Monthly Archives: August 2009

When I first heard about Judd Apatow’s latest movie, Funny People, I cringed. The movie poster didn’t help any.  This one is billed as his “serious” movie, the one with ambition, Annie Hall as told by James L. Brooks. But I figured that I enjoyed the 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up–not to mention the terrific, short-lived TV show Freaks and Geeks–enough to give it a shot.

Apatow’s third movie has more in common with Brooks than Allen but in the best possible way because Apatow likes people and isn’t afraid to show it. He has great affection for his characters and his movies are unashamedly earnest. (He’s anti-snark.) This is Apatow’s defining quality as a filmmaker. His movies are filled with small surprises, the interplay between the actors (he loves his actors). Funny People is too long but I didn’t mind the meandering pace. It lags in spots. Some of the story is hard to believe. The women don’t have great parts. Apatow has the tendency to simplify complicated relationships and the characters often come across as thin. There is something facile about his world view at times–things work out in his movies in a way that feels too neat.

But still, there is an emotional directness in Funny People, a movie that seems more autobiographical and personal than Apatow’s first two movies, that is winning. Leslie Mann, the director’s wife in real-life, has an under-written role, but does the most with it, with great comic timing.

I think Seth Rogan is miscast in the role of Adam Sandler’s protoge–he is limited as an actor–but far from terrible because he has such a warm presence. And I don’t think that Sandler has the depth to hit the emotional high-notes–he tightens-up, and is flat when he’s asked to bare his soul to Mann–but he too is far from terrible. Often, especially when he’s with Rogan, he nails the character, which is loosely based on his own life.

But this movie is about Apatow, not Sandler, and Sandler doesn’t have the winking self-satire chops of Jack Nicholson in his prime–it doesn’t feel as if he’s revealing anything of himself through this character.  (His character is a stand-in for Apatow and in many ways, the movie feels like a loving apology to his wife and kids for being a filmmaker–aka a selfish bastard.)

But Sandler is watchable. The whole movie is. It is flawed and has its limitations but it is like good comfort food: designed to make you feel good (especially if you like dick jokes). It is the best-looking Apatow movie; the editing is crisp. There are a few too many self-aware music sequences but that’s easy to forgive. Oh, yeah, and it’s funny. The most effective stuff in the movie may be the side-plot with Rogan and his self-involved roommates, played by Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman. And Eric Bana is terrific in a small role.

Apatow’s movies are about how American men don’t want to grow up. He is not edgy; he believes in happy endings. He’s a sap really, but too knowing to be sappy. He is a moralist and his characters are trying to do the right thing. If they treat each other badly they usually feel cruddy about it and apologize. Are happy comedians fun to watch? Not for everyone and I can see why this movie has drawn such strong reactions, pro and con. But is it the worst thing in the world to watch to see people want to treat each other well and live happily ever after?

Not if they are still funny.

Today’s news is powered by baseball-playing robots:

• Hideki’s knee acting up:

Hideki Matsui was held out of the New York Yankees’ lineup on Sunday, got his swollen knee drained and will likely miss at least one more game.

Manager Joe Girardi said after New York lost for just the second time in 14 games on Sunday, 10-3 to Seattle, that the designated hitter will have his surgically repaired knee reevaluated on Tuesday to see if the 35-year-old can play the second game of a series at Oakland. That’s New York’s next stop on its season-long, 10-game road trip.

“That is why we are careful with him, because he is really important to our lineup,” Girardi said.

Matsui had his second two-homer game of the season and a season-high five RBIs on Friday. He spoke afterward with huge ice packs on both knees, then sat out Saturday.

• Tom Terrific on the Joba Rules/Map:

“Tell me, how does a pitcher get to the next level unless he’s tested under fire?” (Tom) Seaver asked. “Where are you going to find the next Bob Gibson or Nolan Ryan or Steve Carlton unless a young pitcher is pushed? You won’t.”

. . . “[The Yankees] probably have a lot of money invested in Chamberlain, it’s a financial thing and they want to protect him. But he won’t reach his baseball limit this way.”

Seaver’s rejection of the innings limit is based on a single premise: A pitcher builds his arm by throwing, not resting. Seaver cites his own body of work as proof. At 23, the same age as Chamberlain, Seaver threw 277 innings and zoomed up to 290 innings only two years later in 1970.

