The Yanks won another nail-biter this afternoon, the one, 4-2. They scored three runs in the first and then were shut down by Henderson Alvarez. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte had more than a little rust on him but worked out of three jams and pitched five scoreless innings.

Ichiro had a big day for the Yanks with three hits and Nick Swisher had a huge RBI base hit in the eighth. It was critical because the game almost slipped away in the top of the inning. The Jays greeted Dave Robertson with three straight hits (double, single, single) and after a strike out, Omar Vizquel hit a double that put runners on second and third, score, 3-2. One out.

Then Robertson got another strike out–killing us softly in the process–before being lifted for Rafael Soriano.

Who walked the number nine hitter to load the bases. Yeah, it was one of those. He got Raja Davis to line out and after the insurance run worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. He earned this one.

No style points on this one, plenty of sweaty moments for us, but I ain’t complaining as the win is the thing.

[Photo Credit: Story Road; Jason Szenes/Getty Images]

It’s return of Andy Pettitte this afternoon. Tonight gives Dave Phelps.

Yanks are going to need to score runs and plenty of them. Let’s make this long day of baseball a good one, fellas.

Ichiro Suzuki LF
Nick Swisher 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Eric Chavez 3B
Raul Ibanez RF
Eduardo Nunez SS

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

[Photo Via: Gruesome Twosome]

Brett Gardner is set to return to the Yankees as a pinch-runner. Daniel Barbarisi has the story in the Wall Street Journal:

It has been eight weeks since the surgery, and Gardner says he feels normal. But he only swung a bat for the first time Tuesday, and is nowhere near being ready to hit, which the .265 career hitter said isn’t such a big deal.

“Obviously I have to be able to swing a bat,” Gardner said. “Somebody joked with me, I think it was one of my buddies down in Tampa. They said, ‘What can you not do?’ I said I can’t hit. They said ‘What’s changed?'”

So for now, he’ll try to salvage his season with his best tools: his legs, and his glove, filling a September role usually reserved for minor leaguers with great legs and weak bats. Instead, manager Joe Girardi will have a veteran to deploy.

“He can play defense if we needed him to play some defense,” Girardi said. “He’s not going to be able to hit, but you have enough guys on your bench that if his spot came up in a crazy game, you could do something.”

[Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images]

We’ve had a few chilly mornings in New York but today was the first one where I smelled the fall. The streets of the Bronx are littered with fallen branches from last night’s storml.  The sun is out and it is clear and bright.

The Orioles continued their miracle season last night beating the Mariners 4-2 in 18 innings. That’s right, 18 innings. As irritating as that news is for us Yankee fans, it’s also hard not to be impressed.

Yanks play two today and have to win ’em both.

We’ll be watching.

[Photo Credit: Alex Trautwig/Getty Images]

Tonight gives the return of Andy Pettitte. It also brings a rain storm that’s supposed to be something fierce. They might not get this game in which would mean a double header tomorrow I suppose.

If they play tonight, we’ll be root-root-rootin’ for the home team.

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

UPDATE: It’s been cancelled. They’ll play two tomorrow. First game at 1:05.

[Photo Via: Art Deco Architecture;  My Philosophy]

Sad news to report. Steve Sabol has died. He was 69. To me, NFL Films is the best thing that ever happened to pro football.

Here is a terrific piece on Sabol by Rich Cohen over at the Atlantic.

Sabol will be missed.

Charlie Pierce visited the Yanks in the Bronx this weekend. Here’s what he found:

If the Yankees rally and do anything in the postseason, when the game really becomes a serious television extravaganza, you might be able to point to this weekend as to when the season really righted itself. It had been building for a while. Injured players — including Saturday’s hero, Nova — are beginning to come back to the lineup. (Andy Pettitte and Brett Gardner are also expected back soon.) All season, the team had looked like the Island of Misfit Cleanup Hitters, a bunch of guys — Eric Chavez? Raul Ibanez? — who’d been big noises elsewhere, but who were manifestly out of place as the spare parts they obviously are in New York. (Part of this has to do with a Yankees farm system gone ragged.) The team had a weird, patchwork personality this year, and only the collapse of every other team in the American League East except Baltimore — most notably, the transformation of the Boston Red Sox into Mystery Zombie Theater — kept New York from serious trouble throughout most of August. But, over the weekend, in his first start since coming off the DL, Nova appeared to solidify their pitching and then, on Sunday, in the process of driving poor Matt Moore around the bend, the Yankees showed a real gift for manufacturing runs on the basepaths.

[Photo Via: Stuff Nobody Cares About]

When I was 13 I was eager to see Amadeus so I went to the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas one Saturday afternoon to catch it. But it was sold out. Instead, I saw Stop Making Sense. It remains one of the most exciting experiences I’ve ever had in a movie theater.

