Monthly Archives: March 2010

Just eight games into the exhibition schedule, the Yankees and Pirates met for the third time. The Yankees won the first two 6-3 and 6-0. This time the invading Pirates got their revenge with an ugly 12-7 win.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Nick Johnson (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
S – Randy Winn (LF)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
R – Kevin Russo (2B)

Subs: Jorge Vazquez (1B), Reegie Corona (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), Jesus Montero (C), Greg Golson (RF), Reid Gorecki (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Jon Weber (DH)

Pitchers: CC Sabathia (2 1/3), Dustin Moseley (1 2/3), Royce Ring (1), Romulo Sanchez (1 1/3), Boone Logan (1 1/3), Hector Noesi (1), Jeremy Bleich (1/3)

Big Hits: A pair of solo homers by Nick Johnson in his only two at-bats, both of Charlie Morton, a wall-scraper in the first and a bigger bomb in the third. A triple by Curtis Granderson (1-for-3) into the right-field gap off D.J. Carrasco (Granderson was stranded at third). Hitting for Johnson in the fourth, Jon Weber (2-for-3) delivered a two-RBI single and later doubled in the ninth. Jorge Posada went 2-for-2 with a walk, and RBI, and a run scored.

Who Pitched Well: Back from the birth of his daughter, Royce Ring pitched a perfect fifth, striking out one. Romulo Sanchez retired four men in a row striking out two before walking the last man he faced.

Who Didn’t: CC Sabathia gave up four runs before getting an out (single, double, RBI double, three-run homer by lefty-hitting Garrett Jones), and gave up another double before escaping the first. He then pitched a perfect second inning, but gave up another run on two hits and a walk in the third before hitting his pitch count with just one out in that frame. He later said he was collapsing his back side (said CC, “I have a big back side”) and thus leaving the ball up. That’s a typical and easily correctable mechanical issue he should be able to fix prior to his next start.

In the process of getting just three outs, Hector Noesi allowed three singles and a walk, with all four runners scoring, three on his watch and one after he was pulled for Jeremy Bleich with two outs in the ninth. Bleich should have stranded that runner, but Jorge Vazquez dropped a throw at first base and Bleich gave up a booming RBI double to the next batter before finally getting the final out of the inning. Boone Logan gave up two runs on a single, a double, and a walk i n1 1/3 innings of work.

Oopsies: For those who skipped the last section, first baseman Jorge Vazquez dropped a throw from Corona at second base for what would have been the final out of an ugly ninth inning. It was in his glove and he just dropped it.

Ouchies: Francisco Cervelli (concussion) worked out at 70 percent effort on Tuesday and said he felt “a little weird,” but better than Monday. He will have a full-speed workout on Wednesday with the goal of playing in Friday’s game.

Other: Those of you checking the box score might notice that the Pirates stole two bases with Jesus Montero behind the plate. They stole them both on the pitcher. Former Yankee farmhand Doug Bernier got a huge jump on Boone Logan, and Argenis Diaz’s steal came on a ball in the dirt. Montero didn’t make a throw in the latter case, but did make a nice, strong, accurate throw to second in the former only to find Bernier already standing on the bag. Throughout the telecast, John Flaherty spoke favorably of what he’s seen and was seeing of Montero behind the plate, feeding my optimism about Montero’ s ability to remain a catcher. My impression is that, with first base blocked, Montero would have to be a total disaster back there for the Yankees to move him off the position.

Finally, I’ve promised to lay off Michael Kay, but Bob Lorenz did play-by-play for YES for this game and it was so pleasant to listen to. Of course, I’m sure if I listened to Lorenz do 150 games a year for a decade and a half things about him would irritate me as well, but I’d be willing to take that chance . . .

Nonchaloir, by John Singer Sargent, 1911

CC goes today in the sunshine…

And Edwar goes to Texas…

These are the Breaks…

Happy Days…

I received Sixty Feet, Six Inches for Christmas. In fact, the book is so directly in my wheelhouse, I received it twice. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a book length conversation between Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, guided off-page by co-author Lonnie Wheeler,  about the duel the between pitcher and batter. They delve deeply into the mechanics and psychology, the preparation and the consequences, but mostly, they tell detailed anecdotes about the wily bastids that they couldn’t quite master and the poor stooges they could.

