.

I arrived at the Stadium earlier than planned, as the traffic driving from Boston was not nearly as bad as we’d feared. Plenty of leaf peepers were out on the roads, but the backups were few and minimal. At 6pm we pulled into our favorite parking lot (#8) and got a space on the bottom level. With two and a half hours to kill before first pitch, we decided to walk around the neighborhood and see what there was to be seen before committing ourselves to the stadium.

Stan’s was already in full swing along River Avenue, with loud music pumping and large screen TVs showing the Rays/Rangers tied at one apiece, along with some college football. I was somewhat interested to see the matchup in Arlington, Texas, but didn’t really want to stand in a bar to watch.

Outside the McDonalds, we ended up filling out a survey for Chevrolet to get free Chevy/MLB Postseason logo towels. I didn’t mind telling them that I drive a 1997 Saturn hand-me-down and that the only car I’m interested in finding out more about is the Volt, the electric car. Until they invent a flying car, that is. Yay, free stuff. And we ended up telling the canvasser the story of how we almost got into a fistfight at Fenway Park that one time. (I’ll re-post that story one of these days. It was the Bryce Florie game.)

Then we ran into Freddy the Fan outside the Great Hall, on Babe Ruth Plaza or whatever they call that expanse of sidewalk outside, and we banged the pan for luck. (That sounds far kinkier than it should; for those who don’t know about banging the pan, Google Freddy the Fan and I believe you will find his Wikipedia page.) This was the first time I actually had a chance to bang the pan all year; looks like I saved it for a good night.

After that we went into the Stadium. Since we didn’t have to rush anywhere, we took our time wandering around. We’d seen the museum and Monument Park fairly recently, and decided to have a closer look at the Food Court. We were already pretty well aware of the food choices, including the chinese noodle soup and bubble tea (which I got), the Lobel’s steak sandwich, and the fried dough and friend Oreo stand, but it was the first time we had enough time to look at all the photos blown up above all the stands. All of them are food-related vintage photos of Yankees (and Steinbrenner). Many of them are of Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra, and I assume this comes from an era when depicting “Italians and Food” was a common publicity cliche. There are also many of Ruth, and Ruth and Food was a love affair followed in the press all of Ruth’s life. There’s also one of Jeter pouring an entire pitcher of milk into a gigantic bowl of cereal, presumably at the press conference when he appeared on the Wheaties box? Another is of Steinbrenner wearing a 1992 Olympic sun hat and biting into a hot dog, his World Series ring quite prominent on his hand.

The crowd was in good voice right from the opening introductions, breaking into Let’s Go Yankees immediately, and even a spontaneous “USA! USA!” after the National Anthem. Yogi Berra threw out the first pitch. It was good to see him at the stadium after he missed Old Timer’s Day due to a fall he took at home. He threw the pitch from about 20 feet away, to his personal catcher… Ramiro Pena? Pena looked quite excited to be doing it and the cameras caught him chattering away to Yogi afterward. I could only imagine Yogi was thinking, who is this young pup? Is he a batboy or something?

Around that point I began thinking it was odd and disappointing that the scoreboard department didn’t seem ot have made any season montages like last year’s to he Black Eyed Peas “Tonight’s the Night.” I took a last trip to the women’s room before first pitch, and just as I returned to my seat they finally hit us with a 2010 montage, to the song “Magic in Me.” The scoreboard guys really went overboard with the sparkle special effect, but it was fun.

Around 8:30 the umpires gathered at home plate, all six of them, and it was somewhat comical to see such a large group of them standing around. (As one of the beat writers joked, they were discussing which one of them would screw up tonight.) They were waiting for the signal from TBS, I suppose, and then at 8:34 the Yankees finally took the field, and Phil Hughes took the hill.

The entire drive from Boston we were listening to XM Radio, and the universal feeling among their guests and interviewees was that the Twins were done. One of the Minnesota beat writers was on, and he said they were acting like a beaten team who were trying to invent ways to motivate themselves on the plane flight to New York.

I figured if Hughes could shut them down, they wouldn’t be able to do anything, but if he faltered, the Twins would smell an opportunity the way sharks smell blood in the water.

