Fans Compensated For Soggy Thursday

Yesterday was a rare Thursday in the New York City area. There were two quality sporting events taking place during the day, one at Yankee Stadium and the other at Bethpage State Park Pond out on Long Island. A steady rain drowned the area, leaving both the Stadium and the course, as Stuart Appleby said, "Wetter then[sic] an otter's pocket."

Golf can typically be played in the rain so as long as there isn't any lightining, and the course doesn't become inundated with casual water. It typically has a slightly higher tolerance to precipitation than baseball does, but yesterday that was not the case. Play at Bethpage was suspended only 15 minutes after ESPN's TV coverage of the event began. The USGA thought they saw a window where play could resume around 1:30PM, but like the Yankees' false alarm at 4:00, that never came to fruition. Play was never resumed.

The Yankees, on the other hand, did manage to get their game in. After the third longest rain delay in MLB history, the tarp was removed to make way for an extremely frustrating experience for the fans who did wait out the storm. There weren't many viable options. To their credit, the Yankees did try to make it up to their fans who stuck it out by clearing the upper deck and allowing fans to sit in the Main and Field Levels. Even better, the Yanks are accepting any tickets from last night, regardless if they were used to get in the Stadium, in exchange for another non-premium game any time this year or next.

The Yankees had it much easier than the USGA, though. The staff couldn't just tarp the greens at Bethpage, and they weren't able to build a perfect drainage system directly underneath the entire course just last year. The USGA could have tried to give away free tickets to future Opens, but the Tournament won't be returning to the area until at least 2016, if not longer. In addition, they would be losing a potential 1/4 of the gate revenue for that year, as opposed to the Yanks giving up 1/81. Furthermore, tickets to golf events, the U.S. Open included, are sold by the day, not the round, so they couldn't give away free passes for the later days without dealing with serious over-crowding issues.

After fielding what must have been an incredible influx of complaints, the USGA just announced that they would be accepting tickets from Thursday's washout to the likely Monday session. Unfortunatley for those who purchased tickets for Sunday, thinking it would be the deciding round get indirectly screwed by the weather also. The upside is there should be a healthy supply of available tickets on the secondary market. So if you can get Monday off from work, it might be the only chance you'll have to see an affordbale U.S. Open for a reasonable price, on a course that is at less than full capacity.

An Ugly Ending To An Ugly Series

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There's no pretty way to spin this one. The Yankees turned in a real clunker of a series against the Nats. To an extent, I agree with Jay's post from yesterday that a sweep wasn't a necessity. However, sweeping the Washington Nationals of the world is what helps in weathering going 0-8 against other teams. Either way, the goal in any series should be to win it. To lose two of three to the worst team in baseball is awful. Yet something tells me it's not nearly as bad as Michael Kay would have your believe in the postgame, or as the tabloids will make it out to be tomorrow.

Aside from the third longest rain delay in history, things didn't start too badly for the Yankees. Joba Chamberlain cruised through three innings, needing just 30 pitches and throwing two thirds of them for strikes. He surrendered a lone run on back-to-back doubles in the first.

The game changed for Joba in the fourth. A single and a walk started the inning. After retiring the next two batters, Joba walked two in a row, forcing in the game's second run. He more than doubled his pitch count, needing 32 to get through the inning.

The fifth inning brought more trouble for Joba. He needed 25 pitches for the frame, surrendered another walk, and gave up a pair of doubles again to yield the game's third and final run. He settled down for the sixth, but the damage was done. Once again, Joba was gone after 100 pitches and six innings.

On the other half of the line score, Craig Stammen baffled the Yankees and encountered none of the problems Chamberlain had. Stammen's pitch count by inning: 14, 5, 9, 12, 13, 9, before getting chased 20 pitches into the seventh. 6.1 IP, 6 H, no runs, no walks. In short, the Yankees played like a team that was running five hours late for a flight to South Beach. I know today didn't feature the "A" lineup, but the Yankees have to be more patient than that. The Nats' pitching may be awful, but John Lannan and Craig Stammen turned in impressive performances the past two nights.

A-Rod's struggles continued. He ended the first by swinging and missing on a pitch that nearly bounced to the plate, flied out in the fourth, and flied out in the eighth. In the seventh, he got into one, lining one deep to left field. But Willie Harris laid out onto the warning track, using every bit of extension to snag the blast. It was one of the best catches I've ever seen. Sometimes you can't buy a break, and A-Rod is starting to get that the-world-is-collapsing-on-me-and-I'll-never-get-a-hit-again look about him. The worse thing that can happen to him when he's slumping is to get stuck in his own head. Hopefully a trip to his hometown of Miami will help get him right again.