By contrast, the Yankees are carefully rationing Chamberlain’s final 32 innings before he reaches his cutoff at 160. While Seaver considers such coddling counter-intuitive, if not damaging, the Yankees say the old-schoolers are just plain wrong.

. . . What Seaver probably doesn’t know, say the Yankees, is that Chamberlain threw only 100 innings in 2008. There are numerous examples of young pitchers who’ve been injured after increasing their workload by more than 30 innings the following year.

. . . “What really galls me is seeing a pitcher taken out of game that he’s dominating the opposing team,” Seaver said. “These people today don’t understand what it means to walk off the mound after holding the other team down for nine innings, the feeling of triumph for your own team — and the effect it has on the players in the other dugout.

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Well, the Yankees finally took one on the chin. Joba Chamberlain wasn’t great and the bullpen was worse as the Mariners rolled over the Yanks 10-3. See ya next week, Joba.

Derek Jeter had three hits. He passed Luis Aparicio for the most hits ever by a shortstop. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Yanks don’t lose any ground as the Red Sox lost in Texas again. Hideki Matsui is listed as day-to-day. He might have to have his knee drained of fluid.

That’s what it is in New York City today.

It’s the kind of day where going across the street to get the papers (get the papers) is enough to make you want to take a nap.

But we’ll keep cool as the Yanks go for the sweep this afternoon. Joba’s on the hill.

Bring it, boyo.

I didn’t realize the Mariners were this bad. Careless fielding the past two nights have cost them dearly and the Yankees aren’t currently in the mood to let mistakes pass unnoticed. So when Franklyn Gutierrez and Ichiro Suzuki let a fly ball drop in the second inning, the Yanks pounced. The play led to Nick Swisher’s three run jack to left field which put the Yanks up 4-1. From there, they cruised. Derek Jeter added a solo homer in the ninth and the Bombers got a decent start from Serge Mitre who allowed one earned run in 5.1 innings. David Robertson, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera did not allow a run (though Rivera walked another batter–what is this world coming to?).

Final Score: Yanks 5, Mariners 2.

The win puts the Yankees 7.5 games ahead of the Red Sox who lost in Texas last night. New York has won 12 of its last 13. Mmmm, mmmm, good.

My wife says I am absolutely not allowed to shout and moan about the game today. And I’m not allowed to write that she doesn’t get it. I nodded my head as she spoke and she said, “You haven’t heard a word I said, have you?” I did and won’t bitch today but why let her know that?

Selective hearing, you know. Another key to a beautiful marriage.

The Yanks are rolling like De La Soul roller skatin’ Saturdays.

They’ll keep us up late again tonight, another 10 pm start. Serge Mitre looks to make good and tame the weak Seattle line-up. Here’s hoping he does just that.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

For a while there tonight’s game had all the makings of another long extra-innings affair. But Mark Teixeira’s no-doubt homer broke a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning, Mariano Rivera laughed in the face of shoulder soreness, and the Yankees beat Seattle 4-2.

I was thinking tonight about how much I’m going to miss Andy Pettitte, whenever he decides to retire. He’s rarely been the best pitcher on staff at any given time, good rather than great most years, but he’s blissfully no-nonsense – and at this point in his career, he’s one of the best at fighting through on nights when he “doesn’t have his good stuff”. With Pettitte you always know that if he’s going down, he’s going down swinging (so to speak… not in the literal Robinson Cano sense).

Pettitte gave up two runs in the first inning, two singles and a double and an RBI ground out in quick succession. But he pushed through, adjusted just enough, and clawed his way through six innings without any more damage – in fact he struck out 10, a season high, though that’s probably more a reflection on Seattle’s hitters. After Pettitte left the game Brian Bruney, Phil Hughes and  a seemingly just fine Rivera pitched a scoreless inning each.

The Mariners’ Ryan Rowland-Smith, whose name evokes a discreet John Le Carré character more than a pitcher, matched Pettitte all the way. The Yankees could only eke out two runs against him, in the second inning when Jorge Posada doubled and scored on a Jerry Hairston Jr. grounder, and in the fifth when Derek Jeter singled in Melky Cabrera (a hit that appeared to be not so much seeing-eye as sonar-equipped). After that things stayed even until Teixeira connected in the ninth, and Nick Swisher knocked in Cano for a nice fluffy insurance run.

