Say, that was some endurance test at Fenway this afternoon/evening/night, eh?
The hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider hasn’t been to the lyric little bandbox since . . . well . . . awhile, so it was nice to get a major dose of the ballpark in the rain-delayed five-hour Yankee romp.
(Boxscore here.)
Some highlights (at least for this made Yankee fan):
• Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira, whose batting average was well below the Mendoza Line entering the game, busted out with a three-homer performance (not to mention being robbed of a run-scoring gapper by Darnell McDonald). Teixeira has now “joined Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees to hit three home runs against the Boston Red Sox,” according to the San Jose Mercury News.
• Joba vs. Youk, Part Umpteenth: At least when Joba Chamberlain faced Kevin Youkilis in the eighth, Chamberlain – for once – didn’t plunk him.
• You could count on one, er, hand how many major leaguers don’t wear batting gloves. So what are the odds that both Yankee catchers – Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli – would hit barehanded? You tell me.
• Last year Joe Queenan wrote a great piece in the Weekly Standard with this lede: “Old timers insist that if you go to a baseball game, you will always see something you never saw before.” In Saturday’s Sox-Yanks dustup (tamped down by the rain-soaked clay), two pitchers – one from each team – recused themselves over mound-induced injuries, leading to endless warmups by un-warmupped relievers.
Never saw that before.
Campaign Outsider 