June 16, 2005 [LINK]
You call that a "save"?
I actually stayed up long enough to catch the whole Angels-Nationals game last night (on MLB Game Day), and it was worth it. After new National Ryan Drese threw eight innings in which only two Angels got hits, the usually reliable closer Chad Cordero took over in the ninth inning and proceeded to almost blow the 1-0 lead. The first three batters loaded the bases on two hits and a walk, and it seemed the best the Nats could hope for was to force the game into extra innings. Somehow Chad settled down and threw two strikeouts, with the second out coming on a short pop fly to center field. Game over! Thus, the Nats won their fifth straight series, and Cordero got credit for his 21st save of the year, leading the majors. On May 20 I called for changes in the way wins are awarded, and this case suggests that perhaps saves statistics need to be reformed as well.
Yankee Stadium fallout
The New York Times has a slide show of renderings of the future "Yankee Stadium." David Pinto gives it two thumbs up. Some features I like, such as the exterior wall that replicates the original Yankee Stadium, and the large roof with the lights built into a grated façade, also much like the original. The overall grandstand shape and the field layout only bear a passing resemblance to the original, however, and the whole thing looks an awful lot like Turner Field in Atlanta. Given that this announcement was originally expected around May 1 (see April 18), one wonders what political haggling might have occasioned the delay. Perhaps it was all the concurrent activity related to the 2012 Olympics and the proposed new Mets stadium.
UPDATE: Lifelong Yankees fan Phil Faranda writes: "I was always in the 'hallowed ground' corner when it came to a new yard for my team, but the fact is the Old Stadium ceased to be after the 1974-75 renovations. ... I say build the thing."
Oops
Thanks to a photo in this morning's Washington Post, I realized that I had misidentified two of the men in that (rather fuzzy) video grab from yesterday's blog post about the press conference at Yankee Stadium: "some tall guy" was actually Governor George Pataki, and "ESPN's Chris Berman" was actually Steve Swindal, a general partner of the Yankees, son-in-law of Mr. Steinbrenner, and Heir Apparent to the Dynastic Throne. Yesterday's post has been duly corrected, as indicated by [bracketed text]. See the press release from the Empire State's governor's Web site.