Today’s news is powered by a vintage performance from the incomparable Dave Brubeck Quartet, appearing tonight at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan:

• Today, Will Carroll is offering a conversation with Tommy John, and the doctor responsible for saving John’s career, and thereafter the careers of numerous pitchers, Dr. Frank Jobe.
• Also at Baseball Prospectus, they examine the mortal nature of Mariano Rivera (article from last Friday):

The number in his performance so far this season that immediately jumps out is his home-run rate, which sits at 1.8 HR/9. You may think this is easily explained by his new digs, as Yankee Stadium II hasn’t exactly been on friendly terms with pitchers these past two months, but that’s not the case: Mo has three home runs allowed at home in 16 2/3 innings, and a pair on the road in about half as much work. Four of his five homers allowed have come on fly balls, though he isn’t giving up anymore of those than he usually does. Another source of worry is his BABIP, which sits at a career-high .336. It’s not necessarily the fault of the Yankees‘ defense—they are right around the league average in Defensive Efficiency. The problem might be better found in Rivera’s liner rate, which sits at 25.4 percent, nearly a double-digit increase over his career rate, and much higher than anything we have seen from him since this data was first recorded back in 2002. This also means that his ground-ball rate is at its lowest since that time, which isn’t what you want to see when the ball is leaving the yard this often.

Additional homers and plenty of line drives means that Rivera is throwing pitches that the opposition can hit, whether with his famous cutter or pitches identified as vanilla fastballs. Using published velocity data going back to 2002 up through 2008, courtesy of Fangraphs, Rivera has averaged at least 93 miles per hour on pitches described as pure fastballs and, at its lowest, 92.8 mph on those classified as cutters. However slender the real distinction between the two pitches may be, this year Rivera is at 91.6 and 91.2 mph; while it’s tough to pin an exact run value on that missing velocity, the drop does hint that those extra liners and home runs aren’t from mere luck. This also puts some context behind his falling infield fly rate, which went from last year’s impressive 24.5 percent down to his current 14.3; while many pitchers would love to get that many popups, for Rivera it contributes to why his HR/FB rate has jumped from 7.5 to nearly 24 percent.

Rivera is also throwing fewer first-pitch strikes; while 59.6 percent is still above the average, it’s below his career rate and his recent work by a few percentage points. He’s also generating fewer swings and misses—16 percent overall, and just 14 percent when he’s behind in the count. That’s a significant drop from the past two seasons, when he made opponents swing and miss on nearly one-quarter of his pitches, and even more than that while behind the hitter.

[My take: Nice to see some reasonably hard data behind what we’ve perceived with our eyes.]

• Still going with Baseball Prospectus, some minutia:

The Yankees did not lead at any time in four straight games against the Red Sox, on May 4-5 and on Tuesday and Wednesday, only the fourth time that has happened in the 107-year history of the series, and the first time since 1974.

• Brian Bruney will NOT be on Francisco Rodriguez’s holiday card list:

The friction between the players stems from Bruney’s unsolicited comments about Rodriguez on Saturday. Bruney said that he did not like the way the animated Rodriguez acts on the mound and called Rodriguez “embarrassing.”

When Rodriguez was informed of Bruney’s comments on Saturday, he blasted him and challenged Bruney to speak to him face to face.

“Don’t be sending a message to the media,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t even know who that guy is, somewhere in Double-A and not even pitching one full season. He’s always been on the D.L. That’s all I really know right now. He’d better keep his mouth shut and do his job, and not worry about somebody else.”

(more…)

The Yankees should have lost to the Mets on Friday night and did lose to them on Saturday afternoon. With Johan Santana taking the mound for the Metropolitans Sunday against A.J. Burnett, who kicked off the Yankees’ sweep at the hands of the Red Sox with a stinker in Boston on Tuesday, things looked bleak.

Even after the Yankees put up a four-spot on Santana in the bottom of the second, things continued to teeter as Burnett opened the top of the third by loading the bases. With the bags juiced and none out, Burnett started out 2-0 on Mets’ leadoff hitter Alex Cora, but battled back to 2-2 then got a very generous call on what looked to be a sufficiently checked swing by Cora for strike three. Burnett then struck out rookie Fernando Martinez on four pitches, exposing the phenom’s inexperience with a curve that Martinez missed by several feet for strike three. Carlos Beltran then creamed an 0-1 fastball, but hit it directly at Derek Jeter, who squeezed it for the third out, preserving the Yankees’ 4-0 lead.

Then came the bottom of the fourth. Nick Swisher led off with a walk. Hideki Matsui, DHing over Jorge Posada because of strong career numbers against Santana, drilled fastball into the right-field box seats for a two-run homer that made it 6-0. Melky Cabrera huslted a ball cut off in the right field gap into a double. Francisco Cervelli, catching Burnett to try to get him back on track, beat out an infield single when first baseman Dan Murphy ranged too far to his right, cutting off a grounder that should have gone to the second baseman, then lobbed the ball underhand to Santana preventing him from beating Cervelli to the bag. Derek Jeter reached on another infield single that tipped off Cora’s glove in the shortstop hole, plating Melky and making it 7-0.

At that point Jerry Manuel took Santana out of the game . . .

. . . in the fourth inning . . .

. . . with no one out . . .

. . . and the Mets trailing 7-0.

With Brian Stokes on in relief, the Yankees just kept on hitting. Johnny Damon doubled into the left field corner. Mark Teixeira reached on yet another infield single when Stokes slipped making a play to the third base side of the mound. Alex Rodriguez hit into a near triple-play when Damon made a bad read on Alex’s sinking liner to Cora, but beat out the throw at first, thus allowing Robinson Cano to come to the plate and deliver a rain-maker of a two-run homer. Swisher walked for the second time in the inning. Matsui walked on four pitches. Both scored on Cabrera’s second double of the inning, though Melky finally brought the inning to a close by trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

When the dust cleared, the Yankees were up 13-0 and Santana had allowed a career-high nine earned runs in just three official innings of work. After the game, Santana claimed he just couldn’t find his rhythm and that the Yankees agressiveness at the plate helped keep him off balance. Never mind that the average Yankee batter saw 5.4 pitches in Santana’s 38-pitch second inning, that Santana threw less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes, or that Santana’s fastball was sitting around 90 miles per hour and toping out at 91.

Whatever the reason, the game was over by the time Santana came out. A.J. Burnett shut the Mets down for seven innings, striking out eight. David Robertson struck out two men in a perfect, 12-pitch eighth, and Phil Hughes struck out two more in a scoreless ninth. Meanwhile, the Yankee subs added two runs in the seventh (Angel Berroa was hit by a pitch, Damon walked, Brett Gardner walked, Ramiro Peña reached on still another infield single plating Berroa, and Cano plated Damon with a sac fly of Ken Takahashi) to set the final score at 15-0.

Just like that, the Yankees won the series in perhaps the most improbable manner possible. They’ll spend Monday taking it easy (Burnett implied that he’ll take his kids to the zoo), then welcome the worst team in baseball, the 16-45 Nationals, for a three-game set starting on Tuesday.

Crisis averted.

The Yankees should have lost Friday’s game to the Mets, did lose Saturday’s game, and now look to save face by sending A.J. Burnett to the mound against Johan Santana. This is the same A.J. Burnett who failed to get out of the third inning against the Red Sox in his last start.

If there’s good news, it’s that after posting a 0.78 ERA over his first seven starts, Santana has been human over his last five, posting a 4.64 and giving up eight home runs, including four to the Phillies his last time out.

Nick Swisher’s back in the lineup today. Francisco Cervelli will catch Burnett while Jorge Posada rides pine. Cervelli has never caught Burnett before, but opposing batters have hit .330/.406/.591 off Burnett in the four games Posada has caught him. Hideki Matsui starts at DH against the lefty Santana because Matsui has hit .333/.368/.556  in 19 plate appearances against Santana in his career. The small-sample caveat applies in both cases.

(more…)

M’ehhh, could be. It’s definitely grey.

Johan, AJ, lots of off-the-field barkin and belly-achin.

Doesn’t look like a good match-up for the Yanks today, and yet, I’ve got hope…cause that’s the thing that spring eternal.

