Monthly Archives: October 2012

Photograph via Honoringmikey.

Moroccan Carrots from Food 52’s indispensable blog.

From from the vaults, here’s Pat Jordan’s 1990 GQ piece on Traci Lords.

“Traci Lords With Her Clothes On,” By Pat Jordan

Can’t stop, won’t stop. Non Stop.

[Photo Credit: Lara Zankoul]

Aw, hell. It’s never fun once the season is over, though in some ways it is a relief.

Here are some final thoughts via the intrepid Chad Jennings.

Over at Grantland, Jonah Keri has a thoughtful take on what happened and what’s next for the Bombers.

And here’s our man Cliff.

Thank you guys for hanging around for our 10th season here at the Banter. Don’t go away, we’ll be here, as usual, all day, every day.

[Photo Credit: Hiki]

It’s dark and wet in New York this morning. The Yankees’ season is over but we’ve still got the city. And we’ve got each other for good company. It’ll be a long winter but a good one.

[Photo Credit: Mr. Freakz via This Isn’t Happiness]

It was already 1-0 when I got on the train to come home this evening. It was 2-0 when I went out of cell service deep beneath Harlem. I held my breath as the train climbed up from 191st St to Dyckman, 6-0 and the season was over before I even got to my stop.

The Yankees completed their crash out of the ALCS with a loss to the Tigers, 8-1. Swept for the first time since 1980. They had only two hits to finish the series batting .157 as a team. If justice prevails, this will not be remembered as Arod’s Waterloo but rather as lineup-wide systemic failure.

The roots of this sweep are buried in Game 4 of the ALDS when the Yankees failed to finish the Orioles. They could have started CC Sabathia in Game 1 of the ALCS and then who knows? Some will say it doesn’t matter, that the Yankees didn’t hit enough this series to bother entertaining “What If” scenarios, but for three games out of four, they were one hit, or one call from an umpire, away from winning.

CC Sabathia pitched a whale of a game in Game 5 of the ALDS, but he didn’t have anything left for this one. For the first time in nine games, the Yankee starter didn’t give the lineup a chance to win. CC came up small, no way to sugarcoat that. I think his two games against the Orioles probably speak louder than this stinkifesto, but we’ll see how the fans react.

I know Alex Rodriguez was bad in this postseason. He looked incapable of hitting a right handed pitcher and I don’t fault Joe Girardi for seeking other options. Eric Chavez pinch hit for Alex Rodriguez in Game 4 of the ALDS. He replaced Alex for 12 at bats in total in the Postseason and went 0 for 12 with six strikeouts.

As disappointing as this series was, from Jeter’s injury to the Alex-drama to today’s drubbing, I refuse to be crushed about this outcome. The Yankees played a very gutsy series with Orioles, and won even while hitting like shit. They played three tough games with the Tigers and lost, while hitting even worse. They have been playing playoff-tension-level baseball since early September and have answered every must-win game with a win until the ALCS. They have earned a lot of respect.

I refuse to be crushed because I am part of a household that is just learning about baseball and if you can’t take losing, you can’t enjoy this game. I am part of a household, that for reasons that will never be entirely clear, cares as much about the Pittsburgh Pirates as the New York Yankees. In this environment, disappointment is allowed but rending of garments is exposed as self-centered silliness.

I rarely felt like I was watching a World Champion when the Yankees played this year, but they were the best team in the American League for 162 games and they own as much claim to the “best team in baseball” as anybody. Admittedly, 2012 didn’t feature a truly great team, but hey, maybe that means 2013 is wide open, too. The Yanks don’t have that much to do to be right back in it again next year.

Photo via Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

Game Four, Take Two:

Ichiro Suzuki LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez SS

Never mind holding back: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Jeremy Geddes via This Isn’t Happiness]

Despite historic postseason performances from Raul Ibanez and CC Sabathia, the Yankees find themselves on the brink of being swept in the ALCS.

How would you describe the Yankees’ offense this postseason? Awful? Atrocious? Abominable? Arod? How about Above Average? Believe it or not, the Yankees’ postseason line of .200/.265/.317 adds up to an OPS that is a tick above the American League’s combined output of .573.

2012 American League Postseason Statistics

Source: ESPN.com

On an individual basis, the Yankees can actually boast having three of the league’s best hitters in terms of postseason OPS. Among all players with at least 10 plate appearances in October, Raul Ibanez’ OPS of 1.308 is easily the best mark. And, ironically, it doesn’t even begin to explain just how impactful he has been this October. In addition to Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira have also earned a place atop of the A.L.’s postseason leader board, albeit at much more modest rates of production.

