Blog Archives

Diggum, smack.

[Photo Credit: Marco Pandullo]

Well, I missed the whole damn affair. Family gathering upstate. Had to be done and it turned out to be a nice time. I checked the score from time-to-time and was thrilled to learn that Phil Hughes, after giving up a couple of runs in the first, was stingy. He went eight innings and a two-run home run by Robinson Cano–yes, that man again–broke the tie as the Yankees beat the White Sox, 4-2.

Cano is surging, is in the prime of his career, and more than capable of carrying the team for weeks at a time. It’s also been great to see Hughes, Nova and Kuroda pitching well, am I right?

Zach Schonbrun has a nice write-up in the Times.

Coupled with a Baltimore loss the Yanks are now six games ahead in the American League East. That’s the way to beat the heat. Nice job by the Yanks after losing the first two games of the series–the White Sox got two runs in the last couple of games.

Say Word:

And on Old Timer’s Day (covered here by Harvey Araton), Derek Jeter, C.C. Sabathia, Curtis Granderson and Cano were selected to the All Star Game. Sabathia was replaced by C.J. Wilson. Also, the Yanks picked up a reliever today and over at River Ave Blues, Mike Axisa can’t figure it.

[Featured Image via: Kathy Willens/AP Photo; interior pictures by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images and Willens]

Old Timer’s Day at the Stadium or “The Return of Tanyon Sturtze!”

Laughs and old men running around in costumes playing a boy’s game.

More heat. Boy, is it hot.

Phil Hughes follows as the Yanks try to break even against the White Sox.

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

Kick the Bobo…

[Photo Credit: Particular Particules]

Hiroki Kuroda has quietly been the Yankees most reliable starting pitcher this season. He had a rough stretch early on and their was talk that the adjustment to the American League East was too much. But that hasn’t been the case overall and Kuroda had another strong start today, just when the team needed it, as he shut out the White Sox for seven innings. He struck out eleven batters–tying a career high–despite not having his best split finger fastball. The Sox only managed three singles against Kuroda.

Solo homers from the lefties Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano and Dwayne Wise (who added an RBI double) was enough against Jake Peavey who pitched a pretty good game minus those mistakes.

On a unpleasantly warm day in the Bronx, Kuroda and the Yanks cooled off Chicago, and for that we are grateful.

Final Score: Yanks 4, White Sox 0.

[Photo Credit: Thomas Hoepker/MAGNUM PHOTOS]

Yeah, it’s hotter n July hot today in the Bronx as Hiroki Kuroda looks to stop the bleeding for the Yanks who have dropped the first two games of this series to the White Sox.

Yanks will need a Score Truck Debut today but they’re facing a tough pitcher in Jake Peavey.

1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Rodriguez 3B
4. Cano 2B
5. Teixeira 1B
6. Swisher DH
7. Ibanez RF
8. Martin C
9. Wise LF

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

[Photo Credit: Leonard Freed via Je Suis Perdu]

Photo and recipe for sweet and sour cherry jam over at Hungry Ghost Food+Travel.

Ah, the old place. Well, the second old place, anyhow.

It’s hot out there for Adam Warren’s big league debut. The ball should be a-jumpin’, even though the White Sox are throwing a good young pitcher tonight. I keep waiting for Adam Dunn to hit one into the upper deck in right field.

1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. A-Rod 3B
5. Cano 2B
6. Swisher RF
7. Jones DH
8. Nix LF
9. Stewart C

Stay hydrated and: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit:  Laura Powers]

Oh, man, this place looks tasty, never mind the trek to Brooklyn.

[Photo Credit: 3000 miles ’til dinner]

Happy belated birthday to Mel Brooks who turned 86 yesterday. To celebrate please enjoy the following:

Mel Brooks at his Best

You’re welcome. (Yeah, I know it’s printed backwards–Hebraic, don’tcha know?–and sideways: Tilt your head dammit, tilt your head.)

Underground New York Public Library is a tumblr site worth following.

[Photo Credit: Walker Evans; L.A. Observed]

Coolin’ out on a grey Friday in New York. Here’s a gem: Bill Evans in Paris.

[Image Via Love Speakeasy]

Spotted on on Ludlow Street between Canal & Hester earlier this spring by a pal.

Dodger graff on the L.E.S.? Well, go figure that. Never know what you’re going to find in this town.

“Academy Theater (Inglewood, California),” By Julius Shulman (1940)

Check out this reissue of a rare Ernie Kovacs album: “Percy Dovetonsils…thpeaks.”