Ever hear of Fernando Nieve? Right, didn’t think so. The man hasn’t made a big league start since 2006 but he handled the Yankee hitters with relative ease on Saturday afternoon. Fernando Nieve, no lie. Andy Pettitte, on the other hand, was pedestrian, allowing five runs on eleven hits in five innings, as the Mets sailed to a stress-free 6-2 victory.

How best to describe the Yankees on Saturday? How about, uninspired.  Yeah, that’ll do.

Now, they have to deal with the Great Johan on Sunday…with AJ Burnett going in return. Good luck.

Anyone got anything sunny to say? I’ve got nothing.

Part Two of the Ding Dong Follies on Fox this afternoon.

Vs.

Luis Castillo plays Jackie Smith.

My mother-in-law is in town for the weekend which is fun because I have one of the great all-time mother’s-in-law. She arrived last night. Em and I watched the game as we waited for her to get here. My mood got progressively darker as the game unfolded and Emily held her breath, hoping against hope, praying that another loss wouldn’t send her husband over the deep end and into a weekend long funk. But the game wouldn’t cooperate. Blown leads, Mariano getting touched, and finally, Alex Rodriguez popping up a good pitch to hit from Frankie K to end the game.

And then, jumping, arms waving, yelling, “He dropped the ball, he dropped the ball, he dropped the ball!” I scared my wife and somehow managed to scratch my arm–on what I don’t remember.

Talk about horses**t. That’s yer textbook definition right there. Still, we’ll take it, and for what it is worth, my wife is grateful, and will continue to be until late this afternoon when she holds her breath again.

If there was any fairness in the world, the Yankees would have to throw that win back. Or perhaps baseball should institute a rule whereby, when it’s called for, the umpires could just declare the game a loss for both teams. Pending such an innovation, though, tonight’s score will have to stand: Yankees 8, Mets 7, on a walk-off error.

Yep, that was one fugly baseball game. At the beginning of the night, back when we were young, Joba Chamberlain took the mound for the Yanks. He looked pretty decent the first couple of innings… and then imploded, at least as much as you can implode without giving up more than two runs. His control fled like a teenager in a slasher flick and he walked two batters, hit one, walked another, hit another, and threw more than 40 pitches just in the third. At the end of his abbreviated night he’d tossed 100 pitches in just four innings, while allowing five walks. Yeesh.

If I try to give you a detailed blow-by-blow on all the offense, I’ll be here all night, so here’s the Cliffs Notes: the Yankees went up 1-0, then the Mets took a 2-1 lead, then the Yankees came back and made it 3-2, then Brett Tomko came in — yes, that Livan Hernandez-Brett Tomko marquee matchup New Yorkers have been waiting for! — and the Mets torched him for four earned runs, including a patented Gary Sheffield blast. The Yankees clawed their way back when Jeter hit a New Stadium Special solo shot to right, and Matsui followed the next inning with a big three-run homer to make it 7-6. The Mets came right back in the seventh: 7-7, tie game.

With two outs in the eighth, Girardi brought in Mariano Rivera. Obvious  question: why couldn’t he have done this last night, when I was driving my mom up the NJ Turnpike and cursing extensively at the radio while trying to explain to her about high-leverage situations? Of course, tonight Girardi followed my advice and it didn’t work at all. Ah well. Beltran walked, Wright doubled, and the Mets took a one-run lead, again, some more.

However hapless the Yanks were tonight, though, in the end, the Mets were… uh, haplesser. In the bottom of the ninth Derek Jeter singled off of K-Rod, a nice piece of hitting, and stole second; Teixeira was intentionally walked once the count went to 3-0. The Yankees were down to their final out, though, and naturally it all came down to A-Rod – and he hit a soft little routine pop-up behind second. Game over, you had to assume, as Luis Castillo settled under it… but then Castillo… dropped it. Just like that, for no visible reason. It bounced and fell out of his glove. Huh.

It was exactly what you always hope will happen on the last out of a loss but of course it never, ever does.  Teixeira and Jeter were running hard from the start, and so they both scored, and voila: walk-off E-4.  The Yankees didn’t win this one so much as the Mets lost it, but hey, it all comes out the same in the standings.

Be sure to catch the SNY pregame show tomorrow, when Louis Castillo will be torn apart by an angry mob… that is, if the team hasn’t already sacrificed him on an altar to appease the baseball gods. (I hear the new Stadium has an amazingly luxe visitors’ altar).

New York Mets

2009 Record: 31-27 (.534)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 31-27 (.534)

2008 Record: 89-73 (.549)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 89-73 (.549)

Manager: Jerry Manuel
General Manager: Omar Minaya

Home Ballpark (Park Factors): CitiField (100/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Fernando Martinez is filling in for Carlos Delgado (DL)
• Alex Cora is filling in for Jose Reyes (DL)
• Wilson Valdez is filling in for Alex Cora, who actually replaces Damion Easley
• Omir Santos replaces Ramon Castro
• Dan Murphy replaces Endy Chavez
• Gary Sheffield replaces Marlon Anderson
• Jeremy Reed replaces Nick Evans (minors)
• Tim Redding is filling in for Oliver Perez (DL)
• Fernando Nieve is filling in for John Maine (DL)
• Livan Hernandez replaces Pedro Martinez
• Francisco Rodriguez replaces Billy Wagner (DL)
• Robert Parnell replaces Joe Smith
• Sean Green replaces Duaner Sanchez
• Ken Takashi replaces Scott Schoeneweis
• Jon Switzer is filling in for J.J. Putz, who replaces Aaron Heilman

25-man Roster:

1B – Dan Murphy (L)
2B – Luis Castilla (S)
SS – Alex Cora (L)
3B – David Wright (R)
C – Omir Santos (R)
RF – Ryan Church (L)
CF – Carlos Beltran (S)
RF – Fernando Martinez (L)

Bench:

R – Gary Sheffield (OF)
R – Fernando Tatis (UT)
L – Brian Schneider (C)
L – Jeremy Reed (OF)
L – Wilson Valdez (IF)

Rotation:

L – Johan Santana
R – Mike Pelfrey
R – Tim Redding
R – Livan Hernandez
R – Fernando Nieve

Bullpen:

R – Francisco Rodriguez
L – Pedro Feliciano
R – Robert Parnell
R – Sean Green
R – Brian Stokes
L – Ken Takahashi
L – Jon Switzer

15-day DL:

SS – Jose Reyes (hamstring)
OF – Angel Pagan (groin)
IF – Ramon Martinez (dislocated finger)
RHP – John Maine (shoulder fatigue)
LHP – Oliver Perez (patellar tendonitis)
RHP – J.J. Putz (bone spur in elbow)

60-day DL:

1B – Carlos Delgado (torn hip labrum)
LHP – Billy Wagner (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Alex Cora (SS)
S – Luis Castillo (2B)
S – Carlos Beltran (CF)
R – David Wright (3B)
L – Dan Murphy (1B)
L – Ryan Church (RF)
L – Fernando Martinez (LF)
R – Omir Santos (C)

Notes: Fernando Tatis is platooning with Murphy at first base. Santos and Brian Schneider are splitting the catching duties. Gary Sheffield has been spelling Martinez and Church in the outfield corners, but will more likely DH for all three games at Yankee Stadium.

(more…)

In just over a week, nearly 30 retired major leaguers will come to Cooperstown to participate in the inaugural Hall of Fame Classic. The group will feature several former Yankees, including a fairly prominent and well-traveled pitcher from the mid-1980s.

One of my favorite old ballplayers, the late Pat Dobson, liked to invent new baseball jargon and give out quirky nicknames. He labeled former Yankee Dennis Rasmussen as “Count Full Count,” a reference to the tall left-hander’s tendency to throw too many pitches to each batter. The words “three and two” often accompanied Rasmussen’s struggles with opposing hitters.

Like many of those full counts, Rasmussen took a twisted career path to the Bronx. At one time a top prospect in the California Angels’ organization, Rasmussen came to the Yankees as the player to be named later in the deal that sent Tommy John to the West Coast. The deal, which took place after a dismal 1982 season, made good sense for the Yankees. Firmly in rebuilding mode, the Yankees had unloaded an aging John in exchange for a young left-hander of considerable promise. In the 1980s, however, the Yankees often turned their back on rebuilding at a moment’s notice, reverting back to a win-now philosophy whenever possible. So less than a year later, the Yankees sent Rasmussen to the Padres as the player to be named later for veteran right-hander John “The Count” Montefusco. In other words, they acquired “The Count” for “Count Full Count.”

