Eric Chavez and Eric Thames HR.

I attended the game on 8/3 against Seattle. We sat in our usual seats that i bought from a season ticket holder.  Game was good with CC pitching great. The best part for me was the bottom of the 6 with Chavez up with 2 outs. He hit this towering pop up that continued to travel to right field. I kept my eye on the ball but all that kept popping in my head was not to reach over the wall. I didn't want to be that guy who interferes especially when it's the Yankees up.  I took 3 steps over where the seats were empty cause the other two people we went with got up for ice cream. So as the ball started to come down I had no clue Thames was below me. I stuck my glove out underhand  cause it was still towards the front of the wall. The ball hit my glove then I hit Thames' glove. The next thing I knew the ball hit the wall and bounced on the floor. I was so upset I didn't catch it that I didn't see the replay or Thames' reaction. People kept high fiving  me but I told them I didn't get the ball. It then turns out that Thames probably would have caught the ball. Next time Chavez came up, Thames looks over towards me and smiles. He knew I didn't interfere. Hahaha.

From the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2018844444_move_along_nothing_to_cc_here.html

(Photo by Getty Images)

A couple of points were driven home tonight; C.C. Sabathia is not Aaron Laffey, and the Yankees aren't the Royals or Blue Jays.

Still, Eric Wedge urged his team not to be overly discouraged after they had been stymied by Sabathia in a 6-3 defeat that snapped their seven-game winning streak.

"CC was outstanding, as good as I've seen him,'' said Wedge -- who saw Sabathia win a Cy Young Award as Indians manager in 2007. "He had everything working. I think he beats anybody tonight with what he was throwing out there. We park that, put that away and come out here ready to win a ballgame tomorrow.

"Millwood gave us a chance, kept us in the ballgame. I thought he pitched well again. But CC had the two-seamer working, he was cutting the ball, he had a good fastball and he dropped the breaking ball in there for a strike. He'd drop it in there short when he was ahead in the count for strikeout pitches and when he wanted to, he mixed in his changeup. It was just one of those days."

Asked if he conveyed that message to his team, Wedge said, "I've already done that. Hey, you've got to recognize our guys have been playing good baseball. And they played good baseball tonight. That guy was just real good. And there's going to be games like that. That's all it is."

There was lots of talk after the game about the two-run homer (shown above) by Eric Chavez in the sixth that turned a 2-1 Yankee lead into 4-1 -- a death knell, the way Sabathia was pitching. Everyone agreed that right fielder Eric Thames got messed up by a fan as he leapt to catch the ball. Casper Wells, who grew up a Yankee fan in upstate New York, even invoked the name of Jeffrey Maier (and if you add an "r" and an "n" to his last name, it becomes "Mariner"). But many replays apparently were inconclusive about whether the fan was actually in the field of play. If the ball is over the fence already, it's fair game, I guess.

Here's Thames: "I knew it was going to be right at the wall. I felt I had a good bead on it, I jumped and it was weird, it happened so fast. I saw the gloves kind of going over me and I felt it hit the wall. Then I saw the replay and a fan's glove was right over me and it deflected. But that's part of the game. It's just bad luck. Nothing you can do but fight through that. It came at a bad part of the game. I was fired up because that would have ended the inning and would have been a huge thing for Kevin to keep the club in the ballgame."

Would he have caught it? "For sure."

"It's tough on home run balls like that in parks like this because the fans are so close. They all reach out when it's close t othe wall and you've just got to fight through them and hang with it.

"It hit his (glove), then it hit mine. A game of inches."

Asked if he thought it was interference, Thames said, "It's one of those things ... I don't know. I'm more caught up on the fact we lost. What happened is part of the game. It's not like he reached out and blocked me. We just have to come back tomorrow. If we win tomorrow, we can win the series. That's the next goal."

Here's what Wedge had to say: "I think he thought he had a chance to get it. When he went back over, it hit that kid's glove. He was back over the fence, so nothing we can do about it. It was a great effort by him, it was just one of those home runs you get in this park."

And Kevin Millwood:" I didn't know how good a shot he had at it, until I saw a replay in here. Without the fan, I think he catches it. But he didn't."

