Monthly Archives: August 2010

Roger Clemens Faces the Music.

[Photo Credit: Pewari Naan, Drawing by Larry Roibal]

In the second inning yesterday afternoon, Mark Teixeira chased a pop fly hit by Johnny Damon. Teixeira was in foul territory when he put a glove on the ball and started to slide. What followed will be sure to make those How About That? highlight reels that are played on Stadium Jumbotrons between innings. The ball popped out of his glove twice but he held on and made the catch.

The very next pitch Phil Hughes threw was lined to deep left center field. Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner raced for the ball, headed straight for each other, giving viewers that sickening feeling that you get right before you see an accident. They arrived at the ball at the same time, both tried to make the catch. Granderson came up with the ball as Gardner spun away. Fortunately, neither man was hurt.

The Score Truck showed up in the sixth inning as the Yanks rallied for nine runs, more than enough to dispose of the angry Tigers.

For more on the game, check out:

River Ave Blues

The Yankeeist

It’s About the Money, Stupid

and The New York Times.

The Red Sox are playing the Angels at home tonight. They are 9-0 against the Halos this year, my Goodness. Later on, the Rays play in Oakland.

Free free to fall through and banter.

[Picture by Bags]

Yanks 11, Tigers 5.

The score truck brings treats.

Right, Nigel?

Fresh direct from the Lo-Hud Yankee oven, today’s line-up:

Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Austin Kearns DH
Ramiro Pena 3B

Also, Lance Berkman has been placed on the DL. Drag. Eduardo Nunez was been called-up.

Meanwhile, tough day for Mr. Clemens.

[Picture by Bags]

Not a big fan of this group, though I enjoyed their records before Synchronicity:

I started shopping for records at Fat Beats when they were in a tiny East Village hole, below street level. Mr. Sinister and Roc Raider were there, working or hanging out, I could never figure out which. A few years later, in the mid-90s, Fat Beats moved to a prime spot on Sixth Avenue just off Eighth Street. DJ Ei, Ill Bill and Eclipse were there, to name just a few. Percee P was always downstairs hawking mixtapes and showing off his skills.
 
I stopped buying records years ago now, though I still fall through places like Big City and A-1 to visit friends. Still, I’m sad, though hardly surprised, to see that Fat Beats is closing up shop in New York and L.A. When I worked in Hollywood for four months in 1996-97, I was a regular at Fat Beats in East L.A. Babu was there at the time, the whole Dialated Crew, guys like J-Rocc, too.

Certainly marks the end of an era.

Sniff.

The other day, we talked about our favorite NYC pet peeves. And I forgot one of my favorites, the one that makes me my father’s son, full of righteous indignation: film crews who block off the sidewalks. In particular, the cocksure P.A.’s, wearing shorts, and strapped down with walkie talkies who stand around like the own the jernt and aggresively usher pedestrain traffic to the other side of the street. These yo-yo’s have infuriated me for so long that I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt, just a hard look.

This morning, I got out of the subway in midtown and saw a couple of these dudes and I looked one of them up-and-down with a look of disgust on my face. He met my eyes, unsure of why I was giving him an attitude. I had to laugh at myself as I walked away. But I didn’t feel bad about giving him the molochio.

There were some hard feelings and ugliness in last night’s game. Pitchers throwing at hitters, umpires issuing warnings and then sitting on their hands.

According to John Lowe in the Detroit Free Press:

As usual, Leyland refused afterward to take reporters’ questions about an umpiring controversy. However, the Internet buzzed with something he told Cooper after the Cabrera plunking that was picked up on the FSD telecast: “They’re going to the playoffs. We’re not going anywhere. Somebody is going to get hurt.”

Johnny Damon was not happy about Brett Gardner’s hard (and late) takeout slide on Monday night. Brian Costello reports:

“If anyone over there thought it was a clean slide, then we have a different opinion on that,” said Damon, who spent four years as a Yankee. “It’s part of baseball. But I thought the slide was dirty, and I’m sure a lot of those guys would agree.”

Gardner would not say if he thought Bonderman intentionally hit him, and he was surprised to hear Damon criticized him.

“That’s his opinion,” Gardner told The Post. “He knows how I play. I think if he was over here in this clubhouse he probably would have given me a high-five for trying to break up the double play.”

Things could get hot today. Let’s hope nobody gets hoit.

From his first pitch, which nailed Brett Gardner on the right leg and prompted some pointing (and possibly a warning, more on that later) from the home plate umpire Eric Cooper, Jeremy Bonderman exhibited the disposition of a dull teenager enduring the facts-of-life lecture from prattling parents. His annoyed expression and frequent shoulder shrugging suggested he wanted to anywhere else but on the hill at Yankee Stadium. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, he managed to stick around for five innings, seven runs and three homers. In fact, after he drilled Brett the Jet and let up back-to-back jacks (courtesy Teixeira and Cano) in the first, it crossed my mind that Bonderman just might rear back and fire one at Swisher’s melon to earn the automatic heave-ho and the warmth of an early shower. With times being tough all over, I guess the probable suspension was too much of a financial risk, and luckily for the Yanks, he stayed in the game.

