Tagged: Flip Video Camcorder
Never Mind What I Said Yesterday
Today’s game reminded me why baseball can be so frustrating. Way too many if only’s. Way too many missed opportunities. Way too many of these.
Huuuughes was great after a shaky start, but Lester was better. Still, the Yankees were in it until the bitter end and could have/should have launched a come-from-behind victory.
In the “if only” category:
Marcus Thames’ ball that almost went over the wall for a homer.
Austin Kearns’ screamer that went foul.
Gardner’s failure to steal after being inserted as a pinch runner for A-Rod.
In the “missed opportunities” category:
Granderson’s K with bases loaded.
Swisher’s three Ks.
Berkman’s pop-up as a pinch hitter. (Back came the boos.)
An overall 0-for-9 with RISP.
In the just-plain “suckitude” category:
Posada’s throws to second base. Can he please not catch three games in a row?
Was there good news today? Sure. The pitching was stellar, even if Joba did get slider happy in the ninth. And Swisher and Kearns made terrific catches. But mostly, I turned off the TV and felt like cleaning the house, just to blow off steam.
Speaking of blowing off steam, did everyone read about the Jet Blue flight attendant who flipped out at JFK?
I’m flying Jet Blue into Kennedy on Friday night for the start of my vacation back east. If that guy had been on my flight, I would have whipped out the She-Fan Cam, gotten him on video and posted it here. But not to worry. I’ll be bringing the Cam with me, just in case.
And The Winner Of The Flip Video Cam Is….Lillie Marie!
You can see the full voting results here. It was neck and neck down to the final moments, but Lillie, also known as Latin Yankee Rebel, is the champ with this great Fan Moment pic:
Lillie got 202 votes. Congrats to her and to everyone who participated. I’ll be posting about another contest soon (yes, more swag, thanks to the generous companies that offer their wares), but in the meantime this one was lots of fun for me to host. All the photos were wonderful and proved once again how much we all care about our teams.
Eight Is NOT Enough!
Who cares what that old TV show said. The Yankees clobbered the Orioles 11-4 for their eighth straight victory tonight and I’m not ready to say, “Enough.” Why should I? This streak is a blast and I hope it keeps going. Call me greedy, even piggish, but that’s how I am when it comes to the Yanks (and cake). More. More. More.
What’s great about streaks is that they’re never just about one player. They feature a different hero every night. A different villain, too.
Tonight’s hero? Phil Hughes. Hat tip right back at you, buddy.
He wasn’t exactly Nolan Ryan out there, but he did strike out nine over five innings with a wicked fast ball. He earned another start for sure. If Wang rediscovers his sinker and takes back his slot in the rotation, I wouldn’t mind seeing Hughes in the pen, especially if it means sending Veras down to Triple A.
Other heroes?
* The sizzling hot Tex, who got the offense cooking with an RBI double in the first.
* The Nickster, whose first Yankee Stadium homer just made it over Markakis’s head.
* Cano, whose dinger sailed four rows over Markakis’s head.
* Melky, who went back-to-back-to-back even deeper over Markakis’s head.
Speaking of Markakis’s head, it had to feel like Linda Blair’s in “The Exorcist.”
Oddly enough, Guthrie, who served up the above bombs, not only settled down but hung around through the seventh, allowing him the opportunity to plunk both A-Rod…
…and Tex.
I know. The ball “just slipped.” Whatever. Suffice it to say that if Guthrie drove over to my house and rang the doorbell, he’d be greeted by this.
Speaking of getting hit, poor Melky. In the third, he took one for the team after he fouled off a pitch. The ball came right up and bit him in an extremely sensitive place, causing Posada to break out laughing in the dugout and Michael Kay to lament in the booth: “It’s not funny when it happens to you.”
On a brighter note, the Yankees weren’t done scoring. They tacked on a bunch of runs off Baez and Walker in the eighth – another late-inning burst. Does anyone have a good pen? Even Mo got taken deep again.
No, I’m not complaining. Eight may not be enough, but it’ll do….until tomorrow when we finish up with the O’s and then host the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies over the weekend.
Playing the champs will makes us the underdogs, with all the pressure on them.
Will they dominate us? Or will yet another pinstriped hero emerge and feel the love from his teammates?
I’m hoping for more pie.
