Neptune and Triton, By Gianlorenzo Bernini (1620)

First:

Flipped:

I just happened to be downtown last night, looking for a quick bite, when I realized I was near the Milk Bar. So I stopped in–it was crowded–and ordered the pork buns. A $9 treat. I stood there and savored every bite, knowing I shouldn’t eat too fast, knowing they’d be gone all too soon. But I couldn’t help myself.

And it was worth it.

[Photo Credit: Momfuku for 2]

Two years ago, I had dinner with Vic Ziegel at Liebmann’s Deli in the Bronx. We’d been introduced through some mutual friends and I wanted to chat with him about his career and the history of sports writing. He was funny in that skeptical, weathered manner you’d expect from a career newspaperman. I asked him who he thought were the best sports writers and he told me that on any given night any number of guys were the best. “We all had nights when we were the greatest.”

When I asked him who were the most literary sports writers  he looked at me like I had six heads. “There is no such thing as a literary sports writer. Not when you are working on deadline, even if I spent most of my time working for an afternoon paper.” Vic wasn’t a journalist. He was a newspaperman. No pretensions.

I just got word that Vic has passed away. Man, this is tough news for the New York sports writing community. His sense of humor and sharp eye for detail will be missed.

In the meantime, read this wonderful piece by Vic about the joys of being a sportswriter:

When I covered baseball for the New York Post, the real New York Post, it was especially important that I finish in good time. Before the bars closed. The Lion’s Head was my bar of choice. If I got there at a decent hour, there was a great chance that Len Shecter, my friend, my idol, would be at the corner of the bar. He was the champ, tough, outrageous, funny, shrewd, fearless, acerbic, but don’t get me started. I wanted to write like Lenny – as they say in TV, the same but different – and on my best nights I came close.

He covered the Yankees when they won the pennant twice a year. When their clubhouse was colder than Greenland. Mickey Mantle was probably the main perp. It was no easy thing to be tough, outrageous, shrewd, etc. Lenny always got there. A few minutes after he left the baseball beat, Mantle told him, for his ears only, “I always thought you had a lot of guts.”

Lenny did a lousy thing to those nights at the Lion’s Head. He died. To this day, when I write a line I like, I tell my friend, “I did good, Lenny.”

My condolences go out to Vic’s family.

Unbearably hot.

Lena Olin and Daniel Day Lewis in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

In case you don’t already know, a site called MLB Trade Rumors is the spot to go if you are interested in the latest tweets, posts and pieces from around baseball. These guys do a tremendous job of assembling information, they are top-notch. Course the Yanks are in on everyone, or maybe no one at all.

He wouldn’t come cheap, but Dan Haren, anyone?

Hard-hit baseballs swarmed Yankee Stadium tonight like those godawful midges in Cleveland. So many interesting plays developed within the barrage of base hits and the mad dashing of base runners. If you had the ear of a young, eager baseball fan during tonight’s contest, you could really fill it up with all that transpired. An inside-the-park home run. A potential run disallowed by a prior base out. Another runner cut down at home plate by a phantom tag. A vintage Posada brain fart so perplexing and inexplicable that it stubbornly defies analysis. The 599th home run of an epic career. A successfully executed running-swinging bunt. Nooks and crannies for baseball fans of all kinds. Except those that like to, you know, see a pitcher get somebody out.

When is five runs in six innings a disappointment? When the pitcher is Bruce Chen or Aaron Sele. This game had to be a laugher. I thought for a second, maybe I’m jinxing it by acknowledging how ridiculously lopsided this match-up is. But if CC Sabathia isn’t a sure thing against Bruce Chen and the Royals, then just go ahead and throw everything out the window.

Of course, CC was far from a sure thing. He was batting practice. I’ve seen CC get roughed up before, but not like this. Not against such awful hitters. And not so consistently. He was bad in the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. To his credit, he dug down and kept battling. And in an eventful game of Yankee gift swap, where each team was eager to forfeit runs and re-gift them later in the game, the Yanks found the laugher I hoped was in there all along and won 10-4.

