Rays - Yankees Running Blog (04-23-2007)
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by user Manny "ManRay" Stiles
We're making blog history tonight on the 'Chair! Manny Stiles is at the stadium, in the press box. You're watching it at home on ESPN. Anyone can comment early, often. Just make semi-insightful comments please! (no emephing profanities, ya seeyessers) This isn't a Stiles-only event, JOIN IN! This is for everyone... yes, even Yankee fans. See? We all enjoy.
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Devil Rays, tonight on ESPN and ArmchairGM.com
Damn I hate having to "act professional". As a credentialled media member, I can't root aloud from the press box. This is also the first time I'm seeing the Yankees in person and I'm NOTallowed to boo, either! Son of a... They've put up with my "yeahs", "oohs" and one raucous "You don't run on Delmon! You're toast" when Kelly Shoppach got gunned at the plate on Saturday.
But alas!!! I 'can' scream my head off on-line! And I will! Go Devil Rays! "Yankees Suck! Year 2000! Pinstripes are for *expletives*! All Yankees fans born after 1920 are bandwagon jumpers!" etc and so on!!! Woooo! (I feel better already)
| #694 | BAN Manny Stiles from ALL things credible. |
| RAY | This user is a Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan. |
| #694 | This user is an inhabitant of the Universe. |
| #2 | This user believes Derek Jeter is just good, not great. |
More to be added throughout the day.
April 23, 2007
12:00 PM (all times ET)
There is a frenzied Japanese media contingent expected as Kei Igawa is pitching, Akinori Iwamura is already burning it up for the Rays and Hideki Matsui comes back today as well. They might have to jam me in a closet because there's no room!
Also, tonight is 10th season commemorative cowbells being given away to the first 10,000 fans wearing Rays gear. It should be an absolutely NUTTY atmosphere. The Yankees heads are ringing from the sweep by Boston, but their ears will be ringing tonight...
I am scheduled to appear in a TV interview with Team President Matt Silverman about the scenario of events that led to me being "ManRay" on local news channel 10. We'll see how bad I muff that up... at least ArmchairGM will get some more easy publicity... Yup, I'm wearing my ArmchairGM T-shirt. Keep in mind that I'm about 9 feet taller than Silverman, so the logo will be easily seen.
I'll do a pre-game review (Maddon's comments, BP notes, etc) and a game preview (other things to expect) here in the article after batting practice is over.
You've read what's happened in Day ONE, Day TWO and Day THREE...
Day FOUR is doing what Manny does best... and you know it: COMMENTS!
Make a bookmark and come back before GAME TIME: 7:10 ET
1:00PM
I'm off to eat lunch and then to the Slantdome to get this puppy rollin'! Wish me to not screw up!
5:50PM
I'm in the press box, the Yankees are taking BP and I just finished a TV piece with Travis Bell of Tampa Bay 10 news. Highlight of the day so far was catching a chat between Don Zimmer and Donnie Baseball himself. I'm wearing an ArmchairGM.com shirt and several people know who I am and have come up to introduce themselves to me. That's different...
Everyone talks about how the Devil Rays resemble a football team, the Yankees aren't exactly a bunch of petunias out there either. A-Rod is a specimen. Even Kei Igawa is a kinda big dude.
6:00
Just assume times are all in PM from now on... The promotional cowbells are filtering in and A-Rod just made several fans happy in BP. I'm not sure he's human, he's an anthropomorphized hitting machine! The press box is filling up today. I skipped the pregame dining once I saw 'Yankee Potroast' as an item on the menu.
6:15
OK, let's catch up here... before BP the clubhouse was a little more crowded with the extra media here today. Apparently ESPN doesn't hire ugly women. Nothing personal Cleveland, but New York brings it's buzz with them. Then again, this town/area having it's storied Yankee Spring Training past has more baseball history than Cleveland does.
During BP, I got a lot of camera time because I'm wearing my white ArmchairGM shirt. All the cameramen were using it to adjust their camera's white balance.
It seems the crowd on the Yankees side of the field during BP is about the same as the entire crowd for Friday's game.
Tony Pena Sr. looks like he could go out there and play.
The press box has a pulse tonight.
6:25
Lineups:
Yankees
- Cabrera CF
- Jeter SS
- Abreau RF
- A-Rod 3B
- Giambi DH
- Matsui LF
- Posada C
- Cano 2B
- Phelps 1B
- Igawa P (1-0 6.06)
Rays
- Baldelli DH
- Harris SS
- Crawford LF
- Wiggy 1B
- Young RF
- Aki 3B
- Dukes CF
- Paul C
- "Bossman Junior" Upton 2B
- Fossum (1-1 6.11)
- the Yankees got cheered and clapped at as they wrapped up batting practice. Ask me again why Yankees fans are loathesome...
6:33
The crowd just saw a video on "cowbell ettiquette". More cowbell is the theme tonight - owner Stu Sternberg loves SNL and apparently Austin Powers a bunch too. Every time an opponent strikes out swinging, there's a "he's a swinger baby!". It almost got annoying last night when James Shields mowed down 12 batters.
6:40
Chris Simms and Brian Griese are throwing out the first ball tonight; there's an interception joke there just waiting, eh?
Griese is representing the charity Sun Trust Miles for Moffitt race which benefits Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. OK.
Simms is here to represent spleen removal survivors I guess...
Sasha and Shawna are here singing. They are listed as two rising contemporary opera singers that dedicated their latest single to the victims of the VT tragedy. It is not pleasant to listen to... contemporary opera?
They finish and the crowd cheers (because they are done)
They were practicing during early BP and the snide remarks were flying.
Oh, now they are covering Sting's "Fields of Gold". As a fan of all kinds of music, this is the kind of stuff for church, not stadiums.
Can we drop the "Virginia" Tech part and just call it a tragedy already, boo hoo and move on already? Not to be callous, but as a person who has experienced a tad of tragedy in life; let the people who need to go throught the healing go through the healing, let's not shove it down everyone's throats.
S&S step off the Field Turf and Rock n' Roll blasts through the PA, everyone wakes back up and the cowbells come out again!
7:20
A little insight. I'm in the pressbox about 12 feet away from the organist, the stadium announcer, the platform that they do all the between inning promo stuff and the soda fountain, perfectly centered in a quadrangle, almost straight back from homeplate and I can see the whole field. Right in the middle of the action. But no ESPN on the TV, like you at home, just RAYSTV...
It's not quite a homegame for the pinstripers, either... the cowbells help.
On to the comments, it's game time!!! . . .
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