Ivan Nova looked confident and smooth in the first inning today but gave up three runs in the second. Nothing hit too hard and he had to work out of trouble after that but he was strong enough to get into the seventh with the Yanks down, 3-1. Mike Pelfry, on the other hand, gave up an early home run to Curtis Granderson–there’s that man, again–yet looked hittable. In the second inning, Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner narrowly missed homers, but then Pelfry settled into a nice groove, used four different pitches and “really pitched,” as the announcer like to say.

I was watching the game at home with the wife. It moved along without much incident. The crowd at Yankee Stadium, again, was subdued. In the sixth, the Yanks turned a 5-4-3 double play, “around the horn,” said Michael Kay on the YES broadcast.

That’s when the wife, who had been unsuccessful in an attempt to nap, sprung to life.

“Round the horn,” she said. “I hate that. Round the horn, merry go round, I’m a putz. In your wheelhouse. Right in your kitchen. Why not your laundry room or your unfinished basement? Put the bat right in your stupid merry go round.”

I laughed. This is what happens when the wife doesn’t nap.

She said, “I’m just a little cranky.”

Most Yankee fans were irritable too. Then came the seventh inning when luck was on their side in the form of swinging bunts, seeing-eye singles and bloop doubles. Brett Gardner started it off with a base hit that went between Pelfry’s legs. Pelf, a tall dude, mumbled, cursed and walked Chris Dickerson. Then Francisco Cervelli squared around to bunt and took a fastball off his shoulder. At first I thought it beaned him in the head.

DJ was next.

Jeter hit the ball hard up the middle. Sitting at home I thought it was a sure double play. But it found the hole, a Luis Sojo Special!, and darted into centerfield. Two runs scored and the game was tied. Pelfry’s day was over.

Against a left handed reliever, Curtis Granderson sacrificed the runners along and Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Alex Rodriguez. Another pitching change and then Alex swung at the first pitch and hit the ball weakly toward third, went maybe 50 feet.

But it was soft enough for a run-scoring infield single. Robbie Cano followed and hit a flat, 2-0 sinker hard into right field, scoring another run. Jorge Posada was called out on strikes but then Gardner hit a bloop double to left and Dickerson followed up with an even luckier bloop double and all of a sudden it was 9-3, Yanks.

That’s how it ended. And now, we kick back, relax and enjoy the rest of the day.

It is chilly today in the Bronx. Big Pelf against the kid Nova. I can’t call it but you know I’ll be rootin’ hard:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. Rodriguez 3B
5. Cano 2B
6. Posada DH
7. Gardner LF
8. Dickerson RF
9. Cervelli C

[Picture by Joseph Holmes]

More gray in NYC.

[Photo Credit: Joseph Holmes]

A few of my co-workers are Yankee fans. One of them is a classic glass-half-full personality. On Friday morning when I talked to her about the Yankees’ 13-2 win against the Orioles she shook her head.

“You think they could save a couple of runs for tonight.”

“Jeez, aren’t you happy they won?”

“Eh, they shot their wad.”

I thought about her last night when the Yanks scored a single run, knowing that she was watching the game going, “See, I told you so.”

Thing is, I’ve thought the same thing before when the Yanks have scored a ton of runs–save some for tomorrow!–even though I know it’s neurotic thinking. One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other, right? I mulled it over as I lay in bed last night wondering what the numbers say. But then I thought, well, I’m sure my co-worker doesn’t think the reverse is true. I’m sure she wasn’t watching the game last night thinking, “Welp, they only scored one run tonight, tomorrow they’ll score ten.”

The Yanks didn’t score ten runs tonight against the Mets but they did score seven and it was enough for the win. A.J. Burnett wasn’t super but he got out of a bases loaded, no out, fix in the first inning allowing just two runs to score. Russell Martin tied it with a two-run homer and later on Mark Teixeira put them ahead for good with a two-run home run of his own. Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez also hit solo shots, and David Robertson got the Yanks out of a first and third, one out jam in the seventh with the tying run at the plate.

The crowd was subdued, the game was under three hours, and for one night, there was no angst in the Bronx. But there might be some tomorrow afternoon…you never know, right?

Final Score: Yanks 7, Mets 3.

[Photo Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images]

Yanks host the Mets against tonight in the Bronx.

Never mind the preamble:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Image from We Love Typeography]

Well, not entirely clear blue skies but the sun is out and what a sight for sore eyes.

I’m taking the wife for a picnic.

Back for more angst tonight.

[Photo Credit Lariverola by four.one.five]

Kick the Bobo:

D-Day…

The Mets hospital ward team came into Yankee Stadium Friday night missing starting third baseman David Wright, center fielder Angel Pagan, first baseman Ike Davis and staff ace Johan Santana. Since the beginning of the 2010 season, the anticipated heart of the lineup (Beltran, Wright and Jason Bay) have been active at the same time for a total of 27 games. Their starting infield tonight: Daniel Murphy (1B), Ruben Tejada (2B), Jose Reyes (SS) and Justin Turner (3B). Not quite the ’77 Dodgers. Despite this, and a 5-13 start to the season, new manager Terry Collins had them at 21-22, five games behind the first place Phillies.

