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NEW TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN – The burly man carried his massive drum across the first level of Xinzhuang Stadium as if he was carrying an infant. He placed it behind a row of blue seats, rested his sticks on top of the drum and waited. He was one of the quietest men in the ballpark. But, eventually, that changed.

As soon as the Chinese Taipei National team hustled on to the field to play the visiting Major Leaguers, the man attacked the drums. He attacked them so vigorously that the folds of flesh on the back of his neck jiggled. The drummer was the essence of an intense fan, a portrait that was visible in hundreds of different shapes and colors throughout the stadium.

When Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson came to town, they noticed that the pulsating drums were only part of a festive

TAIPEI, Taiwan – When Curtis Granderson marched through the airport on Sunday afternoon, there were about two dozen reporters pointing cameras in his face. Granderson didn’t blink. Instead, Granderson mimicked them because he was pointing a video camera right back at them.

“They’re looking at me and I’m looking at them,” said Granderson, who moved as briskly as if he was dashing from first to third on a single.

When Granderson was introduced at a press conference for the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series, he happily waved to the dozens of photographers who were crowded inside a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt. The cameras clicked a little faster and a little louder, trying to capture Granderson’s simple, smart hello.

A few minutes later, Granderson’s

October 2, 

That was some win last night wasn't it? I mean that game had to be suspended and resumed and it turned out the official time on the game was 27 hours. Yikes. That's a LOT of baseball that goes around there. Anyway, the Yankees really got the crowd going with that great win. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous when Doug Fister came on the mound and dominated the Yankees from innings 2-5, but even though Robinson Cano got all the credit last night, I still give my credit to the slappy hitter himself, Brett Gardner.

Face it Yankees fans, there is no way that Robinson Cano hits that Grand Slam without Brett Gardner's two out, two RBI single. It's just not possible. So sure. let Robinson Cano take all the credit, but remember that someone had to give Cano a chance

Introducing your American League East Division Champions: New York Yankees!

And what a suprise it is! The Yankees weren't supposed to win anything in 2011. This was the off season when the rival Red Sox started spending like the Yakees and making all of the important aquisitions (Adrian Gonzales and Carl Crawford for $296 million). This was the off season where the Yankees failed to sign front line starting pitcher Cliff Lee despite throwing ridicuous money at him and also lost veteran Andy Pettitte to retirement. This was the off season in which the Yankees most important signings were Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. The Yankees had alot of blanks to fill and their biggest signing was someone who the General Manager didn't even want to sign ($36 million for Rafael

Everyone has dates in history they recall for certain reasons. For the international scouting department of the Yankees, it is fair to say they might have memories of the following dates:

January 5, 2001, July 15, 2004 and July 2, 2006.

Those are random dates and perhaps even somebody you know has that as their birthday. Those dates also represent when Robinson Cano, Ivan Nova and Jesus Montero became part of the Yankee organization in the international signing market.

Cano was the first to sign, becoming a Yankee on the first day of 2001 as the Yankees were three-time defending champions. That day several other players signed as free agents, including Bobby Bonilla, who signed a deal with the Cardinals that lasted 93 games.

Nova was second to become a Yankee, signing on the first Thursday

From what started to be a huge blowout for the Yankees, turned out to be a laugher. Just watching the game from the beginning, the Athletics were pouring on runs. It was 7-1 in the fourth, when I angrily told my followers on twitter that I had a feeling the game was over. I don't know what exactly, but I think it had to do with the momentum of Russel Martin's 1st HR that helped the Yankees win the ball game 22-9.

When Russel Martin hit that 1st HR I jokingly at the time told my followers "We can come back." Little did I know that I would be right. The Yankees tacked on not 1, not 2 but 3 grand slams the most in major league baseball histroy. Each grand slam had a specific purpose in the ball game whether anyone noticed or not. The first one was Robinson Cano's which made the deficit from

Grampa Godino says he doesn’t have a first name anymore. It used to be Charles, technically still is, he contends. Charles Godino, professor of mathematics, Brooklyn College. But to Megan Ajello and her younger sister Erin he’s Grampa, and that’s how he introduces himself. 

“Hi, nice to meet you I’m Megan’s Grampa.”

This is a hot, sunny July afternoon on a nice tree-lined Staten Island street, a half mile or so from the Prince’s Bay railroad station.  Quiet, middle class suburban neighborhood here. Single family homes, two-car garages, basketball hoops, neat front lawns here. Hedges and flower gardens and bicycles leaning on kickstands here. And today all these Yankee baseball players, famous models, reporters and television cameras

What you witnessed from the Yankees was a rare thing these days and that is not just a series victory against the Angels in Anaheim.

The rarity is the Seattle-Oakland-Anaheim trip and making all those stops on the same trip. That trip is rarity because of things like having to play six series against division rivals and having to play interleague games.

The unbalanced schedule has been in place since 2001 and interleague play has existed since 1997, meaning that the three city West Coast trip is mostly a thing of the past. It usually gets combined with something strange like Chicago-Seattle-New York, which the Yankees did in 2007 or Anaheim-Seattle-Toronto, which the Yankees will do in the middle of September.

The last time the Yankees had a trip that actually was scheduled in this manner

Today is May 21 and for the second year in a row on this date, the Yankees are playing the Mets. Last year, it was Javier Vazquez on the mound in one of his finest moments as a Yankee. Five years ago on this date, the Mets were winners over the Yankee at Shea Stadium when Carlos Delgado and David Wright hit home runs off Aaron Small.

Small was like R.A. Dickey for the Yankees back then but the follow-up to a 10-0 2005 season did not end well, similiar to how Dickey had struggled until last night.

Speaking of struggles, the Yankees have lost six straight home games and this is the second skid of that length since the 95-loss 1990 season. The other was during this in May 2003 when the Yankees dropped eight straight May 16-26, 2003, a stretch that included a four-game sweep to the Toronto