As soundly as the Yankee hitters pounded Bonderman’s weak offerings, Dustin Moseley prevented the game from becoming a laugher. For awhile, he was holding the non-Cabrera portion of the lineup at bay, surrendering “only” two solo homers to Miggy through the first four innings. But when Don Kelly brought his .279 career slugging percentage to the plate in the fifth and deposited a hanging breaking ball a few feet over Austin Kearn’s outstretched glove for a two-run home run, the game took on an ominous, too-close-for-comfort feeling that persisted (for me anyway) until it was over.

The battle of the bullpens got interesting in the seventh when Boone Logan and Kerry Wood loaded the bases on three singles. With one out, Wood dug deep and produced big-time strikeouts of Santiago and Raburn. (Other than a few too many walks, Wood has had a really fine first nine innings for the Yankees) Then the Tigers tried to walk the same tight rope, but Austin Kearns played the bully and sent them spilling to the earth with a booming ground rule double to plate two runs and increase the Yankee lead to five.

(more…)

Jeremy Bonderman vs Dustin Moseley and the ball should be flying around the big mallpark in the Bronx. Couple of days ago, my wife goes, “Who is that guy?” Doseley? Muttley?”

Here’s hoping the Yanks get the last laugh tonight.

Let’s go Yan-Kees.

The Little Street, By Johannes Vermeer (1657-58)

Japanese baseball card.

Hey, head on over to Life.com and dig these cool images from Babe Ruth Day (June 13, 1948).

Thanks to Baseball Think Factory for the link.

Sometimes, life is good.

Witness:

Over at Lo-Hud, Chad Jennings looks at who could replace Alex Rodriguez at third. Some of the options include:

Brandon Laird: One of the season’s breakout prospects, Laird jumped to Triple-A at the beginning of August. He was in big league camp this spring, and he needs to be added to the 40-man this winter to be protected him from the Rule 5.

Kevin Russo: Already on the 40-man. Left a good reputation in New York. Hitting .284 this month in Triple-A.

Eduardo Nunez: On the 40-man without good Triple-A numbers all year. He’s primarily a shortstop, but the Yankees have given him starts at third base to increase his versatility.

Jorge Vazquez: Has 13 home runs in 57 Triple-A games. He’s also walked just seven times and hasn’t played third base since July 5.

Greg Dobbs: Or any other major league third baseman who’s been designated for assignment. That includes guys like Craig Counsell, Edwin Encarnacion and Geoff Blum. Brian Cashman said he doesn’t expect to make a move – and in this case I believe him — but there are some options out there.

I visited my mom recently and was annoyed that her peeler was almost as old as me. (Let’s not even talk about the can opener.) A peeler is just one of those ordinary things that can last generations, even if they are dull and don’t work well anymore.

For about ten bucks you can change someone’s life. Pick up an Oxo Good Grip peeler.

It’s the small things, man…

There are some nice articles on Bobby Thomson today. Here’s an excerpt from on old Roger Angell piece:

I gestured urgently to my wife, just then passing from kitchen toward bedroom with a jar of Gerber’s in her hand. “You might not want to miss this,” I said, unable to lift my gaze from the screen. “It could just be—”

“Be right back,” she said, disappearing from the room.

Too late. Several other things now disappeared as well—in rough succession: the ball into the lower grandstand seats at the Polo Grounds, above the left-field wall; self-control (“They did it! They did it! My God, they did it!” I yelled, rushing distractedly from room to room, bumping into walls and dogs and relatives); Bobby Thomson, the batter (who had just written the meaty portion of the first sentence of his obituary, whenever that would be), into embraces of his teammates around home plate; the Dodgers (severally, slowly, slumpingly, across the littered outfield and up the steep stairway to their clubhouse); and—soon thereafter, it seems—all further memory of the day and the game and my own succeeding emotions and remarks and celebratory gestures and exclamations on this the greatest moment of my life as a deep-eyed, native-born Giants fan, fan of baseball, fan of fable, fan….

The four-run ninth-inning rally, capped by Bobby Thomson’s killing homer against the Dodgers’ Ralph Branca, not only won the 1951 National League pennant for the Giants (the two teams had finished the regular season in a tie, and split the first two games of their best-of-three playoff) but stands as the most vivid single moment, the grand exclamation point, in the history of the pastime. So we believed then—knew it, on the instant—and so I believe to this day, and it’s funny that I can remember nothing else about that afternoon.

From Alan Schwarz in the Times:

In the 71 years since the Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” despite dying from a disease that would soon bear his name, he has stood as America’s leading icon of athletic valor struck down by random, inexplicable fate.

A peer-reviewed paper to be published Wednesday in a leading journal of neuropathology, however, suggests that the demise of athletes like Gehrig and soldiers given a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, might have been catalyzed by injuries only now becoming understood: concussions and other brain trauma.