[Drawing by J.R. Williams]

The White Sox are in town for a game-game series, led by our old pal, Robin Ventura. No C.C. this weekend, of course. It’s up to Nova, Hiroki, and Hughes to give the team innings and good ones. Tonight gives Nova. Here’s hoping the Yanks can continue their winning ways.

Jeter SS

Granderson CF

A-Rod DH

Cano 2B

Teixeira 1B

Swisher RF

Ibanez LF

Chavez 3B

Stewart C

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

[Photo Credit: US Presswire]

I’m not much of a fan of Spike Lee as a movie director though his first three movies were events in my life. Watching those movies in the theater–“She’s Got to Have It” at the Quad, “School Daze” and “Do The Right Thing” in Times Square–are experiences I’ll never forget. There was much to recommend in Lee’s early work. Those movies had vitality and humor.

But I haven’t liked one of his feature films  in years (his best work has come in the documentary form).

His new one, however, looks promising:

The other day, Glenn Stout mentioned this 2010 Paris Review Art of Non-Fiction Interview with John McPhee.

I hadn’t read the piece in a few years but was happy to revisit it:

INTERVIEWER: What were your first impressions (of New Yorker editor William Shawn)?

MCPHEE: He spoke so softly. I was awestruck: the guy’s the editor of The New Yorker and he’s this mysterious person. It was the most transforming event of my writing existence, meeting him, and you could take a hundred years to try to get to know him, and this was just the first day. But he was a really encouraging editor. Shawn always functioned as the editor of new writers, so he edited the Bradley thing. So I spent a lot of time in his office, talking commas. He explained everything with absolute patience, going through seventeen thousand words, a comma at a time, bringing in stuff from the grammarians and the readers’ proofs. He talked about each and every one of these items with the author. These were long sessions. At one point I said, Mr. Shawn, you have this whole enterprise going, a magazine is printing this weekend, and you’re the editor of it, and you sit here talking about these commas and semicolons with me—how can you possibly do it?

And he said, It takes as long as it takes. A great line, and it’s so true of writing. It takes as long as it takes.

McPhee is talking about writing here but I think can apply to anything. And it’s a wonderful, necessary reminder that nothing worth having comes fast.

MCPHEE: The thing about writers is that, with very few exceptions, they grow slowly—very slowly. A John Updike comes along, he’s an anomaly. That’s no model, that’s a phenomenon. I sent stuff to The New Yorker when I was in college and then for ten years thereafter before they accepted something. I used to paper my wall with their rejection slips. And they were not making a mistake. Writers develop slowly. That’s what I want to say to you: don’t look at my career through the wrong end of a telescope. This is terribly important to me as a teacher of writers, of kids who want to write.

And this:

INTERVIEWER: After you’ve done your reporting, how do you proceed with a piece?

MCPHEE: First thing I do is transcribe my notes. This is not an altogether mindless process. You’re copying your notes, and you get ideas. You get ideas for structure. You get ideas for wording, phraseologies. As I’m typing, if something crosses my mind I flip it in there. When I’m done, certain ideas have accrued and have been added to it, like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

And so now you’ve got piles of stuff on the table, unlike a fiction writer. A fiction writer doesn’t have this at all. A fiction writer is feeling her way, feeling her way—it’s much more of a trial-and-error, exploratory thing. With nonfiction, you’ve got your material, and what you’re trying to do is tell it as a story in a way that doesn’t violate fact, but at the same time is structured and presented in a way that makes it interesting to read.

I always say to my classes that it’s analogous to cooking a dinner. You go to the store and you buy a lot of things. You bring them home and you put them on the kitchen counter, and that’s what you’re going to make your dinner out of. If you’ve got a red pepper over here—it’s not a tomato. You’ve got to deal with what you’ve got. You don’t have an ideal collection of material every time out.

[Photo Credit: Peter C. Cook; painting by Paul Cezanne]

Or: How to Insure You Won’t Get a Holiday Card from one Omar Vizquel.

Jay Jaffe examines the Hall of Fame candidacy of a gifted infielder who has enjoyed a fine, long, career. In the process, gets lumped with Jose Mesa on Vizquel’s enemies list.

[Photo Credit: Ron Vesely]

Because of all the screwy weather this year, which has been dreadful for farmers, peaches have arrived earlier than excpected.

Dig this recipe for Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie over at Smitten Kitchen.

[Photo Credit: Annuus Naa]