Well, Hughes never blinked. He faced down all his weaknesses: lefties, pitching at home, home runs And he didn’t give an inch.

How good was he? He was the first Yankees postseason starter to give his team seven scoreless inings since Mike Mussina in the 2001 “Jeter flip” game in Oakland. I was wearing my lucky Mike Mussina jersey tonight.

It didn’t hurt that for once the Yankees took the lead first. In the second inning Robinson Cano led off with a triple. Thames popped up, but Jorge Posada hit a line drive on the first pitch he saw to cash him in. Te next inning, Swisher doubled, and came in right away on a Mark Teixeira single. And meanwhile Hughes had sat down nine in a row on only 32 pitches. The Twins finally got a baserunner in the fourth, as leadoff man Denard Span greeted Hughes with a single, but a quick tailor-made 6-4-3 double play on the next batter erased that.

Then the Yankees had a long bottom of the fourth, starting with an infield hit by Cano. As Thames came to the plate, I turned to corwin and said “This would be a great time for a two-run shot.” On the next pitch, Thames took Duensing deep, and I had called my first homer of the postseason. In the end they scored three runs and might have had more, sending eight men to the plate and causing Hughes to have a long wait in the dugout. Would the layoff affect the righty? Maybe just a little, as Hughes did give upa one-out hit and then walk a man, but he got Cuddyer swinging (his fifth strikeout victim) and then a popup from Danny Valencia. Very tidy.

The Twins got two men on in the sixth, but again it never felt like the game was about to get out of hand. The crowd was raucous and noisy, jubilant, and full of cheers and songs. In the upper deck, as some frat boys in Twins jerseys got up to leave, they were serenaded with “Na Na Goodbye.” The bleacher creatures apparently got several chants going against Denard Span, who foolishly gestured to them. One chant we could make out was simply “Torii Hunter.” Hughes had a one-two-three seventh inning and left the mound to a standing ovation.

Swisher tacked on solo shot, and we were hardly nervous when Kerry Wood had control problems and loaded the bases in the eighth. Boone Logan and David Roberton each got their man, leaving it all a formality until the next inning, which was Mariano time.

No, it wasn’t a save situation, but why give the Twins any hope? Only two postseason series since Mariano became the closer have been finished by someone else. In 1999 Ramiro Mendoza was on the mound to end the 1999 ALCS, and in 2003′s ALDS is was Gabe White. (I had to look up who Gabe White was–I honestly couldn’t remember. He was a lefty pitcher who came in the Boone trade.)

Anyway, with Mo on the mound, the crowd was on its feet and chanting the entire inning. “Let’s Go Yankees” turned into “We Want Texas!” and “Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!” Some folks even managed to talk security into letting them bring brooms. And then it was over, and then 50,840 people (the largest crowd recorded yet at the new stadium) were singing “New York, New York.”

We stayed through one who round of Sinatra and then headed for the exit. On the giant screen in center field they were showing scenes from the champagne spray in the clubhouse. Once outside we made our way to El Molino Rojo, the Dominican food joint just up the street, where we had a great meal and picked up some tres leches cake to have with champagne back at the house. I write this from a friend’s apartment in the Bronx, where we have had our champagne and cake and now are exhausted. We’re all hoarse from cheering and very glad we don’t have to do it all again tomorrow. Thank you, Phil Hughes.

And now we wait to see who wins, Texas or Tampa Bay.

I don’t for a moment believe that the Yankees actually WANTED to slip to the Wild Card, though many fans in Minnesota do. I’ve seen many blogs and tweets from folks in the Twin cities saying that because the Yankees always dominate the Twins in the postseason, they actually plotted to lose the division so they would get the Minnesota matchup.

I don’t believe the conspiracy theories, but I do think maybe Joe Girardi thought to himself that it wouldn’t be SO bad to face the Twins if it meant he could get everyone to October healthy and decently rested, instead of drained from the AL East chase. If anything, the Rangers have made it look like the Rays are the tired ones, holding them to a single solo homer over the past two nights, winning 5-1 and 6-0.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are sitting pretty, having won both games at the brand new Target Field.

