The Trop is unbelievably loud tonight. More cowbells than the state of Iowa.
Pregame was interesting. Clearly Wang needs to do what he didn’t in his first start – keep the ball down. He’s been getting encouragement from A.J., who yesterday sent Wang an email in Chinese that read, “preparation for domination.”
A.J. uses a translation feature on his phone. He said Wang is teaching him Chinese, little by little. A.J. has been a really, really good teammate in his short time as a Yankee.
Alex arrived in the clubhouse at about 4 p.m. He looks happy, relaxed and thinner. He said he weighs the same, when I asked him. He also said being in Colorado has allowed him to take a “20-second timeout” from the circus that had been swirling around him. You could argue it was more like a full timeout.
Joe Maddon is one of the smartest, nicest men I’ve met in sports. He had a full offseason, following up the World Series by getting married and visiting the Bush White House in early January for one of those “baseball couples” dinners. He said it was awesome. (The marriage AND the White House.) Asked him about Longoria’s hot start and he said, “A sophomore jinx is the result of failure to make adjustments. He’s making adjustments.”
I like that kind of stuff.
Upton and Crawford will test Posada when they have the chance. They Rays have always believed they could run on Wang. And they think Kazmir, coming off a great spring, is already locked in.
Awesome day so far, sunshine, clear skies, fun atmosphere for the game.
Oh, that reminds me: It was my turn to buy dinner, and I took it. For a mere $46, Kay got chicken fingers, Flaherty and I had grilled chicken sandwiches, and Cone had a burger. Four orders of fries, thank you. And I channeled my background as a waitress to carry it all back to the booth at the same time.
Sadly, there won’t be blogging during the game. Logistically, it’s not practical tonight. We’ll catch up soon.
