Royalty w/o 6/3 in review

Monday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open up a three game series with the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium. Before I went inside, I walked a few blocks to 900 Gerard Avenue which is where the New Sunflower Chinese restaurant is located. I had my pre game meal there which consisted of fried scallops and fries. It was made to order so it came out steaming hot. I did enjoy it. After I ate, I walked over to the Stadium and I went upstairs to my seat in section 420B. When I got there, I was joined by David Sack and his friend Andrew who likes the Yankees. It was nice to see them again.

As for the game we saw, the Bleacher Creatures out in right field did their usual roll call for the Yankees when they were in the field to start the game. They also did a special version when the Yankees batted since this game marked the return of former Yankee and one of their favorite players, Nick Swisher who signed with Indians in the off season as a free agent. They acknowledged Swisher who was playing first base. Swisher responded by giving them his signature salute. It was a nice touch by the fans. It should be noted that when he took his first at bat that he got a nice ovation as well. He also drove in the game's first run in the top of the third inning on a fielder's choice off of Yankee starter Andy Pettitte who was making his 500th career start. Mark Teixeira gave the Yankees' a 4-1 lead as he hit a fly ball that barely landed on the porch in right field for a grand slam that cleared the bases off of Indians' starter Justin Masterson. The Indians rallied to tie the game at four in the top of the fifth inning as Mike Aviles hit a sacrifice fly to Robinson Cano who was out in the outfield back pedaling so he couldn't throw out Drew Stubbs who led off the inning with a double to make it 4-2. After Andy Pettitte got the second out of the inning, he walked Nick Swisher and Mark Reynolds. Carlos Santana followed with a two run ground rule double which tied the game at four. As a result, Andy Pettitte was pulled from the game. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Yankees regained the lead, 6-4 as Brett Gardner got a clutch two out single to center field. In the seventh inning, former Indian Travis Hafner hit a solo home run to extend the Yankee lead to 7-4. Mariano Rivera came on in the ninth inning and he allowed a lead off single to Michael Bourn but he then retired the next three batters including Nick Swisher who ended the game with a fly out to left. By doing so, Mariano notched his 20th save of the season and his 628th of his career in front of an announced crowd of 40,007.

Tuesday night after work I returned to the Bronx for game two of the series between the Yankees and the Indians. This time I stopped off at the Court Deli Restaurant and I bought myself a corned beef sandwich which I ate at my seat in section 420B row 7. Shortly after I sat down to eat, my pal and avid reader of my blog, Greg Venuto came by to say hello. He said he was sitting out in section 306 row 2 with his cousin. We got to speak briefly. As always, it was nice to see him again.

As for the game we saw, the Yankees got six shutout innings from their starter David Phelps who got run support from his teammates who made their four run third inning stand up enabling him to pick up the win. Ichiro Suzuki drove in the first run on a single to left and a few batters later Mark Teixeira put one on the porch again in right field for a three run homer to make it 4-0 off of former Met Scott Kazmir who started the game for the Indians. The Indians made it close in the top of the seventh inning when Drew Stubbs hit a three run homer off of reliever Joba Chamberlain to cut the lead to 4-3. The Yankees held on as David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Mariano Rivera threw a 1,2,3 ninth to seal the deal. It was his 21st save of the season and the 629th of his career.

Wednesday night after work I met my parents for dinner at Romano's Famous Pizza and Gyro in Astoria. I got a pleasant surprise because they wound up bringing my niece Taylor and my nephew Jeremy with them. It was great to see them all again. As for dinner, we had all some pizza along with gyro and chicken souvlaki. It was all delicious. After we said our goodbyes, I went home to relax for the rest of the night.

Thursday night after work I went home and I made myself dinner then I watched game one of the NBA Finals on TV as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat thanks to an amazing shot in the closing seconds by Tony Parker.

Friday night after work I wound up going home thanks to mother nature which caused the game between the Mets and the Marlins to get postponed at Citi Field. I wound up staying home with the King and we watched the baseball games that were played on TV that night.

Stay tuned for a special post that will recap the way we spent our weekend.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

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

Royalty w/o 5/7 in review

Andy Pettiitte's Back 

Monday night after work I went home made dinner and I did my laundry. I relaxed briefly after I was done.

Tuesday night after work I went up to the Bronx to see the Yankees open a three game series with the first place Tampa Bay Rays.

I went to the 7 Fish Market for dinner with the King. I also went next door to see my pal Jin Kim at the KJY Fruit Market which is always a must since I can get a cold bottle of water for a dollar plus they have plenty of other snacks to choose from.