Wait, there’s more. In the spring of 1984, the Yankees once again reversed course on Rasmussen. Graig Nettles infuriated George Steinbrenner with revelations in his new book, Balls, which angered The Boss so much that he traded his veteran third baseman during spring training. Steinbrenner sent Nettles to the Padres for a package of two prospects: the infamous player to be named later and, you guessed it, Dennis Rasmussen.

Now firmly ensconced in New York, Rasmussen finally made his Yankee debut later that season. Rasmussen brought an amply supply of natural talent to the Bronx, including an above-average fastball, a full repertoire of four pitches, and a dandy pickoff move that foreshadowed Andy Pettitte. He showed some of that promise as a rookie, despite an elevated ERA, by striking out 110 batters in 147 innings and winning nine of 16 decisions. After an up-and-down sophomore season, Rasmussen broke through the fence completely in 1986. Emerging as the ace on a mediocre Yankee staff, Rasmussen went 18-6, logged 202 innings, and kept his ERA a respectable 3.88. At 27, he appeared to be solidifying himself as a legitimate front-of-the-rotation starter.

Rasmussen also made people take notice because of his height. At six-feet, seven inches, Rasmussen was one of the game’s tallest pitchers in the years before Randy Johnson’s arrival. He looked even taller to me, like he was about six-foot-nine, perhaps because he had a bit of awkwardness in his delivery to the plate. His height was either a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. Scouts love tall pitchers, especially southpaws. Yet, some scouts believe that pitchers taller than six feet, five inches can have inherent problems. With long limbs and multiple moving parts, tall pitchers sometimes have difficulty keeping their mechanics in order. Rasmussen was not immune to that concern.

Perhaps the Yankees factored his height into the equation the following season, when they decided to trade him. Rasmussen pitched poorly throughout the summer, with an ERA approaching five, causing the Yankees to wonder whether his awkward mechanics and lack of an overpowering fastball would doom him to mediocrity. Whatever the reason, the Yankees traded Rasmussen to the Reds for Bill Gullickson in late August, losing four inches of height in the transaction.

In spite of my seeming obsession with his height, that’s not necessarily the first thing to come to mind when I recall the onetime Yankee. Instead, I’ll always remember an incident from the 1980s, when Rasmussen hit Jorge Bell of the Blue Jays with a pitch. Bell was furious with Rasmussen over what he considered an intentional infraction. After the game, Bell unleashed a tirade against Rasmussen, repeatedly referring to him as “she.” Bell’s intent was clear; he was questioning Rasmussen’s manhood. Whether Rasmussen had meant to hit Bell or not, it was a stupid and chauvinistic reference to make, especially when he made it over and over. Then again, those were the kind of comments that Bell made during a career of mouthing off with the Jays and the White Sox.

With Rasmussen scheduled to come to Cooperstown in just over a week, I’m debating whether to bring up the incident with Bell and find out Rasmussen’s reaction to it. Rasmussen might look at the episode nostalgically, emphasizing the comedic nature of the often volatile Bell. Then again, Rasmussen might think I’m as big a jerk as Bell often was during his career. Perhaps I should stick to the safe side on this one.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times and can be reached at bmarkusen@stny.rr.com.

I called in to Mets fan Kenrick Thomas’s “Real Sports Talk” on Blog Talk Radio last night to talk about the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, and a variety of other topics, including Joba Chamberlain, CC Sabathia’s shot at 300 wins, and Manny Ramirez’s All-Star candidacy. Check it out (I enter at the 3:25 mark):

We made it to Friday!

• Wang stays in the rotation . . . for now:

Despite having a 21.61 ERA as a starter, Yankees right-hander Chien-Ming Wang is expected to remain in the rotation, a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

He is scheduled to start Wednesday against the Washington Nationals, a source told ESPN.

Manager Joe Girardi suggested Thursday that Wang would lose his place in the rotation if he did not pitch well on Wednesday.

