Let’s flip the cliche around. When a team is successful we say “they just find a way to win.” And when they are slumping, I suppose, they find a way to lose, right?

Okay, so Miguel Cabrera hit a home run and a two-run double off of Phil Hughes, that’s to be expected. The Tigers led 4-2. But the fifth and sixth runs, both driven in by Andy Driks (two-out triple against Cody Eppley in the sixth, and then a two out single against Joba Chamberlain in the eighth), were fatal. Because the Yanks rallied against Jose The Long Goodbye Valverde, good enough to close the Tigers lead to one. Russell Martin’s double in the top of the ninth with runners on the corners made it 6-5 but the ball was hit so hard that Ichiro, running from first base, didn’t have a chance to score.

Curtis Granderson, hitless in the first two games of this series, popped up a high fastball for the final out.

Tigers 6, Yankees 5. 

“Oh, that’s so painful,” my wife said. “I feel so bad for Curtis.”

“Fuck Curtis,” I said. Meaning, who cares about the player? Don’t be mad or sad for them, be mad for us. The fans who suffer most.

The Orioles won again, this time in 14 innings and now trail by four-and-a-half games (The O’s have won 12 straight extra inning games).

“There should be a high level of concern,” Eric Chavez said according to Chad Jennings. “Anybody who says that there isn’t is lying. You’ve just got to win ballgames, and we’re not finding a way to do that, and it should be a concern. It’s that time of the year when, yeah, it’s a concern. We need to start playing good and winning games.”

You wonder what will snap the Yanks out of this funk. Something surely will. Let’s just hope it happens soon…

And don’t call me Shirley.

[Photo Credit: Dana Oliver]

Yanks look to not suck tonight with Phil Hughes on the mound.

Curtis Granderson CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Eric Chavez 3B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez DH
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Russell Martin C

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

[Photo Via: Mortality]

My pal the Ill Chemist has a dope 15-minute jam up on Mixcloud. It’s called Too Much Information Vol I and it features, among others, Lord Buckley, The Who, Yma Sumac, Sly and the Family Stone, Mr. Magoo, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Biz Markie, Duke Ellington, the Beastie Boys and Buddy Hackett.

Listen, laugh and shake…your…rump-ah!

From our pal Diane Firstman:

Leave it to Dave Tompkins to give us something surprising…

…like this Grantland piece on Nat Moore, NFL wide receiver and Miami Bass pioneer:

Nat Moore would be best remembered for his heliocentricity rather than for receiving the NFL’s first Man of the Year Award for providing “outstanding service” to a North Miami community decimated by riots, racism, and a highway. Kids who wanted to torch the seat of justice could enroll in one of the Dolphin youth football programs — or they could just skate backward to “Ring My Bell” at one of Nat Moore’s teen clubs.

What the NFL failed to recognize were Moore’s outstanding contributions to the birth of Miami bass, a rap extremity that enhanced player quality of life: spandex, jock jams, the strip club, the Luke party, the maximization of trunk space.1 This was the first hip-hop genre that appeared to be solely dedicated to fusing a subwoofer waveform with the human rear end, as if trying to develop a new biotechnology called Bottom, making these exaggerations of low end indistinguishable from each other.

[Photo Credit: How to Wreck a Nice Beach; Lovely Derriere]

My profile of the late George Kimball appeared on Deadspin last December. I worked long and hard on that piece and was proud of the effort. And now some nice personal news I’d like to share with you…

It’s been selected to The Best American Sports Writing 2012 (Edited by Mike Wilbon).

Derek Jeter fist pump.

And this:

[Photo Credit: Fiftyfootshadows]

Rest in Peace, Robert Hughes, a wonderful critic and author.

The Daily Beast has a nice collection of Hughes’ best quotes. Here’s an interview he once did with R. Crumb.

Go to You Tube and look up The Shock of the New or American Visions. You’ll be entertained and will learn a ton.

I met him once, briefly, in the New York Public Library. Mark Lamster introduced us. This morning, Mark posted a funny bit on his Facebook page:

My most memorable conversation with Robert Hughes, in the NYPL Allen room:

Me: “What are you working on now?”
Him, with gruff humor: “Another goddamn book.”

[Photo Credit: News Image Limited Library; featured painting by Richard Diebenkorn]

No shame in getting smoked by Justin Verlander, now is there?

Nova had nothing. Yanks lose, 7-2.

[Photo Credit: Opcion]

Yanks in the Motor City for four games against the Tigers.

Tonight gives Verlander.

Curtis Granderson CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Ichiro Suzuki DH
Russell Martin C

Time for Nova to shine.

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

[Robert Motherwell via Just Another Masterpiece]

The Killer B’s, they ain’t doin’ nuthin’. Andrew Marchand has the story.

Here’s a good piece by our ol’ chum Pete Abe about why firing Bobby V won’t fix the Red Sox.

