Posters

From Cannes.

Via If It’s Hip, It’s Here.

Arod and Teixeira teamed up to record the final out of the game. (Photo: AP)

It wasn’t the resounding breakout game most Yankees’ fans have been desperately anticipating, but on the strength of three runs, and Alex Rodriguez’ game ending throw, the Bronx Bombers finally managed to squeak out a much needed victory.

May has mostly been a gloomy month for the Yankees, but one bright spot has been the baby steps taken by Phil Hughes. In tonight’s game, the right hander broke out of the gate strong, but then fell victim to two old bugaboos. In the top of the third, Hughes left an 0-2 pitch over the plate to Humberto Quintero, who promptly lined an RBI double into the right field corner. Entering the game, Hughes had allowed opposing hitters to bat an astounding .293/.341/.537 (or 191% better than the league average) when ahead in the count 0-2, so Quintero’s run scoring hit was only the latest in a season’s worth of frustration born of poor location.

The Royals added to their lead in the fourth inning when Jeff Francoeur drove a 2-0 fastball into the left field seats. The long ball has been a season-long tormenter of the Yankees’ starting rotation, but no one has been more vulnerable than Hughes, who has been victimized at least once in each of his starts.  In 47 1/3 innings, Hughes has now allowed 11 home runs, giving him the third highest rate per nine innings among all qualified major league starters.

The negatives aside, Hughes did manage to hold the Royals to only two runs over six innings, which was important because the offense wasn’t quite ready to bust out. The Yankees finally got on the board when Robinson Cano launched a long home run in the fourth inning, but the winning rally was much more subdued. In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees loaded the bases on a seeing-eye grounder, hit by pitch, and bunt single, setting the stage for another golden scoring opportunity. With the memory of last night’s failure with bases loaded still fresh in everyone’s mind, Derek Jeter fell behind in the count, but finally produced a run with a single that was flared into right. Would this be the hit that would jump start the Yankees’ struggling offense and put an end to their futility with runners in scoring position? Unfortunately, the answer was no. After Curtis Granderson’s ground out produced another run, Alex Rodriguez and Raul Ibanez each went down swinging to end the rally.

Although the Yankees may not have exited the inning with good feelings, they did come away with the lead. Keeping it, however, wouldn’t be easy.  Over the final three innings, Joe Girardi used five different relievers to record the last nine outs (such is life without Mariano), but his master plan almost hit a snag in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs, Alex Gordon, who had doubled, was at third when Alcides Escobar hit a grounder that Rodriguez fielded deep behind the bag. Arod’s only play was to desperately put his entire body into the throw, which hurtled across the diamond as Escobar raced down the line. The ball finally nestled into Mark Teixeira’s outstretched glove just ahead of the base runner, giving the Yankees a victory by the narrowest of margins, and, perhaps, a one-day reprieve from having to answer questions about not getting the big hit.

On this date in 2007 the Yankees were 20-24.  By May 29, they were 21-29.

Today, they are .500. Tied with the Red Sox (and a game better than the Tigers) but only 5.5 out of first.

1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Cano 2B
4. Rodriguez 3B
5. Ibanez DH
6. Swisher RF
7. Teixeira 1B
8. Martin C
9. Wise LF

Never mind the beautiful friendship, Rick, get us a goddamned win.

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Via CrescentMoon06]

Here’s an interview with Sandy Morse over at New York magazine.

I worked for Sandy, as an apprentice film editor, on “Everybody Says I Love You.” She was–and is–a huge sports fan and we went to several Knicks games together. I last spoke to her about a year ago and didn’t know she’s working on Louis C.K.’s show (which I still haven’t seen).

Anyhow, dig in. She’s a thoughtful and bright and a wonderful editor. Also a great person.

[Photo by Brian Krijgsman]

Dig the beauty that is all things Eephus. Bethany Heck’s got it going on. Thank you, Lady, for making our day brighter.