“As I told him, it’s important that he has a real good start,” Girardi said to The New York Times. “He needs to show us that he’s back and he’s fully back, because at some point, production is important.”

• Wang has been consistently inconsistent:

In the bullpen and before games, Eiland said he likes what he sees. Then the game starts and Wang loses his consistent arm slot.

“I can’t go stand behind the mound with him during the game,” Eiland said. “He’s got to go out there.”

The Yankees could do worse than call on the former pitching coach Ron Guidry as a troubleshooter, as Peter Abraham suggested on his blog during the game. It’s hard to argue with the results from Wang during Guidry’s tenure: consecutive 19-win seasons and a strong working relationship with the pitching coach, which seems to be missing now. Maybe another set of eyes and a familiar, friendly face could help. At this point, it couldn’t hurt.

(more…)

My uncle once told me a story about a great uncle who was famous for teasing and talking to children as if they were adults. My uncle was three or four and he was in the bathtub one evening and the great uncle happened to be there, I don’t remember why. The older man shook is finger at the boy and said, “You’re All Wet!” And my uncle started to cry.

The Yankees are all wet and we’re doing a lot of crying right about now. They lost again to the Red Sox and are seemingly finding new and painful ways to do it. This time it was 4-3, a real kick in the groin. The Yanks held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth–Alex Rodriguez’s two-run double broke up a 1-1 tie moments earlier–when CC Sabathia ran out of gas (a shame, as he pitched a terrific game). The Sox scratched together three runs in a heavy rain and the Yanks were lucky it was just three. But with Jonathan Paplebon closing, the one-run lead was more than enough. Mark Teixeira lined out hard to end it.

This one was painful but not entirely surprising. It is so bad right now that it’s almost comic, especially  with the Yanks playing well against the rest of the league. The Sox own them right now and that’s all there is to it. The Yanks aren’t helping themselves either. Nick Swisher made an bad fielding error last night and had a couple of inexcusable base runner mistakes tonight.

We’ll see how long this holds up. (Are the likes of Brad Penny going to come up onions  is against them indefinetly?) David Ortiz can’t hit anymore but he handles the Yankees? I never felt confident about the Yankees beating the Sox over and again in the late Nineties because I thought the law of averages had to catch up eventually. Sure enough, they did. Well, this isn’t going to hold up either. It just won’t. The Sox are good but they aren’t that much better than the Bombers.

The Yanks will have their moment against the Sox once again. But they are going to have to wait for a minute before they get the chance; they don’t play again until August. Meanwhile, they’ll lick their wounds and return to the Bronx to face the Mets, who lost two painful games to the Phillies the past couple of nights.

This one smarts, but they get to start fresh tomorrow. The pain doesn’t have to last long. Thank goodness they do this everyday.

CC on the hill, the big fella, the stopper…

Yanks play tonight, Yanks win tonight.

Say word. ‘Nuff said.

Okay, here’s a tough scene but a vivid and compelling one. It involves baseball, and more specifically, the Yankees.

From The French Connection Part II (which is as grimey as they come). Our hero Popeye Doyle, the Ugly American himself, goes to Marseilles. Bad Guys catch him, tie him down and get him addicted to dope. Eventually, they leave him in the guter. With the help of a French detective he dries out.

This is Hackman at his best:

The best way to deal with the Yankees getting knocked around by the Red Sox?

Eat well.

My friend Alex was a baseball blogger for a minute–that’s how we met. He’s long since retired but we’ve remained friends. We’re food nerds.  Alex pent a year in Thailand when he got out of college and knows more about Asian cuisine than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s curious and driven and is open about sharing his knowledge.

We’ve cooked together for years now–at his place or up at my crib in the Bronx. We work well together in the kitchen. Fluid. When it’s his place, I’m the sous chef and he puts me to work, and vice versa when we’re at my spot.

Last night, I stopped by Alex’s new apartment in downtown Manhattan. He belongs to a farmer’s collective and picks up fruits and vegetables once-a-week. Last night we had young broccoli rabe–still bitter but tender and almost delicate–arugula, mixed lettuces, radishes and spring garlic, to work with.

I was put in charge of the salad. I don’t much care for radishes but want to like them so I keep trying to prepare them in different ways. These were long like fingerling potatoes. I sliced three, thinly, added 1/4 of a large red onion (also sliced thin), sprinkled some salt and a little bit of sugar on them, added a teaspoon of cider vinegar, and let it pickle for twenty minutes.

I threw in a handful of the arugula, a bunch of mixed greens, and drained the radishes. Then I dressed the salad with a couple of teaspoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of red wine vinegar and a pinch of salt. 

Meanwhile, Alex prepared the main course, which was served over white rice. The recipe is listed below. Here are the flicks.

Hazy grizzle.

Garlic and onions.

The beef, onions and rabe.

Cooked down.

 Plate it Up.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by … a flight attendant with a beat!

• Sutcliffe leaves a big tip:

Hours before they were to do battle with the Red Sox Tuesday night, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez were involved in different type of confrontation, this one inside the Yankees’ clubhouse.

Upset with an accusation made by ESPN’s Rick Sutcliffe two weeks ago, the two players approached the former Cy Young winner to discuss the situation.

Sutcliffe said on the air that A-Rod had been feeding Teixeira verbal signs from the on-deck circle, giving his teammate a heads-up on the catcher’s location before the pitch was delivered. Teixeira and A-Rod pulled Sutcliffe aside when they saw him in the clubhouse last night, expressing their displeasure with his charges.

“Me, Alex and him talked about it,” Teixeira told the Daily News, confirming that the conversation took place. “No doubt it’s disappointing when someone makes an accusation like that. Whatever. I can’t control what they say.”

[My take: Has Rick been hitting the sauce again?  Doesn’t he have better things to do, like ogle Erin Andrews or something?  Sigh …]

• Ken Davidoff is NOT a fan of A.J. Burnett:

If you’re going to invest $82.5 million in a guy in part because he pitches well against the Red Sox – rather than, you know, his larger body of work – then what choice do we have but to crush him when said guy doesn’t deliver on his alleged skill set?

The blame must fall on the $82.5-million man Burnett, who has pitched horribly in his two starts against the Red Sox as a Yankee, last night’s worst than his first. . . .

In two starts against the Sawx this season, both at Fenway, Burnett is 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA.

That doesn’t quite live up to the career numbers versus Boston – 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA, in eight starts – that he brought to last winter’s negotiations.

• Johnny Damon is on a mission . . . :

Johnny Damon wants the Yankees to get back to the postseason for many reasons. One is to prove Joe Torre wrong.

Damon said Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years,” has “fired” him up to have a big season. The ex-Red Sox star went into last night’s Battle for First at Fenway batting .299 with 12 home runs, 34 RBIs and five stolen bases.

“It really did,” Damon, 35, told The Post, “because it was a private matter. This game is a team game. Me and Jason [Giambi] weren’t the reason we were losing. If [Torre] feels that way, then, oh well, but I’ll tell you one thing, me and Jason were the reason why we made the playoffs [in 2007]. We made that push. As soon as I got healthy, this team got going.”

(more…)

Chien-Ming Wang’s start in Boston Wednesday night was a set-back for both the pitcher and the team. Wang had velocity, frequently hitting 95 miles per hour on the YES gun, and movement, but much like A.J. Burnett the night before, he had no control. It was almost as if the Red Sox had ball-repelling magnets installed under home plate.

Wang look good striking out Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay to end the second inning, but by then he’d already given up three runs on three hits and three walks and thrown 58 pitches. He tried to start the third with a gimme strike to Mike Lowell, but Lowell parked it on top of the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 4-1 lead (the Yankee run came on a Jorge Posada homer off Tim Wakefield leading off the second). David Ortiz followed by lifting a 400-foot fly out to center, and Mark Kotsay hit a hard single up the middle on Wang’s next pitch. A batter later, Wang was out of the game having thrown just 57 percent of his 69 pitches for strikes.

Phil Hughes pitched admirably over 3 2/3 innings in relief of Wang, striking out five men along the way, but he got into some bad counts in the fourth and wound up throwing two very hittable fastballs to J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis, resulting in a triple and an opposite-field homer, giving the Sox two crucial insurance runs.