The Yankees have now won nine postseason games in a row against the Twins. How’s this for a crusher? The Twins have had the lead in every single one of those games. Reports today said that after last night’s loss, Ron Gardenhire went home and burned his uniform. Perhaps that’s why he had such a chapped ass over Hunter Wendelstadt’s strike zone. (He was tossed from the game, but failed to light a fire under his team.)

You can read play by play recaps a million other places these days, so I won’t attempt to recreate the games blow by blow. I will note some significant observations… andd some trivial ones, just cuz.

Cashman comes out smelling like a rose once again as Granderson, Berkman, and Kerry Wood have all looked brilliant. Granderson had three more hits tonight and a sacrifice, with an RBI and a run scored. This after the triple and such last night. Berkman had the big solo home run in the fifth to put the Yankees up 2-1, and then the big RBI double to the wall in the seventh to put them ahead again after Pettitte had made one mistake to Orlando Hudson. And Wood has simply been strong strong strong ever since coming from Cleveland. (The joke about building the bridge to Mariano from Wood has already been made, so I’ll skip it. Ha.)

Gardner got going pretty good tonight, and it will be great if he stays hot. Posada, meanwhile, looks cold in the box score but if you watched how hard he has been hitting the ball, you realize he’s mostly suffering that he’s bad luck, hitting a lot of at’em balls. Posada is too much a veteran for me to worry that this will affect him.

Jeter, likewise. He hasn’t looked as Jeterian this season, and yet tonight he had a battle and won it by fisting a bloop into right for an important RBI. And World Champion Alex Rodriguez seems much less anxious overall than the old 1-for-19 A-Rod. He doesn’t hit a home run every time up; newsflash, no one does. He has struck out in a few significant scoring situations over the past two nights. He’s also had two hits in two nights and brought in the Yankees’ first run tonight with a sac fly. He did, for once, strike out after Teixeira was intentionally walked in front of him rather than hitting a grand slam, as he did against these same Twins back in May. I’m not worried about him.

CC Sabathia struggled through last night, but got the job done, while Andy Pettitte cruised through tonight, at one point sitting down 12 in a row. He left having throw only 88 pitches, but given that the last time he threw 100 was back in July, pre-injury, I’d say coming out after 7 stellar innings was the right move. Wood was dominating, and Mariano Rivera has looked better and better with every batter he has faced last night and tonight. Mo was shaky at the end of the season, having some control issues, but Suzyn Waldman mentioned on the broadcast the other night that Dave Eiland made some minute change — something so minute she couldn’t explain the subtlety of it — and that has made all the difference.

So, overall, the Yankees are sitting pretty coming into New York with a 2-0 lead in the series, and their home fans waiting to see them finish off their opponent. If they manage to sweep, it’ll be as if the ALDS was a mere shakedown cruise. They can’t look ahead yet, though. What happens Saturday in the Bronx is going to largely depend on whether Phil Hughes finds that zone where he has everything working or not.

I’ll be there hoping for a win and a leisurely drive back home on Sunday! Sometimes a little luck is all you need.

Today made up for it.

My two favorite Opening Days of the past decade were in 2001, seeing the actual raising of the Championship Banner and the “ceremonial golf cart ride” to Monument Park, and in 2003, when after the game was delayed one day by snow, Matsui finally took the field in pinstripes for the first time and hit a grand slam.

Today might top both of those.

First of all, it’s not every day that I cry before we even get to the National Anthem. The ring ceremony began with a tearful Gene Monahan receiving his first off, and the players hanging back to honor him for all he has done. Gene-o, as he is called, has been Yankees trainer for my entire life, and for longer than the Steinbrenners have owned the team (by one year). He has throat and neck cancer, had his tonsils removed in January, missed spring training, and had his 30th radiation treatment today. He also received a standing ovation, much deserved.

Yogi and Whitey handed out the rings, along with Joe Girardi, who has changed his number from 27 to 28 to reflect his next goal for the franchise, their 28th championship. Jerry Hairston, Jr. was there, in a suit, to receive his. And then they worked their way through the Yankees’ roster, from the highest number (91, Alfredo Aceves) to the lowest. Alex Rodriguez received one of the loudest ovations from the fans when things got to him, about the same loudness as Mariano Rivera received. I got a little teary watching how happy Alex looked. And of course #2, the captain, Derek Jeter, came last, to thunderous applause.

