Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5

Totally forgot about this game until a couple of days ago... it's been a busy June (as always) and a heckuva busy July. Fortunately, my buddy Grit cares about the 4th of July about as much as I do and had no plans for the afternoon.

I had high hopes for the event, as "festivities" were planned in honor of Lou Gehrig and general awareness about ALS. I was stoned out of my mind at a game seven years ago when James Gandolfini read the "luckiest man" speech before the first pitch. A surreal moment, to say the least. Who would they pick to deliver the speech this year? My money was on Mike Francesa, while Grit was rooting for Joe Pesci. I had Chazz Palminteri as a dark, dark horse.

All for naught, as the speech was hacked to bits by members of the Yanks on the scoreboard. True Yankees like Nick Swisher got to pay their tributes to the Iron Horse in what seemed more like a promotional spot than a heartfelt reading. I guess I shouldn't complain, but...

Then it got a lot more uncomfortable. They did a little piece on a guy who actually has ALS, and then wheeled him out to throw the first pitch. Pretty moving, but then they had to announced that he would be pitching underhand because of the devastating effects of his disease. Were they afraid we'd boo the freaking guy?! Maybe at a Knicks game, but not in the Stadium!

While I'm at it, apparently we've installed the world's most expensive video screen so fans can see a transciption of the lyrics to the Outfield's "Your Love" while we try to enjoy a baseball game.

Pretty mellow game, at least until the end. Most of the drama was supplied by a poor mom dropping her tray of fries right in the entrance to our section, splashing ketchup all over the stairs. Her white pants didn't help the situation. Happy to report that the Stadium's crack staff was right on detail, mopping up the red mess within minutes of the accident. They also made sure to warn oncoming foot traffic about the messy area.

This might be the best thing about our new Bronx digs- the support services. I've had nothing but the best experiences with strollers, beer, bathrooms, you name it! Even the dumb ones do everything with such aplomb! Some lovely lady even took me and Grit's picture while we were standing around drinking beer, and gave us a card with a link to the photo! On top of that, we've been offered the option to purchase prints, engraved fridge magnets and other pieces bearing our collective likeness for prices ranging from $14.99 to $349.99! Let's go Yankees!!!

We had our usual rock critic back-and-forth during the middle innings, this time fueled by a Classic Albums installment featuring Lou Reed's Transformer. Remember Rolling Stones "Top 100 Albums" list from '87? Well, we sure do. That was good for a solid 30 minutes of rock-wank. Great fun.

Anyway, we ended up with our second walk-off Saturday game together- 2 for 2 on the year. Maybe we'll make one more trip together near the end of the season for one of the Sox games... Reverse the Curse!!!