ghost of miles

Lots of interesting discussion among Indians fans here regarding Cleveland's rotation and roster choices for the ALDS: Let's Go Tribe thread comments And here: Indians set ALDS roster, Trevor Bauer to start Game 1 I think a lot of factors favor Cleveland here, especially the home-field advantage; the Yankees were a much better team at Yankee Stadium this year, and Tanaka in particular was bad on the road. (Though Severino was actually better on the road, but I just can't see him getting the call for Game 2, even having thrown only 29 pitches last night... I have to think it'll be some combination of Tanaka and Gray.)

The stadium was rocking last night! Patrick: I also read that Kluber's starting game 2 so as to be on regular rest? No announcement yet of the Yankees' rotation. Tanaka, Gray and CC for the first three games, perhaps? Then Sevy for a possible game 4, and Tanaka again for a possible game 5?

Rationale being that they'll have Kluber for a Game 5 if necessary? Wow, that game last night... the first inning alone! Incredible 26-out performance from the Yankee bullpen. Great to see guys like Judge, Bird and Sanchez getting their first playoff game under their belt, along with huge contributions from veterans Gardner and D-Rob. Twins are young, didn't even have Sano last night, and are going to be burning to beat us in the future after all of the media focus on their record against NY in recent years. Cleveland the obvious favorite in the ALDS, but I hope the Yanks at least make a fight of it. October baseball... God, I love it!

We re-aired this program last week, and it remains archived for online listening: 1963: A Man's Dream, A Nation's Nightmare

Great album, just went back and revisited it about a month ago.

Wow, my thanks as well for the heads-up on this. I have the old Cherry Red CD that combined both albums but will definitely get this reissue. Marc Myers wrote about this movie recently, also prompted by the reissue; here's his blog post, and here's the Night Lights show I did a few years ago that included interviews with James Naremore (film scholar who wrote the British Film Institute volume for Sweet Smell Of Success) and Phil Ford: Sweet Smell Of Success: Jazz Meets Showbiz Noir

This one's for you, Dan Gould: ☺️ Last night's Red Sox outfield victory dance

Up and still archived: Swingers: Hugh Hefner, Playboy Magazine, And Jazz

Yankees staging fake dugout press conferences

Hilarious dugout antics from the Yankees tonight, accosting home-run-hitting teammates with "YES2" mock press conferences as they return from rounding the bases: Starlin Castro HR Greg Bird home run Aaron Hicks home run A fun young team to watch for sure. Hoping Severino's as strong against the Twins next Tuesday as he was tonight against the Rays.

Very good notes by Dan Morgenstern for that set.

Aaron Hicks returned from the DL last night with this spectacular play: Hicks robs Ramos of grand-slam

Patty Farmer was on a Night Lights show last year, talking about her book and this topic--you can still hear the show here: Swingers: Hugh Hefner, Playboy Magazine, And Jazz

Some good potential reasons for the power surge delineated here: Why MLB players are hitting home runs at a record pace Here are couple of them--the emergence of Statcast is particularly interesting to me: Ready for launch: The emergence of MLB’s Statcast system has provided players a tool to assess what kind of drives are less likely to get caught, and as a result hitters have increasingly tailored their swings to get more loft and beat defensive shifts. Knowledge of exit velocity and launch angle has become an element of many hitters’ approach at the plate. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor, for example, added a leg kick in the offseason and focused on driving the ball instead of hitting it on the ground. After producing a total of one home run in 120 games over parts of three seasons before 2017, Taylor has banged out 20 this year, although it’s worth noting he has played more regularly (130 games) than ever before. Taylor is one of 108 players who went into Tuesday’s action with at least 20 homers, three shy of the big-league record set in 2016. The previous year there were only 64. Strikeouts, schmrikeouts: A new emphasis on “doing damage’’ at the plate has been facilitated by the virtual disappearance of the stigma once attached to strikeouts, which many hitters now regard as no different than making an out any other way. That’s partly in response to the proliferation of overpowering pitchers — the average four-seam fastball now tops 93 mph — but also as a way to counter their dominance. In other words, batters will accept more whiffs in exchange for reaching the fences with greater frequency. The average number of strikeouts per team per game has climbed every season since 2005, from 6.3 to the current 8.25. There are no indications the trend will reverse.

Well, his passed-ball defense could certainly use some work! But yeah, SO glad we didn't give him up for Chris Sale (outstanding as Sale is) or anybody else. Another rundown on Judge's record-breaking rookie season: Aaron Judge's record-breaking year This passage in particular jumped out at me: • At the completion of Monday's game, Judge owns a .620 slugging percentage and a .418 on-base percentage with 124 runs scored and 120 walks to go along with his 50 round-trippers. The only players to hit all those numbers over a full season in the history of modern baseball are Ruth (four times), Foxx and Hank Greenberg in 1938, Mantle in 1961, McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001. That's some damned impressive company!

Gary Sanchez has been having a fantastic season at the plate as well--hit his 33rd HR today, and that with having missed a month of the season due to an injury. In fact, his combined stats for this year and last are quite similar to Judge's: Sanchez: 171 games/737 PA/53 HR/131 RBI/.284 BA Judge: 177 games/751 PA/ 54 HR/115 RBI/.268 BA Also saw a comment today that Sanchez/Judge's 83 HR so far this season is the most by a duo of Yankee teammates since Maris and Mantle in 1961.

Hot streak delivered! Gawd almighty, dude's having a Ruthian September.

My favorite meme from the season: Yankees celebrating Saturday after clinching a wild-card spot. This year's team has been so much fun to follow:

Oh yeah, completely agree, and his performance for a player in his 30s really hasn't been bad at all, historically speaking.

Glad you enjoyed it, HP! That Stuart Nicholson book that I linked to in the bottom of the post has a lot of good information about said era.

Standard decline for an aging, presumably non-juicing player? Here are his lifetime stats by age and season: Albert Pujols career stats I don't have any statistical insight into how his switch from St. Louis to the Angels might have made any difference, though presumably being able to frequently DH as an American League player has enhanced his ability to mitigate defensive decline, not having to deal with the wear and tear of everyday defensive play. I think in general it's a very bad idea (and this sure ain't rocket science) to give a lengthy and massive contract to a 32-year-old player, a la Pujols and Arod. As good a player as Robinson Cano is, I completely understood the Yankees' not wanting to offer him more than seven years for a contract that would have begun when he was 31. Cano has done well at Seattle, but Starlin Castro's been pretty effective these past two seasons, while taking much less of a toll on the Yankees' payroll.

From the NY Times account of last night's game: Judge finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored and six R.B.I., a new career high. It extended Judge’s dominance of the Orioles this season — his 11 home runs against them are the most by any player against any opponent in 2017. In 16 games against Baltimore, Judge has hit .472 with 27 runs scored and 24 R.B.I. Buck Showalter might be better off just issuing Judge an IBB every time up. Judge also became the first Yankee to pick up 110+ runs and 110+ walks in a single season since Mickey Mantle in 1961. (Of course, he strikes out as much if not more than the Mick did too.) Catching McGwire's rookie HR record a long-shot at this point, but I suppose he could still do it with a hot streak here at the end... 16 games left.

Some late-1970s BR big-band music (including Barry Kiener on piano) on this 2015 release, from tapes made by Alan Gauvin when he was in the band: Birdland