Painting by Kevin Vanhooser.

The Yankees earned their third straight win on this day with a 6-5 victory over the Tigers. DiMaggio managed only a seventh-inning single, but it was enough to keep his streak alive. It’s likely that DiMaggio was unaware of his young streak at this early date, and as yet there had been no mention of it in any of the local papers, but both he and the Yankees were beginning to turn their seasons around.

(All comments taken from participants in the game thread.)

PRE-GAME 

Man, Teix down to seventh!

So they’re going to play through the rain.

I’m always happy to watch a Yanks game, but this is one of those nights they’d have to pay me to sit in their seats and drink their beer. I wouldn’t do it for less than $400 plus travel, and parking expenses. Everybody has their price. That’s mine.

TOP OF THE 1st: KC 2 – NYY 0 (homer by Moustakas)

Yankees are losing. This is familiar.

If Gritner is in LF, there is no score in this game. It’s not only that Raul is bad, but that Gritner is great. His glove is sorely missed.

I am trying not to let the Yankees get me down, but they suck at the moment. Come on, it is the Royals.

BOTTOM OF THE 3rd: KC 3 – NYY 0 (The first three Yankees reach base)

You know what’s perverse? I’m getting nervous about the prospect of bases loaded no outs because that seems a situation doomed to disappoint.

Bases loaded no one out. Do they score?

No worries, that was just our best hitter whiffing. No worries, that was just our second best hitter whiffing.

Jesus motherfucking christ on a goddamned motherfucking cracker.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOTTOM OF THE 4th: KC 3 – NYY 0 (Chavez gets to third with two outs)

And no two out hit. Now hitting 6 for 65 in that situation. Mendoza line looks like Mt. Everest.

Guess it didn’t rain hard enough.

I’m really not enjoying Yankees baseball much this year.

TOP OF THE 6th: KC 3 – NYY 0 (Teixeira passes on an easy out at first in favor of a difficult play at third, everyone is safe)

What the fuck is WRONG with this team?

WTF were you thinking Mark? This team is playing horseshit ball.

BOTTOM OF THE 6th: KC 3 – NYY 0 (Alex leads off with a double)

It looks as if the Yankees are aiming for one of those Everyone Who Participates Wins A Trophy awards at the end-of-season banquet.

TOP OF THE 7th: KC 5 – NYY 0 (2 out, 2 run homer for Franceour off Garcia)

.500 and dropping like a rock. I’m sure Joe’s remedy is going to be more rest.

I can’t watch anymore. Good night all.

Just wondering – if the Yanks finish last, do they have any shot at drafting Andrew Luck? RG3? Any Kentucky hoopster?

BOTTOM OF THE 7th: KC 5 – NYY 0 (Two on, two out for Cano)

Yay – two more chances to strand a runner in scoring position!

Hey, if they are sitting in the rain watching this slop I sure as shit aint’ turning my TV off.

TOP OF THE 8th: KC 6 – NYY 0 (Wild pitch scores 6th run)

Finally found a saving grace for this evening – my plasma big-screen went out and, thank Mickey, I was able to reboot it and solve the problem. The bad news is that it was still tuned to YES.

Hey, at least we’ve got each other. Cause if there is anything less sympathetic than a bunch of Yankee fans bitching about their sorry-ass, boring, horseshit follies team I’d like to know what it is.

Can’t just be a fair weather fan. Need to watch THIS in the rain. Now’s the time is to celebrate any win, not expect to always win.

BOTTOM OF THE 9th: KC 6 – NYY 0 (Teixeira leads off with a double, is stranded)

Are the Yankees trying? I think so. And if so, there’s a good chance they’ll start hitting and snap out of this weird vortex of suck with runners in scoring position. And if not, they don’t make it this year and our Octobers open up for other shit. That would be less fun than usual, but 2008 wasn’t so bad that they couldn’t win the whole damn thing the very next year.

And it’s supposed to rain all week.

