Grand Groove.
[Photo Credit: Joanne Leah via This Isn’t Happiness]
Sunday
April 5, 2026
Since 2002
Blog Archives
I Can See Clearly Now…
I had a friend over for dinner last night and we watched the game, rooted for the Yanks, and were happy when they beat the Red Sox, 6-4. But we talked and talked so the details of the game evaporated once it was over. I remember cursing Phil Hughes for giving us flashbacks of Clay Rapada’s botched 1-6-3 double play earlier this season, and then cursing some more when Hughes served up a meatball to Dustin Pedrioa.
Then there was fist pumps and “Oh Yeahs” for the five solo home runs hit by the Yanks, including the 250th homer of Derek Jeter’s career. Also, a long, impressive at bat by Curtis Granderson that resulted in a line drive single, and a “Fuck Yes” for the bloop base hit Jason Nix hit on an 0-2 pitch to put the Yanks ahead for good. Smiles all around when Pedrioa hit one to the wall in the eighth, and hopped in the air as he rounded first in frustration.
I don’t remember much just that the outcome was good.
For clarity see:
Pete Abraham in the Boston Globe; David Waldstein in the Times; Mark Feinsand in the News; and William Juliano at Pinstriped Alley.
[Photo Via: mOrtality]
Oh, it’s You Again
Can you remember the last time a Yankee-Red Sox series felt this dull this late in the season?
That doesn’t mean we don’t want the Yanks to win the series of course, or that watching these games won’t angry up the blood some. But it ain’t Must-See-TV, that’s for sure.
It’s Hughes tonight, weather permitting. Supposed to rain all weekend.
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
Never mind those battlin’ BoSox: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: The Absolute Best Photography Posts]
The Last Book Sale
Over at The New York Review of Books, here’s Larry McMurtry on his final book sale:
Calling it the Last Book Sale was a conceit based on the fact that my novel The Last Picture Show had been filmed on the same site. In fact, the reputable firm of Bonham’s is conducting a major literary auction on the West Coast right now. Our auction was probably the last on this scale I will be involved with.
I’ve been an active book dealer for fifty-five years, and one thing I learned to avoid is the adjective “rare.” Poe’s Tamerlane exists in twelve known copies. It’s rare and so are his stories; but most books aren’t rare. What I sold, over two days in August, were second-hand books—or antiquarian books, if you want to fancy it up. I’ve owned most of them more than once in my career, although many of them are now at least uncommon.
My firm, Booked Up Inc., owned about 400,000 books, spread among four large buildings in Archer City, a small oil patch town in the midwestern part of Texas. I also have a 28,000-volume personal library, in the same town. I’m getting old and so are my buildings. My heirs are literate but not bookish. Dealing with nearly half a million books would be a huge burden for them: thus the downsizing.
[Photo Credit: -circa]
Taster’s Cherce
I preferred James and the Giant Peach to Roald Dahl’s Willie Wonka books when I was a kid. There is a scene when James climbs through a tunnel in the peach and grabs a handful of the fruit off the walls. That always sounded like such wonderful thing.
While we’re at it, here’s a Food & Wine recipe for peach pie.
[Illustration by Nancy Ekholm Burkett]
Morning Art
[Picture by Cur3es!]
Beat of the Day
Yeah.
Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon
Yanks go for an unlikely four-game sweep against the Rangers this afternoon on a beautiful day in the Bronx. Ivan Nova–will he deliver a solid performance or will the Rangers beat him about the face and neck?
Robbie sits for a second straight game…
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones LF
Casey McGehee 3B
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix 2B
Ichiro Suzuki CF
Chris Stewart C
Never mind the sunshine: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Luis Rodriguez via Zeroing]
Shock Treatment
From Letters of Note comes this 1961 letter from Flannery O’Connor to a college English professor:
The meaning of a story should go on expanding for the reader the more he thinks about it, but meaning cannot be captured in an interpretation. If teachers are in the habit of approaching a story as if it were a research problem for which any answer is believable so long as it is not obvious, then I think students will never learn to enjoy fiction. Too much interpretation is certainly worse than too little, and where feeling for a story is absent, theory will not supply it.
[Picture by Linden Frederick via Zeroing]
Beat of the Day
This tune is more than half garbage but it’s stuck in my head dammit.
[Photo Credit: Puckbox]
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
The Yanks have won the first two games against the Rangers but their work is not done–they lose the next two and the series will feel like a missed opportunity. Fab Five Freddy “Chuck n Duck” Garcia is on the hill.
Rain is in the forecast.
Never mind those thunderclaps: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Coffeesforclosers]
Million Dollar Movie
From Errol Morris comes a short film about the life and death of sports fans.
[Photo Via N.Y. Daily News]
Taster’s Cherce
We interrupt Peach Week to rave about Andrew Whitney’s cooking over at Dell’Anima.
The bruschette is lovely, especially the roasted red peppers with smoked almonds but the Bone Marrow with testa, charred cippolini, pickled red onion, mustard vinaigrette is off the chain. Alone, it is worth the trip.
Yes, the pastas are satisfying, too. The vibe is cozier than L’Artusi, the menu more daring, but both places are spots I want to visit again and again (this coming from someone who doesn’t eat Italian out often). I like sitting at the bar and watching the cooks in action.
And for dessert, treat yourself to the espresso-rum almond cake.
You won’t be sorry.
"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver
--Earl Weaver