Not to be outdone by Harris, Brett Gardner made his own highlight reel catch in the top of the eighth, crashing into the plexiglass portion of the left-centerfield fence to haul in an Austin Kearns shot. Gardner's lower back smashed into the wall right where the padding meets the plexiglass, and the impact smashed the back of his head into the glass. He went down in heap on the warning track and stayed down before leaving the field sitting on a cart. Another rain delay, another centerfielder injured.

I caught the post-game while grabbing dinner at the bar and saw Gardner was sentient enough to be interviewed; so that has to be a good sign. Since the sound was muted, I couldn't tell if he now speaks like Johnny Damon as a result of the head trauma. I had initially thought a DL stay might be necessary and wondered if Xavier Nady would be rushed back or if Angel Berroa would finally be DFA'd for another outfielder to be added. It doesn't look like either will be necessary now.

The top of the ninth started with David Robertson on the mound and John Flaherty handling play-by-play duties. Michael Kay must have decided to drop a deuce between innings and was running late. The top of the ninth ended with Kay back behind the mic and Ryan Zimmerman once again catching a backwards K as a Yankee pitcher "dropped a deuce" on him. If Zimmerman keeps this up we're gonna have to start calling him Hot Carl.

Fecal jokes aside there's nothing funny about this series. The Yankees played lackluster ball for three nights straight, didn't hold a single lead over the last 18 innings, and managed all of seven runs against the worst pitching staff in baseball. What was supposed to be a getaway day matinee game turned into a rushed, sloppy, rainy night game. With rain still falling and a flight to Miami on the itinerary, it could be a very late night for the Yankees. Perhaps the only consolation is that as Mike MacDougal was putting the finishing touches on Hideki Matsui, the Florida Marlins were still in Boston in the midst of a sixth inning rain delay. Perhaps they'll be the more worn out team tomorrow.

Juuuuuust Kidding!

A well oiled machine, that Yankee PR department!

The good news: More Mike Francesa!!!!

Probability of a Live Chat declining by the moment.

This sucks.

4:00 First Pitch (Live Chat Reminder)

That's what the tell me on Twitter, anyway.

Come by around that time for some good old fashioned newfangled live chattery.

Game 66: Crying, Waiting, Hoping

Crying, crying,
Tears keep a-falling,
All night long.
Waiting, waiting,
It seems so useless,
I know its wrong,
To keep on...

...crying, crying,
Waiting, waiting,
Hoping, hoping...

While the weather looks pretty dismal at the moment, the end does appear to be in sight. All indications are that the Yanks are going to try to get this one in. If/When the game goes off, provided that it's still during work hours, we will host a live chat to keep you entertained and kill your productivity at your job.

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A rain delay has to be particularly difficult on a starting pitcher. They spend their professional lives knowing exactly when their next outing is going to take place, down to a matter of minutes. They prepare and work out and sleep and eat in accordance to when they will be taking the mound. They can focus and prepare for when they take the ball and all eyes turn to them. It's a gradual and predictable build up. But not today. Joba Chamberlain and Craig Stammen have to amble about the clubhouse, trying to stay loose, or alert, or ready, knowing that the call could come at any time.

This happened to Joba once already this season and the results weren't especially encouraging. On May 26th in Texas, the game was delayed almost two and a half hours by rain. If you'll recall, this was the outing that Joba was pulled after 4 innings, 4 walks, 4 hits, 84 pitches and 3 runs. His last start against the Mets wasn't a whole lot better (4IP, 2ER, 100 pitches). Since his 8 strong innings in Cleveland he's gone progressively fewer innings (8, 6, 4), while his pitch count has remained about the same (106, 100, 100). The free swinging Nats should help him buck that trend.

Starting for the Nats will be Craig Stammen (not "Stamen", easy there, flower children). As was the case with the other two pitchers Manny Acta has trotted out this year, the Yankees have not faced Stammen yet. He's a 25 year old rookie who has pitched a grand total of 27 1/3 innings in the major leagues and has yet to throw 100 pitches in an outing or see his ERA below 5. Let's test that theory again. He's lasted at least until the fifth inning in each of his starts, but (shockingly!) has yet to come away with one of the Nationals' 17 victories.

If they do get around to playing this thing, Jeter, Posada and Melky will all be out of the line up.

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Come back for the live chat when game time rolls around.