AP Photo by Bill Kostroun 

Get it in gear, Fuckos.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Raul Ibanez LF
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C

That’s the line-up should they even start this one. Been raining all day and it is supposed to rain all week. Never mind the malaise: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Fernando Scianna]

For the first time in almost two weeks the Yankees were able to put together consecutive wins. DiMaggio wasted no time in extending his streak, as he singled and drove in a run in the first inning to help the Yanks beat the visiting Detroit Tigers, 5-4. Bill Dickey saw his streak end at twenty-one, but in Boston Ted Williams pounded out four hits to equal DiMaggio’s streak at seven games. Williams would match DiMaggio game for game for quite some time. You might remember that 1941 would turn out to be quite a year for Teddy Ballgame as well.

A few weeks ago Glenn Stout said that we won’t really feel Rivera’s absence for awhile. The void, that’s what will make it sting he said. And yesterday, as the game reached the seventh inning it hit me (again): Rivera is gone. Just when you get used to someone, poof. Maybe they are like Chipper Jones or Alex Rodriguez, a slow but sure decline, still playing but no longer great. Or like Mo, a quick injury and then…who knows?

Such was the case for our old pal Lance Berkman who sustained an ACL injury the other night. His career might be over.  I always enjoyed watching him play. He’s had a fine career.

Website of the day: Technical Spectacle.

Luís Tiant was one of my favorite players when I was eight or nine years old. And why wouldn’t he have been? His cork-screwing windup was absolutely beautiful, perfect for imitating in the backyard. By this point in my life baseball was really the only thing in the world that mattered, which explained my four favorite pastimes, listed in no particular order: playing baseball, watching baseball, reading about baseball, and collecting baseball cards.

One afternoon, apparently a rainy afternoon with no baseball available on TV or the bookshelf, I found myself wondering which of my heroes might share my birthday. Today I can find this answer in the click of a mouse, but in 1978 my only choice was to turn to my baseball cards and flip through them one by one, checking the birth dates listed on the back. I don’t remember if it took me five minutes or five hours, but I found my answer: Luís Tiant. I’ll never forget that thrill. Somehow, he and I were connected.

When the Yankees took on the Reds on Sunday afternoon, it was the first time I had really watched Johnny Cueto pitch. Pitchers today are all the same. The perfect wind up has already been discovered (I read somewhere that Roger Clemens’s motion is the ideal), so young American pitchers all grow up into that model. Gone are the days when a flamboyant hurler might try to kick a hole in the sky like Satchell Paige, stare at the heavens like Fernando Valenzuela, or swing his arms above his head like Bob Feller. But there was Cueto, flashing the #47 on his back as he completely turned his back on the hitter, then uncoiling back to unleash a blazing fastball punctuated by a stylish leg whip that pulled him off the mound towards first base. It was enough to make any pitching coach cringe, but it was beautiful to watch. Somewhere in Cuba, El Tiante was chewing on a cigar and smiling.

For most of the game, all the Yankee hitters seemed to be doing was chewing on cigars. Cueto brought a 1.89 ERA in the game, and he backed that up nicely over the first five innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five and picking up two double plays. Robinson Canó was the one Yankee who looked truly comfortable against Cueto all afternoon, and he started the sixth inning with a booming double to the wall in left center. Two batters later Raúl Ibañez turned on a pitch and hit a moonshot down the line in right field for his ninth home run of the season and a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Cueto had looked so good up until this point that it didn’t feel like the Yankees would get anything more off of him. The good news, though, was that CC Sabathia was on the hill for the Bombers, and he had been even better than Cueto. The Big Fella didn’t allow his first hit until there was one out in the fifth inning, and didn’t see a hint of trouble until the sixth. In that frame Drew Stubbs reached on a bunt single and Joey Votto walked to put runners on first and second with no one out. But CC stiffened, getting Brandon Phillips to bounce into a double play and battling Jay Bruce for seven pitches before striking him out to end the inning.