(Final call for the Favorite Fan Moment photo contest. Deadline is Friday at midnight. I wish the people at Flip Video would give a camcorder to all 19 candidates, but only one will win!)
Vote For Your “Favorite Fan Moment” Photo!
Who will win this?
You decide. Here are the candidates, along with the back stories of their photos, in the order of the date the pics were sent to me. Some were submitted by members of the MLBlogs Community. Others were from fans who don’t write blogs. All were from people who love baseball, our common denominator. So take a look and then vote below. Deadline for votes is Friday, May 22nd. Good luck to everybody!
#1: Photo submitted by Lou, who calls himself a “deranged Yankee fan.” It was taken at the second game of a doubleheader the Yankees played against the Rays last September. The game meant a lot to him, as he’d “just spent four harrowing years at the University of Vermont surrounded by Red Sox fans.” You can tell by the gleam in his eyes that he was glad to be home. (Or was it the beer?)
#2: Photo submitted by Lillie Marie, also known here as “Latin Yankee Rebel,” who says: “This sums up what being a she-fan is all about – being there for your team in the good times and the bad.” The photo was taken at Camden Yards on the last day of the 2007 season. Lillie made the sign after Joe Torre told the media he still had faith in his team. “I just wanted them to know I still believed too,” she explains.
#3: Photo submitted by Cat, author of the “Cat loves the Dodgers” blog on MLBlogs. On the night the photo was taken in 2008, the Dodgers were playing the Brewers at home. Cat was sitting in the front row of the section near the bullpen, along with her son, who was visiting after having served two tours of duty in Iraq. It was a special night for both of them – especially when Gabe Kapler came barreling into them to rob Russell Martin of a home run. His catch was spectacular, and Cat (seen in the lower right corner of the pic) was shown over and over on ESPN.
#4: Photo submitted by Sally, a Yankee fan who comments here as “Yankees Sal.” It was taken at the old Yankee Stadium on August 15, 2008, while Sally and her friend were waiting out a rain delay of the game against the Royals. The Yanks lost a heartbreaker that dropped them to 10 1/2 games back in the division, but Sally’s friend gave her an amazing gift that night: she arranged for the scoreboard to light up with “Happy Birthday!” to celebrate Sally’s big day.
#5: Photo submitted by Wendy, a Yankee fan who comments here as “mlbmom.” She and her two children, Nathan (five) and Megan Louise (18 months), were decked out in their Yankees gear, feeling sad as the Yankees were getting swept by the Red Sox at Fenway earlier this season. Wendy loves watching games with her kids. She sends along a quote from Proverbs 22:6. “Bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” She adds, “True in the Bible. True in Baseball.”
#6: Photo submitted by Cliff, better known to MLBloggers as “Rays Renegade.” Yes, he’s right there in the middle of the 2008 team photo – the only fan ever to accomplish that feat. “I was in the photo because of my involvement with the team in areas outside the games,” he says. “I’m a member of the Rays/Pepsi Fan Wall of Fame, helping ‘Maddon’s Maniacs.’ And I’m one of only a half-dozen people to win the $1,000 prize for the ‘Cash Inning,’ during which my selected player (Aubrey Huff in 2003) hit a home run.”
#7: Photo submitted by Jen, a diehard White Sox fan who writes the “Diatribe from a Law Student” blog for MLBlogs. It was taken a couple of weeks ago during a rain delay before the Sox game, which explains why the face of her beloved AJ Pierzynski is on the TV screen. Jen’s studio apartment is a shrine to AJ; he’s the desktop background on her laptop and he’s in the two pictures on top of the TV, and the T-shirt and jersey she’s wearing both say “Pierzynski” on the back.
#8: Photo submitted by Jenn of MLBlogs’ “Phillies Phollowers” fame and taken recently. She is pictured in the “Phillies room” of her house – a den she turned into a special spot to indulge her Philliesmania. Chase Utley is well represented – from the poster on the wall to the game-used Utley helmet and signed Utley bat. And Jenn isn’t the only fan in the house. “Tony, the cat, is wearing his Phillies jacket,” she says, “and Gizmo, the chinchilla, is trying to wear his Phillies hat.”