After we finished eating, the King and I made our royal entry into the Stadium. There's nothing like seeing familiar faces along the way. While everybody's lined up somewhere else to go in, we get to go in nice and quick because we know all the tricks of the trade. Being a friendly person has its advantages when you see other friendly people who are willing to listen.

We continued through the Great Hall and up the elevator as we went to our seats in the royal box if you will in section 420B row 7 which is right behind home plate. We were greeted by our pal Vincent Ascanio who was there.

We got settled in and we observed the game. With James Shields pitching for the Rays, we had high expectations. He came into the game with a 5-0 record. He was facing Ivan Nova who had a 3-1 record for the Yankees.

James Shields didn't pitch his best like he did in Boston on Patriot's Day when he worked into the ninth inning and shut down the Red Sox as the Rays won that day, 1-0. This time he was ordinary allowing three runs in six innings which still qualifies as a quality start which is a big deal these days. He left the game trailing, 3-1. The Rays chipped away at the Yankees lead but they fell short as they left the bases loaded against David Robertson who picked up his first save filling in for Mariano Rivera. Despite pitching awful he managed to prevent the Rays from scoring as the Yankees held on to win, 5-3.

Wednesday night I returned to the Bronx. This time I met up with the King and Vincent Ascanio at Burger King for dinner.

After we ate, we entered the Stadium in our usual way. We proceeded to go to the royal box and we saw game two of the three game set between the Yankees and the Rays.

This time the Rays beat the Yankees, 4-1. The Yankees scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a run scoring single by Robinson Cano.

The Rays didn't score until the ninth inning when the Yankees put David Robertson back in to get another save. This time he loaded the bases and the Rays unloaded them as B.J. Upton hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one and Matt Joyce hit a three run homer to lift the Rays to a 4-1 victory as the Yankees' failed to score in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Thursday night I went to the Court Deli Restaurant for dinner. I had a Corned Beef sandwich and the King asked me to get him a Roast Beef sandwich. So I took it out and I proceeded to see Jin Kim at the KJY Fruit Market for some refreshments and snacks.

After I rounded up all the food, I went into the Stadium for the rubber match of the series. With CC Sabathia starting against David Price of the Rays', I hoped to see a pretty good game.

With that being said, I didn't get what I hoped for. Well CC held up his end of the bargain as he pitched eight solid innings allowing two unearned runs while striking out ten Rays. David Price on the other hand, got lit up for five runs and eleven hits over seven innings.

With David Robertson pitching the last two nights, the Yankees decided to give former Ray closer Rafael Soriano the ball in the ninth inning to seal the deal this time. He gave up an infield hit then he slammed the door shut to preserve the victory for CC as the Yankees won, 5-3.

Friday night after work I went back up to the Bronx to see the Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners. Ironically, the Mariners were the only team I didn't see play in person in 2011. When they came to Yankee Stadium last year I was on a road trip with Paul Derrick from Houston.

Before the game I stopped off at Subway for dinner. After I ate, I proceeded to go into Yankee Stadium. I went up to the royal box and I watched the game.

As for the game I saw, the Yankees fell behind 1-0 as Dustin Ackley lead off the game with a home run off of starter Hiroki Kuroda. The Yankees responded with a run scoring double by Robinson Cano to tie the game at one off of Felix Hernandez, the Mariners' ace. Former Yankee Jesus Montero broke the tie in the top of the sixth when he hit a solo home run. The Yankees came back again thanks to Raul Ibanez who hit a three run home run to make it 4-2 in the bottom half of the sixth. Andruw Jones added a pinch hit two run blast to round out the scoring in the eighth as the Yankees beat the Mariners, 6-2.

Saturday afternoon the King and I took a Chinese bus from Chinatown to Philadelphia.

Stay tuned for the special posts I'm going to do about how we spent our memorable Saturday.

Sunday I went back to the Bronx to see the Yankees play the Mariners again. It was a special day indeed not only because it was Mother's Day, it also marked the return of Andy Pettitte to the Major Leagues. After retiring after the 2010 season, Andy decided to return to baseball.

He shined bright early on but he got roughed up for a few two run home runs, one by Justin Smoak and the other by Casper Wells who hit the ball halfway up the right field foul pole to spoil Andy's return. He did pitch into the seventh inning getting an out before departing to a nice ovation from the Yankee faithful.
The Yankees wound up losing the game, 6-2.

After the game I met up with my family as we all got together to have dinner to celebrate Mother's Day. It was great to see them again.

With that another week is in the books.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman