Hackman, Elmore, Huston, Dustin, Rip, Willis, Lange and more…Movie nerds: dig in. 

[Picture Credit: Robert Wilson]

The latest from Gummy Soul. 

Thirty-five years ago to the day, as the Yankees were busy reeling in the Boston Red Sox, they stopped in Fenway Park and thrashed the Sox so  soundly that the series will be forever known as the Boston Massacre. The Yankees were four games behind the Red Sox when they arrived in town, but after sweeping the series (and outscoring the Sox 49-26) they left in a flat-footed tie. We all know how that season ended up.

The Yankees would rip out Boston’s heart again in August of 2006, taking the field in Fenway with a slim game and a half lead over the Sox but leaving four days later with commanding 6 1/2 game advantage after an unprecedented five-game sweep in which they outscored Boston by an identical 49-26 margin.

On Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, the Yankees looked to avoid being on the other side of one of those season-ending, soul-crushing, series sweeps. After inexplicable losses on Thursday and Friday, followed by an old-fashioned beating on Saturday, the Yankees took the field on Sunday as a desperate team.

Hiroki Kuroda was on the mound for the Yanks, and he was probably just as desperate as the Yankees were. He had been excellent through the first three months and dominant in July (3-0, 0.55 ERA, 0.88 WHIP), but he was a completely different pitcher in August as he finished the month 1-4 with a 5.12 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. He was a man in need of redemption, and Sunday looked like a good place to start.

He seemed to struggle a bit early on, as consecutive doubles in the second inning (David Ortíz and Mike Carp) produced a run, but he was lights out after that as he cruised through the next three innings before coughing up another run in the sixth.

Mark Reynolds doubled in a run for the good guys in the fourth, and Robinson Canó plated two more with a double of his own in the following frame, but it wasn’t until the eighth inning that the game really started to get interesting.

Did I mention that the Yankees were desperate? Clinging to a 3-2 lead, Joe Girardi brought in Mariano Rivera and hoped for a six-out save. Rivera worked around a harmless single in the eighth, but anyone who had watched the first three games knew that nothing — not even a Mariano save — would come easily in this series. In fact, the save wouldn’t come at all.

Rivera’s third pitch to Will Middlebrooks leading off the top of the ninth looked like it produced a lazy fly ball to right and what would be the first out of the inning. Ichiro slowly floated back on the ball, and no one seemed overly concerned — until it landed in the stands. The camera caught the normally placid Rivera in utter disbelief.

The game was tied, and — with Phil Hughes warming in the bullpen — all appeared lost. But Rivera recovered to finish out the ninth. The bottom half wasn’t exciting, except for the end result. Ichiro singled with one out, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly from Vernon Wells, then scored when the next pitch from Brandon Workman got past Jarrod Saltalamacchia for a walk-off wild pitch. Yankees 4, Red Sox 3.

Sure, it was an ugly weekend, but the bottom line is this. Even after three straight heart-breaking losses (who’d have thought they could score 25 runs and still lose all three games?) and a litany of injuries (Jeter’s ankle is injured yet again; David Robertson and Boone Logan are also out) the Yankees are still — still — just 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the wild card spot.

There’s hope, people. There’s hope.

[Photo Credit: Seth Wenig/AP Photo]

Hiroki and a Prayer (and no Jeter):

Ichiro Suzuki RF
Vernon Wells DH
Alfonso Soriano LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Reynolds 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Chris Stewart C

Never mind the beards:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Joe Martz]

Yeah, I don’t know, man. The Sox ain’t all that. Sure they scored 2 touchdowns today in the Bronx but they missed an extra point. Fuggin’ pussies.

David Huff got torched and so did the Yanks, dropping another game to the Sox, this one to the tune of 13-9. It was over early. The Yanks actually battled their way back into it but well, you get the way this weekend is going: Doom.

Derek Jeter left the game early, had a CT scan on his ankle and–good news!–it came back negative.