R.A. Dickey, the Mets knuckleballing starter, had been cuffed around for most of the early season (1-5, 5.08 ERA).  The Yanks countered with Freddy Garcia, who was probably salivating over the depleted opposition, given the way the Red Sox treated him in his last start (5 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 HR, 5 ER).

Unfortunately for Garcia, Dickey had an ally on this night, namely the Yankees continued inability to get a clutch hit.  Going into the evening, the Bombers were 9th in the AL in batting average with 2 out and runners in scoring position (.219).  The worst offender, Nick Swisher, finally got his first hit in 20 tries Thursday night in Baltimore.  He couldn’t offer a repeat performance.

Alex Rodriguez doubled to right-center to start the bottom of the 2nd.  Robbie Cano struck out and Russell Martin grounded out.  Jorge Posada worked a walk and Swisher was plunked on the knee by a 68-mph flutterball to load the bases.  Alas, Brett Gardner hit a two hopper to Turner for a force at third to end the threat.

Mark Teixeira cracked his 11th homer of 2011 with two out in the third for the game’s first run . . . a wall-scraper that landed in the first row of the right field seats just over Beltran’s outstretched glove.  The Mets got the run back in the fourth on a two-out double by DH Fernando Martinez and a double down the right field line by Turner (one of his three hits on the night).

The Yanks had chances to retake the lead over the next two innings.  Swisher came up with two outs and Martin on second in the fourth and struck out.   Gardner and Derek Jeter reached safely to start the fifth, but Curtis Granderson flew to right, Teixeira was caught looking and Rodriguez grounded to short.

The Mets reclaimed the lead in their half of the sixth on a leadoff homer by Daniel Murphy inside the right field foul pole.  Garcia subsequently walked Beltran and two outs later Turner dunked a ground rule double in front of a diving Swisher (fortunate for the Yanks as Beltran would have scored had the ball stayed in play).  Garcia wiggled out of trouble by getting Josh Thole to bounce out to Teixeira.   Dickey survived another runner in scoring position jam in the bottom of the inning, as Russell Martin’s one-out double went for naught with strikeouts of Posada and Swisher.  And that was the last threat (and baserunner) the Yanks would muster, as three Met relievers combined to strike out five of the last nine Yankee batters.

In all, the Yanks went 1-10 with runners in scoring position, and wasted a good bounceback effort by Garcia (with solid relief from David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain, each of whom allowed one single and struck out two in their respective inning of work).

Final: Mets 2, Yanks 1.

Another year, another Subway Serious.

Yawn.

That said, here’s hoping the Yanks win the series.

Cliff has the preview, and we’ll be rootin’:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Keep Cool but Care]

Ted and I tackle the subway serious:

[Photo Credit: Washington Post]

Perry Barber is just the coolest.  Click here to find out for yourself. Then click here for more.

And check out her lasting Yankee Stadium Memory while you are at it.

Then dig her back when:

Last weekend during the Mets-Astros broadcast, Keith Hernandez talked about breaking in a baseball glove. He used two mitts per season in his playing days which came as a surprise to me. I thought a player would hang onto a favorite glove for longer than that, but Mex talked about liking his glove to remain stiff, and I suppose that makes sense for a first baseman.

As a kid I loved the ritual of buying a new glove and breaking it in.

On that note, check out this cool article on craft of glove repair over at A Continuous Lean.

Our pal Larry Roibal’s complete Yankee drawings…

Fifty years ago, Roger Maris chased Babe Ruth’s home run record. Of course, he eventually broke it. When he did, this is what the great Leonard Shecter wrote in the New York Post:

Great events of history are over swiftly. A ball, even if it’s the first in the long and noble history of baseball to be hit for a 61st home run, takes only a few heartbeats of time to be propelled from home plate to the outfield seats.

For those who were at Yankee Stadium yestrday, some 24,000 people, it was over all too quickly. It would have been better if the ball leaped in exaltation, turned int he air and wrote a saucy message (like WHEEE!) against the blue sky, dipped nobly and shed a tear over the monument to Babe Ruth in center field.

…Maris swung his most vicious swing and the ball rose in a great arc toward right center field. In years to come millions will swear they were at the Stadium the day Maris hit the home run heard round the world but none among them will be able to say it was less than a perfect home run.

The ball was outlined sharply, whitely, against the sky as it came to the outfield. There were puffs of white clouds in the sky but it was as though they parted to let the ball fly by. It landed perhaps six rows back, about seven seats and a narrow aisle to the right of the bullpen, well to the left of the 344 foot marker. A home run in Babe Ruth’s day, too.

“I was up there wheeling,” Maris said after he had paid his homage to the commercial gods of television. He was calm, in control, the way the President is probably, when he strides into a huge room to face 800 reporters.