#9: Photo submitted by Brendan, a Yankee fan from New York now living in California. It was taken on May 1st at the new stadium a few hours before the Yankees beat the Angels, and he was excited to be back in the Bronx. “My dad courted my mom around Yankee Stadium,” he reminisces. “And he spent many a summer in the bleachers with his friends. He was my best friend, my pal. He is no longer with us, but I felt he was with me that night.”
#10 and #11: Photos submitted by Jeff, the Cardinals fan half of MLBlogs’ always-top-rated “Red State Blue State” blog, and Allen, who represents the Tigers’ side of RSBS. They were taken on February 13th when Allen visited Jeff in Chicago. Spring training was just around the corner, and the boys could hardly wait. “Allen and I eat, live, breathe baseball,” says Jeff. “So we are often caught in compromising situations with our gloves. Al sleeps with his. I shower with mine.”
#10 (Jeff)
#11: (Allen)
#12: Photo submitted by Karen, a Rays fan from Tampa. It’s a shot of her two sons, Sean (four) and Sam (five) at the Devil Rays spring training camp in 2006, awed by player Chad Orvella. “I love it because it’s the little guys watching the Boys of Summer and dreaming about the big leagues,” she explains. Karen and her father have been bringing Sean and Sam to see the Rays at spring training for the past seven years and says the kids have fun watching baseball – and missing a day of school.
#13: Photo submitted by Dave, a Yankee fan living in the Baltimore/DC area. It was taken last month with Alex, his Yankees-loving son. (His other son, Nick, is a devoted Orioles fan and Yankees hater.) The basement in his house is filled with Yankees memorabilia – from a picture of Mantle, Maris and Yogi and a license plate pic of Dave shaking hands with Whitey Ford at Yankee Fantasy Camp in ’91, to action figures of Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly. “I’m still a kid when it comes to this stuff,” he says.
#14: Photo submitted by Elizabeth, a Red Sox diehard who somehow juggles high school with her MLBlog, “The Future Blog of the Red Sox.” On February 28th, she went to see her guys play the Reds at their spring training home in Ft. Myers, FL. Her father snapped this shot of her during batting practice. She was waiting for Julio Lugo, but infielder Gil Velasquez came right over, took the baseball out of her hand and signed it. “It rendered me speechless,” she recalls. “But it was a really cool, memorable moment.”
#15: Photo submitted by Shelley, aka “Diamond Diva” on MLBlogs. She’s a Nationals fan as well as a Yankee fan, and her favorite player has always been the now-retired Mike Mussina. This photo was taken in January at the Mike Mussina Fan Appreciation Dinner in Williamsport, PA. “As a member of his fan club since 1997, I’ve attended eleven of his dinners,” she says. “At this one, he did something that absolutely blew me away. To thank us for our efforts, he presented me and my friend Doris with a couple of his game-issued gloves. I’m the short one in the middle wearing glasses.”
#16: Photo submitted by Ken, an Orioles fan who writes two MLBlogs: “How About Dem O’s, Hun!” and “Jews on First.” Ken was at Camden Yards last year during a game against the Pirates with his son Jordan (11 at the time) and daughter Lyndsay (6). Jordan, known as “Orangebird” on his “Up in Section 360” blog, had just grabbed a foul ball that had landed under a seat – an extremely rare occurrence in section 360. “Notice not only that we are all smiling,” Ken says, “but also that we’re wearing Orioles shirts and hats from different eras.”
#17: Photo submitted by Catherine, a NJ Yankee fan who often follows the team with her mom, her “baseball road trip partner in crime.” On May 8th, the duo traveled to Camden Yards for Mother’s Day. They saw A-Rod’s first game (and home run) since returning from the DL, as well as the first Major League hit by Cervelli, Catherine’s “double-A-Trenton-Thunder crush.” Her mom took this photo of her with a souvenir. “I’m a huge Yanks fan,” she says, “but I cannot stand A-Rod. At all.”
#18: Photo submitted by Sue, who keeps up with the Phillies on her MLBlog, “Rants, Raves, and Random Thoughts.” A talented photographer, she’s usually the one snapping the pictures, but this one was taken last May by Jenn of “Phillies Phollowers” at the Phillies’ “Baseball 101 for Women” event. Ruben Amaro Jr. was about to speak in the Media Room used for press conferences. Before he arrived, Sue stepped up to the podium and struck a pose. “If I could have any job in the world, it would be working for the Phillies,” she says.
