Okay, stop laughing and dig Morgan Ensberg’s take on the Alex Rodriguez (looking positively presidential yesterday at the White House) hubbub last week in Oakland.
And here is another priceless picture from Craig Robinson at his killer site, Flip Flop Fly Ball (I first caught this over at River Ave Blues last week). Robinson is reason #4080 why the Internet ain’t so bad after all:
[photo credit: espn]
My pal Jay Jaffe is going to do a spit-take when he reads this but he and Curt Schilling have something in common–they don’t believe in Javy Vazquez. At least not in the American League East. According to an ESPN radio interview cited in this piece from the Daily News, Schilling said:
“I never, ever thought the move to New York the first time was a good one, and I didn’t think this (move) was good as well. I don’t think he suddenly learned how to pitch when he went back to Atlanta and dealt last year,” Schilling said. “It’s hard to say this without sounding disrespectful, and I don’t mean it that way – the National League is an easier league to pitch in, period, and some guys aren’t equipped to get those same outs in the American League. And he’s one of those guys.”
…”(Vazquez) thrived in Montreal and he thrived in Atlanta, and those are both second-tier cities from a baseball passion perspective. He’s not a guy that I’ve ever felt was comfortable in the glow,” Schilling said. “… You’re seeing what you’re gonna get from him consistently all year. Having said that, he could turn around next week and throw a one-hitter with his stuff. I just don’t see him being a consistent winner in the American League.”
Ouchie.
“El” Second and Third Avenue Lines;Bowery and Division Street, Manhattan, from the series Changing New York, By Berenice Abbott (1936)
It’s hard being hooked…
Harvey Araton has a piece in the Times today about the understated elegance of Mariano Rivera. Nothing new here but I never mind reading another puff piece on Mo, do you?
[photo credit: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger]
Check out this terrific spring produce guide from the good peoples at Saveur.
This here website is devoted to exposing the Herbs we see each and every day on the subway. Like this dude, here.
Don’t sleep cause you might slip.
The Yanks are looking for another series win and a victory over the Angels today will give them just that. Javy Vazquez goes for the Bombers and here’s hoping he can deliver a solid outing. He hasn’t been impressive so far but we’ll be root-root-rooting him on.
Let’s Go Yan-Kees!
Saturday…in the Park.
Nick Swisher is the kind of player who shouldn’t be left to his own devices. After driving home Robinson Cano in the second inning with a double, Swisher came to bat in the fourth after Alex Rodriguez (dhing for the day) and Cano started the inning with base hits. So Swisher laid down a sacrifice bunt, taking the bat out of his and Curtis Granderson’s hands. The sacrifice worked, then the Angels walked Granderson to load the bases for Ramiro Pena and Frankie Cervelli. Pena, who played third and made a terrific diving catch, whiffed but Cervelli bailed Swisher out of a trip to the doghouse with a little single to left, scoring two runs.
Derek Jeter followed with a well-struck RBI single to center and the Yanks had a 4-0 lead, more than enough for Andy Pettitte as the Yanks cruised to a 7-1 win.
There was no hangover from Friday night’s contentious game. Pettitte was in control. His line: 8 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 8 strikeouts and 0 walks. Leave it to Torii Hunter to have the line of the day when he told reporters:
“I’ve never seen Pettitte pitch this well,” Hunter said. “He looked poised. He looked like the Andy Pettitte of old, when he was young.”
…”The last two times Pettitte pitched against us, that’s about as good as we’ve seen him,” [Manager, Mike] Scioscia said. “He’s taken a sip from the Fountain of Youth or something. He really pitched well.”
(L.A. Times)
Damaso Marte pitched a scoreless ninth. Brett Gardner stayed hot with three more hits and Cano had four hits and scored three runs. The slumping Mark Teixeira had one hit and Nick Johnson had the day off due to a cranky back.
The Yanks have a chance to win the series later this afternoon when Javy Vazquez takes the mound.
[Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images]
Last night Mark Teixeira got hit by a pitch from Ervin Santana and then scored from first on a base hit by Robinson Cano. He smashed into the catcher Bobby Wilson–“he came in high,” agreed John Flaherty and Ken Singleton on the YES broadcast. Neither called the play dirty but they didn’t approve of it either. Wilson was taken off the field and diagnosed with a left ankle sprain and a concussion.
