Happy Memorial Day Weekend, BSB Readers! In honor of one of the better holiday weekends on the calendar, I’ll do a somewhat half-assed Live Blog this evening. Really, with summer getting it’s unofficial kick-off, I think half-assed is the right way to do things. I’ll be doing some other stuff throughout, including packing for a trip to Boston tomorrow morning. Tonight, I’ll be watching the hot Phillies roll into the new Yankee Stadium to take on the even hotter Yankees. Also, after rolling through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Lebron James suddenly finds himself with his back against the wall in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And the side event this evening will be the Mets and Mr. Santana going into Fenway to play the Sox.
7:33 PM: Ok, the first inning is completed in the Bronx and it was an eventful one. J-Roll hit A.J. Burnett’s first pitch over the short right-field wall. Burnett then nailed Utley and gave up a single to Ibanez before settling down to get the next three batters without any further damage. In the bottom of the first, Myers led off the game by promptly nailing Derek Jeter, leading to a bench warning from the ump. I guess, this is the kind of thing you get when two, um, “Southern gentlemen” like Burnett and Myers go at it. The first inning ended when A-Rod hit a double into the left-field corner and Ibanez played it beautifully, relaying it to Rollins, who nailed Johnny Damon at the plate. The excitement has continued into the second inning, as Carlos Ruiz just hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, to put the Phils up 3-0. Ok, now we’re all caught up, I believe.
7:46 PM: It’s nice watching the Phils make their first appearance in this stadium as the “defending World Champions”, as Yankee announcer Michael Kay referred to them more than once in the pre-game comments. Also, looks like there’s a lot of Phils fans in the stands. There’s been a lot of talk all season about how this stadium is so hitter-friendly, and with the short porch in right, you know all those Phillies lefties are salivating. It plays right into their hands. The Rollins home run would not have been out of many stadiums around the league.
8:16 PM: Through 4 innings, it’s still 3-0. Myers, obviously, looks pretty good, but it still looks like he’s having some of the same problems he’s had throughout the season. His curveball is great, and the change-up is pretty effective, but he still can’t locate his fastball as well as you’d like to see. At least he’s aware of the problem though, as shown when he just threw Hideki Matsui a 3-1 curveball with a runner on 1st and 2 out.
8:25 PM: With two out and one on in the 5th, Jayson Werth absolutely crushes one into the upper deck in left field. Michael Kay says it was the first ball into the upper deck there at the new Stadium, so you know it was a bomb. Victorino follows with a triple into right-center, but it is stranded. 5-0 Phightins.
8:48 PM: A-Roid takes Myers deep a pitch after what looked like the third strike. Darn. 5-1 Phils through 6.
8:50 PM: The Cavs have jumped out to a 15-5 lead in Cleveland. I’m mainly hoping this game stays close so I can see Lebron go crazy in the 4th quarter.
8:59 PM: Interestingly, Chien-Ming Wang makes his return from the DL as a reliever, and Raul Ibanez welcomes him back with DEEP home run to right-center. Michael Kay called this one, “Maybe the longest ball we’ve seen hit here”. We’re pounding these guys! And by the way, Ibanez moves ahead of a little guy named Albert Pujols for the Major League lead in homers, with 16. The guy is a beast. 6-1 Phils.
9:29 PM: In the 8th inning, the Phils get a run on 3 singles (Feliz, Rollins, Utley) and the Yanks get two runs on solo shots from Jeter and Teixeira. Jeter’s was a bit of a cheapy, but Teixiera’s was the third absolute bomb we’ve seen in this game. Myers’s night is probably done after 8 strong innings. 7-3 Phils.
10:34 PM: Ryan Madson pitched the 9th to close out the game. Nice win for the Phils, especially considering the Yanks had won 9 straight. In Cleveland, Orlando keeps hanging around, down 10 right now in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, I have to be up at very early tomorrow morning, so this will conclude the live blog. I told you it would be half-assed!
