ghost of miles

Skeith and Patrick, how about the Tribe's hidden ace? Andy Marte sets down the Yanks 1-2-3 Full clip of Marte K'ing Nick Swisher: Swisher K's against Marte That 9th inning was a gasser in general. Out of backup infielders, the Yanks put Marcus Thames at third base, resulting in the following hijinks: Thames at third base Not a bad stop, but that throw!

Thanks for posting that, Matthew--interesting article. I was amused by this passage: I think A-Rod's persona change is half-PR and half-genuine (I think he really has finally become a team player and found a real camaraderie with the Yankees, just in the past year and a half), but it's true that he's pretty sanded down these days. OTOH I can't stand the NBA or the NFL much these days precisely for the kind of personality atmosphere that this guy describes. Poignant image at the end about throwing a ball against a wall and pretending to be Freddie Lynn in 1975... I did almost exactly the same thing that year.

In the meantime, the Rangers picked up Jorge Cantu from the Marlins, continuing to improve the team they're fielding. Not looking forward to possibly running into them in the playoffs.

Strained back for Talbot. NYY get 7 innings (or more) against the Tribe bullpen. Yep, Tribe's now on their fifth pitcher, but the Yanks have managed only two runs total so far. John Sterling's gone into his home-run call at least three times so far for balls that ended up either landing foul or getting caught. EDIT: well, they did finally get to Cleveland's bullpen... after Tex and A-Rod's outs to start off the inning, the Yanks have scored 5 runs with two out and still have runners on first and third. Santana just took some kind of hard dinger off his body, but he's staying in the game. EDIT 2: man, that was the inning that wouldn't end--Yanks ended up scoring 7 and stranding two, all with two outs.

The Indians' Talbot leaving the game after 2 IP--Yanks didn't knock him out, there's something wrong, evidently.

Well Dave, since I am an exiled Clevelander stuck in the belly of the beast - I have to listen to what the Yankees announcers say and they said the Yankees were having an off night, of course it couldn't possibly be that Josh Tomlin did one hell of a job last night. Love it when David beats Goliath. Go Tribe. Skeith, all credit to Josh Tomlin for an excellent performance against the Yanks--and here's something interesting: the NY Times' Sean Forman did some statistical digging and discovered that the Yankees really do do worse against new pitchers than other MLB teams... over the past 10 years, anyway, a period in which NY has been the best-scoring team in baseball. Weird.

This weekend's Yanks-Rays series is going to be a good one, Papsrus--both of our teams playing well, though you've been beating up on better competition this week. I'm glad NY's going to miss Price and Niemann this time around... we'll have Hughes (who's continuing to struggle), Javy (who's continuing to throw well), and CC (who's been a bit rocky in his last couple of starts) against Davis, Garza, and Shields. (Though a glance at TB's "last three starts" stats shows they're all in good grooves right now--so maybe we're not so lucky to miss Price and Niemann after all.) Looks like you guys won again today, so I hope we can knock off the Indians again and maintain the two-game lead going into the series--we may well need it!

Oh, yeah yeah, I read that guy on Miles and Merton too... J.H., looks like the Oswalt trade is going through. I agree that it seems bizarre to have given up Lee and then gone for Oswalt, but in the short run, it does give you guys a really good season/playoff rotation.

Jscape2000 at Pinstripe Alley thinks Boston's still very much in the hunt in the AL East--and it looks to me like they will easily be less than 10 games behind going into August (right now they're 7 back of NY, 5 back of Tampa Bay):

Then there's always the endless-loop "What thread are you posting in right now?" thread.

And then tonight they turn around and absolutely destroy Carmona, chasing him after 2 2/3 IP with 10 hits and 7 earned runs.

Allen, it's nearly lunchtime--I'll give you a nice review for a really good sammich.

Wow. You think you can be too cynical--but I guess you can't.

Posted this in the dream-pop thread last night and still can't get it out of my head today: Lush, "De Luxe"

We re-aired Fab Four Jazz: the Beatles and Jazz in the 1960s this past week on Night Lights. It remains archived for online listening.

A shoegaze/dreampop band I was really into circa 1990 and went on a mad kick for again tonight, pulling up old video clips on YouTube--Lush: De Luxe If you can find GALA at a reasonable price, well worth picking up--it gathers their early EPs. Not as familiar with the later material, though what I've heard of it doesn't strike me the same way the GALA sides do.

Good win for NY tonight, in spite of two bad calls that turned an A-Rod hit into a double-play and a Granderson double into an out. Dave James, did you notice the apparent new 8th-inning bridge of D-Rob and Logan? Have to say I was relieved that Girardi didn't bring in Joba after Javy gave up that walk to start the 8th. And man oh man, what got into the Twins against the Royals tonight? Joe Mauer in particular.

Me too. I thought it was a great episode; going to be a very interesting season! Anybody else sense some foreshadowing with the reporter having lost his leg in Korea and Don's watching the ad with the kid acting as if he's in prison? I don't think Don's early-1950s switcheroo is completely behind him. (And yes, the obvious implication of the ad is that Don remains in a prison of his self/past...but I wonder if he'll eventually run into some kind of legal problems stemming from what he did in Korea. In that sense you could also interpret "Who is Don Draper?" as having a prosecutorial tinge to it as well.)

Congrats to Matt Garza of the Rays for the one-walk no-hitter he hurled tonight--MLB's fifth no-hitter of the season so far. At that pace the modern 1990-1991 record will fall.

A few of the usual suspects, but still a step in the right direction from earlier this summer: Undead Jazzfest Jsngry's remark is pretty apt, as usual. I do think there's some value in hearing repertory music live--for all of the raps against the LCJO, I've heard them and it does at least give you a sense of what a hard-swinging vintage-era big band must have sounded like in concert. For those of us born too late to have caught Duke or Basie or Woody, it's a good thing. But you've got to hope that there's more to the future of jazz then that (however we may choose to define "jazz," which might prove to be the crux of the matter).

I came in on the part where Don's getting chewed out by everybody else for the way his media interview came across. Can't wait to see the first half in another 30 minutes or so...

Ducal and 40's small-group swing combo fans: seek out THE FABULOUS ELLINGTONIANS. You won't be disappointed.

Anybody else see the Season 4 premiere tonight? I caught only the last 20 minutes or so--didn't want to try to horn in on my wife's watching the conclusion of the Masterpiece Mystery Poirot episode on PBS. The only two shows that either of us make a date for, and they intersect! So I'm staying up to watch the MM rerun at 11:56.

Yeah, they pulled Bard after he gave up a single to start the 8th, and Okajima proceeded to give up 5 hits in a row. (Two of them bunt singles, I think.) Crazy turnaround...Boston batting now in the top of the 9th. EDIT: yikes, just watched the highlight of Bradley's RBI squeeze, and Okajima ran in front of Youk and basically wiped out any chance Youk had of either nailing the runner at home or at least getting Bradley at first.

Report: Haren to the Angels.