Nobody on the Angels yelled and carried on. According to the L.A. Times:
“It was a clean play, no doubt about it,” said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, the former Dodgers catcher who was on the receiving end of similar hits. “Mark is trying to score. The ball beat him. Bobby is trying to get the ball and get a tag down. Mark just reacted. It was clean.”
Santana wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t know, because he can score easily,” the Angels pitcher said. “Maybe he’s trying to hit us or something because I just hit him. I didn’t mean to hit him.”
Teixeira said as soon as Wilson moved toward him, he thought the catcher had the ball and was blocking the plate.
“I feel terrible. It makes me sick,” Teixeira said. “You never want to hurt a guyI was going to slide, but as soon as I saw him learning toward me, I thought, ‘OK, he’s got the ball, I’ve got to knock it loose.’ Every time I’m in that position I try to protect myself by lowering my shoulder.”
Whether or not you think the play was clean or not I couldn’t help but think–what would the reaction have been had Alex Rodriguez done the same thing? He would have been roasted, that’s what. Teixeira displayed some chippiness last season. Last night, he proved he’s still got more than a little of the red ass in him.
[Photo Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times]
Day Pool with 3 Blues, By David Hockney (1978)
From NYC…
To L.A.
Among the finer baseball books to be published this spring is Chris Jaffe’s Evaluating Baseball’s Managers. Full of anecdotes and analysis, it’s an in-depth study of many of the most significant managers in the game’s history. Earlier in the week, Chris answered a number of questions about the book, including his thoughts on some of the most important managers to wear the pinstripes.
Markusen: Chris, in putting this book together, it’s obvious that you’ve put in an exhaustive amount of research and time. How much, if at all, were you influenced by the previous books on managers done by Bill James and Leonard Koppett?
Jaffe: Both were very helpful. Neither was the main inspiration, but both helped. Koppett gave me a sense of how the position evolved over time. Early in his book, he talks of New York’s 1876 National League manager Bill Cammeyer. He owned the team and invented the baseball stadium. Nowadays, he’d never be manager, but then the position was different.
The James book probably helped a bit more. (Actually, Bill James gets mentioned more times than any non-manager in the book. I suppose that’s not too surprising given that it’s a Sabermetric work).
The big inspiration from the James book was a little 2-3 page section at the end where he noted how often particular managers’ teams led the league (or came in last) in various categories. It let you know whose teams relied the most on power, or complete game pitching, or whatever. James said the list came in handy when discussing various managers.
I liked the idea and thought it could be taken further. I thought rather than just look at how often someone ranked first or last, note how often they came in first, second, third … .all the way down to last, average it out, adjust for league size (because coming 6th in an 8 team league is different from sixth in a 16-team league), and get a better sense of where managers stand in various ways.
That became the Tendencies Database, which is the main tool I used to look at individual managers.
Markusen: Based on the research you did for the book, who emerges as the greatest manager in the history of the Yankees? Did this differ from any preconceived opinions you might have had?
Jaffe: Joe McCarthy kicked so much butt he had to wear special shoes. I knew going in he was terrific so it didn’t go against any preconceived opinions, but there you go.
Stengel is more remembered because he was better with the media, came in the early TV era (when the Baby Boomers can remember him), and last, but certainly not least, won five straight titles. That said, McCarthy’s post season accomplishments were in their own way even more impressive than Stengel’s. In his nine World Series, McCarthy’s teams not only won eight world titles, but they won 29 out of 38 games. A 29-9 record is remarkable if it’s a midseason run, but it’s almost impossible to do that good when facing pennant winning teams in rival leagues. Stengel’s Yanks won a bunch of closely fought World Series, but McCarthy went 28-5 in his eight triumphant Octobers. They never even saw a Game Seven. Heck, they only had one Game Six. Stonewall Jackson once said an army conditioned to victory will become invincible. That’s what happened to those Yankees.
Couple with Light, By Nathan Oliveira (2003)
Step correct.
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.”
M. F. K. Fisher
Sullivan Street Bakery. Pure goodness.
[Image from Serious Eats]
Last fall, FLYP ran a terrific profile about these fascinating professionals. On a side note, I just read that FLYP is shutting down. Too bad, especially with iPad generation upon us.
