Home opener for the Red Sox today at Fenway Park. Over at the Bible, Cliff has the series preview. The Sox are 0-6. But they are facing Phil Hughes and they could break out in a royal way this afternoon. I’m not hopeful that Hughes can hold them off. Shame on me for my lack of faith, I know.
No matter, I’ll be root-root-rooting for the Bombers. So never mind the skepticism and…
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
… for the new Yankees to make an impact, both on the field and in the media.
Case #1: Russell Martin has proven, at least through one week, to be the kind of stopgap pickup the Yankees needed in order to transition Jorge Posada to the Designated Hitter role, and allow Jesus Montero to develop further in the minor leagues. He’s shown a deftness at handling the pitching staff — in particular AJ Burnett — and is hitting well enough to give opponents pause when reaching the 8th or 9th spot in the batting order.
[And on a side note (Emma Span will appreciate this), am I the only one relieved that the Yankees don’t put their players’ last names on their jerseys? The Dodgers, like the Red Sox, do not embroider last names their home whites but do so for their road greys, and the “J Martin” on Russell Martin’s #55 always confused me until I reviewed his profile page on Baseball Reference. He did it starting in the 2009 World Baseball Classic to honor his mother’s maiden name, Jeanson, and then carried that through to the Dodgers. Here, no last name on the jersey, no confusion.]
Case #2: Rafael Soriano. There were reported warnings over the winter about Soriano’s volatile personality, but take that with a grain of salt, since the Yankees have employed award winners in that category like Raul Mondesi, Jeff Weaver and Kevin Brown, to name a few. After Soriano’s first blown hold — I’m waiting for that stat to become a boxscore staple — he pulled a Boomer Wells and left the ballpark Monday without talking to the media. He apologized the next day, but that kind of behavior, in New York especially, is like throwing live bait into a shark tank. Fans allowed Wells to get away with it because at least there was a track record of success with the Yankees: a perfect game, World Series titles, etc. Soriano had one strong setup outing for Mariano Rivera to that point.
Perhaps he got squeezed a bit on the calling of balls and strikes. Some umps will do that. Own up to the fact that you didn’t make the pitches, be accountable and man up. Talking to the media is part of a professional athlete’s job, same as going down to the clubhouse to speak to players and coaches after the game is part of a reporter’s job. Soriano placed more of a focus on himself and extended the news cycle for really, two more days, due to Wednesday’s rainout. Until he proves otherwise, questions abound whether he’ll ditch the media again after another implosion in the future.
It’s right for reporters and columnists to draw that conclusion. Soriano brought it on himself.
IN OTHER NEWS…
* Congratulations to friend of the Banter Larry Koestler, whose insightful post at YankeeAnalysts on Phil Hughes’ cutter landed him a guest spot on ESPN.com’s SweetSpot podcast, with Eric Karabell and Keith Law.
Let’s see what happens with that pitch against the winless Red Sox.
* Mark Teixeira is a 3-run homer machine.
* Strange-but-true stat: AJ Burnett is 7-0 in April since becoming a Yankee. Not that that means much, considering he was winless in both June and August last year. Just an interesting nugget. Thursday’s win put him over .500 (25-24) as a Yankee.
* The rainout pushed Freddy Garcia’s season debut to Friday, April 15.
* In case you missed it, Derek Jeter passed Rogers Hornsby on the all-time hit list and is now 69 hits from 3,000.
A.J. Burnett, the man with the golden arm, makes his second start of the year this afternoon.
Grandy gets the day off:
1. Jeter SS
2. Swisher RF
3. Texeira 1B
4. Rodriguez 3B
5. Cano 2B
6. Posada DH
7. Jones LF
8. Martin C
9. Gardner CF
Never mind the preamble, Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Enduring Wanderlust]
I saw a young woman crying on the subway platform today. From fifty feet away I could tell–her head was bowed, her hands covered her face. As I moved closer, she came into focus and yes, she was crying, the corners of her mouth turned down. My first instinct was to offer her comfort. That was quickly replaced by another thought–Who do you think you are, bro? What are you going to do? It’s none of your business.
Why was she crying? Did someone die, did she get into a fight with her boyfriend? I wondered as I walked past her and said nothing.
[Photo Credit: Le Xuan-Cung]
Tonight’s game has been postponed.
[Picture by Bags]
Dig what I came across in Midtown yesterday…
Although this is a 2009 vintage I officially nominate this vehicle as the 2011 Bronx Banter Scoretruck. Can I get a witness?
Fresh direct from the Lo Hud Yankees oven comes news that Rafael Soriano is sorry that he split without talking to reporters last night.
Here’s tonight’s line-up:
1. Gardner LF
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. Rodriguez DH
5. Cano 2B
6. Swisher RF
7. Chavez 3B
8. Nunez SS
9. Molina C
Garcia P
Forget the chumps–or that Chump, in particular–here comes Fab Five Freddy and
Let’s go Yan-Kees!
Here’s Gelf Magazine’s interview with George Kimball:
Gelf Magazine: Boxing continues to enjoy cinematic minting—latest in The Fighter—even as it loses luster as an American spectacle, or as the career of choice for young and hungry athletes. How do you explain this dichotomy?