Except he wasn’t last. There was one ring box on the table, and it was for the World Series MVP, Hideki Matsui, who was in the third base dugout, wearing the uniform of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Matsui received the loudest cheers of all, including chants of MVP! MVP! and his name. He looked a bit teary eyed, too, as he stood on the top step, waiting to come out.

The Yankees broke ranks as soon as Matsui had shaken hands with Joe Girardi, all gathering around him for a group hug/mass congratulations. They looked excited and happy, and it reminded me of the 1999 All Star Game at Fenway Park where the players gathered all around Ted Williams. I cried. My friend Lori cried. Another friend of ours who had come along to the game but who doesn’t know baseball (isn’t from the USA), was flabbergasted that we got so emotional. Then she looked around and saw that all the guys in our section were crying, too. Once again we proved the Game of Their Own adage wrong. Matsui was one lone red hat in a sea of pinstripes.

Oh, and then there was a game to play. How fitting that Andy Pettitte took the mound today, and that Mariano Rivera got the save, even though it looked for a while like no save situation would be required.

Pettitte was frisky, meaning he was leaving the ball up, but pitching with some extra oomph, so he got a lot of fly balls (harmless) and strike-outs, rather than his usual ground balls, although he escaped a two-men on jam with a ground ball, pop up and strikeout in the fifth, and then in the sixth escaped men on the corners one out with a nice 6-4-3 double play. That was probably the turning point of the game for me–if he gives up a 3-run bomb or walks Howie Kendrick to load the bases, the whole game could have fallen apart, but instead, quite near to his pitch limit, he got the big twin-killing when he needed it.

The Yankees scored early and often. Every Yankee starter reached base at least once, Teixeira twice by the walk, Gardner once, the rest with hits. Nick Johnson homered in the first, Jeter in the third. They threatened in every inning.

They took a 5-0 shut out into the eighth inning, when Chan Ho Park gave up his second homer of the year to Kendry Morales. The batter before him was Matsui, whom the crowd kept expecting to do something great like hit a home run. If he had hit one then, he would have been cheered. Instead, I think he was humbled by the moment. He grounded to second base–another usual Matsui outcome.

The Yankees tacked on two more runs in the 8th, so it was 7-1 going into the ninth inning, and David Robertson came on to finish the job. Kendrick led off with in infield single on a ground ball deep in the hole that Jeter snared but couldn’t get to the bag in time. Then Mathis followed with an infield bunt single, putting two men on. Typical pesky Angels. Brandon Wood, the #9 man, followed with a fly ball to the wall in right, almost caught by Randy Winn (who came in as a supposed defensive replacement?), but ending up a single to load the bases.

Robertson gathered himself to strike out Erick Aybar, but then came Bobby Abreu, and blam, one swing, four runs, and all of a sudden it was a save situation.

Mo didn’t mess around, striking out Torii Hunter to bring that man again, Hideki Matsui, to the plate. Many in the crowd oohed and aahed… would Matsui do it this time? Nope. Mo popped him up and the game was in the bag, 7-5 Yankees.

(Photos to come…)

Unfortunately, the game turned into something more like a dress rehearsal, as both teams had their star turns, but also their lapses, duds, and missed cues.

I had made the mistake of booking a flight from Atlanta to Boston for tonight, which meant I watched the first two innings of the game from a bar in Hartsfield International Airport (augmented by corwin’s texts from Boston, where the game was on NESN), listened to the next six innings on in-flight XM Radio with the WEEI broadcast, and then caught the ninth in the car from the WCBS broadcast (also via XM) after corwin picked me up. I kept score, managing to follow the game with very few drop outs or blanks due to pilot announcements or other interruptions.