From P. Kael’s review:

“Stop Making Sense” makes wonderful sense. A concert film by the New York new-wave rock band Talking Heads, it was shot during three performances at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in December, 1983, and the footage has been put together without interviews and with very few cutaways. The director, Jonathan Demme, offers us a continuous rock experience that keeps building, becoming ever more intense and euphoric. This has not been a year when American movies overflowed with happiness; there was some in “Splash”, and there’s quite a lot in “All of Me”—especially in its last, dancing minutes. “Stop Making Sense” is the only current movie that’s a dose of happiness from beginning to end. The lead singer, David Byrne, designed the stage lighting and the elegantly plain performance-art environments (three screens used for backlit side projections); there’s no glitter, no sleaze. The musicians aren’t trying to show us how hot they are; the women in the group aren’t there to show us some skin. Seeing the movie is like going to an austere orgy—which turns out to be just what you wanted.

Here’s out it’s gunna be: Yanks play three against the Blue Jays at the Stadium tomorrow night and then host the A’s for three over the weekend. Next week, they’ll play three in Minnie and four in Toronto before returning home to end the season with three against the Red Sox.

If the Yanks miss the playoffs, they’ll have nobody to blame but themselves.

We’ll be Keepin’ the Faith in the BX.

[Photo Credit: Flip Flop Fly Ballin’]

From his new book, The Good Son, here’s Mark Kriegel on Boom Boom Mancini.

Here’s Jason Bailey over at the Atlantic on Do The Right Thing.

Dig this gallery of collages by Laura Redburn over at Flavorwire.

The first nine outs today were strikeouts. Hiroki Kuroda (six) and Matt Moore (three), both dealing.

The Yanks scored first. Here’s out how it went down. Eduardo Nunez lead off the third with a walk, stole second and scored on a base hit by Derek Jeter. B.J. Upton missed the cut-off man and Jeter advanced to second. Small ballin’ Nick Swisher sacrificed him to third and down in the count, Alex Rodriguez lined a base hit to center. He moved to second on a wild pitch and then stole third as Robinson Cano walked.

Russell Martin fell behind, laid off a couple of nasty breaking balls, worked the count full and then popped a fastball over the fence in right field for a three-run home run.

With a five run lead, the usually luckless Kuroda had a cushion to work with. And when he gave up a solo home run to Ben Zobrist in the fourth, the Yanks scored a run in the bottom of the inning. But strange things awaited Kuroda and the Yanks in the sixth.

It began when Kuroda walked the ninth place hitter on a full count pitch to start the inning. Then, Desmond Jennings hit a slow grounder to third. Rodriguez charged, fielded it and made a nice throw to first but it wasn’t in time to get Jennings. So, Zobrist. Looked like Kuroda had him when he popped a ball in foul territory. Pearce tracked it and leaned into the stands. He brushed against a Mook in a Nick Swisher jersey who was trying to catch the ball, too. And the ball knocked off Pearce’s glove. The fan didn’t help but it was on Pearce–he should have made the catch.

Instead, Zobrist walked and the bases were loaded for Evan Longoria. Kuroda got him to hit a ground ball. It bounced toward Rodriguez and then took a high hop and went over his head. Runners on the corners, nobody out and the score was 6-3. But Kuroda didn’t break. He got a double play–which scored another run, and then a strike out.

And that was it for the scoring today. Dave Phelps worked into and out of trouble in the seventh, Robertson and Soriano did the voodoo that they do so well in the eighth and ninth to close it out.

Final Score: Yanks 6, Rays 4.

Yanks now five up on the Rays. The O’s and A’s game just started…

[Photo Via: Pug King]

It’s Hiroki and Hope today, another beautiful one in the BX.

1. Jeter DH
2. Swisher RF
3. A-Rod 3B
4. Cano 2B
5. Martin C
6. Jones LF
7. Granderson CF
8. Pearce 1B
9. Nunez SS

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

[Photo Via: mOrtality]

Cause that’s how we’re livin’.

On a gorgeous early autumn day in New York the Yankees beat the Rays, 5-3. It was another close one–the Rays had the tying runs on base in the ninth before Rafael Soriano got the final out–but no complaints here. Bitching at this point of the season when your team wins is unseemly.

The story of the day was Ivan Nova who was terrific. He gave the Yanks the kind of performance they’ve needed from CC Sabathia. Curtis Granderson and Eduardo Nunez hit back-to-back home runs against James Shields early, Derek Jeter added an RBI single later on, and Alex Rodriguez drove home an insurance run with an RBI base hit in the eighth.

Yes, today was good in Yankeeland.

Head on over to the ol’ Lo Hud for more.