The Yanks are 30 games over .500 now and on one of those lovely little rolls where nearly everything goes right. It won’t last forever, but maybe through tomorrow? Mitre! French! Saturday at 10:10 PM Bronx time.

Yanks look to keep on rolling tonight in Seattle. Andy Pettitte, who has been hot, goes for the Yanks. Let’s hope he’s got some more for us.

Dig in. And Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve given in to the trend and opened a twitter account. I have no idea what will become of it, but I hope to keep it regularly updated with random thoughts, random stats, links to my non-Banter articles, and perhaps the occasional bit of news (though surely someone in comments will beat me to the last). I have a few posts up there already on Sean Black, Alex Rodriguez, and Amani Toomer. If you’re so inclined, follow along.

Today’s news is powered by the memory of a music legend, Mr. Les Paul:

• The “Joba Rules” have some quirks:

Joe Girardi announced Joba Chamberlain will start on Wednesday in Oakland, which will be on seven days’ rest and prevent him from pitching against Boston in next weekend’s series. Girardi also said that come playoff time, the Joba Rules may be waived as it will be “all hands on deck.”

“This is part of the plan, and this is what we have to do because this is not just about the next two months,” Girardi said of the varying degrees of rest between starts. “This is about years and years to come.”

• A couple of choice Q&As from Thursday’s online chat with Steven Goldman at Baseball Prospectus:

Pete (Bronx): If you were Brian Cashman, what would you offer Johnny Damon to re-sign? 2 years for ?? million?

Steven Goldman: It seems like the assumption now is that Damon should be brought back. Given that the Yankees don’t have great alternatives (Austin Jackson’s MLE doesn’t inspire confidence)and the free agent class is not bursting with possibilities, maybe it’s a reasonable assumption. I do worry about Damon being a product of Friendly YS II (or III, really), with only .273/.346/.459 rates on the road and declining defense. Two years would be my upper limit… I really wonder if Damon is going to last long enough to get 3,000 hits and wind up as a totally unexpected HOFer. It could happen.

Jeff P (NYC): Hi Steve, thanks for the chat. What are your thoughts on how Girardi handles the Yanks’ pen? He seems to be excellent strategically (players know and are comfortable with their roles, no one’s overworked, flexible in who has what role) but mediocre tactically (who to bring in to face which batters).

Steven Goldman: I think you’ve nailed it exactly. As I said earlier, in both of his seasons in New York, he’s started with one bullpen and finished with another, and after more than a decade of Joe Torre’s obsessive focus on one or two relievers, as well as blind loyalty to anyone who had been on the roster for more than 15 minutes, it’s been quite refreshing. If Torre were here, we’d still be watching balls hit off of Edwar Ramirez fly over the moon… It’s been so long since I’ve seen a manager who excelled at pen matchups on a regular basis. Who would you rate as tops at that? Scioscia? LaRussa?

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Despite not having Alex Rodriguez (elbow) or Jorge Posada (finger) in the lineup, everything went right for the Yankees Thursday night. The offense dropped some early runs on Ian Snell, ran up the score as the game progressed, and CC Sabathia held the M’s to three hits over eight innings, allowing just one run on a solo shot inside the left-field foul pole by replacement shortstop Josh Wilson, and striking out ten.

The Yanks got a pair of two-out runs off Snell in the top of the second, but the key sequence of the game came in the top of the third, when they added three more runs over the course of just five pitches. Derek Jeter, who showed no ill-effects of being hit in the right foot by a pitch on Wednesday night, led off with a first-pitch home run over the home bullpen in the left-center gap. Johnny Damon followed by doubling on a 1-0 pitch, and after Mark Teixeira pushed him to third on a first-pitch groundout, Hideki Matsui hit Snell’s next offering into the seats in right-center for a two-run jack, his first of two in the game.

With subs in for Jeter and Damon, Brian Bruney mopped up with a 1-2-3 ninth, sealing the 11-1 win for the Yanks.