My improvised scorecard on the airplane…

The curtain went up on the first inning and both Josh Beckett and CC Sabathia looked as expected, dominant and untouchable. But Beckett was the first of the players to start looking shaky, giving up back to back homers to Jorge Posada and new Yankee Curtis Granderson in the second. Though the Sox got one of those back in their half of the inning, Beckett coughed up three more hairballs in the fourth, on a leadoff double, then a two-out walk, then back to back singles by Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter… setting up another miscue. With Gardner, one of the fastest men in the majors on third, Jeter (who swiped 30 bags last year but was caught only five times) on first, and Joe Girardi in the dugout, I figured the Yankees would be thinking about upstaging Victor Martinez. That’s just the sort of thing you can expect Girardi to do to any catcher with less than a perfect defensive reputation.

And that’s what they did. Jeter ran toward second, stopping short of the bag to draw the throw, which Scutaro then cut off hoping to get Gardner at home, allowing Jeter to get to second. There was no chance to get Gardner even on the delayed double dip. The NESN camera crew was caught napping, too–they didn’t even have a camera on Gardner.

Sabathia got shaky himself after that, though, and then both bullpens allowed far too many inherited runners to score, though the worst blows were when first Chan Ho Park served up the game0tying bomb to Dustin Pedroia, and then Damaso Marte allowed the go ahead run to score by virtue of a pair of cross-ups, one scored a wild pitch and one a passed ball, which brought Youkilis in from second base. This after a nice star turn by the Teixeira-Alex Rodriguez tandem in the seventh had put the Yankees up 7-5 after the Sox had evened the score off Sabathia & David Robertson in the sixth.

Jonathan Papelbon, at least, was ready for his close-up, giving up only a harmless two-out single to Posada. Final score, 9-7 Red Sox, in a game that lasted 3:46, and although it featured no errors definitely had other moments of sloppy play, like a bad throw to the infield from gardner, Nick Swisher taking a bizarre route on Youkilis’s RBI triple, and Robinson Cano seeming to get in his own way on a play.

Even venerable radio veteran John Sterling had some head-scratching moments in the postgame, as did his crew, as John fumbled his signoff from the game broadcast to the postgame, and the crew then failed to provide him the turning point of the game and lost their audio on the “sounds of the game” playback.

Everyone gets a day off tomorrow, as other teams will start their seasons, and then the Sox and Yankees get to try it all again on Tuesday night. I think maybe everyone could use one more day of practice.

When the first pitch was thrown, I was somewhere above 30,000 feet, probably over the Washington DC area. I was hoping it would be a typical postseason game, with lots of slow pitching, visits to the mound, hitters taking pitches and working the counts, because then maybe by the time I could get a signal there would still be plenty of game left.

We landed early! I flipped my phone out of airplane mode the moment the wheels touched down and as we taxied I saw on the MLB “At Bat” app that there had been no score, and it was only the second inning!! Unbelievable. Matsui was at the plate facing Pedro with a man on and no one out. I quickly swapped to Safari to open MLB.com’s Live pitch-by-pitch for mobile devices. Matsui looked like he was putting up a battle. On pitch-by-pitch it looks a lot like FOX Trax, where the pitches appear as little circles in a box that represents the strike zone. Green circles are balls, red circles are strikes and fouls.

Blue circles are balls hit into play. Every 15 seconds the browser refreshes and one or two new circles appears. The screen went blank as it refreshed, then BLAM, the blue circle appeared right in the middle of the strike zone. 89 mph fastball… I had to scroll down just a little to see the results: “Hideki Matsui homered. Derek Jeter scored.” corwin and I began fist pumping. Then it was time to actually deplane.

I made my way out to the concourse area and turned on my portable XM radio unit. It took a while to get the wires untangled and by the time I did, it was a commercial, but the score was clearly 2-0 Yankees. Then the dulcet tones of John Sterling accompanied me through the airport. I had changed into my lucky Mike Mussina pinstriped jersey while in the airport in Boston and now Yankees fans were giving me the thumbs up as we went through the airport. The host at one of the sports bars in the Charlotte airport even called out the score, and another guy who had heard the score asked me if I knew how they got the two runs.