Top-10 A.L. 2012 Postseason Performers, By OPS

Note: Minimum of 10 plate appearances.
Source: baseball-reference.com

Unfortunately for the Bronx Bombers, the standout performances by Ibanez, Jeter, and Teixeira have been canceled out by the rest of the lineup. Six other regulars in the team’s postseason lineup have posted an OPS below the league average, including five players with a rate below .426. Although Alex Rodriguez has received the brunt of the criticism for the team’s offensive struggles, his OPS of .333 actually ranks higher than two other teammates. Robinson Cano’s microscopic line of .083/.108/.139 in 37 plate appearances is easily the most shocking performance of the postseason, but the most amusing line belongs to Eric Chavez. In 14 plate appearances as Arod’s replacement, the lefty swinging third baseman has produced absolutely nothing.

Bottom-10 A.L. 2012 Postseason Performers, By OPS

Note: Minimum of 10 plate appearances.
Source: baseball-reference.com

There’s no consolation knowing that the Yankees’ offense has been as good, or as bad, as the rest of the league, but it does provide some perspective. Granted, the Bronx Bombers weren’t put together to be just an average offense, but the degree to which the league’s hitters have struggled, or pitchers have excelled, does mitigate some of the lineup’s culpability. Scapegoats are a postseason essential, but before leading too many to the slaughter, fans, and team executives, would be wise to look at the big picture first.

If they’d only get their shit together for a few minutes…RZA explains.

Beauty of a story by Matt Tullis over at SB Nation’s Longform site.

[Picture Via: Portrait Online]

Diggin’ in the crates, here’s Pat Jordan’s 1988 GQ profile on Jaco Pastorius.

Who Killed Jaco Pastorius?

David Lebovitz gives us a plum tart.

Bass in Your Face.

You got the job, kid.

“You know those junkyards along the highways in Jersey? Well, they have scrap heaps just like that for athletes..Athletes are cattle. They’re raised, fed, sold and killed…. Baseball moved me toward the front of the bus, and it let me ride there as long as I could run. And then it told me to get off at the back door.” –Larry Doby, Sports Illustrated

Earlier this year the Yankees were shopping for a DH. The rumored candidates included Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Vladimir Guerrero. Raul Ibanez got the job and the Yanks made the right pick. Damon and Matsui eventually signed minor league contracts and were cut well before the season ended. Guerrero, a possible Hall of Famer, didn’t even get a sniff from a big league team.

Now, none of these players faced the hardships confronted by earlier generations of ballplayers like Doby–they’ve all been paid millions of dollars for their efforts. But the truth remains, once you old and can no longer produce, you’re a piece of meat. Yesterday’s meat.

And so we come to Alex Rodriguez who has been publicly shamed by the Yankees over the past week. They’ve pinch hit for him and they’ve benched him. There was a New York Post story about him flirting with women during a game and yesterday rumors had it that the Yanks may try to dump him on the Miami Marlins this winter.

I think he’s done in New York. And I believe the Yankees are toying with him now in order to get him to agree to a trade this winter. One that will be costly for them but rid them of his presence. He is being punished for their mistake. When management signed him in 2007 it was before his PED case broke but they had to know he was using. Don’t get that twisted, they knew. And they made a terrific mistake signing that deal. Now they are punishing him for their mistake.

And since this is Alex Rodriguez they may figure it won’t reflect poorly on them. Maybe they believe other free agents still won’t think twice about coming to New York even if this is how they treat one of their big ticket players (and yeah, I don’t think it’s a leap to imagine someone in the front office planting that story in the Post). But right now, the way the Yankees have handled Rodriguez in this series smacks of a panic that’s been unlike them for the past few years. This isn’t about winning games. You can rationalize it all you want and yes, if Rodriguez was playing well this wouldn’t be an issue, but this is about running him out of town.

He’s a goner.

Tonight’s game will be played tomorrow afternoon.

Some brighter news, as I mentioned in the previous thread, The Banter was singled out in this week’s “Best of NYC” issue of The Village Voice:

Sportswriting, whether in print or online, has become awfully balkanized to name a single writer as above the rest. That said, Alex Belth is good both in his long free-association pieces on his website, Bronx Banter, and reviewing books for Sports Illustrated. But as a website host, he truly excels. Bronx Banter goes far beyond the Bronx and baseball with all kinds of terrific interviews (Pat Jordan, Pete Dexter, the late George Kimball) and a terrific array of great reprints from writers of the past like W.C. Heinz, Murray Kempton, Roger Kahn, etc. No one cares more about the history of New York sportswriting or does more to preserve it. In an age when past memories are fading without new ones coming along to replace them, Bronx Banter offers a wonderful mix of past and present with an eye on the future. It’s a New York treasure.

Happy to share this with all of you guys. Y’all keep the Banter fresh. I love doing this, man. We’re coming up on our 10th anniversary and I enjoy this joint as much now as I did when I started. Nah, scratch that, I like it even more.

Ya heard?

[Photo Via: Chillwalker]

Season on the line.

Ichiro Suzuki LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez SS

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

[Photo Credit: Thomas Prior]

Giants, Cards: NLCS Game 3.

We’ll have the lineup once it’s posted.

Go Baseball.

[Image by Matt Duffin]