I-chi-ro, I-chi-ro !

Well, I still hate West Coast road trips but the trade for Ichiro Suzuki has now softened this one that ended 2 up 5 down. The GM, Brian Cashman, as has become his fashion, made the trade without even the sniff of a rumor leaking out. Damn near impossible but he does it/ He gave up a couple of minor leaguers, neither of which is an “A” prospect so some are calling this a steal. Amazingly the Yankees are going to bat him lower in the order, even though he led off in the third game of the series when Jeter got some rest. This lengthens the lineup and puts some speed down there. In his first game he had a hit and stolen base, hopefully a foreshadowing of what is to come.
And as if I didn’t have enough reasons to hate these trips, another reason was added to the list when ARod was hit with a pitch that broke his finger. This has been a weird year for injuries for the NYY. First they lost newly acquired Michael Pineda before he threw a pitch for them. Then Joba, who was already recovering from TJ surgery, dislocated his ankle playing on a trampoline. Joba is a lot of things but smart does not come to mind. Brett Gardner goes down after nine games with a “minor” injury diving for a ball and three setbacks later, we hear the words “Dr. Andrews” and he has season ending surgery. Next up, the rock, Mariano Rivera tears up a knee shagging fly balls, Andy Pettitte gets hit with a comebacker and breaks one of his 40 year old bones and the ARod bought the farm last night. He could be back in 5-6 weeks. He is a hard worker in great shape. We’ll see.
PINCH HITS-The Mariner fans showed a lot more class then those in Kansas City when they gave Ichiro a standing ovation before his first at bat. Many in the park only heard the news when they arrived for the game, beer and hot dog in hand, but they cheered him, thanked him with signs and even applauded when he got his first hit.
-A lot was made of the pitching match up between Freddy Garcia and Felix Fernandez. I guess Garcia was somewhat of a mentor for Hernandez when they pitched together in Seattle. However, on paper it looked like a big tilt toward Seattle and on the field, it was a Yankee loss.
- In what may be a gift from the baseball gods, the wife is off on a whirlwind tour to see some family and friends and I get to watch Yanks vs. Boston the whole weekend. Yep, my kind of TV watching for sure. This has the makings of a make or break weekend for both these clubs, an opportunity to bury someone or to revive some semblance of a pennant race. With no ARod to bother, Sox fan could turn their vengeance onto Ichiro. Of course there still is the baseball Jesus (thanks JHop) Derek Jeter for them to antagonize. Remember the cheer “No-Mar is Bet-ter, No-Mar is Bet-ter) How’d that work out for you. Will have a post about this weekend sometime during this weekend. Funny how that works out.