ghost of miles

I was not happy about the Lance Berkman acquisition and his performance so far hasn't done anything to change that opinion--hopefully he'll prove me wrong. If Javy's got dead arm (and his velocity has indeed been way down in recent outings), what does that mean going forward for the rest of the season? I don't know enough about dead arm to say, but my impression has always been that it's often a season-ender. I guess that would settle the playoff rotation question, but with Pettitte not due back for another two weeks and Hughes supposedly on an innings leash... not a good situation at all for the NY rotation. EDIT: this ESPN article seems to show the Yankees as downplaying the significance of the problem for Javy, but it still concerns me.

Got mine today, planning to listen tomorrow (I'm currently listening again to all of the Hep Thornhill releases, as I'm introducing a Thornhill tribute tonight in Terre Haute). BTW, Hep now has a Facebook page.

Oddly enough, the bullpen has been excellent for the past week--but the starters haven't been too hot, and the offense continues to be sporadic at best. I'll restrain myself from a Dan-style rant, but tonight's loss is yet another reason why I refuse to write off the Red Sox, and why I continue to wonder if we'll even make it out of the first round of the playoffs--assuming we get there. This year's team gives off occasional sparks, like the win against the Dodgers and the comeback the night of the Steinbrenner tribute, but in general, there's just something missing. Look at the Red Sox, the team of the walking wounded, and somehow they just keep on winning, no matter what happens to them. New York had a hot streak on that West Coast tour before the All-Star break, but other than beating up on Cleveland, we've been flat and sluggish ever since. The solitary wins in the Tampa Bay and Toronto series seemed like aberrations, and if we end up dropping 3 of 4 to the Bosox (or worse!) at home, we'll be in serious trouble. Fortunately TB lost tonight, but a rather pathetic start for the Yanks in a key match-up. EDIT: meant to add that yes, Javy wasn't very good tonight, but that error by Cervelli sure made things much, much worse in the second inning. Also, on the spark/heart topic or whatever you choose to call it, I'd be curious to see NY's come-from-behind record this year vs. last year's. Anecdotally, it seems to me we're not doing it nearly as much this year... we get behind and that's it, game over.

My sympathies are with Maddon and you, Papsrus. (And that catwalk giveth and it taketh away.) Dave James, I'm beginning to dread two-run homers by NY that give them the lead in the first. I think tonight's the fifth time it's happened in the past week, and NY is 1-3 in those games so far--and on their way to losing this one. Plus the Bosox again have Javy's number at Yankee Stadium.

Via Japan, one helluva catch.

#600, at last! Right into Monument Park in center field... A-Rod hits #600 Kay, Sterling calls So great that Jeter was on base when he hit it and was there to greet him at home plate--the renewal of their friendship this year has been a really nice thing to see.

All the best to one of the best! Thanks for being here, Lon--in general.

He'll be hit hard for that in Kangaroo Court. Paprus, I know it's just a bad stretch for NY right now and all, but I'm thinking your younger & highly talented Rays are going to outlast the aging Yanks this time around. I'd love to see the Core 4 get a WS repeat for a nice bookend on their careers before they really wear down, but the process might be too far along already.

Dave James: looks like we're on our way to another loss--which will mark the third time since Friday night that we jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a first inning home run and then proceeded to lose through great displays of suckitude. Tampa Bay's up by 3, so I think we can kiss first-place goodbye. Outside of Tex/Swish/Cano, we're looking old & tired right now. EDIT: now 8-2, we're done for the night. Fourth loss in the last five games--pathetic!

The NPR segment is now posted for online listening: Lee Konitz: Still Something New, 60 Years Later

Just wanted to give a heads-up--heard a plug for it a few minutes ago. Ironically enough, we're re-airing Lee Konitz: the Verve Years this week on Night Lights.

We re-aired The Horace Silver Songbook this past week; it remains archived for online listening.

Patrick, Paul Hoynes' tweets much more positive:

Matthew--may I offer you, my good friend and foe of all things Yankee and A-Rod-related, this grudging concession: Mr. Rodriguez is rather stinking up the joint of late with his #599 impasse. NY and Tampa Bay now tied for first in the AL East.

Pete Abraham's tweet doesn't sound good: Hopefully for the Tribe that's an incorrect speculation.

BFB, if nobody else has answered you by tomorrow, I'll take a look at my copy when I get to the office and let you know.

Crap, Patrick and Skeith, very sorry about Santana--just saw the news on the NY Times baseball Twitter feed.

Final tally against AJ tonight was 8 ER--Joe left him in there way, way too long. I was hoping he'd pull AJ after the first home run and the walk that followed--seemed clear another classic AJ meltdown was on the way.

It has been the year for goofy injuries--Morales breaking his leg when he jumped onto homeplate after his walkoff HR, Chris Coghlan tearing his knee while he was pieing Wes Helms, and now this incident with Balfour. Bizarre.

Wellll, GOLLLLEEEEEE!!!!! WaPo's paean to Bloomington

Wasn't able to see it--planning to catch the rerun this evening at midnight.

...and just got a heads-up from a friend that there will soon be a Criterion blu-ray edition of the film itself.

James Naremore's book is now out as part of the BFI Film Classics series: Sweet Smell of Success

I miss The Mule (the poster).

Another reason that today's game matters--it's looking very likely that the wild-card team will be from the AL East. As Dan has pointed out, the wild-card team will likely face Texas and Cliff Lee twice without home-field advantage in the first round of the AL postseason. If New York and Tampa Bay end up tied after 162 games, the first tiebreaker will be their series record against each other--a category in which TB now leads, 6-5. TB also has a good head of steam on category two, intradivision record: they are 27-14 after today, while NY is 23-14, four behind in the wins column. And again, I'm not counting Boston out by any means. Not only are they not 10 games or more back as of August 1, they're only 6.5 back, with lots of opportunities to gain ground coming up in the final two months against both TB and NY.