ghost of miles

That sure turned out to be a great series for the Yankees, taking three of four from Houston on the road. The first game and nearly all of the second seemed like more of the same from last year’s ALCS (completely hamstrung at Minute Maid Park), but they showed some rapid maturation in pulling out those three wins. I’m still concerned about how well the rotation holds up across the course of the season, and there are other issues (is Brett Gardner finally wearing out? He’s already hitting as badly as he tends to hit in the last two months of the year, and he’s not walking much either—his OBP is terrible for a leadoff hitter). But Gleyber Torres is already a joy to watch, not to mention Luis Severino. Overall it’s a much brighter picture than it was only two weeks ago. Anybody here a Diamondbacks fan? Are they for real? I don’t pay as much attention to the NL as I should... and speaking of the NL, I miss Matthew and his running commentary on all things Dodgers.

I'm not convinced that Cole would have pitched as well for NY as he is for the Astros so far. Houston seems to have a knack for improving the performances of the pitchers they acquire; with NY they often seem to underperform (Sonny Gray being the most recent example). How much of that is attributable to the pressure of playing in NY, Houston's overall program, or other factors, I don't know, but I understand Cashman's not wanting to give up Andujar and/or Torres for Cole. Hopefully we can muddle through with Domingo German, who did an excellent job against Houston the other night, but who's unproven as an MLB starter. I don't think there's anybody else in the pipeline who's ready to come up--not Sheffield yet, and Chance Adams is struggling in triple-A right now.

Wow, well, a 180-degree turnaround tonight from Stanton for sure! All four of NY’s RBIs and he became the first Yankee to hit a HR off Dallas Keuchel. And what a knockout performance from Luis Severino, notching his first-ever complete game and shutout. So heartening to see NY earn at least a split of this series (and be at 5-1 for this road trip overall so far), plus they didn’t have to go to their bullpen tonight after last night’s all-hands-on-deck emergency. Montgomery’s out for 6-8 weeks but hopefully Domingo German can be an adequate fill-in for the fifth-starter spot. Hats off to Mookie Betts of Boston, btw. His second 3-HR game of the season, and it’s only May 2. Also, will the Dodgers attempt a Manny Machado rental trade, now that Seager’s out for the year? Surely Baltimore will try to deal him, given their performance so far and his walk-year status.

Yeah, going into tonight’s game Houston’s team ERA was almost a whole run better than the second-best team’s (Boston). They are ridiculously strong, like the 1970-71 Orioles or some such. Amazing win by the Yankees tonight, with Domingo German in the emergency long-relief role and the rest of the pen coming through, including even Betances, who may finally be finding his groove. And the Yankees’ offense this past week has pretty much consisted of Gary Sanchez hitting late-inning home runs and not much else. Stanton should look at changing his approach—his swings and follow-through look horrible right now. Anyway, nice to win in Houston for a change.

If Ken doesn't have it, I do.

Jordan Montgomery retires the side on seven pitches in the first inning and then leaves with an injury.

Wow indeed! I just pre-ordered it, bundling it with the new Michael Chabon book that’s coming out around the same time in order to get free shipping. Medjuck, yes, I do have that single Storyville official release.

Me too. I have a set of four CD-Rs another Ellington fan sent to me years ago that is all Hurricane broadcasts (I think it was drawn from a bootleg LP set), but I have yet to sit down and determine how much of it also shows up on the various Treasury releases. Once I sort that out, I may try to put everything that I have in chronological order on a series of discs. I wouldn't be surprised if Storyville eventually pulls all of this material together, though, into a "Duke Live 3" box or some such.

Yeah, obviously Verlander has an incredible track record, but last year at mid-season he was a 34-year-old pitcher with a 4.96 ERA and definitely seemed to be in decline. Now this article says he had begun to turn things around with a mechanical tweak just before the trade and argues that perhaps too much credit has been given to Strom and the Houston organization, but there’s no doubt that he’s been a much better pitcher with the Astros so far then he was with Detroit in 2017: How Verlander went from untradeable to postseason hero

Yes, me too! I still hope that some day we’ll see a nicely-done box-set of all of the 1943-44 Hurricane material pulled together.

Yes, thanks as well. Verlander certainly helped Houston over the top last year, and Gerrit Cole makes their rotation that much stronger. One key element seems to be the Astros’ pitching coach, Brent Strom. If you look at Verlander, Morton, and Cole’s stats prior to and since joining Houston, they’ve all improved. Hopefully NY can take one of the next three games; I can’t remember the last time they beat the Astros on the road.

Sixth game in a row at Minute Maid Park (counting last year's ALCS) in which the Yankees have scored one or zero runs. They've got to either start hitting better against Houston on the road or end up with the AL's best record if they want to have any hope in the postseason, since they can't seem to beat the Astros in an away game.

Yankees being no-hit by Charlie Morton through five and look completely overmatched against the Astros. What is Morton, Houston's #4 or #5 starter? Another guy who's only improved as a pitcher since coming under the wing of Brent Strom. Their rotation is killer. Sonny Gray looking somewhat better tonight but still struggling.

The end is near--V. 25 now listed on the Storyville site: D.E.T.S. Volume 25

If you're in NYC, I definitely recommend checking out three of their exhibitions right now--I took these in on Saturday (and then went for a nice long walk on the High Line, which is located right next to the Whitney): Grant Wood: American Gothic And Other Fables Zoe Leonard: Survey An Incomplete History Of Protest

ESPN's MLB power rankings after one month of baseball: 1. Boston Red Sox 2. Houston Astros 3. Arizona Diamondbacks 4. New York Yankees 5. Los Angeles Angels Full ESPN MLB power rankings, week 4

It was fantastic! I really enjoyed seeing Lew Tabackin’s first set at Smalls last night as well. Chatted with him briefly afterwards and bought a couple of his CDs.

This post bears a timestamp roughly equivalent to the immediate aftermath of Gary Sanchez’s walkoff HR against the Twins that afternoon. 😛 Pleasantly surprised that NY has closed the gap with Boston so quickly. My concerns about the rotation remain, however. What happens when NY runs into a team with the starters to shut them down? (i.e. Houston or Boston) The offense is definitely looking stellar, though, and Gleyber Torres is living up to the hype so far.

Playing in the fog last night at Yankee Stadium:

JALC playing Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige plus Basie this Friday night, then possibly J.D. Allen at Smalls afterwards.

Didi Gregorius has a new dancing partner!

I’ve played that new Renee Rosnes on our afternoon show several times. Right now: