Sunday Meanderings

It certainly has been a good weekend for sports of all varieties, the Preakness, with Mine That Bird showing everyone he’s not just a flash in the pan, the Mets showing their stuff in San Fran, their second-line men holding down first base and shortstop, the Yankees (not that I like them) flashing their big men, Teixeira and Arod giving the Twins fits at the new Yankee Stadium, and even the Sybase Golf Classic hard by Route 3 and the Parkway, where Michelle Wie is trying to hang in there with names like Pettersen, Oh and Creamer.

As this is written, I’m watching the Sybase, where the same strong wind I hear whippin’ around the neighborhood is giving these women fits, including Creamer, whose pink all over thing seems out of place in this cold. Does she really hit pink balls, or is it just a trick of my TV? Right now, it looks as if Ms. Oh at 13-under is playing better than anybody else, including the erratic Ms. Wie .

To give Wie her due, she hits some incredible shots but then she lands in the water for inexplicable reasons and looks to her caddy of the week for advice, sympathy…something.

Okay, back to the Yankee game, if I must. It looks right now as if A.J. Burnett is having his way with Mauer, Morneau and the Twins. I hate to say it but those Yanks pitchers are beginning to look formidable. Sabathia won, then Joba didn’t lose. Pettite won too, come to think of it, and now A.J. is having fun. Am I missing anybody? Oh yeah, Mr. Hughes. You can’t have everything.

Thanks to the baseball and TV gods for David Cone. If I had to listen to the other two all afternoon long, I’d go mad, truly. The Yanks have, as far as I can tell, by far the worst broadcast team in any professional sport in any state of the Union. And that’s saying a lot.

Back to the golf, Pinky Creamer just hit a nice shot. And Michelle’s on a par 3 15th hole hitting another nice shot to the middle of the green. Woops, another commercial, and on YES they’re talkin’ bout what to do with Phil Hughes. Hmm, a real poser for Yankee management. (That’s if they can forget about their middle relief).

Hey! Johnny Damon’s up and there’s another base hit. Do they discuss the hit, no!! They talk about some dumb question somebody made up. Time to get back to the golf.

Pettersen is one back of Oh at 12-under. Another weather surprise, it’s starting to rain now. Wie just missed another putt, wasn’t even close. Here’s Jie Young Oh on the green in the rain at 15. And now Suzann Pettersen hits a 7-iron about 10 feet from the cup. Back to the Yanks now. And maybe a nice cup of coffee. Yeah.

Ok, now armed with a cuppa, I see Burnett is now waay out of his comfort zone, so far out of it that he’s now on the bench after walking Morneau after giving up two runs in the seventh. And Girardi’s calling for Albaladejo. Here’s where the fun starts (for a Mets fan).
Gotta stay with the Yankee game now. And Albaladejo strikes out Kubel for the third out! Oh man, I was hoping for disaster. Downer.

Skip the national anthem and back to golf. Pettersen for birdie, not even close. And an old gal like Alfredsson misses her putt by a hair. Back to Wie, another putt, tough downhill, she makes it! It ties her for third so far. And here’s Lincicome who makes a putt to the amusement of the crowd. And shows some real personality by throwing her hands in the air. Here’s Oh again and she’s a real pro, it looks like. She makes another nice shot and we see Wie again. Well, that’s okay.

Gotta see if the Yanks can come back now, Melky’s up in the seventh with one out and a man on third. He pops it to Span in left and Matsui scores to make it a one-run game. I smell some momentum here. The reliever does his job, Melky drives in the run (again) but Punto makes a bee-u-tiful sliding catch of a foul popup to make an end of that.

The birds are chirping, must be improving weather, back to the golf and Oh is lining things up again, still in the lead. Now Pettersen lines up a 10 or 12 footer but misses a foot to the left. It doesn’t look good. Let’s see ho the Yanks relievers hold up. Pettersen just lost any chance by missing a one or two footer. Cheesh!

Albaladejo catches Cuddyer off second to help hold off the Twins, who are mounting a comeback of sorts. The Twins seem to be tightening up. But Gomez keeps the part going by singling to left. Two men on, just one out and what will Albaladejo do now against Punto?

Uh-oh, the wife’s home and she’s muttering. That’s not good.

Punto walks and so does Albaladejo. To the bench. The Yanks bring in Tomko, where did he come from? Back to golf, but no, instead we learn about the 12-month payment protection plan on Lincolns. Now, really, if I needed a protection plan, would I be buying a Lincoln? It just doesn’t make sense.

Jie Young Oh has 9 straight pars. Turn out the lights. The party’s over and they’re interviewing Wie. She sounds pretty analytical. They make her relive her experience in the water. She handles it graciously. Very nice. This thing’s over – back to baseball for good.

Bases loaded, two outs, tie score, this could be great! And Tomko gets the Yanks out of it with a grounder to the vacuum cleaner, Teixeira. Watch the Yanks come back now, they’re psyched.

Slowey’s still in there. Eighth inning, the Yanks would never let Joba go this far. Now it’s Jeter up there after an uneventful day. The Twins bullpen is up now. And so is Mariano. And Jeter fights off an up and in pitch for a Texas-League single. Hmm. They leave Slowey in against lefty Damon. And there’s another oh-excuse-me single to left. Things are getting interesting in the Bronx.
And Teixeira drives one deep to right but he’s gotten under it and now it’s two outs, the winning run on third with Arod at the plate. They walk him and bring in a no-name named Mijares but he strikes out Matsui on an awful swing at a way-outside pitch.

Now there’s no golf to switch to, allowing time for some fond reminiscences of the Mets, who’ve wowed the crowd in San Francisco, all kinds of heroes but mostly Beltran and Wright. But things are going great now, all the pieces are coming together, ironic that it’s been without Delgado and Reyes.

Now Mariano’s in in a tie game. I wish they’d save Rivera for save situations. (Of course I’m not rooting for them). Mauer singles and now there’s Morneau, looking intense. Intense but out, as things work themselves out. He looks at a borderline strike and he’s outta there.

Now there’s Kubel. But Mariano saves the day by retiring him and Cuddyer too. And Johnny Damon wins it with still another Yankee walk-off home run. Mot that I’m rooting for them.