So when the Yankees got those two runs in the bottom of the sixth, it certainly looked like it would be enough. Sabathia would cruise the seventh, maybe even the eighth, and the bullpen would close it down. But it didn’t work that way.

Ryan Ludwick sampled Sabathia’s first offering of the seventh and found it to his liking. He popped it over the wall in left and the lead was sliced in half. One out later someone named Ryan Hanigan watched two straight strikes before jumping on the third and popping his own home run to left, tying the score at two.

Zack Cozart followed that with a dribbling infield single that Sabathia couldn’t quite get to in time, but when CC recovered to strike out the next batter, things looked less dangerous — but only for a minute. Sabathia threw eighteen pitches to the next three Reds to come to the plate (Stubbs, Votto, and Phillips) and walked them all, giving Cincinnati a 3-2 lead. He struck out Bruce to end the inning, but the damage was certainly done. Sabathia let out a yell as he left the mound and it seemed to be directed at the home plate umpire, but I don’t think the strike zone was the problem; it was CC.

The Yankees had only one shot to get back in the game, and it came in the eighth. Curtis Granderson singled to lead off the inning, and Alex Rodríguez came up with one out. The play-by-play says “A Rodríguez flied out to left,” but that doesn’t tell the story. A-Rod jumped on the first pitch he saw from Cueto and appeared to crush it to left center. He immediately went into his “how you like me now” routine, flipping away his bat and looking into the Yankee dugout, confident he had put the ball into the seats and his team into the lead.

But the ball didn’t even get to the warning track before settling harmlessly into Chris Helsey’s glove. A-Rod posted an OPS of 1.067 when he won the American League MVP in 2007. Since then his OPS has looked like this: .965, .934, .847, .823, .767. (If you feel like your glass is a bit too half-full, take out a piece of graph paper and plot that progression out to 2017.) Through forty games this year Rodríguez has four doubles, five home runs, and 15 RBIs. This particular fly ball probably would’ve been a home run had it not been knocked down by the wind, but it was hard not to wonder. Is this what we have to look forward to for the next five years from our cleanup hitter? Warning track power?

Cueto cruised through the eighth before giving way to the triple-digit heat of Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. The Reds had plated two more runs in their half of the ninth, so nothing the Yankees did in the bottom half scared them at all. Reds 5, Yankees 2.

The Yanks have dropped five of six and now sit at 21-20, much closer to last place than first in the upside down American League East. There will be lots of angst in the papers and on the airwaves, so there’s no need for me to add to that here.

Things will get better. Mark Teixeira will be back on Monday. Brett Gardner will be back soon after that. A-Rod has to get at least a little better. The wins will come soon enough, and everything will look an awful lot better. I promise.

[Photo Credits: Al Bello/Getty Images]

Another beautiful day here in the Bronx. The sun is shining but it isn’t humid and there is a cool breeze running through the tops of the green trees.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Raul Ibanez DH
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 1B
Dewayne Wise LF
Chris Stewart C

Couple of studs on the mound today. Yanks need to win this series, man.

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

Continuing the pattern, the Yankees followed a loss with a win as they topped the Browns in a slugfest, 10-9. DiMaggio lost a sure hit in the fifth as St. Louis third baseman Harland Clift made a spinning stab of his liner for a fielder’s choice at second, but the streak continued with a clean single to center field in the eighth. Bill Dickey extended his own streak to twenty-one and raised his average to .391 with a three hit game.

[Photo Credit: Sir Clinavius]

The Yankees continued their pattern of alternating wins and losses as they lost to the Browns, 5-1, before a crowd of only 5,388. For the first time in the young streak DiMaggio was forced to wait until his final turn at bat to keep his string intact as he doubled to left with two outs in the seventh inning. He finished the game 1 for 3, but catcher Bill Dickey homered for the Yankees’s only run and extended his own hitting streak to an impressive twenty games.

The Yanks trailed by three runs going into the ninth inning today. The Cuban flamethrower Aroldis Chapman struck out Granderson, Cano and got Alex Rodriguez to pop out in the eighth but the Yanks scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and Derek Jeter came to plate with the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first. One out. He hit a ground ball to third base and hustled to first narrowly avoiding a game-ending double play. Jeter stole second and Granderson got ahead 3-0 but then with the count full he grounded out softly to Joey Votto.

Game over. Reds 6, Yanks 5.

I missed most of the game which was a drag because it looked like a good one. I caught the last two innings on the treadmill at the gym. I worked out next to a great guy who played minor league ball one season with Pat Jordan. 1960. He told me Jordan had nasty stuff and that he had major league talent.

Shame the Yanks couldn’t complete the comeback but it’s nice that they didn’t go down without a fight. Ivan Nova made a couple of mistakes but he also struck out 12.

This one was a bummer. And the Reds have their ace going tomorrow. Then again, so do the Yanks.

[Photo Credit: Elevated Encouragement and Mike Stobbe/Getty Images]

It’s Nova today at the Stadium.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Raul Ibanez RF
Nick Swisher 1B
Russell Martin C
Dewayne Wise LF
Jayson Nix 2B

Teixeira gets another game off and Chad Jennings reports he could miss the entire weekend series.

Something tells me there’ll be a mess-o-runs scored in the sunshine today. It’s beautiful out there. Here’s hoping the Yanks come out on top.

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

[Photo Credit: +quinzilla]

Ol’ Reliable. That was Andy Pettitte tonight. Man, it felt like old times. He worked quickly and had an aggressive Reds team off-balance. Heck, he struck out the great Joey Votto twice and when he later made a mistake to the slugger, Votto nailed the pitch but lined it to Curtis Granderson in center field.

‘Bout the only thing that spoiled the fun for a while was the Yankees’ inability to score themselves. Alex Rodriguez doubled and was stranded on base in the second. Granderson singled the start the fourth and moved to third on a base hit to right field by Robinson Cano. Jay Bruce bobbled the ball and Cano, who did not run hard out of the box, foolishly tried to reach second. Bruce, who has a strong arm, nailed him. Rodriguez brought Granderson home on a ground out to short.

The lead off runner was stranded in the fifth and the Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out for Rodriguez in the sixth. Bronson Arroyo–remember him, that high-leg kicking junk ball throwing so-and-so?–fell behind 2-0 and some of us wondered how the Bombers were going to screw this up while we pleaded for them to break it open. Rodriguez got a fastball and hit a hard ground ball to third. The throw came home and Jeter was called out–replays showed the catcher’s foot was off the base. Raul Ibanez grounded out and Nick Swisher popped out and where have we seen this before?

But Pettitte kept dealing. He was terrific and went eight innings, striking out nine. Rodriguez made a nice diving stop to end the eighth but the most impressive defensive play came from Chris Stewart in the sixth. With one out, Drew Stubbs–the Reds leading base stealer–was on first base. He measured Pettitte and got a good jump and ran to second base. Stewart bend down and backhanded a breaking ball that almost hit the ground and in one blinding motion, stood up and fired the ball to Cano who tagged Stubbs out. It was the quickest catch and throw I recall seeing in some time and reason enough to have Stewart on the roster. Really a remarkable play.

The score remained 1-0 when Pettitte left the field to much cheering in the eighth. Then Robinson Cano hit a long home run to the right center field bleachers. It was a whiffle ball home run, a get-you-off-your-ass-and-hollar dinger. Hell, I’m still jacked about it. Rodriguez hit the next pitch on the nose, good for a single and then Ibanez lined a homer to right.

It was more than enough. Boone Logan worked a scoreless ninth and the Yanks won, 4-0.

The offense wasn’t great but four runs is a start. The story of the night, though, was Pettitte. This here is one to relish.

[Photo Via: A Journey From Reality]