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The Royals have had just one winning season (props, Tony Peña) since 1994, so it’s easy to write them off as a bad team. They are a bad team, and they’re not getting better, but they’re not remarkably bad the way they used to be. Sandwiched around that 83-win season in 2003 were four 100-loss campaigns. In the four years since then, the Royals winning percentage hasn’t dipped below .400 and if the standings stay the way they are, 2010 will be the third straight season in which they finish above last place in their division. Those are pathetically low standards, yes, but they’re also a reminder that, while the Royals are bad, they’re not awful.

Better yet, K.C. has played nearly .500 ball since Ned Yost replaced Trey Hillman as manager on May 14. That’s a little more than two months of break-even baseball, which is a big deal for this ballclub. The Royals went 9-4 under Yost over the remainder of May, then outscored their opponents in June (though they were still just 13-14 on the month).

Things have cooled off a bit in July. The Royals are again just a game under .500 for the month (7-8), but they’ve been outscored by 37 runs, a bigger run deficit in 15 games than they had in 23 games while going 9-14 under Hillman in April. Chalk that one up to three lop-sided losses (11-0 to the Angels, 15-5 to the White Sox, and 13-1 to the Blue Jays) all three coming in games started by Anthony Lerew, who will face Phil Hughes on Sunday.

Playing the Royals is an advantage in and of itself, but the Yankees luck out by facing them for four games yet avoiding defending Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke. Instead the Yankees will face, in order, Bruce Chen, Brian Bannister, Kyle Davies, and Lerew. That Yost has been able to keep this team around .500 with those guys making up 80 percent of the rotation is both startling and a sign that the Royals likely won’t keep it up, at least not without getting an effective Gil Meche back from the disabled list (he started a rehab assignment on Wednesday).

Indeed, only the Pirates and Orioles have a lower rotation ERA than the Royals’ 5.12. The same is true with Baseball Prospectus’s win-expectancy based SNLVAR, only the Bucs and O’s have had worse rotations by that measure. The Kansas City bullpen is closer to average thanks to lock-down closer Joakim Soria, ex-Ranger Robinson Tejada, and, get this, ex-Yankee Kyle Farnsworth and Kanekoa Texeira, the reliever acquired by the Yankees in the Nick Swisher trade then lost to the Mariners as a Rule 5 pick in December. Farnsworth has allowed just two home runs in 41 innings this year and is walking just 2.2 men per nine innings. Texeira, who was plucked off waivers in June, has walked just 1.6 men per nine as a Royal and boasts a 2.38 ERA in 22 2/3 innings for Kansas City.

I’m not about to go yearning for Farnsworth’s return, but it’s a bit galling to see those two helping the Royals’ bullpen to a performance not far  removed, and in fact slightly superior, to that of the Yankees’ pen. The Yankees have a slight edge in ERA, 4.22 to 4.26, but the Royals’ pen has contributed nearly 40 more innings, which increases their advantage over the Yankees in the cumulative win-expectancy-based WXRL.

As for the offense, it’s probably enough to point out that this lineup makes the 34-year-old Scott Podsednik look valuable, and that their worst hitter, 36-year-old catcher Jason Kendall, is not only replacing one All-Star catcher (John Buck) and another who was more deserving of that honor (Miguel Olivo), but is hitting second. First baseman Billy Butler, 24, is the featured hitter, but his power is still a bit lacking (.467 slugging). Center fielder David DeJesus, now 30, is having his finest season, but with only an option remaining on his contract, is a top candidate to be traded. DH Jose Guillen, a 34-year-old in his walk year, is also trade bait. Can’t miss prospect Alex Gordon is back in the minors, but raking at Triple-A. Then again, he’s 26 already, and after Butler, the youngest man in the major league lineup is 28. That’s not encouraging for a team that’s theoretically rebuilding.

Tonight CC Sabatha faces Bruce Chen, the well traveled Chinese-Panamanian lefty who was a top prospect last century and is now with his tenth major league club at the age of 33. Chen flirted with a perfect game on July 3, but otherwise has been decidedly average and prone to short, though not disastrous outings. Since joining the rotation on May 30, he has made nine starts, posted a 4.28 ERA and averaged about 5 1/3 innings per start. He last faced the Yankees in 2006 (two starts plus two relief appearances for the Orioles).