Upon first glance, they did not strike me as a natural pair. Reggie’s hunger for attention and approval seemed an odd match for Gibson’s stoic surliness. But at least some of each player’s professional personality was an act. And some of what remained has eroded in the years following their retirements and enshrinements.

So what we get in this conversation are two ballplayers who no longer occupy the exact personalities they made famous, but who can (and do) slip into those familiar characters when necessary – like putting on a vintage uniform for old-timer’s day.

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The Yankees ended a four-game losing streak with a pair of wins on Monday, their B-team blanking a split-squad Pirates team 6-0 on the road under manager Mick Kelleher, and their A-team eking out a 7-5 win over a full-squad Phillies team at the Boss, six of those runs coming against ex-Yankee Jose Contreras. I’ll break them both down, the A-game first.

Yankees 7, Phillies 5

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
L – Nick Johnson (DH)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Kevin Russo (3B)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)

Subs: Jose Gil (1B), David Adams (2B), Russo (SS), Jimmy Paredes (3B), Jesus Montero (C), David Winfree (RF), Reid Gorecki (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Damon Sublett (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Javier Vazquez (2), Jonathan Albaladejo (1), David Robertson (2/3), Amaury Sanit (1 1/3), Christian Garcia (2), Zach Segovia (1 1/3), Kevin Whelan (2/3)

Big Hits: Nick Swisher cracked two booming doubles, one to each gap, in three at-bats, driving in three runs. Robinson Cano doubled and singled in two at-bats and drove in two. Kevin Russo played the entire game, doubling, singling, and walking in four trips. Split-squad call-up David Adams doubled in in his only at-bat.

Who Pitched Well: Javier Vazquez, who was given the derogatory nickname “Home Run Javy” during his 2004 stint in New York, gave up home run to Jimmy Rollins on his first pitch back in a Yankee uniform (a fastball right down the middle), but that was the only baserunner he allowed as he struck out four of the other six hitters he faced. Kevin Whelan retired the only two men he faced in the ninth, striking out one of them, stranding the tying runs on base and picking up the save. Christian Garcia allowed a solo homer to John Mayberry Jr. and a walk in two innings while striking out two. Amaury Sanit stranded two inherited runners and pitched around a pair of singles in an inning and a third, striking out two.

Who Didn’t: David Robertson got to 3-2 on Jayson Werth with two outs and the bases empty, but just missed outside with ball four. He then allowed an RBI double, an RBI single, a stolen base, and another walk before getting pulled.

Nice Plays: Robinson Cano made a modest dive to his left to flag down a would-be hit in the first. Ramiro Peña made a nice ranging play to snag a ball behind second base and start a 6-4-3 double play.

Oopsies: Split-squad call-up Jimmy Paredes wiffed on a grounder at third by trying to style rather than square up the ball.

Ouchies: Francisco Cervelli was cleared to resume light baseball activities by the neurologist. He could appear in Friday’s game. Damaso Marte threw a bullpen without issue. Nick Johnson walked in three trips as the DH and said afterwords that he felt no discomfort. Johnson had tweaked his back on Thursday by wearing spikes rather than turf shoes for batting practice. The Yankees use an artificial turf covering to protect the dirt at home plate during BP, and Johnson caught a spike and wrenched his back. Such is Nick Johnson. Speaking of which, Chan Ho Park was scratched from his first BP session due to tweaking a glute during some running, though he reported no pain and will get his session in on Tuesday.

Michael Kay nugget: Recounting the Jose Contreras signing, Kay said, “I don’t know if it’s urban legend or not, but when the Yankees ended up signing him, Theo Epstein took a chair and threw it through a window.” The story is most likely untrue, and there are some similarly unverifiable stories of Epstein breaking a door and a window, but the widely circulated version of the story describes Epstein breaking a chair, not throwing it through a window. Perhaps I’m nit picking, but Kay proved he could even make up made up stuff.

