Caught only the latter half of the Yankees-Twins game last night; walking by the Church of St. Yankee of Bay Ridge (otherwise known as the Salty Dog), the score was 3-2 and Alex Rodriguez was up. 

By the time I’d turned the game on at home, it was 4-2. 

By the time The Wife got home, it was 6-2.  Obviously she’d boarded the R train following mine.

Hearing Ron Darling’s voice did me good, though.  Despite his repeated claims that certain pitchers were “unhittable,” …you know, that criticism might just be through the lens of a less-than-spectacular morning.  He’s fine.  No problem.  Yankee die-hards who’d rather die than listen to an SNY broadcast, take note: this is one-third of the way baseball should be enjoyed on television.  Add Gary Cohen, and Keith Hernandez, and you’re set.

My postseason man-crush on Nick Punto grew with some acrobatic play last night, throwing off balance and on target to first to snag an out in the bottom of the sixth.  Watch it here on the Twins’ MLB site.  Of course, I then checked out his page on Baseball Reference, which you can do yourself by checking out the B-R link somewhere down the page on the right.  Go on; I’ll be here. 

Yeah.  Yikes.  Man-crush over.

And speaking of irrational loves, please allow me to pass along some notes to the production crew over at TBS:

  • I am not “there” when you send a camera guy out to trail a player who’s just hit a home run.  The below-crotch-level shot of Hideki Matsui does nothing to me, and is far too shaky to do anything for anyone who’s actually interested in doing something with it.  I blame FOX for this, as they’re the ones I caught doing it first.  Stop it.  It’s POINTLESS.

  • Additionally, I am well aware that celebrities exist in New York.  One of the greatest thrills of my year was sharing a corner with Woody Allen, waiting to walk down Madison Avenue.  And I’m aware that Kate Hudson, a celebrity, is dating Alex Rodriguez, a baseball player of some renown.  You may feel free to cut to her once, after he does something spectacular.  And indeed, breaking a postseason 0-for-18 with RISP slump hits the low end of the spectacle spectrum.  But repeated cuts to Kate Hudson are not warranted; in fact, they are as lazy as her acting choices since The Cutting Room in 2001.  Stop THIS, too.

Surprising fact after checking for the release date of The Cutting Room: Sigourney Weaver is 60 years old today.  Definitely changes Ghostbusters for me.  I don’t know how, but it does.

Game Two is tomorrow, and we can only hope that the forecasted rain keeps the Hollywood types from sticking around, and the rest gained today allows the Minnesotans to gear up and make a game of this one.  Really, that’s all one can ask.

On the Cardinals-Dodgers game, I can only say I watched a few minutes.  It was already late, and Ike was seeing dead celebrities on South Park.  Reading the recap, I’m surprised Randy Wolf lasted as long as he did, and that wasn’t very long.  The Dodgers have to hope Clayton Kershaw’s got some gas in the tank.

Almost pulled a George Foreman and typed, “got the tiger in the tank.”  But tigers haven’t gotten much done this year.  ::Rimshot.::

Ah–Chris Carter is a Met now.  Knew there’d be something Mets-ish to say. 

If he comes up to the majors at any point in 2010, and his walk-on music isn’t something by Mark Snow, I’m walking out.  Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing; if there’s no synthesizer, it’s not getting done.

**Ted Berg of SNY has a new blog, called TedQuarters, and it’s hopping with material.  You should read it regularly, not because he’s a Mets fan, nor because he’s given me a link on his blogroll (but many thanks, Mr. Berg, for that), but because the posts are written thoughtfully and with earnest purpose.  If you’ve been following his work for SNY, you know this to be his hallmark.  Thanks again, Ted, and best of luck with the venture.