The Yankees avoided a post-Red Sox let-down by taking two of three from the Blue Jays, but they needed eleven innings to take the rubber game and a late-game comeback to win Game 2. Now they’re coming off a cross-country flight with Derek Jeter (foot), Alex Rodriguez (elbow), and Jorge Posada (middle finger on throwing hand) all smarting from being hit by the ball in Wednesday afternoon’s nearly-four-hour marathon.

The good news is they’re playing the Mariners. The Yankees took two of three from the M’s in the Bronx as June turned into July and the M’s are 9-10 over their last six series. Like the Yankees, the Mariners are also coming off a nearly-four-hour extra-inning win (1-0 in 14 frames over the White Sox) that saw their shortstop, the newly acquired Jack Wilson, leave with an injury (hamstring).

The Mariners are also a bad team that is wildly outperforming its Pythagorean record thanks to the league’s best defense and correspondingly strong pitching. Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, and Jarrod Washburn have combined to pitch 374 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA for the Mariners. Fortunately for the Yankees, Washburn is now a Detroit Tiger, Bedard is about on the disabled list headed for season-ending shoulder surgery, and Hernandez pitched yesterday and will miss this four-game set.

Which leaves what exactly? A team with the worst offense in baseball, a negative run differential, a replacement-level rotation, and a few spectacular glove men (Beltre, Gutierrez, Suzuki, and Wilson, who, like Jeter, is back in the lineup tonight).

Tonight, the M’s offer Ian Snell, a 27-year-old righty who has fallen hard from his breakout 2006 season and was toiling away in Triple-A for the Pirates, who were all too happy to unload him on the M’s in the Jack Wilson trade. The Mariners are banking on the moody Snell, who had fallen out with Pirates management, benefiting from a change of scenery that involves a pitchers park and a strong defense. It worked for one start, ironically in the Rangers’ launching pad. In his second Mariner outing, and first at Safeco, he walked six men in 1 1/3 innings before getting the hook.

I ridiculed the Wilson-Snell deal on SI.com. True, I took the short-view, analyzing the trade as the M’s attempt to thrust themselves into the Wild Card race (this was before they traded Washburn), but even looking at Wilson as a multi-year solution at shortstop on a defense-first team (a sketchy premise given the 31-year-old’s fragility and below-average bat, even for a shortstop), I find the trade uninspiring at best.

Snell faces CC Sabathia, who is coming off his biggest Yankee start (7 2/3 scoreless frames of two-hit ball in which he struck out nine Red Sox). CC actually struggled against the Mariners in July, allowing six runs on ten hits in 5 2/3 innings, and he’s been up and down since, often battling through a lack of command. Still, he’s 5-2 since that loss to the M’s, and that last start was a a beauty.

Alex Rodriguez, as previously scheduled, and Jorge Posada get the night off. Derek Jeter is in the lineup, of course. Jerry Hairston Jr. plays third and bats eighth. Jose Molina catches and bats ninth. The rest of the regulars are above them.

(more…)

Bronson Arroyo talks turkey.

Two comments from local sports talk radio that were uttered this week absolutely need to be addressed:

First, on Monday, Michael Kay, reveling in the Yankees’ sweep of the Red Sox, commented on his afternoon show that the Red Sox — and I paraphrase here — “finally misplayed their hand at the trade deadline by not getting Roy Halladay. They made the move for Victor Martinez, who doesn’t have a position. They tried to get Felix Hernandez from the Mariners. They should have given Toronto whatever it wanted to get Roy Halladay. They’re holding on to Clay Buchholz, who’s 25 years old. Getting Halladay would have put them in position to make a run this year and next year. The Red Sox finally misplayed their hand.”

To my former colleague, I say, “Huh? Did they really?” I don’t know about you but when I saw the news that the Sox got Victor Martinez and the Yankees’ big move was Jerry Hairston, Jr., the fan in me was sulking for a few hours. Then I got to thinking, “This puts Terry Francona in a bind as far as maneuvering Martinez, Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell. But that’s a decent problem to have.” Plus, who’s to say that the Red Sox didn’t offer everything the Blue Jays wanted? It’s entirely possible that Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi had no intention of trading Halladay to a division rival at this stage of the season.