[Deiorama by Abigail Goldman]

No use steering now:

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Curtis Granderson DH
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Austin Romine C

Never mind the hangover:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture by Bags]

The Boys:

[Photo Via: Lovely Derriere]

Remember how we figured that last night was the worst loss of the year? Well, we were wrong. Tonight was worse.

The Yanks had an 8-3 going into the 7th and then the bullpen shit the bed, walls, and carpet as they gave up 9 runs over the next two innings. Hughes, Boone, Preston, and Jobber, oh my.

The burly bastards from Boston kicked the Yanks square in the nuts. Repeatedly. Yup, it was an old fashioned Bronx mugging.

12-8 was the final.

As one Banterite succinctly put it: Fuck this.

Another stinging loss. Anger and despair. But there’s no giving up round here. Tomorrow gives another game, after all.

We’ll be here and we’ll be rooting. Fuggin’ A right we’ll be.

It’s Old Man Andy vs. Boston’s Civil War Reenactment Squad.

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter DH
Alfonso Soriano LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Vernon Wells RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Mark Reynolds 1B
Chris Stewart C

Never mind last night:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Via: Think Different]

From Cinephilia and Beyond.

And this in today’s Times:

Ethan We’ve always actually been remarkably commercially successful. Not in terms of making huge amounts of money, which we rarely do, but in terms of not losing money and making modest amounts of money. We’re actually strangely consistent in that respect. We’ve been able to keep making movies because of that and also because, strangely, we’ve had studio patrons, starting from Barry Diller. Sometimes they’re establishment people who know they’re not going to make huge amounts of money, but they like your movies. They’re moviegoers, too.

Joel And mostly they’re making blockbusters, but when you get in a room with them, they go, “Go off and make your movie, and I’ll do it as long as I can’t get hurt too bad.” You know? They’re completely open to that still. They don’t want to get burned.

Ethan They don’t want to look stupid.

Joel Nobody wants to look stupid or lose lots of money. On the other hand, they’re not afraid of doing other stuff if they can trust you to keep it reasonable. So, yeah, they kind of let us wander off without any adult supervision and do what we want.

Kick back and enjoy.

Lousy start for Ivan Nova? Check. Ass-whuppin’ for Preston Clairborne? Check. Good start by Jake Peavy? Check. A 7-2 lead as Kate Smith belted “God Bless America” en route to an easy-breezy win for the Red Sox?

Negative.

Because the bottom of the seventh went something like this:

Against Jake Peavy...

I Suzuki walked.
V Wells hit for C Stewart.
V Wells singled to center, I Suzuki to third

M Thornton relieved J Peavy.

B Gardner singled to left center, I Suzuki scored, V Wells to second.
V Wells stole third. (Is he knuts? Maybe. Gardner didn’t budge off first and the replays showed that Wells was out.)
D Jeter walked, B Gardner to second.
R Cano grounded into fielder’s choice to second, V Wells scored, D Jeter out at second, B Gardner to third.

J Tazawa relieved M Thornton.

A Soriano singled to right center, B Gardner scored, R Cano to second.
C Granderson doubled to deep right, R Cano scored, A Soriano to third.
A Rodriguez struck out swinging. (Tough sinking fastball, a splitter perhaps. Sitting on my couch, I tapped my foot and my heart raced.  Rodriguez heard some boos but not as many as I expected.)
L Overbay singled to right, A Soriano and C Granderson scored, L Overbay to second advancing on throw.
I Suzuki struck out swinging.

And just like that, a couple of walks and a string of base hits gave the Yanks an 8-7 lead.

The question then, how would they finish? David Robertson didn’t pitch well last night and Mariano Rivera, having pitched two days in row, well, hell, he wasn’t going to pitch again, right?

Robertson struck Jacoby Ellsbury out looking on a 3-2 pitch to start the 8th. He got Shane Victorino to swing through a fastball for the second out and retired Dustin Pedrioa on a ground ball to Derek Jeter to end the inning.

The Yanks went down in order in the bottom of the inning and then wouldn’t you know it but: Enter Sandman.

And who should he face to start the inning but Papi Ortiz.