More significantly, Kay referred to David Adams as Eduardo Nuñez in consecutive half innings, failing to correct himself even after Adams was shown in a medium shot after a nifty double-play he turned with Ramiro Peña. Nor did he address the mistake when Adams came to bat a couple of innings later. In Kay’s defense, Adams was wearing Nuñez’s number 94, but, well, click on those links again. Nuñez has been in most of the games thus far, Kay should know what he looks like. He did notice that dark-skinned Dominican third baseman Jimmy Paredes was not Caucasian outfield Jon Weber in the ninth despite similar number overlap.

Yankees 6, Pirates 0

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
R – Randy Winn (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
R – Mike Rivera (C)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (LF)
R – P.J. Pilittere (DH)
S – Reegie Corona (2B)

Subs: Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), Austin Romine (C), Jon Weber (RF), Greg Golson (CF), Kyle Higashioka (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Alfredo Aceves (4), Ivan Nova (2), Zach McAllister (2), Jason Hirsch (1)

Big Hits: They spread it around pretty well. Four Yankees doubled including Juan Miranda (2-for-4, RBI), Eduardo Nuñez (2-for-2, RBI), Brandon Laird (1-for-2), Kyle Higashioka (1-for-2), and Greg Golson (1-for-2). Not included in those five was Jon Weber, who went 2-for-2 with two RBIs, or Alex Rodriguez, who had a two-RBI single in three trips.

Who Pitched Well: Everyone. The Pirates managed just a single (off Nova) and two walks (off Nova and McAllister) in the game. Aceves struck out three in his four innings, and all four of the Yankee pitchers in this game have 0.00 ERAs in the early going this spring.

Oopsies: Eduardo Nuñez made two errors in half a game at shortstop (one fielding, one throwing), and has three already this spring.

Other: Veterans Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Randy Winn, and Alex Rodriguez skipped the long trip to Fort Myers on Sunday, so they made the shorter trip to Bradenton on Monday.

Don’t know what I’d do without Soul Sides:

I haven’t watched any spring training action yet.

Soon enough, the games will be real. In the meantime, here’s hoping the Yankees manage to stay healthy.

(Untitled) Soap Bubble Set, by Joseph Cornell (1936)

ss

Here’s a jernt where to have a hearty European-style breakfast in the Big Apple:

This update is powered by . . . a trailer for every Academy Award-winning movie ever:

• The ever-quotable Goose Gossage:

Q. You were a starter and reliever before you settled on closing games. What roles do you think Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes should have on the Yankees staff?

A. I think Phil Hughes is a starter for sure. He can go deep into games. He’s a power pitcher and he also knows how to pitch, with a nice curveball. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. Personally, I think Joba is a relief pitcher. He’s got that makeup, that aggressiveness. I think that he is more valuable in the bullpen. I think that he would be a great relief pitcher.

Q. Do you think Mariano Rivera is the best closer in baseball history?

A. I think that he is a tremendous relief pitcher. He’s the best current-day, modern reliever. But it’s just like you can’t compare the 500-home-run club today to the old 500-home-run club. When I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I was told that I had 53 saves with seven-plus outs. I was told that Mariano had one and Trevor Hoffman had two. So I think that says it in a nutshell.

• The story of a one-time Yankee and Rule 5 veteran, Zack Kroenke.
• Lance McCullers (reliever on ’89 and ’90 squads) turns 46 today.
• Mark Salas (p/t catcher on ’87 team) turns 49 today.
• The immortal Jim Bouton turns 71 today.
• Joe DiMaggio died 11 years ago today.

Back on Thursday.

Count us as one of the million of cablevision customers who are not watching the Oscars tonight.

The wife is not amused. And, uh, you wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.

