The New York Yankees 2005 Chatter

[Bob_R]

I believe he has more blown saves versus the Red Sox than he has versus the rest of the major league combined!

[Bob_R]

Mariano got the Sox in the ninth tonight (1 walk). Yanks win 5-2.

[Nickdfresh]

Ouch! This is gonna' go back-and-forth all season.

[Dave's PA Rental]

I dont think anyone really thought that he could never shut down the Sox again...

[Figs]

I kinda thought Giambi wouldn't hit any steroid free homers....

Mekka-lekka-hi-mekka-hiney-ho
Mekka-lekka-hi-mekka-chiney-ho

[ALinChainz]

Boston 8, NY Yankees 5


By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer

April 14, 2005


BOSTON (AP) -- The New York Yankees got into another scuffle with fans on a testy night at Fenway Park. This time, Gary Sheffield was in the middle of it.

Sheffield was fielding Jason Varitek's two-run triple along the right-field fence in the eighth inning of Boston's 8-5 victory Thursday night when a fan swung a short uppercut in his direction, appearing to graze the side of the slugger's face with his right arm.

``I just felt something hit me in the mouth,'' Sheffield said. ``I don't know if he hit me or not, it felt like it. I thought my lip was busted.''

After Sheffield picked up the ball, he shoved the fan before throwing the ball back to the infield. Another fan tossed a beer at Sheffield, who whirled around with a cocked fist but restrained himself.

He shouted in the face of the first man -- but did not throw a punch. A security official quickly jumped over the three-foot wall to separate the two.

``It could have been worse if I didn't hold my composure,'' Sheffield said. ``I almost snapped, but the thing is I thought about the consequences.''

The fan was ejected from the ballpark but not arrested.

``It's just a baseball game,'' Sheffield said. ``To get punched in the mouth, you don't expect that in a baseball game.''

During the 2003 AL playoffs, two Yankees players got into a brawl with a Red Sox groundskeeper in New York's bullpen.

Relief pitcher Jeff Nelson and outfielder Karim Garcia were charged with assault but agreed to a deal last October that called for the charges against them to be dropped in six months.

The near-fight between Sheffield and the Boston fan Thursday night was the latest problem between fans and players at a sporting event.

On Nov. 19, players and fans exchanged punches in the stands near the end of a Pacers-Pistons game in one of the worst brawls in NBA history. The mayhem left several people injured and prompted a police investigation.

Last September, the Texas Rangers got into a fight with fans in Oakland, and Rangers reliever Frank Francisco was arrested after throwing a chair into the stands that hit a woman and broke her nose.


Edgar Renteria's RBI double in the eighth broke a 5-5 tie, and Boston took two of three from its rival to even the season series at three games apiece.

Randy Johnson gave up three homers for only the 12th time in his career, and Red Sox manager Terry Francona and hitting coach Ron Jackson were ejected after questioning calls by plate umpire Greg Gibson.

Johnson left with the score 5-5 after seven innings and Tom Gordon (0-1) fell behind before getting an out. Johnny Damon led off the eighth with a single and scored on a double by Renteria, who had made the last out for St. Louis in Boston's sweep of last year's World Series.

After an intentional walk to David Ortiz, Varitek hit a ball down the right-field line that hugged the curved wall and led to all the trouble.

``We have to give Sheffield a lot of credit,'' Damon said, ``for him to restrain himself the way he did.''

Varitek's two-run triple gave the Red Sox an 8-5 lead.

Sheffield led off the ninth with a double off the Green Monster and the Yankees loaded the bases before Keith Foulke (1-1) ended the game by getting Ruben Sierra to foul out to catcher Varitek, who made a nice catch on a difficult play near the stands.

Renteria, Jay Payton and Varitek all homered in the first four innings off Johnson. Hideki Matsui drove in three runs for the Yankees with a single and a double as the teams wrapped up a nine-game stretch in which they faced each other six times.

The last time Johnson allowed three homers was Aug. 15 against Atlanta.

New York took a 5-4 lead in a four-run fourth, when Bronson Arroyo issued three walks.

One of them led to the ejection of Jackson, who was upset after Gibson called a bases-loaded, 3-2 pitch to Sheffield a ball. Francona rushed out of the dugout to argue and Jackson, who followed, was restrained by several Boston coaches.

Matsui followed with a two-run single and Alex Rodriguez put the Yankees ahead with an RBI single.

Varitek's third homer of the season tied it in the fourth. But with two outs and a 2-1 count on Bill Mueller, a pitch that appeared to be low and inside was called a strike by Gibson. That brought Francona out of the dugout again and he also was ejected.