(My guess, and this is just a hunch with no inside information at all: Halladay goes to some team flush with money like the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies or Dodgers, in a deal similar to the one struck between the Sox and Marlins that sent Hanley Ramirez to Florida and brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston. Halladay would obviously be the centerpiece, and I imagine Vernon Wells and his bloated contract would be an add-on, much like Lowell was in the aforementioned deal, in exchange for a name major leaguer and some major-league ready prospects.)

Back to Theo Epstein and the Red Sox “misplaying their hand” … Kay went on to say that having Beckett, Lester and Halladay 1-2-3, with Matsuzaka and Wakefield bringing up the back of the rotation when they come off the DL was a risk the Red Sox had to take, and they didn’t. I still believe they’re a playoff team without Halladay, provided their bullpen can hold up and Francona pushes the right lineup buttons.

Moreover, and Kay of all people knows this from being around the Yankees and Red Sox for so long, it would have been inconsistent with Epstein’s pattern to make a deal for someone like Halladay at the deadline. He’s more apt to jump on it in the offseason, like he did with Curt Schilling, arrange the trade and sign Halladay to an extension right away.

Your thoughts on this are welcome.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan:

• Key Yankees bruised and ailing:

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both hit by pitches, are questionable for Thursday’s series opener against the Mariners — Rodriguez more uncertain than Jeter. Catcher Jorge Posada, who took a foul ball off his right hand and a series of other pitches off his body during Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Blue Jays, is also unsure whether he will play. And closer Mariano Rivera, who woke up Wednesday with a sore right shoulder, is similarly in question.

[My take: Hughes should be the closer for the next week.  Give the Mo Man a full rest.]

• A very interesting quote from the manager on bullpen usage, courtesy of Baseball Prospectus:

. . . Girardi is being lauded for turning a bullpen that, beyond closer Mariano Rivera, was perceived to be a weakness to many mainstream observers coming into the season into a strong point. Girardi has pieced together a quality bullpen without having any of his pitchers ranking in the top 10 in the AL in relief innings pitched.

“The bullpen, to me, is something you really have to watch,” Girardi said. “You have to be careful that you don’t fall in love with one guy because then you wear him down and he no longer can be effective. The key is to be effective for the whole year, not just two weeks or a month.”

Girardi’s approach is not lost on his relievers. “Phillip Hughes is the eighth-inning guy but it’s not like he’s going to pitch every day,” right-hander Brian Bruney told the New York Post’s Larry Brooks. “Everybody responds to pressure situations because we’re rested and ready. Girardi is careful with the way he uses us. He communicates directly with us more than any manager I ever played for.”

[My take: So Aceves is NOT Scott Proctor?  And Phil Hughes REALLY DOES understand his role?]

(more…)

The Yankees had a scary day on Wednesday. In an afternoon rubber game against the Blue Jays, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez all got hit hard by baseballs, Jeter in the foot, Posada in the hand, and Rodriguez in the elbow. As fits how well things have been going for this team, however, the Yankees turned what what looked like a series of season-altering injuries into a pair of runs and yet another walk-off win.

Jeter got hit in the right foot by a 1-2 curveball from Jays lefty Ricky Romero leading off the bottom of the first. He crumpled to the ground like one of those old toys, but got back up, limped to first, hobbled to third on Johnny Damon’s ensuing double, made a slick baserunning play by drawing a throw home from Edwin Encarnacion on a potential inning-ending around-the-horn double play, then diving back to third ahead of catcher Raul Chavez’s throw, and finally scored on a Jorge Posada groundout.

Jeter didn’t get a fielding chance in the top of the second and in his next at-bat in the bottom of the inning, he ground to an inning-ending fielder’s choice and headed straight for the trainer’s room after hobbling to first. Fortunately, his x-rays were negative.