Update: Maybe the schmucky Big Wig Gods heard her cries. The Oscars are now on, and yes, she’s a heppy ket. Heppy like so:

The Yankees traveled to Fort Myers Sunday afternoon to endure an 11-0 beating at the hands of a Twins split-squad. The Yankees have now been outscored 20-1 over the last two days and have allowed 32 runs in their last three games. Through the first five games of their exhibition schedule, they have scored just two runs prior to the sixth inning.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (DH)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Jamie Hoffmann (RF)
R – Mike Rivera (C)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
R – Brandon Laird (3B)

Subs: David Winfree (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Jorge Vazquez (3B), Kyle Higashioka (C), Jon Weber (RF), Greg Golson (CF), Reid Gorecki (LF), Jesus Montero (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Sergio Mitre (3), Chad Gaudin (2), Kei Igawa (1), Ryan Pope (1), D.J. Mitchell (1)

Big Hits: Jesus Montero doubled in his only at-bat. Robinson Cano went 2-for-3. Beyond that, the Yankees scattered six singles, including a bunt single by Brett Gardner, and failed to score.

Who Pitched Well: Sergio Mitre pitched three scoreless innings allowing just three baserunners on a pair of singles and a walk while striking out three. He also hit 93 mph on the gun, which he didn’t do all of last year according to the Star-Ledger’s Marc Carig. The only negative to his outing was that four of his other five outs came in the air rather than on the ground. Ryan Pope pitched a perfect seventh.

Who Didn’t: Well, we needn’t worry about Kei Igawa sneaking up on the Opening Day roster. In his lone inning of work, Igawa gave up five runs on a walk and four hits including a double and a grand slam by Juan Portes, who homered twice in the game. Portes’s other homer came off D.J. Mitchell, who gave up three runs on four hits, including that homer and a double, in the eighth. Chad Gaudin struck out two and only gave up a walk and three hits in his two innings, but all three hits went for extra bases including a double and two solo homers. He was charged with a third run which scored on Igawa’s watch in the sixth.

Oopsies: Gaudin, who had a throwing error in his first start, dropped a flip from Mark Teixeira, which is exactly why Tex takes the ball to the bag himself whenever possible. Ramiro Peña also had a fielding error. Brett Gardner was picked off first base, but the Twins botched the rundown.

Ouchies: Francisco Cervelli seems to be recuperating well from his concussion, though he’ll still have to see the neurologist on Monday. Nick Johnson remains on schedule to play in Monday’s game. Tony Peña is the latest Yankee to come down with the flu

Other: Andy Pettitte threw a simulated game instead of traveling to Fort Myers for his first start.

It’s a beautiful day in New York. The wife and I are taking a drive to the country, don’t ya know.

Hope everyone is having a good one.

The Yankees starters again struggled to score in Saturday’s 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In fact, the lone Yankee run came on a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a fielder’s choice on a double-play ball, with Francisco Cervelli, Juan Miranda, and Ramiro Peña doing the honors and Austin Romine scoring the run. Romine was in the game because the stray pitch hit Cervelli in the helmet, knocking him out of the game with a concussion. More on that below.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Randy Winn (RF)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (DH)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
S – Ramiro Peña (2B)

Subs: Jorge Vazquez (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Reegie Corona (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), P.J. Pilittere (C), David Winfree (RF), Jamie Hoffmann (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Austin Romine (DH)

Pitchers (IP): A.J. Burnett (1 2/3), Amaury Sanit (1/3), Boone Logan (2), Jonathan Albaladejo (1/3), Mark Melancon (1 2/3), Andrew Brackman (1), Romulo Sanchez (1), Jason Hirsh (1)

Big Hits: Colin Curtis doubled and walked. That’s about it. The Yankees only had five other hits, all singles, and no other Yankee reached base twice.