George Kimball: Don’t even get me started on The Fighter. I covered pretty much Micky Ward’s entire career. I’d have been much more comfortable with the film if they’d just changed the names and presented it as a work of fiction. There are so many things in the movie that didn’t happen, or at least didn’t happen the way they claimed they happened, and so many actual aspects of Micky’s career—the three Gatti fights, for instance—that did happen but aren’t in the movie that it was fraudulent, in my view. It was at the very least bad history. Claiming it was a true story, or even “based on a true story,” is ridiculous. The worst part of it is that most moviegoers now think Micky actually did win a world title—the welterweight title, yet—in the Shea Neary fight. To me, the most salient aspect of Ward’s career was the fact that he is so universally respected as a blue-collar, blood-and-guts fighter despite the fact that he lost the only world-title fight he was ever in.
Kimball and Thomas Hauser will be speaking at Varsity Letters tomorrow night in the Village.
Ever feel lonely in the big city? I constantly talk to strangers, or communicate with them through eye contact or a head nod. My family is here. I’m out there in the world. But sometimes the loneliness is impossible to escape and it will creep up on you, even briefly, when you least expect it.
Old kicks on the wall at a running store…
Here’s more Albert, with his real life brother:
Yours truly is the “Listener of the Week” on the Baseball Prospectus “Up and In” podcast. I get to talk about the world of competitive tournament Scrabble.
If you don’t feel like listening to the entire podcast (Itunes link), just forward to the 1:09:36 mark.
Enjoy!
Some baseball fans, like my buddy Joe Sheehan, are not interested in the private lives of the players. Joe doesn’t care a whit what goes on in the clubhouse. He cares about the performance on the field, period.
Now, the beat writers and columnists might not care about a player’s personal life either but if a player makes their job difficult, well, it will become a story. Last night, Rafael Soriano pitched poorly, helped cost the team a win, and then did not talk to reporters after the game, leaving his teammates to do the talking for him. This kind of behavior does not sit well with the press (and perhaps it doesn’t sit well with his teammates). If it continues, Soriano will eventually blame the writers for creating a story, and they, in turn, will shake their heads and say, “You made your bed, dude.”
For a guy like Joe Sheehan this is all distraction, a lot of noise signifying nothing. How will Soriano pitch in his next outing? That’s what counts.
We’ll be watching.
Before I got off the subway in the Bronx tonight, I checked the MLB app on my phone and was pleased to see the score: Yanks 4, Twins 0. Mark Teixeira with another dinger, again of the three run variety. Andruw Jones with a solo shot–Hey, Now.
I ran for the bus on 231st Street and put on the John Sterling radio call once I got on board. Ol’ Silver Throat usually annoys me but tonight I was comforted by the sound of his voice. In the early innings of an April game, with the Yanks ahead and C.C. Sabathia on the mound, Sterling was unhurried, almost sedate and entirely pleasant.
Now, if you stand too close to the back door of a New York City bus an automated voice comes over the loud speaker and says, “Please step away from the rear door.” A man wearing earplugs was too close to the door and the message repeated. This didn’t bother him any on the count of the earplugs. I focused on Sterling’s patter when I heard a vendor in the distance on the radio broadcast. A thick Bronx accent barked, “Hot dogs…hot dogs…hot dogs.” You know the tone–imploring and insistent.
So the music in my ears went from electronic to authentic: “Please step away from the rear door,” “Hot Dogs,” Please Step away from the rear door,” “Hot Dogs.” The rhythm made me happy and I remembered an old Simpsons episode: “Dental plan,” Lisa needs braces,” Dental plan,” “Lisa needs braces.”
I got home and watched the rest of the game. Sabathia was visibly frustrated with himself but he sailed through the Twins lineup anyhow, retiring the last 17 batters he faced.
So it was a mild surprise to see Rafael Soriano come out to pitch the eighth and disconcerting when he walked two of the first three men he faced (and the comments section here at the Banter lit up like a suicide hotline in Detroit). Denard Span slapped a single to left and the bases were loaded. But Tsuyoshi Nishioka, a slender guy, struck out on three pitches, and waved his hand at the umpire. Enter Joe Mauer, and restlessness at the Stadium. Soriano walked him on five pitches and his night was over.
Derek Jeter doesn’t need us to worry about him. He’s doing just fine. And he’s been playing under near-psychotic levels of scrutiny for most of his career. But whereas for the last 15 or so years everyone’s been staring at him waiting for him to do something amazing… now people are staring at him and waiting for him to do poorly. Not necessarily wanting it, but expecting it, because he’s at that age and because we’ve all seen how this goes with superstar athletes. I can’t imagine it’s easy trying to do your job while millions of people are watching and waiting for missteps, but then Jeter wouldn’t be who he is if wasn’t able to block that out.
The specific article that got me thinking about this was Ian O’Connor’s for ESPN New York, where asks Jeter about his much-hyped new swing. The quote that caught people’s attention:
In that context, Jeter’s first 14 at bats are worthy of serious scrutiny, even from the captain himself. On his way into work Monday, unhappy over his early parade of ground balls, Jeter told himself he was through fretting over the changes hitting coach Kevin Long made in his footwork, reducing his front-foot stride to no stride at all.
