Or some such thing. What do I know from cards? All I know is that C.C. Sabathia goes against James Shields today and every day is a must-win for the Yanks–and the Rays for that matter. Game is in Tampa, where the Yanks are 2 for their last 10.
Alex is back.
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Raul Ibanez LF
Russell Martin C
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chris Dickerson CF
Never mind the shpilkes: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture Credit: Eduard Bezembinder]
How ’bout some Jimmy Smith to say goodbye to summer…
[Photo Credit: The Absolute Best Photography Posts]
Forget digestion, forget relaxation, forget peanuts, crackerjack and all that “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” good timey horseshit. The Yankees gave their fans all the agita we could handle and then some Sunday afternoon. It began with Phil Hughes, who couldn’t hold a humble 3-1 lead and was rounded off by no hitting, a lousy bullpen, and poor managing.
Hughes coughed up the lead in the sixth when Mark Reynolds–yeah, Tom Brunansky’s left ass cheek–hit his second home run of the day. The first one was a bomb. Second one was no cheapie either.
Jeter, Swisher, Cano, nobody hit on this homestand. Ibanez and Andruw Jones are automatic outs these days. Cano, in particular, looks like he takes at bats off. He shanked a throw in the eighth inning that underscores his lack of concentration.
This was an exasperating loss for the Yanks whose lead over the Orioles is down to two. They haven’t shit the bed yet, there is a long way to go, and plenty of time to stop playing like they were sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds, but right now…they stink.
Final Score: Orioles 8, Yanks 3.
[Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images]
Yanks lose today, their lead in the American League East shrinks to two and we’re back to bitching. They win, the lead is four and we can digest.
And so it goes in September.
Never mind the speech-making: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Inge Morath via It’s a Long Season]
About the best thing that can be said for the Yankees through the first six innings today is that they weren’t trailing by more than they were. Curtis Granderson left the game with an injured leg and was on his way to the hospital for an MRI with the score 3-1, the lone Yankee run coming on a solo homer by Robinson Cano.
Cano just missed another homer too in the sixth inning, too.
The Wife and I were in the car, driving across Sixth Avenue on Eighth Street, listening to John and Suzyn on the radio. Sterling gave it the ol “It is high, it is far…” only to report that the ball was caught. It took everything in me a) not to crash the car into a pedestrian or b) scream at the top of my lungs and frighten my Bride. If I’d been alone who knows? Instead, I calmly clicked the radio off and said, “That man is irresponsible.”
Cano was fantastic in the field, too, turning a wonderful double play and making a tough over-the-shoulder catch.
The reason the Yanks were fortunate is because David Phelps walked the world. But the O’s couldn’t take advantage. Then, in the seventh, the Yanks had an unlikely rally. With one out, Steve Pearce singled for his first hit as a Yankee. Russell Martin flew out and then Jason Nix fell behind 0-2. We were still in the car, now on the West Side Highway driving home, and with each ensuing pitch I called the strike out that never came. Instead, Nix walked. That brought up Eduardo Nunez–remember him?
Don’t hack at the first pitch, don’t hack at the first pitch.
So he hacked at the first pitch, a fastball and drove home Pearce. Then, a new pitcher, and Ichiro waled. Bases loaded for Jeter. We were home now but stayed in the car knowing we couldn’t miss what came next. So it’s 0-2 with the quickness but the Captain worked the count full and walked. Game tied. Fist bump with The Wife.
By the time we got upstairs and turned on the TV they were replaying SS J.J. Hardy’s error which allowed the go-ahead run to score. Go figure that, especially since Hardy is a good fielder. David Robertson pitched a clean eighth and Rafael Soriano mowed ’em down in the ninth and the Yanks won, 4-3.
Feels about as big a win as they’ve had all year.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. We will take it.
Yanks aim not to suck and give us indigestion this afternoon when they host the O’s at the Stadium.
Never mind the Malox: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Picture by Thomas Brendan]
Out boys got their asses handed to them by the surging Orioles tonight at the Stadium. Mark Reynolds, the reincarnation of Ron Kittle’s nutsack, hit a two-run home run against Hiroki Kuroda, made two beautiful plays in the field, and hit another dinger against Derek Lowe.
It was more than enough.
Yanks had a couple of chances to score and didn’t do chiggiddy boom bam with them (Nick Swisher struck out four times). A solo homer by Curtis Granderson in the ninth is all that kept them from being shut out. The Yanks are a flat team since they played the Rangers a few weeks back and are paying the price for their ineptitude. The O’s now trail the Yanks by two.
Final Score: O’s 6, Yanks 1.
Yanks turn to our Hiro in one of the biggest games of the year.
1. Jeter SS
2. Swish 1B
3. Cano 2B
4. Granderson CF
5. Chavez 3B
6. Ibanez LF
7. Martin C
8. Ichiro RF
9. Nix DH
Never mind the prologue: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
Lazy day here at the Banter. The last summer Friday of the year. We’ll be taking it light this afternoon but will be back for the big game tonight.
Stay cool.
[Photo Credit: ggordian]
Sure, summer is just about over. But it’s hot today. Hot enough for this.
[Photo Credit: Sophiebeatrice]
Here’s Jeff Feuerzieg’s short on Jeff Dowd the inspiration for Jeff Lebowski.
THE DUDE (Director’s Cut) from Jeff Feuerzeig on Vimeo.
When I first saw Patrick Hruby’s long piece for ESPN on Doc Ellis I thought to myself: Do we really need another Doc Ellis story? Then I read it and was duly impressed.
Hruby is a talented writer. Check out this story for Sports on Earth on why he won’t be watching football this year; or this piece on professional video game players, or “Murder By Cricket” which was featured in The Best American Sports Writing 2008.
Yeah, Hruby is a good one.
[Photo Credit: Ray Stubblebine/AP]
The Yanks host the Orioles this weekend at the Stadium. Next week, they go to Tampa for three and then to Baltimore for a four-game series.
So, here it is, the Yanks have been mincing around for a month and now they’ve got their toughest ten-game stretch of the season.
I wonder if they’ll rise to the occasion. I can’t call it.
[Photo Credit: Matthew Pugliese]
Via Slate, dig this clip of Stanley Kubrick’s one-point perspective:
The stillness of New York at the end of the summer.
And a passage from E.B. White’s Here is New York:
“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something…Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. ”
