Favorite: July 14, Fenway. Yanks tie the game 6-6 in the 8th, then Schilling enters in the 9th, his first relief appearance. Standing ovation, cameras flash ... but then Sheffield's nearly knocks the left field wall down with a double, followed by A-Rod's gargantuan home run to left center. 8-6 Yankee win.

Least favorite: Game 3, ALDS. Randy Johnson and the Yankee pitchers stink up the place, leading to an 11-7 loss. Awful awful awful.

M Rivera relieved T Gordon.
J Damon struck out swinging.
E Renteria struck out swinging.
D Ortiz struck out swinging.

As for a least favorite momnet, I think choosing to sign Wright and Pavano and passing on Beltran set the tone for a sub-par year. It was a crushing moment for me when Beltran held up the Mets jersey.

But after all was said and done, I was really proud of the team coming from behind to keep their division title and their ass-kicking sencond half.

The low point has to be that awful June road trip: being swept by the Royals,the Brewers winning 2 - 3 and the Cards winning 2 of 3, it was all set-up by the Pavano shellacking vs the Sux. It's hard not to think about the ALDS, but everything it took for the Yankees to get to that point filled me with so much joy-and-pain (its a Rob Base world) that it was easy for me to forget about their post-season collapse (RJ's meltdown and ARod's DP).

The best game of the season has to be the RJ vs. Wakefield game. What a game, what a game. Plus it was the start of football season that day, so the bar was hopping with 1 o'clock football and baseball. It was great day to be a man, a sports fan and a Yankee and Giant fan.

Yanks were down 7-3 going into the last half of the 9th - I remember it well because I had just jumped in the car for an hour's trip to my in-laws, and obviously not being in the best of moods because it looked like we were about to lose another one to KC. I drove all the way down with my mouth agape, listening in disbelief as the Yanks banged out hit after hit to come back and win it... I pounded the steering wheel and blew my lungs out as A-Rod delivered that last RBI to make it 8-7 Yanks.

Sterling was in rare form, and the rest of the day I was floating....

Worst moment of 2005: I know it was early in the season, but I felt nauseous after watching Mariano give up 5 runs in the 9th inning to the defending World Champion Red Sox on April 5th. He had also blown a save the day before (Yanks returned the favor to Foulke and won it), and it was starting to look like Mo was starting to break down a bit. Scary few weeks for all Yankees fans as we held our breath and waited for the Rivera of old to make his 2005 debut...

Yanks went into a tailspin for the remainder of the month, and it was not shaping up to be a fun ride...

1. August Friday night game against KC--Bernie homered twice. I thought I might never get to see him play a home game in the Bronx ever again, and he made it worthwhile.

2. Game 4 of the ALDS was a pretty excellent baseball game, and Rivera's ninth inning performance is yet another example of why I love having him on this team.

I'm pretty sure one of Eduardo Perez's 4 billion homeruns off Randy was the low-point for me. Although, A-Rod bouncing into that DP in game 5 hurt a lot.

Thanks for reminding me of that KC game. It was truly incredible, one of those experiences that reminds you of why baseball is the most amazing game ...

- R. Sierra grounded out to second, R. Cano scored, D. Jeter to second
- A. Rodriguez singled to left, D. Jeter scored, G. Sheffield to second
- H. Matsui doubled to deep right, G. Sheffield scored, A. Rodriguez to third
- B. Williams tripled to deep center, A. Rodriguez, H. Matsui and R. Johnson scored
- J. Posada homered to deep right, B. Williams scored
- G. Sheffield homered to deep left, D. Jeter and R. Sierra scored
- A. Rodriguez homered to deep right
- H. Matsui homered to deep center

Definitely ranks up there.

Oh yeah - Hi fellas. I'm new around here.

And, if we're projecting ahead, my favorite 2006 Red Sox moment, if I could choose it, would be to watch Curt Schillng delivering lunch to George Bush through the bars at Leavenworth.

As for post 12, I suspect most of the posters here enjoy toying with me as much as I enjoy toying with them. I've never sensed a moment of hostility. My favorite times here, I'll admit, were watching guys ready to jump from the Empire State building during awful games of the last season. If you go through the archives, you'll note that I never posted during tough Yankee games. This is a friendly place, I've found, and I'm not one to pour salt in your wounds. My comment above refers to a wound I suspect is long since healed.

I think that #12 was a little off, I don't feel that way. This is bronx-BANTER, so the fact that Da Breeze comes here and gives us a hard time and keeps us flying straight is not a bad thing. That's my .02.

Overall getting back into the AL East and winning it after the geniuses declared us dead in May was sweet. Giambi's turn around was also great. I found myself rooting for him on a personal level. I can't believe I'm going to say this about Giambi but there was a quiet dignity about the way he approached things that made him appear noble. Dignity and noble in a sentence about Giambi, who would have thunk it? My favorite Yankee moment for me was Cano tossing my son a ball while he was taking outfield. He gave him a wink, a nod, a thumbs up and a ball now he has two fans for life.

Least favorite: Watching Tony Womack play for a lengthy period of time (although, I do wish to thank him for being selfless in playing any fielding position that the Yankees wanted him to play), watching Randy "4 HR in an inning" Johnson, general suckitude against Devil-Rays, Redding-May-Franklyn combo etc. etc..