Randy Ruiz–a Bronx native, former Trenton Thunder teammate of Phil Hughes, and now a 31-year-old rookie with a career .304/.378/.531 line and 192 homers in the minor leagues–deposited an A.J. Burnett fastball in the visiting bullpen in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1. Johnny Damon and Robinson Cano added solo shots in the third and fourth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

Burnett gave that up in the top of the sixth when Ruiz and Encarnacion singled with one out and moved to second and third on a wild pitch. Chavez singled home Ruiz, then with two outs and a 2-2 count on Marco Scutaro, Burnett uncorked another wild pitch that bounced between Posada’s legs and brought Encarnacion home with the tying run. Burnett led the majors with 14 wild pitches entering the game, added three more to his total and also hit home plate umpire Joe West in the chest on the fly with a fastball that crossed up Posada, but refused to discuss his wildness after the game.

In addition to having to chase all of those wild pitches, Posada was hit in the throwing hand (specifically the knuckle of his middle finger) by a foul tip in the top of the eighth. He stayed in the game and said afterwords that his hand will be fine.

Meanwhile the game remained tied at 3-3. Romero left after a 1-2-3 sixth and 109 pitches. Brandon League followed by allowing just one baserunner in three scoreless innings. Burnett also left after coughing up the lead in the sixth, having thrown 107 pitches. Phil Coke, David Robertson, Phil Hughes, and Chad Gaudin, making his Yankee debut, combined for five scoreless frames in relief with Gaudin pitching around a single and a walk and striking out three in his two innings of work.

Gaudin, incidentally, looks like a converted position player, though he’s not. He’s short, but athletic in build, and effectively mixes a slider and changeup with low-90s fastballs. His stuff isn’t electric, but it’s legitimate, and the hitters will let us all know when it is and isn’t working. Perhaps because he’s spent most of the year starting, he worked from a full windup with the bases empty, something you rarely see from a relief pitcher these days.

Shawn Camp replaced league and pitched a 1-2-3 tenth, but he fell behind 2-0 on all three hitters, throwing just six of 14 pitches for strikes. In the eleventh, he threw ball one to Hideki Matsui but rallied to strike him out looking. He then got ahead of Alex Rodriguez 0-2 before hitting Rodriguez flush on the left elbow. Rodriguez wears a pad on that elbow, but he, too, crumpled to the ground, then walked into the grass toward the visiting on-deck circle, and knelt down in pain, holding his arm. He was behaving as if his arm was broken, but as Paul O’Neill explained on the YEScast, he was most likely just hit in the funnybone, which when it’s done by a major league pitch (in this case an 89 mph fastball), can render a hitter’s arm completely numb.

Rodriguez eventually took his base, but looked like he was going to hurl from the pain. Fortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity. In the space of the next three pitches, Posada singled him to second and Robinson Cano shot a gapper to the wall in right-center that brought Rodriguez home with the winning run.

Yankees win, 4-3 in eleven innings, thanks in part to the feeble Blue Jay offense leaving 14 men on base.

So now the walking wounded head out to Seattle. Jeter and Posada are both questionable for Thursday’s game. Rodriguez was going to get the day off anyway. Meanwhile, Gaudin will start on Sunday allowing the Yankees to push Joba Chamberlain back to Wednesday to keep his innings down. Word from Brian Cashman is that Joba will remain in the rotation throughout the regular and postseasons. These large gaps between starts are their plan for keeping his innings down, and his limit is now said to be higher than the 150 we’ve been assuming all season.

Oh, and Mariano Rivera was unavailable on Wednesday because of a “cranky” shoulder and the 25 pitches he threw Tuesday night, but should be available on Thursday as well. The Yanks just went 6-1 on a homestand that included a four-game sweep of the Red Sox, are 8-1 over their last nine games, all against division rivals, and are 9-1 over their last ten including wins in games started by Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Rookie of the Year candidate Ricky Romero, and four of their last five wins were either extra-inning walkoffs or late-game comebacks. They’re feeling no pain right now.

It is a grey day in the Bronx. Thunderstorms are expected. Then again, they have been all week. But since this is a travel day, Murphy’s Law says there will be a rain delay.

AJ goes vs Ricky Romero. Should be a good one.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Long time readers may recall my April 2005 post about when I took my then-67-year-old boss, Ray, to his first Yankee game. Ray Roberts passed away this morning after succumbing to a respiratory illness. Ray and I had done a poor job of staying in touch following his retirement. We had standing plans to get together which never panned out, and I failed to call him in hospice because I was afraid to face the reality of his illness.