[Photo Credit: Alex Trautwig/Getty Images]

Another day, another tough starting pitcher goes for the Rays. This time, it’s James Shields. The Yanks counter with Ivan Nova.

1. Ichiro LF
2. Jeter DH
3. Cano 2B
4. A-Rod 3B
5. Ibanez RF
6. Swisher 1B
7. Granderson CF
8. Nunez SS
9. Stewart C

Never mind the bitchin’ and moanin’: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Via: Atmospheric Photography]

It’s always a good time for Hank.

Long Gone Lonesome Blues (Single Version)

[Photo Via: Lovely Derriere]

It was the fifth inning and the Yankees were in trouble. CC Sabathia had protected a 1-0 lead since the second (in itself a minor miracle) but that lead was history. The Rays now led 2-1, had the bases loaded, and, if the root canal wasn’t painful enough sir, here’s a kick in the shin with a steel-tipped boot: Evan Longoria was at the plate with nobody out.

Sabathia threw a tub of junk at him and up 0-2 in the count, got Longoria to bounce to third. Alex Rodriguez, whose leather was strong and supple in all the right places tonight, charged. He had everything in front of him: the ball, the third base bag, the runner racing home and Longoria breaking for first. He had a fraction of a second to decide what to do and three options, none of them perfect.

He could fire home and prevent the run from scoring. That would keep the score 2-1, and with David Price on the mound for the Rays, every run is precious. But the bases would still be loaded and there’d only be one out. He could step on third and sling the ball across the diamond hoping for a double play. He’d concede a run but he’d give Sabathia the chance to end the inning with an out. Or he could step on third and still try to cut the run off at the plate. The degree of difficulty on that play is absurd. The runner might beat the throw home anyway, and to make a perfect throw, on the run, with no angle… and the catcher still has to block the plate and make the tag.

Alex chose the 5-3 double play and I immediately thought two things: 1) Good for you Alex. You are showing belief in your team that you can score a couple of more runs in this game. 2) The Yankees probably just lost this game.

The Yankees never did take the lead again, but it would be inaccurate to say they lost the game there in the fifth. No, the Yanks had some runs in their tank tonight. Curtis Granderson homered off David Price. Eduardo Nunez ripped a single off the leg of third base umpire Jerry Meals. The bad news is that it was clearly going to be a double. The good news is that it hurt. The bad news outweighed the good news unfortunately, because had the inning played out the same way with Nunez starting at second, he scores the tying run. As it was, he was rounding third when Elliot Johnson dove to snag Arod’s dribbler. It was ticketed for right field, but the ball was in no hurry to get there.

The Rays padded their lead in an especially disheartening fashion. CC Sabathia, if you remember from opening day, is supposed to have some kind of Jedi mind trick in place when pitching to Carlos Pena. Pena drew a crucial walk in the three-run fifth and led off the seventh with an infield single. Neither was as loud as the grand slam from April 6th, but CC’s inabilty to retire Pena was a big part of another loss.

Elliot Johnson tried to bunt Pena to second, only CC jumped on the bunt and erased the lead runner. Yay. Johnson stole second and scored by a whisker on a two out single to center. Fuck. Pena would never have scored on that hit. B.J. Upton hit a tall homer in the eighth. It was 5-2 and all those close decisions that would have made this an agonizing loss didn’t seem to matter so much.

Then Derek jeter pounded a single into the right field corner and Alex Rodriguez hit a vintage 2007-era blast to left and made the score 5-4. Oh it’s an agonizing loss again, that’s better. The Rays turned a bloop, a steal and an ghastly error by Nunez into an unnecessary insurance run and made the final score 6-4.

In the seventh, Ben Zobrist squared up a high fastball right down the middle from Sabathia and stroked a blue dart back through the box. It was a bad pitch, but Zobrist didn’t miss it. He also didn’t try to do too much with the high heat. The Rays scored a vital run with two outs. In the eighth, Curtis Granderson tapped a grounder to second with two outs and the tying run on second and go-ahead run on first. It was a lousy swing, but it was also an excellent pitch, a strike, but low and away where Granderson couldn’t get good wood to it. The Rays got the vital out and protected their slim lead.

It’s not that simple, but it’s not that complicated either.

It’s C.C. vs. David Price, fat vs. skinny, tonight in the Boogie Down. C.C., how we need ya, papi.

The Rays just got swept in Baltimore. Will they score runs this weekend now that they’re playing our boys? The Yanks are up against tough-ass pitching, can they rediscover the Score Truck?

So many questions.

1. Jeter DH
2. Swisher RF
3. A-Rod 3B
4. Cano 2B
5. Martin C
6. Jones LF
7. Granderson CF
8. Pearce 1B
9. Nunez SS

Never mind the Cy Young candidate in the Rays uniform: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Picture Via: Comic Book Artwork]