Then we went down to baggage claim and unfortunately we lost the signal down there. Even the WiFi wasn’t working right and pitch-by-pitch wouldn’t refresh. A few minutes later we were picked up in a car by a friend of ours to drive to the healing arts conference we’re attending in Columbia, SC (I am a part-time massage therapist as well as baseball writer).

Out came our OTHER portable XM radio unit, this one made for automobiles. I hooked it up to the car stereo, but we didn’t get a signal again until we got out from under the arrivals ramp. Only to discover the Phillies had gotten a run. I see-sawed from being convinced at seeing the Matsui homer that surely this was the night and nothing could stop them, to intense worry that the Phillies were going to rise up and ruin it all.

Matsui sent me right back to feeling like there was no stopping the Yankees. After Alex was called out on strikes (and on pitch-by-pitch it didn’t look like a strike at all, by the way…), Matsui didn’t waste much time connecting again for a base hit and bringing in two more runs. I still remember how in 2003 he didn’t get a hit off Pedro all year, and then in that epic game (the “Grady Little” game) Matsui finally doubled off him. That was six years ago but it’s like Matsui’s bat still remembers.

In the fifth the Yankees were at it again. Pedro wasn’t sent back out again, but it didn’t seem to matter who was on the mound. (It was Chad Durbin, though, for the record.) Jeter led off with a ground rule double. Hairston, who was only in the game because Damon had left with a pulled calf muscle, bunted him to third, and Teixeira cashed him in with a base hit. We were passing the giant baseball on Route 77 then. It’s actually a water tower painted to look like a baseball, and we see it every year on the way to this seminar in Columbia.

We were hungry but didn’t want to stop to eat because it would mean missing the game. What’s good when there’s a championship on the line? The rally continued. A-Rod Walked. Another pitcher came in. Matsui didn’t care who it was (although it was J.A. Happ). He doubled off the wall, only a foot or two from being another home run, driving in his fifth and sixth RBIs of the game and tying the World Series record for most RBIs in a game with former Yankee great Bobby Richardson.

We finally arrived at the hotel. I ran in and checked us in during a pitching change. We hurried up to our room and put on FOX. At last! We ordered room service and settled in to watch the last three innings or so, hoping to also catch all the postgame celebrations… hoping there would be celebrations.

The Phils wouldn’t roll over and die, though. Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer off Pettitte in the sixth, ending Pettitte’s night and finally producing something after his bat had been shut down since Game 1, but it would be too little, too late. His next time at the plate, Howard would strike out for the 13th time in the Series, setting a new record for most Ks in a single series, surpassing Willie Wilson of 1980. Joba Chamberlain would get three men out, but when it looked like the Phils were mounting a rally against him, on came Damaso Marte to retire the red-hot Chase Utley, who lived up to his name, chasing a Marte slider to strike out on three pitches. Then to start the 8th there was the K of Howard, aforementioned, and then it was Mariano Time. I had a plate of chicken wings and a cup of the soup of the day, room service had sent up hot rolls and butter, too, and so basically at that point I definitely felt I had it made. I was exchanging texts with my brother and my friend Lori, who were at the game with the tickets I couldn’t use.

And still the Phils didn’t go down easy, not like in Game 3 when Mariano only threw 5 pitches, or Game 4 when he retired the side on 8 pitches. Tonight, it took Mo 9 pitches just to get Raul Ibanez out of the batters box and unfortunately he doubled. But again, each time the Phillies tried to cash in, the rally was stopped short by Yankee pitching. In the ninth, with a man on, Shane Victorino did not want to go home. He battled Mariano in a ten pitch battle, but ultimately, Mo, and the Yankees, prevailed.

Lori texted me to say she was buying me a 2009 Champions shirt. Ah, how sweet it is, even if I couldn’t be there.

I’m now in bed in my pinstripes, typing this in the dark. corwin’s already asleep. We indulged ourselves switching back and forth between FOX, ESPN, the Yankees radio postgame, and then at 1am our favorite Yankee fan on the radio JT the Brick on FOX Sports Radio. A complete binge of interviews, but hey, you have to enjoy it while you can, right? Now I’m going to post this and then go to sleep, and sleep the sleep of the fulfilled.