#19: Photo submitted by Emma, a devoted Dodgers fan who writes the “Crzblue’s World” on MLBlogs. It was taken last year by her brother in her living room, which is clearly a monument to all things Dodgers. “I’m wearing my Dodger wig and holding my Dodger seat cushion,” she points out. “And note my Dodger Dog Bobblehead, my Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson statues and my Los Dodgers beach towel. What kind of fan am I? Dodgerholic and baseballholic all the way!”
Yankees Win Again, Magic Pen Takes Credit (With Video)
Watching Wednesday night’s 8-6 win over the Tigers was like sitting through three different ball games.
In the first one, Joba couldn’t throw a strike, looked out of sorts and received a lecture in the dugout from Dave Eiland, who, as we learn from this photo, is a “close talker.”
In the second one, Joba regrouped and was lights out, allowing only three hits over seven innings.
On the offensive side, the Bombers teed off on Porcello (the Tigers’ starter, as opposed to some sort of specialty mushroom) and on Rapada (the Tigers’ reliever, not a pasta dish involving miniature broccoli). The barrage included hits, walks, a couple of homers by Swisher, even a stolen base by Posada. Before I knew it, the score was 8-1 and I could sense that Yankee fans everywhere were yelling, “Par-tay!”
In the third game-within-the-game, Albaladejo came on in the ninth and couldn’t figure out that his job was to finish off the Tigers. Why was he even out there?
“Mo should be pitching!” I yelled at Girardi through the TV. “I know it’s not a save situation, but he hasn’t been on the mound since last Friday when he gave it up in Boston! He’s probably rusty! He needs the work!”
Joe must have heard me because Mo suddenly appeared. “I meant at the beginning of the inning, not now!” I shouted at the skipper. “You didn’t give him enough time to warm up!”
In stepped Granderson, who smacked a three-run homer to bring the Tigers to within two. Great. Was it possible that they would rally for more? That the Yankees would lose what had seemed like a mercifully easy contest? That my entire night would be ruined?
I was pretty agitated as I jotted down the score. And then… I remembered. I wasn’t just keeping score. I was keeping score with the Magic Pen!
I gripped the pen tightly and told it to use its powers. Well, you know the rest. Polanco and his melon head flied out, and the Yankees did win.
I bet Kim Jones interviewed Nick Swisher as the player of the game, but to me the one responsible for the “W” was the Magic Pen.
And so I interviewed it. Here’s my exclusive.
While The Yankees Anticipated Today’s Rainout…
…A-Rod began the second week of his workout program at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa.
According to the YES web site, he made precisely 19 throws to first base and nine throws to second base after fielding grounders. Offensively, he has hit 10 homers in 75 swings. He offered this nugget to reporters: “It feels good.”
I’d feel good too if I’d had my hip sewn back together.
But the question is….What else did A-Rod do in Tampa today? Inquiring minds want to know, and She-Fan has the exclusive.
* He chewed 89 of these.
* He drank 5 of these (with a straw – the kind that bends at the top).
* He went to the beach and took a nap in one of these.
* He went back to his hotel and watched the whole hour of this.
* He got up from his chair and started dancing when Ellen did this. (He reported zero pain in his hip!)
* He felt good enough to do this.
* And finally, he felt loosey-goosey enough to attempt this.
I asked A-Rod how he hurt his hip in the first place. He said, “I’ve got one word for you, She-Fan: Pivot.”
Pivot? Was that like some secret baseball code word? Or maybe a profound message, like “Rosebud” in the movie “Citizen Kane?”
And then I got it. All three players who’ve had torn hip labrum recently have been third basemen: Mike Lowell, A-Rod and Alex Gordon. Was there a connection? Does the injury have to do with the way third basemen twist their bodies on every throw to first? And was there any way to prevent the problem?
I tried to get A-Rod to respond to my musings, but he was too busy doing this.
P.S. If you’d like to enter the contest to win a Flip Video Camcorder (details here), leave a comment. The Favorite Fan Photos that have come in so far are pretty cool!
What Kind Of A Fan Are You? Enter The Contest!
If you’ve been a frequent visitor to this blog, you’ve seen my occasional “She-Fan Cam” videos – clips of fans that I record on my always handy and totally addictive Flip Video camcorder.
If you’re new here, let me give you an example.