Francona returned to the team Monday from a four-game absence after undergoing tests for tightness in his chest that team physician Dr. Thomas Gill said probably was caused by a viral illness.

Notes

Arroyo allowed runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings. ... Johnson had at least one strikeout in each of his seven innings.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

A few different ways to look at Sheffield's incident...

#1 - I totally support how he handled it... He got hit in the lip, but didn't jump into the crowd, as it would have been easy to do....

#2 - BUT, the guy who swiped his hand wasn't even looking at Sheffield !! Watch it closely, he's totally looking away, and making the scooping motion as if he wanted to pick the ball up.... Not saying he's not at fault here, just making that point.... I think it was completely accidental that he hit him in the lip, not at all on purpose...

#3 - What about the dude that tossed the beer on Sheff ?? He got off scott free....

[Dave's PA Rental]

I havent seen a replay that shows actual contact. And I havent seen a replay that shows anyone intentionally throwing a beer on him...I saw the two broads in the front row recoil in fear and knock a beer over onto Shef...

Now I think the idiot fan got what he deserved...when you are in the front row and the ball is bouncing around right beneath you, you have to know that Sheffield is going to be there to field it...you have to be in control of your actions, and take responsibility for them as well. He was definately making a scooping motion as if he wanted to pick the ball up, but he interfered with Sheffield whether he made contact or not.

Shef over-reacted and should be suspended. But no homer Yankee fan would ever admit that they were both wrong...

[Dave's PA Rental]

I stand corrected...just saw on PTI that guy DID throw the beer...what an asshole, he should be banned from EVER attending a baseball game ANYWHERE...

[Bob_R]

BALTIMORE - While Major League Baseball officials, in cooperation with the Red Sox, investigate the incident involving a Boston man who made contact with Gary Sheffield during Thursday night's game, the Yankees bolstered their argument that Sheffield should not be suspended.

Asked if he'd be surprised if Sheffield served any time for his part in the latest Fenway Park fracas, manager Joe Torre said, "Yeah, I would be."

Yet, Sheffield could be punished for swinging and missing at the fan, identified as Christopher House of Dorchester, Mass.,who was ejected for interfering with play.

MLB jumped into the fray on Friday, as Sheffield met with MLB security chief Kevin Hallinan.

"The police have it," Hallinan said.

However, a Boston Police spokesperson said no arrests were made, none are expected and that the situation is now an internal matter between the Red Sox and MLB.

It's up to MLB discipline czar Bob Watson to assess what, if any, fine or suspension would be levied against Sheffield.

"I can only play baseball," Sheffield said when asked of the possibility of a suspension. "I'm not going to get involved in that."

Hallinan said he expects to present his review of the incident to commissioner Bud Selig by early next week.

"It's in the commissioner's hands," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner offered in a statement, and nothing more.

As of 6 p.m., Friday, Sheffield had not spoken with Boston Police.

Though a Yankee source said Sheffield is weighing whether to press charges against the fan, Sheffield said Friday that he hadn't really thought of it.

Torre said he's seen video of the incident "three or four times" and is convinced the fan meant to take a swipe at Sheffield, who was attempting to field Jason Varitek's triple in the eighth inning of Boston's 8-5 victory.

"He wasn't going for a ball," Torre said of the fan, noting that he did not bend over and reach for the ball with two hands. "He knew what he wanted to do."

Torre said it looked more like a sucker punch. "He was trying to be nonchalant about swinging his arm around," he said.

Sheffield wouldn't use any terms to describe what happened, since he'd been told by MLB officials not to speak on the matter.

"They told me to let them handle it," said Sheffield, who spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and club president Randy Levine. At the ballpark, Sheffield met with Hallinan, his assistant, and Torre in the manager's office at Camden Yards.

"I've been looking at video all day, talking to a lot of different people," Hallinan said. "I'm still trying to pull everything together."

Sheffield said he hadn't reviewed the tape, and did not seem interested in doing so - even after saying, "You've got to look at the tape [in order to] pass judgment."

On Friday, Sheffield had several opportunities before the game, as the clubhouse TV was tuned to ESPN, with the sound up. But as the network showed replays of the incident, Sheffield never looked up from what he was doing.

At the time of the incident, Sheffield thought his lip was cut, which enraged him.

Before tossing his relay throw, Sheffield attempted to hit back at the fan. Once he threw to the infield, a livid Sheffield said his memory of the Ron Artest incident stopped him from further retaliation.

