Royalty w/o 6/4 in review

Monday night after work I had a night off so I was able to come home and rest up for the busy week I had planned.

As for the rest of the week, here's how it went:

Tuesday night after work I went up to the Bronx. I met up with the King and we ate dinner at the 7 Fish Market. After we ate we went next door to get a few bottles of water from the KJY Fruit Market. Jin Kim was out on the street hawking the water as only he can. He's a treat to watch in action. Sometimes he's inside or off and there's another guy there but it's not the same. The price of water is though so you can't go wrong.

We proceeded to go inside the Stadium to see the Yankees open a three game series with the Tampa Bay Rays who were back for more. They were in the Bronx in early May and they lost two out of three to the Yankees.

When we got up to our seats in Grandstand Section 420B row 7, we were greeted by our pal Phil Butleman who was at the game with David Sack, a nice young man who's been coming regularly lately.
This time the Rays faced Andy Pettitte who wasn't back in the Major Leagues yet when they played. They wish he stayed retired based on the fact they couldn't score off of him. For that matter, they could barely touch him as he allowed just two hits and they struck out ten times against him as he worked into the eighth inning as he departed after registering the first out to a rousing ovation from the Yankee faithful. Andy pitched a dandy as the Yankees shutout the Rays, 7-0. With the victory, he won his 243rd lifetime game of his career.

As for the Rays, James Shields started for them but he lasted only five innings. His teammates didn't play well behind him early as the Yankees capitalized in the first inning as they cashed in on an error which lead to two unearned runs. In the fourth inning, Russell Martin hit a grand slam to put the game away for the Yankees. That guaranteed a short night for James Shields who's normally known for pitching deep into games when he's on.

Wednesday night after work I met the King for dinner at Burger King before the game in the Bronx.
This time we were joined by Vincent Ascanio aka the Kid as Steve Fekete aka the Padre Punk calls him. It's always a pleasure to see the "Kid." He's always respectful to us.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees aided by solo home runs by Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano built a 2-0 lead and they tacked on a few more in the bottom of the eighth inning before the Rays finally scored a run during their return to the Bronx as Desmond Jennings and B.J. Upton both tripled to break the scoring drought. The Yankees went on to win the game, 4-1.

Thursday night after work I went up to the Bronx again. This time I dodged the rain drops as I went to the Court Deli Restaurant to pick up dinner for the King and I. I got us Roast Beef sandwiches. I got to see Chris who took good care of me. I took them inside the Stadium we could eat them. Needless to say, they were really good.

Since there was a passing shower that was moving through the area, the start of the game was delayed by 26 minutes.

As for the game we saw, it looked like we had a good game ahead of us as the Rays were throwing David Price who served up Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit last July 9th. As for the Yankees, CC Sabathia was on the mound. The Rays got on the scoreboard first this time as they took a brief 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Yankees answered in the bottom of the second as they tied the game at one. The Rays added a few runs in the third and another pair in the fourth to break open the game as they roughed up the Yankees' ace. They went on to win the game to salvage the series as they avoided being swept by the Yankees, 7-3.

Friday night after work I went back to the Bronx to see the first game of this year's Subway Series as the Mets came to Yankee Stadium to play the Yankees.

Johan Santana was pitching for the first time since he made history the Friday night before at Citi Field for the Mets. Johan showed no signs of wear and tear as he set the Yankees down in order in the first inning. In the second inning however, after he allowed a lead off walk to A-Rod, Robinson Cano ended his latest no hit bid as he hit a two run homer to right field to give the Yankees' a 2-0 lead. In the third inning, the Yankees padded their lead as Robinson Cano homered again as did Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones who followed Cano's lead to extend the Yankee advantage to 6-0 as Johan Santana wasn't long for the night. He wound up going five innings as the Yankees beat up the Mets, 9-1.

Stay tuned as I recap the historic weekend we had as we escaped New York to watch baseball in Pittsburgh at PNC Park. It promises to be a great read.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman