Monthly Archives: August 2012

That’s the way it is.

[Photo Credit: livinglifeofreilly]

In what direction are the Yankees headed? (Photo: danheller.com)

Here come the Rays. A little over one month ago, the Yankees had a whole lot of daylight between their division perch and second place, but after a 15-18 stretch, the shadow of the next closest competitor has finally caught up. Since July 18, the Bronx Bombers have seen Tampa Bay close the gap from 10.5 games to only three. Is it time to panic yet?

The Yankees’ recent struggles have been somewhat enigmatic. During the team’s 33-game slump, they have actually outscored their opponents by 17 runs, but have come up just short in many close games. Considering the injuries and difficult schedule during the period, there’s every reason to believe the team will pick up the pace heading down the stretch. But, will it be enough to hold off the hard charging Rays?

When the Rays were 10.5 games behind the Yankees on July 18, they didn’t look like a team capable of going on a run because of their depleted offense. Even now, after a 22-10 stretch, the lineup still seems too thin for a contender. However, it isn’t with the bats that the Rays have jumped right back into the race. Instead, Tampa has pitched its way to within three games of the Yankees.

Since falling behind by double digits in the division, the Rays’ pitching staff has allowed an astoundingly low 67 runs, or 2.1 per game, including only five games in which the opposition scored more than three. How significant is that accomplishment? All three 30-game periods encompassed by the last 32 contests represent the lowest run totals allowed for that duration in 2012. What’s more, the 63 runs allowed by the Rays in the 30 games from July 19 to August 20 represent one of the stingiest stretches in recent baseball history.

Fewest Runs Allowed in a 30-Game Period, Post DH ERA (1973-Present)

Source: Baseball-reference.com

Since 1901, there have only been 241 30-game periods (for perspective, there are 3,990 such segments in a single 162 game major league season) during which a team allowed fewer runs than the 63 recently surrendered by the Rays’ pitching staff. However, of that total, 224 occurred during the dead ball era. Since 1920, there have only been 17 periods of 30 games (13 belonging to the 1968 Indians) featuring fewer runs allowed than the Rays’ best mark this season. Adding to the impressiveness of the accomplishment, only three periods have taken place during the DH era, and all of those invovled National League teams.

Considering how historically dominant the Rays’ pitching staff has been, do the Yankees even stand a chance of holding them off? As mentioned above, the Rays, who are averaging a subpar 4.23 runs per game, remain offensively challenged. In their last 10 losses, the pitching staff has only allowed 27 runs, and in their last four defeats, the opposition only dented the plate six times combined. Apparently, the only lineup that can stop the Rays’ pitching staff is their own.

Based on run differential, the Rays’ recent stinginess should have netted about 26 wins during the last 32 games. Had they been able to meet that expectation, Tampa, and not New York, would be listed first in the standing this morning. Will the Rays eventually come to regret leaving those extra wins on the table? If the team’s pitchers can continue to mow down the American League, it probably won’t matter how much their lineup scores. However, if the rotation and bullpen regress below historic levels of run prevention, their offense may not be able to compensate.

One of the luxuries of a big lead is it allows team to withstand the hard charge of a stalker. Because of how well the Yankees played over the first 100 games, they’ve been able to remain ahead of the pack despite a stumble entering the turn at the top of the stretch. However, what had been shaping up as a victory lap in September now promises to be a thrilling race. The Rays pitching staff is doing its part to close the gap. Now, it’s up to the Yankees to find another gear as well. Luckily for the Bronx Bombers, next up on the schedule is the Cleveland Indians, who are the in the midst of allowing over 187 runs in their last 30 games (6.23 runs per game). How does that stand up to history? That’s a story for another day.

I type therefore I am.

It ain’t cheap but Gem is restaurant worth visiting. In Yonkers. Who knew?

The wife, she was a heppy ket.

Over at SI.com, Joe Sheehan offers this appreciation of Derek Jeter. And while you are there check out Cliff’s 10 worst contracts in baseball history.

Here is a track I produced with a friend. It was on a mix cd for my wife around the time we got married. The Marvin Gaye cut was looped by Lord Finesse and appeared on a rare white label record. A friend of mine played me the loop, sampled in an SP-1200, in the late 1990s and was kind enough to burn it to a CD.

The dude I made this track with put the loop into his Pro Tools and cleaned it up some. The dialogue that runs over the music here is from one of my wife’s favorite movies: Little Miss Sunshine.

Enjoy.

Are You Listening? (Bonus Beat)

[Photo Via: Holy Friend]

Photograph by Csilla Klenyanszki via Huh Magazine]

“It’s harder each year to sustain because everybody’s after you,” Washington said. “But you have to have pride in what you’re doing and you can’t forget the fundamental things that this game has to offer. Then the talent part of it comes into play. I got a lot of talent, and I work hard to try to get them to understand the fundamental part of it.

“But it’s tough. It’s not easy to win. It’s easy to lose — but it’s not easy to win. To wake up every morning knowing you’re going to come to the yard and everything you have inside of you, you’ve got to leave there. Winning is tough. It’s a grind. It’s a lot on your body, a lot on your mind. It’s a lot to keep guys on the same page, to quit thinking individual and think team and think group.”

–Texas Rangers Manager, Ron Washington
(David Lennon, Newsday)

Last Wednesday at this time the Yankees had just won three straight from the Rangers and were on their way to a 5-2 record for the week. Nothing was fucked, nobody was being un-Dude.

Tonight, the White Sox completed a three-game sweep against the Yanks, the Rays won again and New York’s lead in the American League East is down to three.

Phil Hughes pitched a fine game, gave up a couple of runs in seven innings, but Chris Sale, a bony 23-year-old-lefty who could double for Ichabod Crane on October 31, was better. His delivery is too jerky and he’s too tall to remind us of Ron Guidry, although they share the same number, but his stuff is no joke–fastball, change-up, slider. And all coming sidearm. Kid knows how to pitch, too. He allowed three hits and one run–which came on a solo home run by Derek Jeter (who has homered in each game in Chicago).

The score was 2-1 in the ninth and Addison Reed, another tall pitcher, came on for the save. The Yanks were 0-44 this season when trailing after eight innings. Nick Swisher got in a couple of good swings before he became the 14th Yankee to strikeout on the night. Robinson Cano lashed the first pitch he saw to left field, right passed a crouching Kevin Youkilis at third base and into left field for a base hit. Mark Teixeira got ahead 2-1 and then a high fastball was called for a strike. Tex paced away from the batter’s box and complained. He had good reason to bitch, especially after he waved at the next pitch, a breaking ball falling away from him, for the second out.

So it came down to Eric Chavez, a pinch-hitter, who worked the count even and then grounded out.

Final Score: White Sox 2, Yanks 1.

And sometimes our favorite game goes something like this:

Better luck in Cleveland, suckas.

The Magic Number, as we all know, is three.

[Featured Image: Beatriz Martin Vidal via Gas Station; Nelson via Gruesome Twosome]

The Rays and O’s they keep creepin’. Yanks have lost two in Chicago and face the White Sox best pitcher tonight.

He’ll face Phil Now-You-See-Me-Now-You-Don’t Hughes.

Derek Jeter SS

Nick Swisher RF

Never mind the beyllachin’: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Fuckyeahchicago]

Bartolo Colon, you’re up. Who will be next?

[Picture by Bags]

At the Fights is now out in paperback. It’s a must-have for any self-respecting sports fan.

Over at the Library of America’s terrific Story of the Week site, check out John Schulian’s wonderful story, “Nowhere to Run.”

You can order the paperback here.

It’s all Sriracha all the time over at Laughing Squid.

The first time I hit the wax it was the news of my block/Everybody in my neighborhood said “Puba don’t stop.”

“Mind Your Business” Grand Puba (unreleased remix)

[Picture by Bags]

What’s the last book you bought on the street? I can’t remember myself, but I know I picked something up this spring. My cousin found a copy of Pauline Kael’s State of the Art on a brownstone stoop near his home in Brooklyn earlier this year and sent it to me. Twenty minutes after he found it a thunder storm hit. Book would have been ruined. I’m glad it’s got a good home here in the Bronx.

[Picture by Bags]

Paintings by Melissa Haslam via My Modern Met.

Derek Jeter jumped the first pitch of the game like a spring-loaded mouse trap. It was a fastball, of the let’s-get-ahead-in-the-count variety from Francisco Liriano, and by the time Jeter’s bat sprung through the strike zone, all that was left was a bloody stump. The ball sliced through the twilight and cleared the fence with ease. I worried that the game had just yielded it’s marquee moment, making the prospect of the ensuing nine innings rather daunting.

Derek Jeter’s resurgence has been well noted around these parts and much of our focus as been on the future. How many more hits can he get? How many more contracts? It’s been the best part of the season. Well here’s something encouraging: In Derek Jeter’s career from 1998-2009, he slugged under .400 in two consecutive months just three times (September 2003-April 2004, May-June 2006, April-May 2008). From May 2010 to June 2011, Derek Jeter has slugged under .400 for eight consecutive months. In the last eight months of play, he’s been over .400 six times.

I don’t mean to say we should expect vintage Jeter for any extended period of time, but at least we can guess that the Ceti-eel that crawled into his aural canal, wrapped itself around his cerebellum and sapped his strength for 2010 and half of 2011 has died and been expelled. Probably through the nasal cavity with a mess of blood and pus. If Jeter stops hitting for power in 2013, we’ll know it laid eggs.

About the other nine innings… I don’t want to alarm you, but Ivan Nova let up a few extra base hits. A double and a triple. A solo homer. A grand slam. That’s another thing that’s so encouraging about Jeter’s re-found power, he’s slugging over .400 without the benefit of facing Ivan Nova. Nova has allowed the most extra base hits in the league and watching him pitch several times this year, I’m not going to bother fact-checking that statement. It just reeks of truthiness.

Francisco Liriano matched up with an umpire that wouldn’t give him a millimeter, let alone an inch. I figured the Yankees would recognize this and walk around the bases. But apart from Mark Teixeira and Andruw Jones, nobody was interested in that approach. Liriano made it through six innings. Almost any other Yankee team in the last fifteen years would have knocked him out in the fourth.

The Yankees lost 7-3 and were reduced to staring at the scoreboard and hoping the Royals would eke out a run against the Rays. The Royals came through and won 1-0 in ten innings. A sigh of relief for the Yanks, I guess. Four games seems a lot bigger than three, but it’s not really.

Photo via AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

Last night? Bad loss. Tonight? A new game.

Notes from Chad Jennings.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Jayson Nix 3B
Casey McGehee DH
Russell Martin C

Never mind the preamble: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

A city scene circa the late 1920s, early 1930s from the great Walker Evans.

Man, you ever walk over an open grate or sewer with your keys in your hands and then get the Willies like, Whew, I could have just done something mad stupid there?

From the Times Literary Supplement, here’s Vladimir Nabokov on boxing.

Picture by Jesse Lenz.