Who Pitched Well: Boone Logan worked the equivalent of two perfect innings striking out two. Mark Melancon worked around a single for 1 2/3 scoreless frames. Jason Hirsh hit one batter but retired the other three in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Jonathan Albaladejo faced nine batters, eight reached base (one via walk, six via singles) and five scored, three of them on a home run by Adam Lind. Andrew Brackman gave up three hits including a two-run homer by J.P. Arencibia in his lone inning of work. Albaladejo and Brackman also both uncorked a wild pitch. A.J. Burnett had his fastball in the mid-90s, but didn’t have much command of it and intentionally stayed away from his curveball. The result was three singles, two doubles, a walk, two runs allowed, and a hook before he was able to finish his second inning.

Nice Plays: Reegie Corona made a nice ranging play at shortstop coming well across the second-base bag. Brandon Laird, at third base, made a nice back-handed stab and strong throw from the foul line. There were some other nice plays, but those two were the best.

Oopsies: Corona has nice range, but his arm makes him a second baseman, as demonstrated when he made a back-handed catch in the shortstop hole and bounced the throw to first base.

Ouchies: The most significant event in the game came in the third inning when birthday boy Francisco Cervelli was hit on the top of the helmet by a pitch from Zechry Zinicola. The pitch actually came in around neck high, but rather than fall backward and away from it, he ducked and the ball hit him on the crown of his helmet, giving him a concussion and leaving stitch imprints on his helmet. A CT scan was negative (which is a positive, that is to say, they scanned his head and found nothing), but Cervelli was hit in the same spot by a backswing in winter ball in November and suffered a concussion, so the team will be cautious. He’ll be checked again Sunday and see a neurologist on Monday. If all checks out well he could return to game action mid-week. Nick Johnson took batting practice and said he “felt loose.” He should play on Monday after skipping Sunday’s long bus ride.

Other: Michael Kay nugget of the day: a kid in the stands puts his cap on backwards and Kay explains, “Hat goes on in the Griffey style. Ken Griffey Jr. started that.” Oh he did, did he?

Very cool.

With the Oscars coming up on Sunday, the time is just right to bring up some Yankee-related movie news. Historically speaking, the Yankees and Hollywood have had trouble coming together and making good film partners, but that may be changing within the next few years. According to a recent Rush and Molloy article in the New York Daily News, a film called The Trade is in the planning stages. The movie would look at the “life swap” (including wives and children) engineered by Yankee pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson in 1973, and would feature Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in the lead roles. Now how great would that be?

This revelation does bring me some momentary pause, however. Affleck and Damon are well-known Red Sox fans; I hope that they would not use this vehicle as a way of embarrassing the Yankee franchise. That said, I like both as actors, particularly the multi-dimensional Damon, and have enough confidence that their sincere interest as baseball fans would make them want to deal with this controversial subject matter in a serious and respectful manner.

For those who don’t remember the details of the story, Kekich and Peterson had been close friends since becoming Yankee teammates in 1969, but each man developed an affinity for the other’s wife during the summer of 1972. In the spring of 1973, the news became public that the two pitchers had actually traded wives, along with their children and family dogs. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn reacted to the news with disgust, claiming that he was “appalled” by what Kekich and Peterson had done, but that he was also powerless to do anything about it.

The Yankees reacted more humorously to the announcement, with general manager Lee MacPhail quipping that the Yankees would have to call off “Family Day.” (They actually did decide to cancel the promotion that summer.) Yankee teammates gave Kekich and Peterson their fair share of grief, but never to the point where it caused much dissension in the clubhouse. But the trade seemed to affect the two pitchers, both of whom struggled in 1973 and were subjected to routine booing throughout the American League. Both became ex-Yankees soon after, with Kekich traded in ’73 and Peterson dealt in ’74.

In terms of marriage, the trade produced mixed results. Peterson and Susanne Kekich had four children together and remain married to this day. The relationship between Kekich and Marilyn Peterson did not last. They soon broke up, with Kekich eventually marrying for a third time. To this day, neither man enjoys saying much publicly about The Trade.

It remains to be seen how cooperative Kekich and Peterson will be with the moviemakers. The more pressing question involves Affleck and Damon. Which actor should play which pitcher? Affleck strikes me more as the Peterson type, to the point that I could see some resemblance in their dark physical features. Damon does not look like either pitcher, but he has more comedic talent than Affleck. That might make Damon more appropriate to play the wackier Kekich, who was known as one of the flakiest left-handers of the sixties and seventies.

