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
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Casey McGehee 3B
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Never mind the beyllachin’: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Fuckyeahchicago]
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.
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]
Last night? Bad loss. Tonight? A new game.
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.
Some games are uglier than others and last night was a slow, boring game between the Yankees and White Sox. It was the kind of game that was going to feel painful for the losing team, more than usual. Not because it was dramatic, either. But because each pitcher threw 473 pitches to each hitter.
The Yanks had an early 3-0 lead and chased Gavin Floyd from the game in the third inning but only had a three run lead. Should have been more. It was no surprise when the White Sox scored five in the fifth, chasing Freddy Garcia, who’d been sharp in the early innings. At one point, with two men on base, and just one out, Garcia fell behind Paul Konerko 2-0. The YES camera showed Yankee pitching coach Larry Rothschild in the dugout. The man sighed and that expression summed up the game.
Yanks took the lead back in the sixth when they scored three runs–Jeter hit a dinger and oh yeah, went 4-5 on the night–but the bullpen gave it right back as the White Sox won, 9-6.
An unbecoming outing for the Yankee pitching staff.
And the Rays are now four back…Creepin’.
Due to a lapse in judgement by my dumb ass the site was out-of-service for a good portion of the day. I apologize. However, we’re back and what did we miss? The Rocket Rides Again; Michael Pineda picked-up for drunk driving.
Hell, at least Tex is back.
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Eric Chavez 3B
Raul Ibanez LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chris Stewart C
It’s Fab Five Freddy.
Never mind the moron behind this blog’s curtain: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Cuba Beisbol via It’s a Long Season]
With the Rays and O’s on their heels, this ain’t no time for the Yanks to let up.
It’s Hiroki vs that sombitch Beckett.
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Curtis Granderson CF
Eric Chavez 3B
Raul Ibanez LF
Russell Martin C
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Casey McGhee DH
Never mind the Worldwide Leader: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: The Summer Goddess]
Joshua Prager, author of The Echoing Green, has a feature on Derek Jeter and Pete Rose’s all-time hit record today in the New York Times:
“The toughest thing about baseball is you don’t know why you’re doing — or not doing — this or that,” the player, Ichiro Suzuki, said.
Suzuki, a Yankees outfielder, had at that point amassed a combined 3,830 hits in Japan and the United States, a remarkable if unofficial total. But his annual hit total was set to decline for the third straight season. Was age to blame?
“It’s not that your physical body gains weight, but that your thinking gains weight,” said Suzuki, 38. He tightened a belt about a waist that had been 31 inches all his career and explained that expectation was a burden that only grew. The outside world always let you know when a milestone was in reach.
I also like this appreciation:
“I don’t think very many people understand how unique he is, as a hitter,” Bill James, the father of advanced baseball statistics, wrote in an e-mail. “At-bat after at-bat, he is able to hit the ball to right field NOT by swinging late, but by just clipping the inside of the baseball, hitting the ball off-center so that it flares off his bat to right field. Other people do it once in a while by accident, but I’ve never seen anybody other than Jeter do it constantly.”
I don’t think Jeter will catch Rose. Don’t think he’s that single(s)-minded. But it’s fun to consider, isn’t it?
[Photo Credit: N.Y. Daily News]
A cool jam for a mild summer Sunday.
“Winter Meeting” By Eddie Harris
[Photo Credit: The Minimalisto]
Whadda ya gunna do? Our man Phelps pitched a solid game. Game up a two-run home run to Adrian Gonzalez in the first inning and it wasn’t even a bad pitch. Thing is, Jon Lester pitched like the old Jon Lester, one we’d come to fear. The Yanks couldn’t get a key hit but the credit goes to ol’ Lester.
Sox 4, Yanks 1. Moving on.
The only drag is that the Orioles and the Rays won. The Rays, man, huge win, and they is making a push now. They trail the Yanks by five.
[Photo Credit: Ben Pier]
The overnight rain cooled things off in New York. The sun is out and it is a lovely afternoon.
Here is worrisome bit of news, however, about Mark Teixeira, brought to us by Brian Heyman over at the Lo-Hud Yankee blog:
“He’s a little bit better today,” Girardi said. “He’s not a player for me today. I wouldn’t imagine so. We’ll see in the next couple of days if we can get him back.”
Girardi is wondering, though.
“Yeah, I’m a little bit concerned if it’s going to get to 100 percent,” Girardi said. “He was better after the few days off a couple of weeks ago. And it seemed to come back a little bit. That raises a little bit of a red flag. You do what you can. Tex is good at playing beat up. He’s used to it in his career. We’ll try to get him back as soon as we can.”
1. Jeter DH
2. Swisher 1B
3. Cano 2B
4. Jones RF
5. McGehee 3B
6. Granderson CF
7. Martin C
8. Nix SS
9. Suzuki LF
It’s Phelps vs. Lester.
Never mind the mercy rule: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Stfujeff]