“I just said the heck with it,” Jeter said. “I wasn’t going to think about it. … Before you’re trying to think about where your foot is and you’re trying not to move it, and it’s just too much to think about. So today I tried not to.”
That got re-reported and sent around as “Jeter gives up on new stride already,” but I don’t know that he meant that – I thought he was just saying he was trying to stop thinking about it, but that he would keep doing it. (That was always my strategy in beer pong. Don’t think, you’ll only hurt the ball club!). Anyway, we’ll find out tonight if the weather holds – and in any case Jeter’s batting stride is not the most important issue facing America right now, or even the Yankees. Derek Jeter doesn’t need anyone’s sympathy, but between the whole 3,000 hit drama and everyone staring at his every movement to see if he still “has it,” I do think it could be a tough season for the captain.
The great Mariano.
Notice the socks?
And the Mike Mussina-like dip?
And the fierceness?
A close call doesn’t go his way.
Really, Blue?
Don’t you know who I am?
The Great Rivera–In Living Color?
Then Alex Rodriguez makes a nice play.
And the game is over.
Another save for Mo. And once again, we are ever grateful.
Tonight’s game was very close, but lacked tension. Ah, April: The crispness of October without the dread. The Yankees jumped out to a four run lead and the Twins chipped away until the margin was a single run. The Yankees tried to pad the lead, but the Twins defied them with defense. Victory settled in the hands of the bullpen and Chamberlain, Soriano and Rivera escorted it home. Yankees 4, Twins 3.
Ivan Nova, in only eight Major League starts, has somehow developed a “typical” pattern. He excels early, spinning zeroes with ease and then he folds quickly and neatly in the middle allowing runs in bunches. We don’t know what might happen in the final third, because he’s never made it there. He’s a play in two acts so far, but the Bronx ain’t Broadway, and three runs in six innings will work just fine most of the time here. He controlled a mix of pitches and speeds and got grounders. He did a little dance when he whiffed Thome to end his night. He earned the win and maybe the dance, too.
He handed the one-run lead to the bullpen in the seventh and they were very good again. If you name something, does it give it power? Well Michael Kay sets forth to test the hypothesis with JoSoMo. It types as dumb as it sounds. I hope I’m never called upon to say it out loud. But the limited results are good for Kay and his monstrous creation. They’re blowing people away. I even watched Mariano’s inning live, with only a faintly quickened pulse. Ah April indeed.
Homers by Arod and Posada stood tall and I thought the Yankees were primed for a breakthrough a number of times. Most notably, Brett Gardner made a strong bid to extend the lead with a two-out slash down the left field line. Gardner might be living down that line too often however, because Delmon Young had set up base camp there and made a sliding catch to rob him, save two runs, and keep it close.
The early season is all about falling into familiar patterns and finding your way back to the game. And what better way to do that than to beat the Twins?
Artwork By 1coyote designs
The sky is clear now but it’s supposed to get wet later. Hopefully, they get the game in without incident. Ivan Nova goes for our Bombers.
You know the drill:
Let’s Go Yan-kees!
[Photo Credit: Sion Fullana]
George Kimball and Thomas Hauser headline this week’s Varsity Letters speaking series, brought to you by the good people at Gelf Magazine. If you are around on Thursday night, do yourself a favor and fall through, you are sure to be entertained and learn a thing or three. I’ll be there for sure.
Here is a recent interview with Kimball discussing “At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing”:
Arts Fuse: A. J. Liebling is generally considered by critics to be the best American writer on boxing. If he is at the top, who are the runners-up and why?
Kimball: Not Mailer and not Hemingway, although they’d probably think they were. Just off the top of my head, the worthy contenders would include Budd Schulberg and W.C. Heinz for certain, but also Mark Kram and Pat Putnam from SI, Ralph Wiley, all of whom really understood the sport in addition to being wonderful writers.
AF: There are some really rare finds here — for example, pieces by Richard Wright and Sherwood Anderson on Joe Louis. How difficult was the research for the anthology? What are some of your favorite pieces?
Kimball: I wouldn’t describe the research as “difficult,” because it was such a pleasure. We probably read a half-dozen really good pieces for every one that wound up in the anthology. We read some pretty awful ones, too, mostly when we’d been touted by someone who should have known better.
…I’ve been asked that question by several people over the past couple of months and usually manage to duck it by saying “Which of your children is your favorite?” But I will say that John Lardner’s masterpiece on Stanley Ketchel, “Down Great Purple Valleys,” is sort of the cornerstone of the whole book. With all the other changes we went through in compiling At the Fights, that was the one, indispensable story if only because it so exemplified what we wanted to do with the rest of the book –- and that was setting the bar pretty high.
Man, Ralph Wiley is overlooked these days, isn’t he? And since George mentioned “Down Great Purple Valleys,” here again, is one of the greatest openings in the history of American journalism:
“Stanley Ketchel was twenty-four years old when he was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast.”