The game got started off hot for the Yankees as Jeter singled and Damon doubled, and it looked like all the dire predictions made based on about how bad Blanton’s career numbers were against the Yankees were going to come true. Teixeira grounded out for an RBI for first blood, bringing A-Rod the the plate.

A-Rod took a fastball right in the back, incensing the Yankees bench. It was A-Rod’s third plunking in two days, and he said to the umpire “I think that was pretty obvious.” (Teixeira has now been hit twice, too… more on that later.) The umpires then warned both benches against retaliation, although Sabathia was told he could pitch inside and that the umpires “could tell” if he had intent to hit a batter. I’m not sure I believe that, but in any case, the plunking became a non-issue. Jorge Posada then hit a deep sac fly to bring in a second run, but Blanton had sent his message and settled down.

Blanton would retire the next ten men in a row while hardly seeming to break a sweat. He was helped by an oddly shifting strike zone that MLB.com’s Pitch f/x showed was skewed in his favor. Many of Blanton’s balls just off the strike zone were called strikes, while many of Sabathia’s strikes were called balls.

Sabathia got nicked in the first inning, too. With one out, Shane Victorino laced a double, bringing up Chase Utley, the man who had hit two homers off Sabathia in Game One. Utley once again got a hold of a Sabathia pitch, but it was a foot or two from being a home run, a double off the wall, scoring Victorino. Sabathia then settled down, too, striking out Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez (on three pitches) around an intentional walk to Jayson Werth. He had a perfect second and third, but then gave up the tying run with two out in the fourth. Ryan Howard, determined not to set a new World Series strikeout record, hit a single, then stole second. Howard is not exactly a speedster. Before this season he had never gotten more than two steals in a whole year, but he’s apparently been working with a coach and this year he had 8 of 9 stolen. So there he was in scoring position. CC got two outs and was working on Pedro Feliz, trying to strand him there. But Feliz was hot and cashed Howard in with a base hit.

Blanton finally blinked again in the fifth. Nick Swisher, who finally broke out of his postseason slump last night with a homer and a double, regained his batting eye tonight and worked a leadoff walk. Walking the leadoff man was like putting raw sirloin into a shark tank. The Yankees began stirring around. Melky Cabrera followed with an infield hit. Sabathia then came to the plate, under orders to bunt, and ended up bunting foul on two strikes for a strikeout. I have to wonder if the weak attempts to bunt were CC secretly saying “Dammit, I’ve hit three career homers! Let me swing!” One unproductive out, but then came Jeter who cashed in Swisher with a hit, followed by Damon, who cashed in Melky. 4-2 Yanks.

But the lead didn’t quite last. Sabathia faced Utley with two outs in the seventh. Utley was definitely going to be his last batter no matter what. And he put Utley down 1-2 on two sharp called strikes and got a foul… but then Utley squared one up and sent a ball deep into the right field seats. That ended Sabathia’s night and cut the lead to a single run.

Marte finished the inning, getting Howard to pop up, and then Joba came on for the eighth. He looked like the Joba of old, striking out Werth on a sucker pitch (high fastball), and then getting Ibanez to swing and miss at the fastball away. He had Pedro Feliz, who was two for three and even the out had been hit hard, down 1-2 then. But he put a 97 mile per hour fastball on the inside half of the plate and Feliz raked it into the seats to tie the game. I don’t think that pitch was where Joba wanted it. He came back to strike out Chooch Ruiz, though, sending the game to the ninth with the score 4-4.

So on came Brad Lidge. Lidge whose struggles this season (11 blown saves) have been well documented and analyzed. But he has been three for three in save situations in the post.

This, however, was not a save situation. If anything, it was even more crucial than a save. Lidge needed to give his team a chance to swing their bats against the Yankees bullpen and not hand a lead to Mariano Rivera.

He faced pinch hitter Hideki Matsui first–Matsui who hit a pinch homer last night. Lidge induced an easy pop-up to short. Then he faced the vaunted Mr. November, Derek Jeter, who had already been on base three out of four times tonight. Jeter guessed fastball and got the slider, looking silly, but he worked the count full before finally fanning. Two outs and it looked like Lidge was going to shut the door when he went 0-2 on Damon, who looked as silly as Jeter on the slider.