Went something like this:

First pitch, inside–almost too much of the plate–ball 1. Cutter inside, Ortiz hits it hard but the line drive goes straight at Lyle Overbay. Ortiz doesn’t have time to move out of the box. He glares and walks back to the dugout.

One out.

Daniel Nava. Cutter inside, 1-0. Fastball, right over the plate, 1-1. Hard to believe Nava took it. Now, cutter inside, ties him up, swing and a miss, 1-2. Now, backdoor? Upstairs? It’s upstairs but Nava holds up, 2-2. Then he goes outside but the pitch is low, 3-2. Goes back outside, or tries to, but the pitch is over the plate. Nava swings and hits a Mookie Wilson-to-Bill Buckner dribbler to Overbay. He fields it and steps on the bag for the second out.

Mike Napoli takes a fastball on the inside corner, 92 mph, for a strike. Fastball away, 1-1. Fastball low, 2-1. Heater, right down Broadway, good swing, but fouls it off, 2-2. Cutter, inside, but too far inside, 3-2. Fastball over the plate and Napoli slaps it into right center field for a base hit. The pitch was fat, juicy, and thank goodness it didnt go over the fence. Quintin Berry pinch runs for Napoli.

Stephen Drew. Takes a ball high. Berry takes off, Romine’s throw bounces in front of Jeter and into the outfield, Berry takes third (ah, shades of Dave Roberts). Next pitch, a cutter with no bite is hit into right for a base hit.

Tie game.

Jonny Gomes, pinch-hitting. Two-seamer comes up and in and almost hits Gomes, 1-0. Fastball, high, fouled back, 1-1. Another high fastball, popped foul behind the plate and caught by Romine for the third out.

Rivera’s 6th blown save of the year. 8-8. Yankees-Red Sox. On a school night. What else would you expect?

Alfonso Soriano walked with 1 out in the bottom of the ninth, got picked off first but Nava dropped the pick off throw and Soriano made it safely to second. And then the dumbass got picked off of second. I’d try to explain it but I can’t.

Needless the say, Curtis Granderson whiffed to send the game into extra innings.

And who should greet us to begin “free baseball” but Joba Chamberlain. And with Joba it’s not a question of “if” but “when”? Ellsbury singles and swipes second. Joba got 2 strikes on Vitorino, had him struck out on a check swing but first base ump Joe West ruled that Victorino did not swing. Even though he clearly swung. So of course the next pitch, a high fastball, is punched into right field for a base hit. Ellsbury scores and the Sox are back on top.

Boone Logan replaced Joba and Chamberlain got himself kicked out of the game by West. Ortiz is walked intentionally and then Nava is pinch-hit for by a righty,Brandon Snyder, who flies out to Gardner in center.

The Yanks went down like lambs in the bottom of the tenth (that’s not entirely right, Lyle Overbay had a valiant at bat before striking out) and the Sox, playing with house money, avenged that Sunday Night loss with one that hurt the Yanks were it counts.

Final Score: Red Sox 9, Yanks 8.

Nova gets the ball in the first game against the Red Sox. Yanks’ll need him to give them a good performance. Got to figure Mariano ain’t pitching tonight.

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Curtis Granderson DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chris Stewart C

Never mind retaliation: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Gustavo Jononovich via MPD]

Yeah, the Yanks and Sox start their four-game series tonight but the NFL season also begins tonight for those of you who care about such a thing.

Over at The Stacks, I’ve reprinted a couple of goodies from the Playboy vaults as a way to kick the season off in style: Arthur Kretchmer’s classic 1971 Dick Butkus profile and a 1969 interview with Broadway Joe.

[Photo Credit: Neil Leifer/SI]

Friend of mine in London sent me the following. Taken from Maiden Speech by Eleanor Brown, published by Bloodaxe in 1996:

Bitcherel

You ask what I think of your new acquisition;
and since we are now to be ‘friends’,
I’ll strive to the full to cement my position with honesty.
Dear – it depends.