Sabathia looked a little rusty in his last start, though he was actually starting on normal rest having started the two games on either side of the Yankees’ four-day All-Star break. He still gave the Yanks seven solid innings in an eventual win. In his last nine starts, he has gone 8-0 with a 2.03 ERA and just two home runs allowed.

Marcus Thames starts at DH against the lefty Chen and bats seventh ahead of Curtis Granderson. Everyone else is in their usual place. Meanwhile, the suddenly very busy (and depressing) Yankee uniform has added another element, a black arm-band in memory of Ralph Houk, who passed away on Wednesday. I can’t remember the Yankees ever wearing three memorial objects on their uniform at once, though they’ve also never work a memorial patch before doing so for George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard this month (previously they had stuck to arm bands or retired numbers on the sleeve).

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From Smitten Kitchen, here goes a fine-looking recipe for peach-blueberry cobbler.

Mmmm, cobbler.

David (Detail), By Gianlorenzo Bernini (1623-24)

Cause I just never get tired of this movie…

Check out this fun piece on all-time Yankee Killers over at ESPN.com.

How to rock a party, an intro to blending by Z-Trip (from the mostly excellent documentary about the history of Hip Hop DJing, Scratch*):

And here, Z Trip just gets stoopit:

* My only reservation is that the movie didn’t cover the great Philly DJs; otherwise, it’s impressive.

Not so long ago, Carlos Zambrano made a scene in the Cubs dugout. The incident made headlines, nothing new for the troubled Zambrano. What struck me watching the replays was the look on manager Lou Piniella’s face. He didn’t just looked startled, as this large man stomped around the dugout yelling, steam practically shooting out of his ears, Piniella looked old. After all, this is a manager who is legendary for his temper tantrums. But now, he looked timid.

I suppose it is the right time to go. Sweet Lou has enjoyed a fine career as a player and manager, and he’ll always be welcome in the Bronx. He was one of George’s guys, and one of our own.

Congrats, Lou, on a wonderful career. Come by anytime.

[Photo Credit: Kennerly.com (Lou in 1966, playing for the Portland Beavers)]

For the third time in less than two weeks, the Yankees have lost a noteworthy member of their family.  Ralph Houk, their manager from 1961-63, and again from 1966-73, has passed away at the age of 90.

Houk piloted the Yanks to two World Series titles and another AL pennant in his first three seasons at the helm.

Houk also skippered the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox after he left the Yankees.   At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving manager of a World Series champion.

Our condolences go out to Houk’s family.

(Image: Beckett Media)

On the surface, the game Wednesday afternoon seemed tailor-made for a Yankee victory.  Starting pitcher Javy Vazquez had been on a roll as of late, compiling a 4-2 record in his last eight starts, with a 2.55 ERA and only 32 hits allowed in 53 innings.  He was facing an Angels’ lineup including Kevin Frandsen (on his third team this calendar year) at third and Bobby Wilson (he of the broken ankle suffered in a perhaps unnecessary collision with Mark Teixeira back in April) behind the plate. The Anaheimers were also flying to Texas after the game for the beginning of an important four-game series tomorrow.  So perhaps they could have been looking ahead.

However, Vazquez’s mound opponent, Joel Piniero, had proven to be tough on Yankee batters in the past.  Coming into today’s game, current Yanks had a career line of .249/.312/.411, with only Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher having much success (8-for-13 and 9-for-25, respectively).

Vazquez started out very strong, breezing through the first four innings yielding two singles and a double through a mere 37 pitches.  Meanwhile, the Yanks built a run on two hits and a groundout in the first, and then flexed some muscle in the third.  Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira went single, double, two-RBI single to start the inning.  One out later, Mr. 8-for-13 Cano launched one deep into the Yankee pen, and it was suddenly 5-0.  The Bombers tacked on another in the fourth (Teixiera RBI #27 since June 19), and you thought “this is what the Yanks were supposed to look like all year.”

But then, Vazquez reverted back to the form that frustrated Ozzie Guillen so much during his time in Chitown, inexplicably losing “it” in the 5th and 6th innings.   The first four batters reached base in the fifth, including a two-run homer by career .213 hitter Wilson.  Vazquez was bailed out of further damage by an inexplicable attempted steal of third by Erick Aybar with one out and Bobby Abreu up, down 6-3.   After Aybar was gunned down, Abreu K’ed.

But Vazquez continued to slip slide away in the sixth, allowing a two-run jack to Hideki Matsui.  David Robertson relieved, and managed to dance around two singles and a walk to hold the lead at 6-5.

DH Juan Miranda extended the lead to 7-5 with a solo homer in the 7th.  Later in the inning, with Curtis Granderson and Francisco Cervelli on base, Brett Gardner was ejected for arguing a strike call on an inside corner pitch, so Colin Curtis took over the 0-2 count.  Curtis worked the count from Scot Shields to 3-2, and then lined a wall-scraper homerun over the auxiliary scoreboard in right.  It was Curtis’ first major league dinger . . . and curtain call.

The Yanks survived some Joba Chamberlain unsteadiness in the eighth, yielding a run on two hits, and Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth.

10-6 Yanks.

[Photo Credit: Nick Laham, Getty Images]

Doesn’t take much to get me riled-up. Just ask my old pal Rich Lederer, die-hard Angels fan, who had me cursing like a sailor last night as the Angels pounded the Yanks. Eh, I don’t like to disappoint, so I gave him a show. In honor of Sweet Lou announcing his retirement. Yeah, that’s it.

The Yanks and Angels finish their two-game series this afternoon with Mr. Vazquez and Mr. Pineiro on the hill. Pineiro has been terrific for the past two months, and Vazquez hasn’t been too bad himself.

Another scorcher out there today; this one could be a barn-burner. Nevermind the heat, boys…

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

[Picture by Bags]

Apollo and Daphne (Detail), By Gianlorenzo Bernini (1622-25)

What a weird turn the season has taken through the first 91 games, and specifically over the last two weeks. With the passings first of Bob Sheppard and then of George Steinbrenner and news of the fall that landed Yogi Berra in the hospital, a somber mood has befallen the Yankee Family, which includes us.

There’s a lot on my mind — nothing new there — and I wanted to get it as much of it down as I could, not only for my own cathartic reasons, but also for your reading enjoyment.

Here we go …

* The discussion regarding the fifth starter spot was rendered moot very quickly, Phil Hughes, with an improved cutter and curveball and most importantly, and an Eff-You attitude that he took from his eighth-inning role in ’09, took control in Spring Training and never let go. He won 10 of his first 11 decisions and earned an All-Star appearance. Now, with Andy Pettitte on the shelf and AJ Burnett looking like an extra in “Girl Interrupted” — more on this in a bit — Hughes is effectively the Yankees’ No. 3 starter, maybe even No. 2, depending on your opinion of Javier Vazquez. Yes, even though Hughes got roughed-up last night. 

The question with Hughes now becomes how the Brain Trust wants to handle the Phil Rules. He is supposedly on an innings limit (160 innings? 175? What’s the number?). But what will that do to his effectiveness? Skipping starts to curb innings is likely not the best move, as evidenced by the 10-day break between his home starts in June against the Mets and Mariners. The Yankees need him to be effective in September and October, yes, but they have to figure out a way to do this right.

On WFAN Saturday, Steve Phillips, commenting on the Cardinals’ management of prospective NL Rookie of the Year Jaime Garcia, said Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan are not taking chances with Garcia; they’re not allowing him to start the seventh inning when he has a big lead. The Yankees can learn from that with Hughes. Skipping starts, especially as the pennant race heats up, could be devastating to both the Yankees’ chances and to Hughes’s development. Look what happened to the Tigers and Rick Porcello last year. Porcello was skipped several times over August and September as a means of preservation for the stretch run. He pitched well in the one-game playoff against Minnesota, but then this year had a miserable start and was optioned to Toledo in mid-June. He’s back with the team now amid rumors he’ll be packaged in a trade? Do the Yankees want to take that chance with Phil Hughes? Probably not.

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