But Damon decided to sit on the slider, just fouling off the fastball to stay alive. Lidge kept throwing fastballs, and Damon worked the count full, and then on the ninth pitch of the at bat got another fastball and just managed to line it into left. The sharks began to circle in the Yankees dugout again. Mark Teixeira was up next. Damon wanted to get into scoring position so that he might score on a base hit, and he stole second, only to find when he made his pop-up slide that third base was free for the taking. The Phillies had the infield shift on for Teixeira, and as Jeter did when Jason Giambi was a Yankee, he took the opportunity to grab the extra base. Pedro Feliz took the throw from the catcher behind Damon, and Damon took off. In his postgame press conference, Damon described it as if his 25-year-old legs had suddenly come back. So there he was, perched on third, and a wild pitch or a bloop would make it Mariano Time.

Then Lidge lost Teixeira when he hit him with a pitch. (And was not ejected.)

So it was up to A-Rod. Lidge started him with a fastball on the inside corner, strike one. Then he came back with another fastball, but it was up from the inside corner, just like Joba’s was to Feliz, and Alex didn’t miss it. He ripped the pitch into left for an RBI double, plating Damon and sending Teixiera to third.

Lidge then had Jorge Posada down 0-2 before throwing two that weren’t even close to even the count. The fifth pitch wasn’t a bad one, painting the black on the outside corner, but Posada laced a two-run single, then was out at second trying to stretch it or draw the throw. 7-4 Yankees, and Mariano was coming in.

The FOX broadcasters has earlier shown Mariano huddling up with a heating pad on his ribs, but perhaps it had been just for warmth. It took him only eight pitches to sit the Phils down one-two-three and send the series up 3-1 in the Yankees favor.

The Yankees are hungry now to win tomorrow against Cliff Lee. Lee dominated them in Game 1, but A.J. Burnett dominated the Phillies in Game 2, so we could have a matchup for the ages as the two pitchers go head to head. Can’t wait. Can’t wait.

More Game Notes:

Ryan Howard has joined the ranks of World Series strikeout leaders. Willie Wilson holds the number one spot with 12 Ks in the 1980 series, and it took him 26 at bats to get there. Howard now has 10, and it took him only 14 ABs to do it. Here’s the rest of the list:

Rank Player            SO   PA   Series/Year
1.   Willie Wilson     12   30   1980 WS
2.   Wayne Garrett     11   36   1973 WS
     Eddie Mathews     11   31   1958 WS
     Luis Gonzalez     11   30   2001 WS
     Damon Berryhill   11   24   1992 WS
     Damian Miller     11   23   2001 WS
7.   Devon White       10   36   1997 WS
     George Kelly      10   33   1921 WS
     Vince Coleman     10   30   1987 WS
     Rich Gedman       10   30   1986 WS
     Del Crandall      10   29   1958 WS

Joba Chamberlain vultures the win after giving up the tying run. After the big rally in the ninth, several players were seen hugging the big kid. They really picked him up.

Mariano has thrown a total of 13 pitches in two days. I would say if the Yankees have a lead in the ninth inning tomorrow, he’s available.

Melky Cabrera strained his left hammy and left the game partway through. Hopefully Gardner and Hairston are ready to step up. Remember, Luis Sojo had the series-winning hit against the Mets in Game 5 in 2000. It isn’t always the big horses (or centaurs) that do it.

Thanks to Ed Price of Fanhouse & the Star-Ledger for this factoid: “Last player to battle for 9 or more pitches and get a hit in 9th inning or later of a tied WS game: Derek Jeter, Game 4 ’01, HR off B.Kim.” Myself, I was reminded of Paul O’Neill doing something similar, too. Follow Ed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ed_price.

And this one from Sweeny Murti of WFAN: “From the All-Star break thru Game 4 of the WS, CC Sabathia made 20 starts. The Yankees went 17-3 in those starts.”
Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/YankeesWFAN.

Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record: “Into the Fall Classic lexicon, we nominate ‘Damon’s Dash.’”
Follow him at http://twitter.com/pcaldera.