It depends on taste, which must not be disputed;
for which of us does understand
why some like their furnishings pallid and muted,
their cookery wholesome, but bland?

There isn’t a law that a face should have features,
it’s just that they generally do;
God couldn’t give colour to all of his creatures,
and only gave wit to a few;

I’m sure she has qualities, much underrated,
that compensate amply for this,
along with a charm that is so understated
it’s easy for people to miss.

And if there are some who choose clothing to flatter
what beauties they think they possess,
when what’s underneath has no shape, does it matter
if there is no shape to the dress?

Its not that I think she is boring, precisely,
that isn’t the word I would choose;
I know there are men who like girls who talk nicely
and always wear sensible shoes.

It’s not that I think she is vapid and silly;
it’s not that her voice makes me wince;
But – chilli con carne without any chilli
is only a plate full of mince…

[Images by Katrien De Blauwer]

That’s Life.

It looked like a cruise-control win for the Yanks, 6-1 lead going into the 8th inning. Robinson Cano had 3 hits, and Brett Gardner had a couple including a 2-run triple. The 4 runs the Yankees scored in the 4th inning gave C.C. Sabathia all the cushion he’d need and while he wasn’t dominate, he looked good. But after a few batters reached base he was replaced by David Robertson who had nothing and before you knew it, it was 6-5, tying run on second and here comes Mo.

Rivera was one pitch from loading the bases when he got a generous called strike 3 to get out of trouble. Hey, sometimes being a Legend helps. He retired the side in the 9th–flyout, groundout to the pitcher, and line drive to Alex Rodriguez–without breaking a sweat and the rest of us, who were, by that time, sweaty, felt great relief.

Yanks 6, White Sox 5.

[Featured Image: Bolenowe Moor; Photo Credit: Rich Schultz/Getty Images]

It’s C.C. against a rookie. 

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano DH
Curtis Granderson LF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Austin Romine C

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

[Picture by Bags]

Used to be able to buy this 1963 record at Phillips 66 gas stations.

Came with a booklet and everything.

Sure the White Sox are a lousy team but with their ace Chris Sale in good form tonight this has to go down as one of the most satisfying wins of the year for the Yankees. Hiroki Kuroda was better than he’s been recently but it was still a struggle for him. An error by Eduardo Nunez in the first help lead to a run and Kuroda had to get two outs with the bases loaded. He left a pair of runners on in the second but then got through the next two innings without incident. Another mistake, this one from Robinson Cano when he botched the tag on a stolen base attempt with no out in the fifth, set things up the White Sox who broke a 1-1 tie with two runs. They added another in the seventh and that looked to be that.

Chris Sale, a true sidewinder if there ever was one, had his way with the Yankee lineup (his bending breaking ball to the lefties, Gardner and Cano, was unfair). But Cano got a fastball he could handle with one out and Jeter on first in the eighth, and lined a double to left.

That knocked Sale out of the game and then the Yankees went to work, chipping away, nickel-and-dime style–memories of the late ’90s! A single by Lil’ Sori drew the Yanks to within a run, a 3-2 base hit by Alex Rodriguez, and then a pinch-hit single by Curtis Granderson tied the game. All three hits came with two strikes. Mark Reynolds whiffed on a full count pitch, another tough at-bat, and then Nunez dropped the hammer on an inside pitch, inside and low, and pinged it to left for a double. It was the kind of hit that you never thought would stay fair. But it did, skipping down the left field line.

That gave Mr. Rivera a two-run lead. He struck out the first batter on a back-door cutter. Struck him out looking. Went out there on the 2-2 pitch, missed, and came right back to the same spot, made a better pitch, and got his man. A weak ground ball to second counted for the second out and then another strike out, again freezing the batter on a back-door cut fastball, ended the game. That’s the 9th time he’s recorded 40 saves in a season, tying a big league record.

We may only have a month left of Mariano, folks. No time like the present to savor it.

And this one here is a win to savor, ain’t it?

Final Score: Yanks 6, White Sox 4.

p.s. Girardi announced after the game that Hughes is headed to the pen; Huff will start in his place.