Monthly Archives: May 2013

Opening Today.

So Hiroki got tagged in the first and then hit by a line drive in the calf in the second. He was removed from the game in the third and the word is he won’t miss his next start but the Orioles had all the runs they’d need as they earned a 6-3 win. Some nice pitching by Adam Warren and three hits by Curtis Granderson, including his first homer of the year, were the highlights for the Yanks who have today off.

[Photo Credit: Robb Carr/Getty Images]

Series finale in Baltimore tonight with an off-day tomorrow before the weekend series in Tampa. Be nice to see a Score Truck sighting complete with fresh delivery of hits and runs.

Our man Hiroki’s on the hill and boy he’s been so good I worry that he’s due to get his ass kicked.

Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
David Adams 3B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Reid Brignac SS
Austin Romine C

Ah, never mind my concern: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Photographs by Ourit Ben-Haim 

over at Everyday I Show.

Scouting New York does The Warriors: Part One and Part Two.

De La on the Jimmy Fallon Show. 

Nice piece at the A.V. Club on Bob Newhart’s most famous record.

“Window, Cour de Rohan,” By Balthus (1951)

What was your favorite bubble gum: Bazooka, Double Bubble, Bubble Yum, Hubba Bubba, Bubblicious?

I like Bazooka and grape Bubble Yum but the flavor didn’t last. Always dug those animated Bubblicious ads, man.

Crowded and muggy on the subway platform during rush hour yesterday when a train rolled into the station so I decided to wait for the next one. I stood back from the open doors and let people jam their way into the car. I looked inside the open door and saw Seth Gilliam, an actor I know as Ellis Carver from “The Wire.” He was looking at the ground, just another guy sweating in a crowded subway car.  When he looked up we made eye contact. I mouthed “Thank You” to him, pressed my palms together and bowed my head. When I opened my eyes and looked back at him he smiled and nodded. The doors closed and the train pulled out of the station.

When you are on a show like “The Wire” I’m sure you never really escape it. Anyhow, I didn’t say a word to him but I know he knew what why I was thanking him.

So Phil Hughes wasn’t terrible at all despite giving up two solo homers to our old pal Chris Dickerson. Yanks couldn’t hit last night that’s all, but it wasn’t just them, the Orioles’ pitching was impressive and the home team got a much-needed win when Nat McLouth hit a game-ending home run in the 10th inning.

Final Score: Orioles 3, Yanks 2.

Two extra-inning games, one for the O’s, one for the Yanks. Fair enough.

[Photo Credit: AP]

It’s Phil Hughes tonight and the schmuck needs all of our good vibes. Hang in there, Phil, dammit. (How’s that for positive?)

Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells RF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Curtis Granderson LF
David Adams 3B
Jayson Nix SS
Austin Romine C

Never mind the longball:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Illustration by Jaime Hernandez]

Man, it’s prematurely hot n humid out there. Summer’s comin’.

[Photograph by Fred De Casablanca]

Museumuseum gives us a huge treat:

Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th street

by Todd Webb (April 23, 1948)

On Sidney Lumet…over at A Shot in the Dark and Cinephilia and Beyond.

Over at SB Nation’s Longform page check out this profile of Hector Espino–The Unknown Slugger–by our man Eric Nusbaum:

There is a joke told by Mexican baseball fans about Espino arriving at the pearly gates of heaven with much less fanfare. St. Peter doesn’t recognize Espino and asks God what he should do. “Don’t be a coward,” God says. “Pitch to him.”

Most American baseball fans wouldn’t recognize Héctor Espino either, even though he was the greatest hitter in Mexican history and by many accounts one of the best hitters of all time. Espino played from 1960 to 1984. He had wrists like the barrels of baseball bats and a body like a 5’11, 185-pound vending machine. He also hit somewhere between 755 and 796 professional home runs.

The exact total, like much about Espino’s career, is a matter of perspective.

Food 52 gives Craig Claborne’s Pasta con Asparagi.

Oy-men. 

They are becoming a thing now. Time to start grabbing for “the narrative” (is there a more irritating contemporary term?). These grittsy, gutsy Yanks are the anti-Yankees. Just wait ’til the superstars return, then they’ll fall into the gutter. Give Vernon Wells 600 at bats! Start Overbay over Teixeria!

Beyond the silliness that accompanies this kind of run, there is the real satisfaction of watching these Yankees play above expectations (at least according to many of the pre-season predictions). Of course it’s early, and we’ll see how keen the Bandwagon is on the current Cinderellas when they inevitably turn back into pumpkins in the heat of summer, but also: we’ll take it. And there are reinforcements on the way.

Last night, the Yanks remained calm and kept themselves in the game despite C.C. Sabathia giving up a lead. Travis Hafner hit a game-tying solo home run in the 9th and Wells had the go-ahead double in the 10th (Hafner added an RBI single). The bullpen, which has been the team’s great weapon so far, nailed down a terrific 6-4 win over the Orioles.

Happy? You bet.

Chad Jennings has the notes.

[Photo Via: In His Grip]

Painting by Trevor Young.