The Yankee offense chipped away. A pair of walks set up a Melky Cabrera RBI single in the fourth. Mark Teixeira hit right-handed against Wakefield and went 3-for-3 against the knuckleballer with a single and a double off the Monster and another double down the left field line. That last came leading off the fifth and two groundouts plated Tex with the third Yankee run. Switched back to the left side against Ramon Ramirez in the seventh, Teixeira followed a Johnny Damon lead-off homer with a solo shot of his own to bring the Yankees within 6-5.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as they’d get. Nick Swisher worked a walk off Hideki Okajima to start the eighth, Brett Gardner ran for him, and Melky Cabrera bunted Gardner to second, but Derek Jeter (an ugly 0-for-5) struck out, as did Damon, stranding Gardner, who never attempted a steal.

In the ninth, Alex Rodriguez ignored the Fenway crowd’s “You Did Ste-Roids!” chant to work a one-out walk against Jonathan Papelbon, and pinch-runner Ramiro Peña stole second in his place, but Robinson Cano struck out and Jorge Posada flied out to the warning track in left to end the game.

After the game, Posada seemed more fed up with Wang’s struggles than frustrated by them, Wang said he would understand if the Yankees wanted to move him back into the bullpen, and Joe Girardi uncharacteristically refused to say that Wang would make his next start, or even to say “he’s in the rotation right now” (his typical code for “but won’t be five days from now”). Given how well Hughes pitched by comparison, I’d expect the two to swap roles next time around.

Barring injury, last night’s series opener couldn’t have gone much worse for the Yankees. Now their remaining hopes of winning this series rest on tonight’s starter, Chien-Ming Wang, who hasn’t thrown more than 4 2/3 innings in a major league game this year and hasn’t been good for more than three frames in a single outing.

Wang returned to the rotation on Thursday and looked great for two innings, showing the velocity and drop on his sinker the Yankees had been waiting to see, but things flattened out after that, and he left with two outs in the fifth having surrendered five runs to the Rangers. Still, he got all but one of his 14 outs via groundball or strikeout, which was encouraging. Wang will be on a 90-pitch limit tonight, which could mean another short outing even if he pitches well (though Wang at his best could make those 90 pitches last into the eighth).

Also encouraging is that, after a strong April, Tim Wakefield, who starts tonight for Boston, has posted a 6.37 ERA over his last seven starts with opponents hitting .307/.393/.452 against him. Wakefield is 5-2 over that stretch as the Sox have scored an average of 7.14 runs per game for him. As much as I’m thinking good thoughts for Wang, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slugfest like that break out again tonight.  At the very least, the Yankees should do better than the two measly singles they managed last night.

The lineup returns to normal tonight (Damon in left, Swisher in right, Matsui to DH, though Matsui has hit just .170/.264/.319 lifetime against Wakefield), while rookie George Kottaras catches Wakefield for Boston.

I’ve been fishing twice in my life–once on a lake, another time in the Long Island sound. A long time ago. I don’t recall much other than being bored. Fishing was something kids were supposed to enjoy–like flying a kite or building model airplaines–but I never took to it. Too much patience for a blabbermouth like me. Still, I appreciate why certain men love to fish. Y’all have any good fishing stories?

Also, has anyone read A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean? I have not, but from what I hear it is a wonderfully written book. Here is an excerpt:

After my brother and I became good fishermen, we realized that our father was not a great fly caster, but he was accurate and stylish and wore a glove on his casting hand. As he buttoned his glove in preparation to giving us a lesson, he would say, “It is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o’clock.”

As a Scot and a Presbyterian, my father believed that man by nature was a mess and had fallen from an original state of grace. Somehow, I early developed the notion that he had done this by falling from a tree. As for my father, I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only by picking up God’s rhythms were we able to regain power and beauty. Unlike many Presbyterians, he often used the word “beautiful.”

After he buttoned his glove, he would hold his rod straight out in front of him, where it trembled with the beating of his heart. Although it was eight and a half feet long, it weighed only four and a half ounces. It was made of split bamboo cane from the far-off Bay of Tonkin. It was wrapped with red and blue silk thread, and the wrappings were carefully spaced to make the delicate rod powerful but not so stiff it could not tremble.