"I thought Sheff practiced great restraint," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, adding that the Fenway security guard who leapt immediately over the 3-foot fence between Sheffield and the fan "deserves to be employee of the month."

The Yankees universally praised Red Sox security, less than two years after Levine railed against Boston's security in the wake of a bullpen brawl during the 2003 playoffs that resulted in charges filed against Yankees Karim Garcia and Jeff Nelson - both of whom eventually agreed to probation and community service.

Though players in the Yankees' bullpen rushed toward the incident, no players went into the stands. During spring training, players are subject to security meetings covering such incidents.

"We're pleased about that," Hallinan said, citing the Yanks' restraint. "Our training was helpful.

Mets first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, a member of the Red Sox' world championship team last season, defended the Fenway fans.

"It's just something that happened," said Mientkiewicz. "It's something that happened, but the thing is it's not fair if you punish the normal fan. You can't lump two or three morons into everyone else. The fans of Boston are some of the best fans in the world and you can't lump those people in. You don't get much better than Red Sox Nation."

"I thought Sheff did a great job of holding himself back," Mientkiewicz said. "Security did a great job. They can brief us all they want on security and all that stuff, but I thought Sheffield said it great when he said 'it's a baseball game.' What would you do if somebody walked up to you and hit you in the mouth? I think 99.99 percent of the public is going to retaliate. If [Sheffield] retaliates, he faces suspension."

"It's not an isolated incident," Mets pitcher Tom Glavine said. "We've had other incidents. You're walking a tightrope. Everyone is trying to make these ballparks more fan-friendly and get the fans closer to the action, and the flip side of that is that they are closer to the action and they're closer to being able to do other things.

"I don't know what the intention was, whether or not the guy was trying to hit Sheff or go for the ball or what he was trying to do. But you get these ballparks that are like that and fans are on top of the players and you run the risk of something happening. I don't want to say it's a problem yet, but, at the same time, I definitely see the potential for much more to happen more so than for it just going away."

"I don't think I ever got close to diving into the stands," Mets manager Willie Randolph said of his days as a player. "It's a different time. People think they are part of the team, I guess. I don't understand it.

"It's something they have to address, I think," Randolph said. "It's something going back for a couple of years now. The fans feel like they have the right to get involved. I don't understand that, but that's what it's become. But, yeah, security and maybe taking away beers, if you control some of that stuff. ... alcohol is part of what's going on, I'm sure. But, anytime that happens, you need to address it. If you don't address it, it's going to happen more."

[Dave's PA Rental]

Torre just dropped a few notches in my book...it's obvious that the guy wasnt swinging at Sheffield. He was looking toward home plate.

The guy who threw the beer, however, should be arrested and beaten within an inch of his life...

[POJO_Risin]

lmfao...I don't think it's as obvious either way as you Dave...either way...and I agree with you about the guy that threw the beer...

and am actually impressed with Sheff after the play...I'd have probably jumped into the stands...lmfao...

Am I the only one that thinks something really bad is going to happen at one of these games very soon?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

While I do think you're the only one doing a threesome with your two mutts , yeah I agree, it's only a matter of time....

[Bob_R]

The New York Yankees are close to reaching an agreement with city and state governments to build a new stadium, the Daily News reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper reported that lawyers from the city, state and team are completing a "memorandum of understanding" and that an announcement is expected around May 1.

While government and team officials did not comment directly about plans or the pending agreement, the newspaper said they did confirm that they are in the final stages.

"We're working very closely with the city and the state and trying to finalize our current plan," Yankees president Randy Levine told the Daily News. "We expect to announce it in the near future, and we hope to break ground in 2006 and be ready to play in 2009."

The new stadium will be built just north of the existing facility in the Bronx, and is designed to seat 50,800. That's smaller than the current capacity of 57,478, but the new ballpark will have more luxury suites.

The newspaper, citing officials familiar with the plans, reported that the new stadium will be comprised of two separate structures: an exterior wall, designed to replicate the original Yankee Stadium built in 1923, and the interior stadium itself.

The stadium construction will cost approximately $800 million and will be fully paid for by the team. The city and state will spend $300 million to build a new commuter rail station, improve parking, and create parkland along the nearby waterfront.

The new stadium will feature copper lattice work around its roof, much like the 1923 stadium. The new facility will also have expanded retail and concession areas.

[Figs]

the "new commuter rail station"

For decades, the Hudson Line goes right past the stadium and they've never built even a simple concrete platform there. Guess they could never get all the bribe money together. Only in New York....