[Pictures Via: Boston SportsU18; Boston Public Library]

If you’ve got an I Pad or any other kind of nifty tablet, his looks more than worth your six bucks: Henry Chalfant’s Big Subway Archive.

Ichiro was hit just above the right knee yesterday with a pitch. Before the ball reached him he yelled out. It was funny especially if you’ve ever been hit by a pitch. I remember getting plunked once in a high school game. The home plate ump warned both teams before the game not to curse but when the ball hit me in the leg I said, “Fuck.” I looked back at the ump and apologized. He told me to go to first.

Here’s a piece by Tim Kurkjian over at ESPN on what it feels like to get hit by a pitch:

“There are two types of thoughts when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand,” Indians outfielder Shelley Duncan said. “The first one, you see the ball, and about halfway to the plate, you have that ‘Oh s—‘ moment. If you don’t get ready for it, that’s when you get hurt. The other one is the pitch that you know right away, you are going to wear it. You can turn your body, you get ready to get hit, but it all happens so fast. You have to make the adjustment because one second you are calm, then a split second later, your heart is racing.”

Catchers have been known to yell, “Watch out!” when a pitch is headed for a hitter; the Yankees’ Russell Martin has done that more than a few times. Braves outfielder Matt Diaz said, “I’ve yelled, ‘Oh!’ when the pitch was headed at me because I was sure it was going to hit me, then it didn’t. I turned to the catcher, and he was laughing his a– off. The umpire was chuckling. I said, ‘I thought it was going to hit me.’ They said, ‘We did, too.'”

[Photo Credit: The Washington Post]

Via Kottke here is Sight and Sound’s list of the Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time.

You may start arguing…now.

Remember Steve Trachsel? He wasn’t just deliberate when he pitched, he was obstinant like a fuggin mule. Trachsel worked so slowly and on broiling hot summer days like today he managed to piss off just about everyone in the park: his teammates in the field, the opposition, the fans in the stands (and at home), the home announcers.

Throw the damn ball, you just wanted to yell, and often did.

I thought of ol’ Trachsel this afternoon as Freddy Garcia and Hisashi Iwakuma performed the great Snail-Off-Schivtz-a-thon at the Stadium. Okay, Garcia wasn’t quite as soporific but he wasn’t crisp either and didn’t last past five innings. The result was good for napping, perhaps the cure for ansomnia, and little else.

The relievers worked at a quicker pace for which we were all grateful. The good news in all of this was that nobody passed out from heat exhaustion. Better still, the Yanks came away with a 6-2 win.

Hey, they don’t all have to be pretty. The “W” is reward enough.

Ice Cream Sandwiches for everyone.

[Photo Credit: Dessertsforbreakfast]

The Yanks look to take the weekend series against the Mariners this afternoon in the Bronx.

It’s overcast and supposed to rain. Still hot and sticky.

Course there’s no shame losing to Felix Hernandez, especially not when he’s dealing like he was yesterday. But that’s over and done with and the Yanks are in the business of beating inferior teams, even ones that are playing well.

They turn to Fab Five Freddy and hope to score a truck load of runs themselves.

So, never mind the forecast: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Clarissa Bonet]

Here’s a nice way to start a lazy Sunday.

[Photo Credit: ilariamammut]

Here are some excellent things:

Here’s another: King Felix Hernandez.

The Mariners’ ace was dominant at the Stadium this afternoon. Beautiful. Like the old days with Pedro. He out-pitched Hiroki Kuroda–who was excellent–and had Yankee hitters…

…looking this so:

He gave up a couple of hits, walked two, stuck out six and threw 101 pitches.

Game was over in two-and-a-half hours.

Final Score: Mariners 1, Yanks 0.

Consider out hats tipped.

[Images Via: Dave Whitley; Dope Magnitude; A Spoon Full of Sugar; Bron Stadheim; Beach Riot; Fashion Squad; Hel Des; Milica Balubdzic; Elliot Erwitt; Norman Seeff; Meth-Lord; Dan Pickard; Walter Looss Jr.; Koto Bolofo; Lovely Derriere; Uma Cor; Edmondo; observando; Sam Jeibmann; Gene Blevins; Gruesome Twosome]

Hiroki vs. King Felix today at the Stadium.

Better of inside if you ask me.

1. Curtis Granderson CF

2. Derek Jeter SS

3. Robinson Cano 2B

4. Mark Teixeira 1B

5. Raul Ibanez DH

6. Nick Swisher RF

7. Eric Chavez 3B

8. Ichiro Suzuki LF

9. Russell Martin C

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

[Photo Credit: ttttarantula]

Humid–damn, it’s steamy–here in New York. No need to move any faster than necessary.

Always thought of this as a late night cut, but it works on a slow-moving Saturday too.

Siah & Yeshua dapoED – The Visualz Instrumental remake

[Photo Via: Marc Johns]