R. Crumb

Sunday is here, another fine day in New York and still number…

I’m ready for Opening Day already, but I’ll take s’more upsets at March Madness today while we wait.

Here’s a lovely spring beat for you…One time:

Sure would be a perfect day to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

It’s a stunner out there. Boids is chirpin’ here in the Bronx. Our windows are wide open, it smells fresh. I’m taking the wife out to stroll around downtown Manhattan.

Good to be alive.

Frank King.

R.I.P. Alex Chilton.

Don Mattingly Don. Featured at Go Japanese, down on St. Marks. 

Topping: Slices of tuna, strips of squid and a plethora of okra sauce are arranged as a baseball field on a bed of sushi rice mixed in with pieces of eel and avocado.

Highlights: The menu includes traditional donburi like Oyako Don ($8.50), Katsu Don ($9) and Ten Don ($9.50), and they are offered at discounted prices during lunch hour.

Peace to Iyasu for pointing this out.

Part One…

Mike Vacc on Mark Teix:

“Look,” Mark Teixeira says. “It’s really kind of simple. If you don’t want to play in front of 50,000 people every single game, if you don’t want the energy of the best city in the world behind you every day, good or bad, and if you don’t want to be in a position where you can win a championship … well, then you probably shouldn’t play in New York.”

My head turned on my way to work this morning. A skirt, a switch, bare legs. I’m just glad I didn’t walk into anything. The next few days are supposed to be lovely.

Man, how I love this city.

[photo credit: Life magazine]

Walt Kelly.

Tyler Kepner had a good piece on Nick Johnson yesterday in the Times. I love Johnson, so I’m hoping he stays healthy, cause if he does, chances are the man will produce:

He does not want to think of himself as the guy who walks a lot.

“It goes back and forth with me in my head, because when I’m not swinging well or I get in a little funk, it’s because I’m passive, and I’m 0-2 like that,” Johnson said on Tuesday, snapping his fingers for emphasis. “I don’t mind hitting with two strikes, but when those times come, I have to be conscious of it, know it, and I’ve got to be ready to hit. I can always go back to being comfortable and walking.”

Last week, I wrote about a wonderful Tuscan kale salad I had at Resto.

According to someone in the know, Nevia No, a greenmarket goddess, has the goods at the 14th street farmer’s market.

Ya hoid.

[Photo Credit: New York Magazine]

One of my early adolescent idols…

Milton Caniff.

All I wanted was a slice, is that too much to ask?

I got off the R train at Union street in Brooklyn and walked up to Fifth avenue. But the pizza shop on the corner–Fifth Avenue Pizza–was closed. So I turned left, in the direction of Flatbush avenue. Four-and-a-half blocks later I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t passed a Pizzeria. On a commercial street chock full of restaurants no less. 

I didn’t want to keep moving away from Union street, where I was eventually headed, so I doubled-back, crossed over Union Street and continued on, figuring, again, a pizzeria would be a stone’s throw away.

Nope. Nada. Bubkus. I was apoplectic, hating hipster Brooklyn like never before, when I finally found a spot, on 3rd Street just off Fifth Avenue called Villa Rustica. I went in and ordered a couple of slices and sat down to eat.

Now, unless I’m at a fancy pizza shop, one of those places that claims to be “the best,” I’m not overly picky. What I’m looking for is a representative slice. Something I could offer an out-of-towner as an example of a good New York City slice. (Talk about a new spin on VORP–value above replacement pizza!) Well, the slice at Villa Rustica was just that–and better than any of the local pizza I have around my way in the Bronx.

It wasn’t spectacular, didn’t re-invent the wheel, but it was satisfying and delicious and it made my anger go away.

Ah, the restorative powers of a good, representative, New York City slice.

[photo credit: akuban]

As I mentioned earlier, Emma Span’s first book was released yesterday. Here at the Banter we are bursting with pride at Emma’s accomplishment, because she’s one of us, and also because she’s simply one of the best writers to emerge from the blogosphere, a truly original voice. Smart and funny. I think the world of her, as a writer and as a friend–and yes, she’ll be back to blogging here in the very near future.

So join us in giving her props and don’t sleep–go pick up a copy of her memoir.

Ya hoid?

Over at the Pinstriped Bible, our pal Steve Goldman has a couple of posts on the prospect of Robinson Cano batting fifth:

Cano’s batting average ranked sixth in the league. His True Average (formerly Equivalent Average) of .293, which measures the sum total of his contributions on offense on a scale identical to batting average, ranked only 29th among players with 400 or more plate appearances. Among those finishing ahead of him: Jorge Posada (.301) and Nick Swisher (.300). You really don’t need the statistics to appreciate the basic reality of this: Posada and Swisher simply reached base more often. Unless Cano hits .350 this year or learns to take a walk, both spectacularly unlikely, and assuming business as usual on the part of either player, they are going to reach base more often this season.

Given the purpose of the batting order is to promote offensive production, what purpose is served here? Over the course of his career, Posada has been the superior hitter with men on, and his career OBP stands at .379. Like Cano, Swisher struggled to deliver baserunners to the plate, but still reached base 40 percent of the time in those situations. His strikeouts, viewed as an annoyance by the less sophisticated fan, meant he hit into a double play in only 11 percent of opportunities vs. 17 percent for Cano. Posada, despite his typical aged catcher legs, hit into a twin killing in only 14 percent of his opportunities.

We also haven’t considered another possibility, which is that not only does Cano not hit .350, he doesn’t hit .320 again either, instead falling back to his career averages of .306/.339/.480. Were he to do that, his OBP would barely escape the league average.

A soul classic (love the intro):