Although the paper does not discuss Gehrig specifically, its authors in interviews acknowledged the clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease

[Photo Credit: N.Y. Daily News, Drawing by Larry Roibal]

Alex Rodriguez had an MRI yesterday. According to Mark Feinsand in the News:

A-Rod will likely miss at least the next few days after an MRI revealed a low-grade strain of his left calf, an injury that sidelined Jorge Posada for four games in early May.

“This is not as significant as Posada’s, as it was conveyed to me,” GM Brian Cashman said. “That probably means less time, though that doesn’t mean it will be less time. Could it be two days, three days, longer? We’ll have to see. It’s not a serious situation, though it’s obviously serious in that we won’t have him for a period of time.”

…A-Rod has never dealt with a calf injury before, so he had no way to judge how much progress he had made since leaving Monday’s game, but he seemed encouraged by the information given to him by team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad.

“I’m not concerned. I’m going to be fine,” Rodriguez said. “Right now, we have good news. We don’t want to prolong it or make it a more serious situation.”

Having scored just one run over their last two games despite getting solid pitching from the entire staff — even the Meat Tray has allowed just one hit and no runs over his last three outings, spanning 5 1/3 innings — there was still a sense of unease among Yankee fans heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Detroit. Derek Jeter bounced into a double play to stifle a ninth-inning comeback attempt. The Yankees, as has been the case for what seems like the past 15 years, continue to make pitchers they’ve never faced before look like a combination of Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson. Andy Pettitte’s timetable for return remains uncertain; first he suffered a setback in a simulated game, then the news of an MRI following his latest bullpen session “basically to set his mind at ease.” A-Rod was out of the lineup due to a strained calf muscle. Lance Berkman’s still on the shelf with the ankle injury suffered in Kansas City.

And oh yes, there’s that small matter of the Tampa Bay Rays winning two straight while the Yankees lost two in a row, to climb into a first-place tie.

Amid Hope Week, fans were dialing the Batphone.

But the Yankees had two things going for them: 1) They had CC Sabathia, unbeaten in his previous 18 starts at home dating back to last season, on the mound. 2) At least they had faced Justin Verlander before, so there was a chance that their luck would turn, despite their lack of success against him. The fact that he had an ERA of over 7.00 in the first inning was a clue that if the Yankees didn’t get to him early, they might not get to him at all (a point that was beaten senseless by all Yankee commentators, both on TV and radio).

Things didn’t look too good after Austin Jackson yoked CC Sabathia’s first pitch of the game into the left-field seats and then surrendered two loud outs. Curtis Granderson made two tremendous catches to bail him out and minimize the first-inning damage to just one run.

In the bottom half, Brett Gardner (leadoff single) and Derek Jeter (walk), set the table for a two-run inning. The Yankees had a chance to pile on, loading the bases with one out, but Marcus Thames grounded into an inning-ending double play. Granderson’s leadoff home run in the second provided more of a cushion for Sabathia, who cruised through the next five-plus innings, until yielding a solo home run to Brandon Inge in the seventh. After Triple Crown and MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera, there was no one in the Tigers’ lineup to pose a threat to Sabathia. Save for the Tigers’ 13-run explosion on Sunday, they had scored more than four runs in a game only two other times since August 1.

The Yankees’ offense, meanwhile, applied constant pressure to Verlander, advancing runners to scoring position in each of the first four innings. They were as patient as Verlander was wild, drawing five walks and forcing him to throw 114 pitches. There was a prevailing sense of uneasiness, however, because the Yankees didn’t capitalize on many of those opportunities. They had chances to blow the game open and did not. The Yankees did manage to eat up Detroit’s middle relief, scoring three runs against Daniel Schlereth — one in the sixth and two in the seventh — but again missed an opportunity to tack on runs in the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, they only managed to score one run in that situation, courtesy of a Ramiro Peña’s sacrifice fly. The Yankees finished the night 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

A four-run lead heading into the eighth inning is a little more secure these days, with David Robertson and Mariano Rivera teaming up to shut the door. The tandem did just that on Tuesday to preserve the 6-2 victory and keep the Yankees tied with the Rays for first place in the division and the best record in baseball. CC Sabathia became the American League’s first 16-game winner.

Wins aside, Sabathia has to be considered among the frontrunners for the AL Cy Young Award. He’s in the top 10 in seven major pitching categories, has a 2.34 K/BB ratio, 7.08 K/9 ratio, and has already thrown 181 2/3 innings. Perhaps most impressive, CC Sabathia has pitched at least seven innings in 18 of his 26 starts. That’s an ace.

And that’s what we saw Tuesday night.

MATCHUP LEFTY
At some point, opposing managers will learn that keeping a left-hander in to face Robinson Canó means nothing. Canó’s frozen-rope home run in the seventh inning off Schlereth was his 22nd of the season and 12th off a left-hander. He is now slugging .585 versus lefties this season.

CLASS ACT
Nice move by the Yankees to pay homage to Bobby Thomson, who died Tuesday at the age of 86. Thomson’s “Shot Heard Round The World” on Oct. 3, 1951, put the Giants into the World Series, where the Yankees defeated them 4-2.