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The fifth starter battle started with a fizzle on Friday as Phil Hughes underwhelmed and Joba Chamberlain, weakened by the flu, was flat-out awful. Things didn’t get much better after that as the Rays scored in six different innings. The Yankees, meanwhile, haven’t scored prior to the fifth inning in any of their three games this spring, though their subs put together a nice rally in the seventh on Friday. After the smoke cleared, the Rays had won 11-7.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
R – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Reegie Corona (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Kevin Russo (3B), Jesus Montero (C), Jon Weber (LF), Greg Golson (CF), Reid Gorecki (LF), Jorge Vazquez (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Phil Hughes (2), Joba Chamberlain (1 1/3), Kevin Whelan (4 batters), Kei Igawa (1 2/3), David Robertson (1), Hector Noesi (1), Grant Duff (1), Dustin Moseley (2/3), Jeremy Bleich (1/3)

Big Hits: Robinson Cano (2-for-2) doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Francisco Cervelli (2-for-2), who “tripled” in his previous at-bat on what looked like a single into the left field gap that was misplayed by Sean Rodriguez.  In the Yankees’ six-run seventh, Eduardo Nuñez, Juan Miranda, Kevin Russo, and Jorge Vazquez each doubled in a run, all were 1-for-2, save Miranda who was 1-for-3. Russo’s double came on a 70 mph changeup from lefty sidearmer R.J. Swindle that he flinched at twice before lacing to the opposite field. Nick Swisher (0-1) drew the Yankees first walk of the spring.

Who Pitched Well: Kei Igawa entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and stranded all three runners, then pitched a perfect fifth. He struck out two along the way. David Robertson threw a perfect sixth striking out one. Jeremy Bleich threw one pitch, but it came with runners on base and resulted in an inning-ending groundout in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Have a seat. Grab a snack . . .

Phil Hughes gave up just one run on a wind-blown solo homer, but he didn’t strike anyone out, wasn’t locating his breaking stuff, didn’t break 91 mph on the gun, and was generally less impressive than his results. He was still far better than what followed. Joba Chamberlain, having just recovered from a flu which carved eight pounds off his frame, gave up five runs on a double, two triples, and three walks and was pulled two outs short of his intended two innings. He looked awful, but I doubt anyone’s going to hold it against him. The important thing is that he got his throwing in and didn’t fall behind schedule due to his illness.

Two of Chamberlain’s runs scored after he left the game. Kevin Whelan came in with men on first and second, bounced a pitch to move them up, then gave up a single to score them both, though I’d argue that Derek Jeter should scooped up that worm-burner to his left. Whelan then gave up a double and issued a walk and got the hook.

In the eighth, Grant Duff gave up three runs on two walks, a single, and a triple. In the ninth, Dustin Moseley gave up another run on two hits and two walks and was pulled with two outs.

Nice Plays: Derek Jeter made a nice backhanded play on a hotshot to shortstop to start the game. Robinson Cano made ranging, over-the-shoulder running catch in shallow left, then later backed up a bad throw from catcher to first base, spun and threw out the runner at second. In the seventh, Juan Miranda made a nice back-handed grab of a foul ball near the stands and quickly fired back in to hold the runner at second.

Oopsies: On the very next play, Miranda booted a low throw from Eduardo Nuñez. Nuñez got the error. In the third, Nick Swisher fell down after taking too large of a secondary a lead off first base and was doubled off.

Ouchies: Swisher appeared to jam his right wrist on that fall, but stayed in the game. Nick Johnson (back) thinks he can play, but the Yankees are going to give him Saturday off and leave him off the bus trip on Sunday. He should return to game action on Monday.

Other: Thanks to everyone who joined in for my liveblog of the game.

Two Tahitian Women, by Paul Gauguin (1899)

Yeah, let’s cool out to the fine sounds of Mr. Hank Mobley: