In the summer, in the city, in the summer, in the city…

[Picture by Leonard Freed via Adam Marelli Photo]

Over at Food and Wine, Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert break it down…like this:

Fancy Chefs Making Burgers

AB: I understand this trend. It’s dismaying, but I completely understand the impulse. What chef wants to die broke? And let’s face it: Burgers are good. But it is definitely a little dismaying, any time you see really great chefs cooking below their abilities by putting out a burger.

ER: A burger is part of the menu at our Westend Bistro in Washington, DC. Our burger was actually inspired by McDonald’s—except for the quality of the meat, of course. A McDonald’s bun is perfect. You put it in your hands; it’s not too big, it’s not too tall. The ratios, the slice of tomato—for some reason, it’s all perfect. The pickles are perfect. The shredded salad, it’s not too much, not too little. When we did our burger, for us, it was a very interesting research project. We looked at companies like McDonald’s and Burger King and thought, What is great in their approach? And how can we make it great with the meat that we have, which is, obviously, of different quality?

[Photo Via:  Gourmet]

Nice review in the Times today of “Central Park: An Anthology,” a collection of essays about our cherished park (edited by Andrew Blauner).

It’s a book worth having.

Here’s Buzz Bissinger’s piece, reprinted over at Slate.

[Photo Credit: Nataliemarie]

A new DVD set of “The Gold Rush” has just been released. It includes a 1942 sound cut of the movie. Cool.

[Photo Credit: Sid Avery]

[Paintings by Eric Zener]

I know you got soul…

[Photo by Saul Leiter]

As Grady Seasons said in “The Color of Money”: It’s like a nightmare, isn’t it? It just keeps getting worse and worse.

The Yanks lost nine-in-a-row to the Rays in Tampa coming into this afternoon’s game and had to deal with David Price. The Rays’ ace was on his game too, throwing his fastball in the upper 90s and breaking off a nasty slider and change-up to boot.

Now, whadda ya gunna do with that?

Not much. The Yanks didn’t put a runner on base until the fourth (a walk by Curtis Granderson), get their first hit until the fifth (and that runner was erased on an inning-ending double play), or put a run on the board until the seventh (a solo home run by Mark Teixeira). The score was tied, 1-1, on the strength of a good start by David Phelps.

After Teixeira’s homer, Alex Rodriguez doubled and with one out, Nick Swisher walked. Andruw Jones was at the plate when Rodriguez took off for third. The catcher stepped back and his hand knocked into the home plate umpire’s mask and the call came to do it over, a head-scratcher for sure. Jones flew out to right field and Rodriguez stole third with Russell Martin batting but was stranded there when Martin grounded out to short.

And that’s how it’s been for the Yanks in Tampa. Double-down on that, in fact, because Carlos Pena hit a long two-run home run against reliever Boone Logan in the bottom of the seventh. I would have taken more time to appreciate what an impressive shot it was if I hadn’t been so pissed off watching it sail into the seats.

That put the Rays up, 3-1 and well, this Fourth of July party looked to be another dud for the Yankees.

Relief came in the form of an old friend, however, one Kyle Fransworth who walked the bases loaded in the eighth inning. He did strike out Derek Jeter but the bases were juiced for Rodriguez. Now, I’m sure there was some joking going on for Yankee fans watching at home. And those jokes turned to groans when Rodriguez swung through a 2-1 fastball around his shoulders. The count went full and Rodriguez took a slider off the outside corner for ball four and an RBI. It was a close pitch but it was a ball.

That knocked Farnsworth out of the game and narrowed Tampa’s lead to 3-2. Jake McGee, a lefty, replaced him and got ahead of Robinson Cano. Made him looked silly on one swing. But on the 2-2 pitch, a fastball, low and over the plate, Cano delivered a hard-hit ball up the middle, good for a base hit and a couple of RBI and the Yanks were ahead. He was right on the pitch and nailed it.

Never mind that they reloaded the bases two more times (Martin, who is in the depths off a miserable slump, flew out to end the eighth; Cano hit a bullet line drive to deep center to end the top of the ninth), David Robertson worked around a two out walk in the eighth and Rafael Soriano pitched a clean ninth to give the Yanks a satisfying 4-3 win.

Reason to cheer. The Boss would be happy.

[Photo Credit: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images; Mike Carlson/AP]

So the Yanks have lost nine straight in Tampa and today David Price will try to make it ten. David Phelps gets the start for the Yanks. I suspect he’ll give them some good innings.

Up to the batters to score some runs.

Two tough loses so far in Florida. Here’s hoping the Yanks “Win one for the Boss”–the ol’ birthday boy.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix 3B

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

Happy Fourth Everyone.

[Images via: This Isn’t Happiness; Retrogasm]

What else?

“American Flag,” By Jasper Johns (1954-55)

Our man Ted Berg brings it in the latest edition of “The Sandwich Show”:

Happy Birfday.

All right, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but after watching the Yankees lose their ninth straight game in Tampa — and listening to Lou Piniella for nine innings — the title seemed appropriate if a bit reactionary.

There’s something about the Rays that really bothers me. When the Red Sox were at the peak of their powers, each series definitely raised my blood pressure, but I respected those teams. Terry Francona respected the game, and the players not named Papelbon, Pedroia, and Youkilis were actually a bit likable. They played the game the right way, and it was hard to hate them for it.

It’s not that the Rays don’t play the game the right way, because they do. They run out every ground ball, go from first to third, steal bases, all that stuff. But Joe Maddon is infuriating. He creates a new lineup each night, moving hitters four or five spots in the batting order from one night to the next, and haphazardly deploys his fielders, heeding voices only he hears.

The truth of it all, though, is that none of it would be remotely infuriating except for one thing — it works. All of it.

The matchup seemed to be in favor of the Yanks on Tuesday night, with the streaking Ivan Nova on the mound for the Bombers and the disappointing James Shield starting for the Rays. (How befuddling is Shields? Try this stat on for size: Complete games — 0 in ’09, 0 in ’10, 11 in ’11, o in ’12.)

The Yankees jumped on Shields early. Derek Jeter absolutely smoked the first pitch of the game, sending it to the wall in left center for a double, then scored on a laser that Curtis Granderson hit past Carlos Peña at first for another double. After the obligatory strikeout from Alex Rodríguez, Robinson Canó rifled a single through the Maddon Shift for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

DeWayne Wise homered in the third to bump the lead up to 3-0, but Nova was struggling enough to make it clear that more than three runs would be needed. He faced twenty batters over the first four innings, and he started twelve of them out with ball one. As a result, it seemed like he was working hard all night, even when no one was on base.

In the bottom of the third, however, the Rays got some folks on base. There were two outs and runners on first and second when B.J. Upton came up to the plate and immediately grounded a single through the left side of the infield. Wise charged the ball well and came up throwing, looking to get Elliot Johnson at the plate. Wise’s throw beat Johnson, but the ball came loose in the collision and the run scored. I’ve never seen a play this scored as an error, but Russell Martin got the E-2. Jeff Keppinger came up next and singled in two more runs to tie the score. All three runs were unearned, but all three can be attributed to Nova’s shakiness.

The Yankees took the lead right back in the top of the fourth when Raúl Ibañez doubled and came home on an Eric Chavez single, but that lead was immediately erased in the bottom half of the inning by two-run home run by Sean Rodríguez.

Trailing for the first time in the game, the Yankees looked to even the score in the top of the sixth. Reigning American League Player of the Week Canó opened the frame with a single, and two batters later Ibañez blistered a ball over the first base bag and into the right field corner. Third base coach Robby Thompson bravely waved Canó home, but Robinson it immediately looked like the wrong decision. After the relay throw arrived at the plate, catcher José Molina poured a cup of tea and let it steep for a bit before applying the tag on a sliding Canó. It kind of summed up the entire night.

From there, the Yankee hitters went down like lambs as the bullpen coughed up a couple more runs, including one on a double steal, making the final score Rays 7, Yankees 4.

Strange as it might seem, I can’t wait to get to Fenway Park.

[Photo Credit: Mike Carlson/AP Photo]

As Jon mentioned in his recap of last night’s game, the Rays find a way to bust Yankee chops.

Let’s hope that ain’t the case tonight. Ivan Nova’s on the hill.

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

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

[Photo Credit: John Black]

Here’s another bowling story. This one, by the late Jeff Felshman, is a keeper, a funny and understated gem:

Only the dead don’t bowl. Everybody’s tried it, anybody can do it, nobody wants to see it. Would you pay to watch bowling? Of course not. Not if the match featured the greatest bowlers of all time. Who are the greatest bowlers of all time? Who knows? As a spectator sport, bowling isn’t much. Most bowlers don’t pay much attention to their own game much less anyone else’s, especially after a couple of beers. That’s the downside of bowling’s great accessibility: even when you’re good at it, nobody cares.

Most of the bowlers at Timber Lanes the first Saturday in June don’t watch; most of them can’t see. It’s the last day before the summer break for the blind bowling league from the Chicago Braille Center. They won’t be getting together again until the middle of August. By then they should know if they’ve repeated as national champions of the American Blind Bowling Association. The results from this year’s tournement (which was held over Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, and drew about 700 bowlers from 170 blind bowling leagues) won’t be tabulated until August. The league secretary, Virginia Okada, doesn’t think Chicago Braille Center won this year; but until they hear otherwise they’re still the national champs.

A sign on the door says Timber Lanes welcomes seeing eye dogs, but no one brought the dog today. The group is large enough as it is, about 40 being a crowd in the small bowling alley on Irving Park Road. There’s someone here from practically every American group–that’s–black, white, Spanish, American Indian, Asian, old, young, middle-aged. Usually in America when people try to put together such a broad-based racial and ethnic coalition they fail, but the blind bowlers not only can’t see much difference they have a common cause: they’re all trying to stay out of the gutter.

Somehow, it didn’t make The Best American Sports Writing. Glenn Stout has more.

[Photo Credit: Xaxor]

Couple of stories on Joba Chamberlain:

Harvey Araton in the Times.

Daniel Barbaris in the Wall Street Journal.

[Photo Credit: N.Y. Post]

Serious Eats offers 57 receipes for your Fourth of July Party.

[Photo Credit: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Josh Bousel]

Check out this site: Old New York Stories.

[Photo Credit: Mark Kalan]

“McSorley’s Bar,” By John Sloan (1912)

There’s a major George Bellows retrospective at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. through early October.

Might be worth a road trip.

Take it easy, baby. Cal’s here to make everything groovy.

[Photo Credit: Schone Seele]