Was it interference? "I don't know, it might have been over the wall, or it might have hit the top of the wall. You watch that replay and it's still too tough to call. Without the fan, I think he makes a great play, but...good fan."

And Wells: "It looked like it was in his glove, and there was a fan there. I thought he was going to catch it. He jumped up and he got enough height, it looked like. I guess that's what fans are supposed to do, try to knock it out of his glove. That's what it looked like to me. Kind of like the Orioles playoff game with the Yankees. I remember that one. I grew up as a Yankees fan."

Derek Jeter 2012 or 1999?

One hot topic here in NY is the hot bat of Derek Jeter.  Even though it is early in the season his numbers are among the elite.  He is batting  .420 with a .442 on-base percentage and a .642 slugging percentage as of today.  Only Matt Kemp of the Dodgers and David Ortiz of the Red Sox have a higher average than Jeter.  Now, I mentioned that it is early in the season but you still have to be impressed with his numbers.  Kemp is starting his “prime seasons” and is 11 years younger than Jeter.  Ortiz who is 36 is also hitting like Jeter but unlike Jeter only plays one side of the ball.  I am not being bias since I’m a Jeter fan and a Yankees fan but a lot of you will agree with me that the DH role takes a less toll on your body than playing the field for nine innings.

It hard to imagine Jeter keeping up this pace for 162 games but for fun, if  he did, he  would have 300 hits, 40 HRs, 130 RBIs and 140 Runs at the end of the season.  That would be astonishing.  Unfortunately every hot bat start to cool down but for Jeter he is sustaining a very good average. Every since Jeter hit his 3000^th hit he is averaging .346.  That would have won him the batting title last year.  Miguel Cabrera won with an average of .344.

Let’s see if he continues this rampage.  He has a 15 game hit streak going, currently ranked 19^th in the all-time hit list, and fielding shortstop like the younger Jeter.

Whats your take?

Baseball 2012

So as we start the new season, there are so many things to discuss.  Not only with the Yankees but all over the league.Spring training started off as it usually does.  All the hype,  new acquisitions, and trades that occurred before spring. 
Bryce Harper

Lets start with all the hype.  Number one is Bryce Harper.  I guess he is good for his age but it was a good call by the Nationals not to bring him up yet. This spring, Harper appeared in nine games with the Nationals and  hitting .269 (7-26) with no runs and striking out 10 times.  I know it’s a small amount to judge him on but it is what it is.  Once he matures more this guy will be a WOW type of player.

Johan Santana

The Mets and Johan both need a break.  A good break that is.  Johan signed with the Mets for 6 years for $137.5 million.  Unfortunately for both it hasn't been good  years so far.  He is owed $24 million this season, which is 26% of the team's payroll. Next year he is guaranteed $25.5 million.  There is a vesting option for 2014 at $25 million that will require Santana to pitch 215 innings the season before.  If not, he will get $5.5 million as a  buyout.  He last pitched in Sept. of 2010.  The Mets have not had an ace like Santana since and with all the financial woes the Mets are having, they need a good return of investment.  For this to be a win-win situation, Santana needs to be the anchor of the pitching rotation so that the Mets will somewhat be a respectable team.  In order for the Mets to have elite players wanting to come and play for this New York team, they need to start winning. Santana plays a big part of that.  As for him, if he wants to get another lucrative final contract, he needs to be that Cy Young type of pitcher that he was.

Chipper Jones

He has announced his retirement at the end of the season.  Jones has been one of those  players that have class, loyality and skills.  He has only played for one team.  This age of baseball there are only a rare few who have started and finish their careers with one team.  In my opinion, Jones is a first ballot Hall of Famer.  Problem is that I do not get to vote and Jones falls short of the "requirements" needed.

He is short 385 hits from 3000 and 54 homeruns from 500. So unless they see something else or believe that he is a Hall of Famer, it may take him a bit longer to get in.

Finally Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder

With these two coming to the American league, the AL just got tougher. Both teams are predicted to win their division but I think the tigers are the favorites. The addition of Fielder to an already potent team makes the difference. As a die hard yankees fan, I always predict the yankees to win it all but as a baseball guy, I think it could be the Tigers.