This wasn’t the same Maris who jiggled nervously for weeks waiting for the ax to fall on the 154th game. It wasn’t the same Maris who lost sleep, even tufts of his hair in the unbearable pressure cooker of the publicity as he made the run at the 154th game home run record.

It was a Maris who seemed a foot taller now that a terrible load had been taken off him, now that he had the 61 home runs, now that the season was over.

…The people got to their feet and clapped their hands as Maris ran. It wasn’t so much a cheer as it was applause, the kind you get from an audience which has been moved by a great performance.

…The applause and his teammates brought him back out of the dugout, cap off, his hair looking, in the bright day, blonder than it is. He waved his cap once, twice, tried to retreat, was pushed back by the players.

“I thought they wanted me to stay out there all day,” Maris said.

Perhaps they, who have had to get the base hits, understand best the magnitude of Maris’ accomplishment. Put it this way. It’s difficult to hit 61 home run the way it was difficult to run the four minute mile before anybody else had done. Others may now hit 61 but you have to put Roger Maris up there with Roger Bannister. It’s been a great century for Roger.

Miles and Trane.

The Yankees lineup slumps as a team and hits as a team. The slump: Wednesday night. Fourteen innings, fourteen singles, and a 1-for-14 effort with runners in scoring position was the epitome of the Yankees’ recent bout of anemia. The hits: Robinson Canó’s 2-RBI double in the 15th inning not only broke the singles brigade and the RISP issues, it was the beginning of an avalanche of offense.

Derek Jeter led off the game with a double, and Curtis Granderson followed with an RBI triple off the top of the right field wall. A productive out by Mark Teixeira had the game at 2-0 before some people realized the game had even started. Later in the inning, Brad Bergesen drilled Cano, walked Russell Martin on four pitches, threw a wild pitch and was forced to walk Jorge Posada to load the bases. Nick Swisher unloaded the bases with a double. 5-0 after a half inning. Score truck idling on Eutaw Street.

Ahead to the fourth inning, where Brett Gardner and Jeter hit back-to-back triples, and then Big Teix went yard. 9-0 and pray the rain held out. It did. The game was official. Tack-on runs in the fifth and sixth. Even Eduardo Nuñez belted a home run to cap the scoring.

The early barrage was more than enough for CC Sabathia, who was on auto-pilot from the get-go. About as economical as he gets: average of 14 pitches per inning through his 8 IP, and struck out nine. No walks. Seventy-seven percent of his pitches went for strikes.

As good as CC was, make no mistake, this game was about the offense. Up and down the lineup, it was like a huge exhalation. A channeling of several days of frustration. The Yankees did what they’re supposed to do: destroy bad pitching. And the timely hitting was there. Eight of 13 runs were scored with two outs. They went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

This was the type of victory the Yankees needed. Now if they could only have this kind of effort against teams other than the Orioles…Wait, how about the Mets?

NOTES:
* Jorge Posada was in the field, at first base, and went 1-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and two walks. His long flyball out to center field in the eighth inning has him 0-for-25 vs. LHP this season. A great note on Posada, though, from YES Network’s Jack Curry, via Twitter: Since he asked out of the lineup Saturday, Posada has reached base in 7 of 9 plate appearances.

* Another beauty from Mr. Curry: Swisher had 4 RBI tonight. He had just 3 in his previous 17 games.

* When Sabathia was removed in favor of Amauri Sanit for the ninth inning, the Yankees extended their MLB record streak of consecutive games without a complete game to 337.

* Courtesy of Larry Koestler at YankeeAnalysts, the Yankees have never had their starting pitchers go 8 innings on consecutive nights. Sabathia and Bartolo Colon just did it.

How about some runs for C.C. tonight?

Yo Mighty Score Truck (seen here on 30th street off 6th Ave two days ago)–bring it on home.

Jorgie gets the start at first…

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Russell Martin C
Jorge Posada 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Over at SI.com, our man Cliff takes a look at the Yankees’ aging roster:

The Yankees’ success over the last two decades was largely built around a core of home grown stars in Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada, but it’s clear that the end is nigh for each of them. Williams and Pettitte are retired, Posada is 39 and batting just .179 in the last year of his contract, Jeter is hitting a career-worst .255 as he approaches his 37th birthday and Rivera, though still pitching brilliantly, is 41 years old.

The decline of those players has brought attention to the advancing age and cost of the Yankees roster, which currently boasts five players who are at least 34 and earning eight-digit salaries and two other players earning annual salaries north of $20 million signed through or beyond their 34th birthdays. Setting aside Posada, who will turn 40 in August and is in the final year of his four-year, $52.4 million deal, here is a look at the six players the Yankees have signed through their age-34 season or beyond.

[Photo Credit: Ralph Gibson via This Isn’t Happiness]

I just started a Tumblr site for the Banter. Is 50 posts in 24 hours excessive? Dudes, I’m hooked.

Bookmark the bitch and check it out on the reg for artwork and cool stuff to look at.

[Painting by me, gouache on paper, 1997]