I don't know how the lowest moment can't be the Crosby/Sheffield collision and all the missed opportunities in Game 5 of the ALDS. Or watching the White Sox roll over a team that wasn't as good as the Yankees on their way to the WS.

Not-so-favorite moments:
- ALDS game 3 (noted without comment)
- every Saturday game I attended at the Stadium. Aside from Wang's debut and the Cubs game, they always seemed to lose (and lose ugly) on Saturdays when I was there.
- Bubba and Sheff colliding during game 5.

RJ's Game 3 suckitude was the worst.

In other news, I appreciate debris's candor as a Red Sox fan here. S/he keeps everybody pretty honest without being base.

You don't have to travel far in the blogosphere (I hate that word) to find Yankees/Red Sox forums that resemble Romper Room. I appreciate a well timed FU as much as the next guy (almost certainly even more than the next guy, actually), but there's nothing to learn from an internet rock fight, and there's not much to learn from an internet cheerleading session, either. Not that BB is a cheerleading session, but I think you get my drift.

One day, some Red Sox goon will find Bronx Banter and stink up the joint, and that will be a bummer. But debris isn't that guy/gal.

debris! You make me think critically about baseball! You make others bring their A game! That's great! Keep it up!

Good luck to the 2006 Red Sox and their fight with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for third place in the AL East! I think they have a chance!

Some favorites of mine that haven't been mentioned yet:
- Tino catching fire and carrying the team with homerun after homerun when the team really needed him
- Cano replacing Womack and becoming an everyday player
- Wang getting a chance to show that our farm system isn't really THAT bad.

Some moments that stung:
- Johnson getting rocked by Perez and the Rays
- The KC sweep
- The David Wells pitched Sunday night game when the Sox spanked the Yanks.
- Game 3 and 5 of the playoffs go without saying (but I have to say it anyway)

LOW-WATER MARK: Game 5 - 9th Inning. Arod's nervous little swing resulting in "The DoublePlay Heard 'Round The World".

Plus, as someone else pointed out recently, his moniker is also the title of a great Faces song. That he reminds of that song everyday is a good thing.

Also, the 13 run bottom of the 8th vs Tampa, with Posada, Sheff, A-Rod and Matsui all homering.

// Good luck to the 2006 Red Sox and their fight with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for third place in the AL East! //

It's still a little early to be writing off the Sox, isn't it? Sure they don't have a SS or CF right now, but this time a few years ago the Yankees didn't have a 3B. In 50 days we can all start making better predictions...

You can listen again if you paste the following onto your browser's address bar:
javascript:void(playMedia2({w_id:'431738',w:'2005/open/teams05/nya/audio/062105_williams_triple.wma',pid:%20'gen_audio',gid:%20'2005/06/21/tbamlb-nyamlb-1',cid:%20'mlb',fid:%20'gen_audio12',v:'2'}))

The A-Rod homer that landed parallel to the left field bleachers. That shot and Juan Encarnacion's bleacher homer a few years back were the most unbelievable bombs I've seen by righties at Yankee stadium.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/wrapup.jsp?ymd=20050621&content_id=1098721&vkey=wrapup2004&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

A-rod's 3 homer game against Colon was fantastic.

I assume they'll do a decent job addressing this issue but we'll see.

The worst moment? Any game during which Tony Womack was a leadoff hitter. I didn't get to see those games on TV as I was in school in Boston, but it was still painful following it on MLB.com.

It's relevant because in two short weeks, the Sox have gone from beneficiaries of a world wide conspiracy to also rans despite the fact that they have gone undefeated during that same time period.

I have read no comment here relegating the Sawx to the status of an also ran; except perhaps your own. I find it amusing that you, of all bloggers, should find a perceived inconsistency so disturbing. What's the matter Trashman, you finding it a little warm in the kitchen. Don't be so obvious it doesn't become a member of a once proud nation. Ah, the gifts just keep rolling in.

I assume you mean the Beckett deal.

That was Marlins fire sale, and I dont think given the question marks over Beckett and Lowell's last year performance, that the Marlins did all that bad. But Sox get more proven talent, and Loria's previous connections with Henry was what prompted the conspiracy theories, fair or not.

The two most ridiculous trades were Renteria for Marte and Mirabelli for Loretta. I think it is the last one that has the tongue wagging for conspiracy theorists, given past relationship of Lucchino to that franchise, and with other previous trades (Payton and Vazquez for Dave Roberts etc.).

Please, anyone but Scalia.

The sheer hatred he faced, the totality of all of the steroid mania falling on his shoulders (as the only admitted or proven user at the time), along with finding a tumor in his body, made for an almost impossible situation. I don't remember the game, but Jason's upper deck walkoff HR was my highlight. It was the beginning of his comeback, shortly after being 'asked' to go to the MINORS, and a few weeks later he caught fire.

The reception from his teammates he got at the plate, was truly heartwarming. I really wished I was there to say welcome back.

It might not be on a par with the Lance Armstrong comeback, but I believe it was a truly historic moment, and a gutty against all (most?) odds comeback.

Comparing Giambi to Robinson? You've GOT to be kidding me! People hated Jackie because they were racist