So do me a favor. In memory of Ray, call your grandfather/grandmother/mother/father/sister/brother or old friend who you’ve been meaning to call. Better yet, take them to a ballgame.

Today’s news is powered by some live Pretenders:

• No Joba this Sunday:

For some time now, Yankees manager Joe Girardi has alluded to the fact that Joba Chamberlain’s schedule for the rest of the season is “mapped out,” without revealing the details of that map.

Girardi did not do so Tuesday, either. But he did offer a crumb.

Asked if Chamberlain will take his regular turn in the rotation Sunday in Seattle, Girardi would not answer. Asked if Chad Gaudin would start Sunday instead, he rolled his head from one side to the other before finally nodding. He had not yet told Chamberlain of his plans, and had no intention to do so until after his start Tuesday night against the Jays.

But, barring a change, Gaudin seems likely to start in Chamberlain’s place Sunday.

• Cont(r)acting Jeter:

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees had no immediate plans to renegotiate the contract of Derek Jeter, which expires after the 2010 season. He said they would likely handle future negotiations with Jeter the same way they handled them with Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez.

• Ian Kennedy is on the road to recovery:

New York Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy has thrown off a mound for the first time since undergoing surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.

Kennedy threw 25 pitches during a bullpen session Tuesday. The right-hander says everything was fine and he would work off a mound again Friday.

My wife doesn’t like yelling or screaming. It makes her uneasy. So you can imagine the scene during a ball game. She can put up with me only so long. I’m far less volatile than I once was, honest. But the truth is, my wife just doesn’t get it.

The Yankees had a 3-0 lead in the second inning when Alex Rodriguez came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Johnny Damon hit his second double of the game two batters earlier–it bounced over the center field fence, keeping Derek Jeter, who singled for his second time in as many at bats, at third, a bad break for the Yankees. Mark Teixeira walked and then Rodriguez popped out.

So I yelled. My wife got annoyed and said, “What’s your problem? They’re winning.”

Like I said, she doesn’t get it. Ah, if only her name was Mae.

Joba Chamberlain had a tight breaking ball working in the first couple of innings but he labored in the third as he lost command of his fastball and sure enough coughed-up the lead. Scott Richmond, on the other hand, got his act together. He featured a hard, sharp slider and a wicked 12-6 curve ball and struck out eight. After getting Rodriguez out, Richmond pitched four scoreless innings. Each starter went six.

I watched the game with a puss on my face. I stopped yelling, opting to stew instead. At least my cat, Moe Green (pictured below), understands. I resisted the temptation to tell my wife a thing or three about baseball and how the game works. It was not easy to hold my tongue, believe me. But why be a schmuck? 

Jesse Carlson, the left-hander who struck Jorge Posada out in a twelve-pitch at bat on Monday night, came in to pitch the eighth. Godzilla Matsui hit a 2-2 pitch deep to right but foul. Next pitch, different result, as Matsui hit a bomb into the right centerfield seats, tying the game. Posada was next and he skied a back-door breaking ball deep to right. Joe Inglett, his back to the wall, jumped and missed the ball. A fat man wearing a beige Yankee cap and an off-white Mickey Mantle t-shirt stood in the first row and placed his black mitt on top of the wall. The ball fell into the pocket, another cheapie Yankee Stadium dinger, and the Yanks had the lead. The home run was reviewed but it stood–nice job by the fan.

Melky Cabrera, celebrating his 25th birthday, added an RBI single (his second RBI of the game) against Josh Roenicke and Damon drove the birthday boy home with an RBI base hit of his own–his third hit of the day (he was also robbed of a double). Jeter had three hits as well.

With one out the ninth, Mariano Rivera left a cutter over the heart of the plate and Edwin Encarnacion crushed it over the center field fence for a home run. Rivera grimaced–hey, that’s how I’ve been feeling all night!, I said (…to myself). A base hit to Rod Barajas brought the tying run to the plate. But Rivera caught Inglett looking at an outside fastball, and got Marco Scutaro to chase a cutter to end the game.

Final Score: Yanks 7, Blue Jays 5.

Fist pumps and cheers. Relief.

My wife resisted the urge to tell me a thing or three about the Yankees. She did not call me a schmuck–even if that is what she was thinking–and we went to bed happy.