Now it’s your turn to focus the Cam on someone, because one of you is about to win a Flip Video camcorder.
Here’s the deal.
I want a photo of your Favorite Fan Moment – a picture of you at your diehard fan best. Maybe you’ll be in the stands at whichever ballpark you call home. Or maybe you’ll be sitting in front of the TV in full team regalia. Or maybe you’ll be scoring an autograph from a player. Your call. The point is to show you being a fan and loving it.
All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know you’d like to participate. And I’ll respond and let you know where and how to send the photo.
I’ll look over all the pics and choose my top five. Then I’ll post the five and you’ll vote for the Favorite Fan Moment.
The winner will receive a Flip Video Cam directly from Pure Digital. You won’t believe how easy to use this gadget is. For starters, it’s tiny – smaller than a cell phone and light enough to tuck in your pocket (perfect for slipping past surly security people at your local stadium). You just point it in the direction of your subject, hit the red “record” button, and you’re good to go.
I kept cutting off people’s heads the first day I got mine, but it’s really a no-brainer, even for technically challenged me.
When you’ve finished recording, you plug the Cam into your computer, download your videos and have fun. You can email them to friends or upload them on YouTube or make movies complete with music and credits. So many options.
I know. I sound like some cheesy infomercial right now. But seriously. I’ve had such a great time with my Cam that I wanted others to have the same experience. So I asked the people at Flip Video if they’d be up for giving one away to a deserving fan, and they agreed!
And no, this contest isn’t just for Yankee fans. It’s for anybody and everybody who’s passionate about baseball. Is that you? Then get to work!
Speaking of the Yankees, I was relieved (understatement) that they bounced back from Saturday’s debacle and beat the Indians 7-3. AJ didn’t have his best stuff, but he kept the Yanks in it, as did the relief corps of Albaladejo, Bruney and Mo. There were some really nice defensive plays by Ransom and Tex (I’m still pinching myself that we have a guy who makes Mattingly-like grabs at first base), in addition to Posada’s homer and Ransom’s double (many thanks to Choo for that one).
Now we take on the A’s for three games. It’ll be weird seeing Giambi back with Oakland. I wonder if he’ll be wearing his thong.
Jane’s Addiction
No, my problem isn’t meth. (Let’s root for this lady to get treatment, both for her drug habit and her overuse of blue eye shadow.)
And it’s not this.
I don’t even drink this.
I’m hopelessly hooked on the Yankees, of course. And I need to cut back on my blogging or I’ll lose any semblance of a normal life.
But here’s the source of my latest obsession (besides Xavier Nady): the She-Fan Cam.
Look at it, would you please? It’s smaller than a cell phone and only a little bigger than an iPod, and you can slip it in your pocket and take it anywhere.I couldn’t get along without it while I was roaming around Tampa last week, and I can’t get along without it now that I’m home.
I’ve had it with me at the supermarket, at the dry cleaner, even at a doctor’s appointment – always in the off-chance that I might get someone somewhere to talk about baseball.
Take today, for instance. My nails looked like hell from so much blogging, so I went for a manicure at the Fess Parker Resort here in Santa Barbara.
(Yes, for anyone old enough to remember, he’s the same Fess Parker who played Davy Crockett on TV.)
Anyhow, when I arrived at the salon I sat down with Lonnie, my manicurist. As she whipped out her tools, I whipped out the She-Fan Cam.I tried to convert Lonnie by explaining the finer points of the game, but she said her favorite sport is stretching out on a beach and drinking margaritas. Oh, well.
You know who I’m dying to thrust into the glare of the She-Fan Cam next? This guy.
What in the world was Cano thinking? He neglected to tell the Yankees he had a sore shoulder before trotting off to play in the WBC and is now being sent for an MRI? Would I ever like to grill him.I also wish I could turn the She-Fan Cam on him.
A.J. had a terrific outing against the Astros. I’d ask him if he would make me a promise to keep throwing filthy stuff and not wind up on the DL.And finally, I’d have a video chat with the Captain.
I’d want to find out what happened against Puerto Rico. A mercy loss. Not good, guys.P.S. Bob at “The Voice of the Yankees Universe” got a sneak peek inside the new Stadium and took lots of great pix. Have a look.
P.P.S. “Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf” posted the audio of an interview with me about my book. Have a listen.
Confessions of a She-Fan 