Wasting Time To Get It Right

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to do my NL and AL preview this year, and honestly, I haven't a clue. What I do have is a quick little post on my thoughts about the Yankees. I'll do this for the infield, outfield, bullpen, bench and starting staff. Today we'll start with the infield. One of the best parts of the Yankees I feel comfortable with.


Before I get on with that, I just want to share my though†s on a few current affairs. First of all, Eliot Spitzer. Wow! What the hell were you thinking. Seriously, couldn't you have had å mistress. It would have been expensive, sure, but voters are more likely to pass off allegations of a mistress over a prostitution ring scandal. Man, and the looks from his wife during that speech. Whoa, cold as ice.

Why is Billy Crystal getting to play with the Yankees for a day. Sure he's sixty and a mega-movie and comedy star. But seriously, where do you get in line at the Devil's door to get some of that. One at bat and my soul is for sale. I pose this question, better movie, City Slickers or Princess Bride... Let the debate begin.

OK, we all know that Lost Boys was a great movie, some 20 years ago. Why Dear GOD are they remaking it, or making the sequel. It's disturbing, the recent trend to remake movies, series and trying to wrangle people ino seeing these things, due to some sort of nostalgia. I'm over it. Please, no more Knight Rider, Terminator, Lost Boys, etc... Stop. Originality, it's a great thing. However, I will say, Corey Feldman has aged nicely. Good for him.



Ok On with the Yankees.

After dizzying few weeks in November when it looked like A-Rod was a goner, the biggest save of the year may go to Jimmy Buffet. The man that made A-Rod grow a set and hush agent Scott Boras, to rush back to the Yankes and negotiate his own deal with Hank and Hal. It seems we are pretty well set in the infield – at this point it looks like A-Rod, Jeter, Cano and a combination of Wilson Betemet, Shelley Duncan and Jason Giambi at first. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada get some playing time at first, as well. We know what A-Rod can do, and hopefully he can replicate his MVP performance of 2007. And even if he doesn’t, as long as he puts up his season average of, 44, 128, .306, he should make people happy. Jeter has been a solid, .300, 100 runs scored guy at the top of the order, though I cannot lie and say, I would not mind to see both him and A-Rod run a lot more. Can you believe Jeter only stole 15 bases last year, after a career high 34 in 06? And could someone please tell me how someone with his speed ranks up 21 double plays? Anyone? I know no one wants to hear this, but I think we may have seen the beginning of Jeter’s decline last year. He will be 34 in June. Hopefully with Betemit spelling him a little this year, the Captain will be able to remain fresh and not so banged up. Cano got off to an abysmal start, hitting .240 through mid-May, but wound up at .306 with 19 homers and 97 RBIs, being one of the most solid producers in the 2nd half, as well as the post-season.

Now, lets move over to the albatross that is first base. Forget about trying to figure out the situation at first, and seeing who could be useful to this team. It seems Cashmoney has as well. It appears we will have Wilson Betemet, Shelley Duncan and Jason Giambi, all sharing time at first and possibly being very unproductive. If Giambi can stay healthy, he should be a contributor in some capacity. General Joe Girardi, has said he's like Giambi to play 100 games at first. Frankly, I think that would be a miracle, but who knows. It is a contract year for Giambi after all. I mean, it'd be great to finally see him all sweaty in the dougout and finally have a reason for it. Betemit has shown, that unless he gets regular playing time, he’s just not gonna get the at bats to get himself sorted. Which is kinda sad, because I can see him being a semi-useful player with regular playing time. Duncan, well, I love the kid’s enthusiasm, but he strikes out too much and doesn’t make nearly as much contact, as you would want from someone coming off the bench. There could be some folks on the bench who can be actual threats in late innings depending on how the team shakes out during the rest of the month, though I doubt we’d see anyone else make the team except maybe the attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez as a utility guy or Morgan Ensberg, as the utility, 3b, OF, DH kind of guy. Then, there is Eric Duncan, who if he could somehow overcome his injuries and slumping prospect status, could make the roster at some point during the year, though I could see Juan Miranda getting a call first. Maybe a guy like Jason Lane sneaks onto the roster at some point during the year as well, though, I honestly can't see him being useful in any sort of way.

At catcher is Jorge Posada, who is coming off a career year, also a contract year. I think we can see him regress to his norms of .280, 18, 80 kinda year. Which would be fantastic for a 36 year old catcher. I love Benji Molina as the back up as well. He's very solid behind the plate, and can hit lefties well. So there you have it. A guy that can spell Jorge when necessary. About time we had one of those.

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So there you have it. My infield preview. The rest of the team coming to a weblog near you soon.

Listening Pile:
I'm not even gonna try to explain this one. I'm so in love with Lykke Li and her wonderful music. Watch this video and I"m sure you will be too. And, yes. Those are members of the Shout Out Louds in the video. And Peter, from PB&J produced the album. Until Next Time. Cheers.

is there anybody alive out there

Nice series win for the Yankees against Boston the other day, but what the hell happened last night. Big let down after a great 3 game sweep of the Red Sox. With about 29 games left in the season, each game takes on significant importance. Games like these against the Devil Rays need to be won. There's just no excuse. Phil Hughes did his best Mike Mussina impression last night. Ian Kennedy makes his major league debut today. Good luck to the kid.

The Bronx Is Burning concluded the other night, with the team winning the 77 Championship. Definitely thought the mini-series could have been a little better. Wish we would have gotten a little more Graig Nettles, Sparky Lyle, Ron Guidry and Lou Pinella. Some really colorful characters that were almost completely left out of the series. John Torturo was pretty good in the role of Billy Martin. That dude that played Reggie Jackson was not that great, in fact, i kept thinking of C. Thomas Howell as the Soul Man every time I saw him. I did think using actual news footage during the riots and blackout, the world series, as well as the Son of Sam slayings and the following of the case by police was a nice touch.

Rutgers football season started the other night against the mighty University of Buffalo. They won pretty easily, which is good. With all their success in the last two years, especially last year's Cinderella season, I think people have sort of forgotten that Rutgers was actually a pretty awful football team for some time. In fact, I think they won more games last year, than they did in the 4 years I attended Rutgers. I was talking to a buddy the other night about how lucky those kids attending now have it. We had nothing like that when I was there. It's gotta be a lot of fun. Hoping to get down there for the USF game in November. Bet that will be fun.

Listening Pile:
New Bruce Springstein track, Radio Nowhere is available as a free download at iTunes. It's a great track, from the Boss's new album, Magic. I really enjoyed his last album, The Rising too. This one is apparently a little bit more of a rocker and also features the E Street Band. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have announced their first full scale tour of the US and Europe since 2002-03, starting in Hartford, CT on October 2, the release date for the new album. I have some friends that are all about this.

We play today, we win today, das it.

The other day, I found myself watching Mission: Man Band. I know, I know, what has my life come to? Well, I have always wondered what happened to the white guy from Color Me Badd. The band, which calls itself Sureshot, consists of four members:

* Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd)
* Rich Cronin (LFO)
* Chris Kirkpatrick (*NSYNC)
* Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees)

Who are those three other clowns? Basically, they got the dude that's not JT from Nsync and the dude that's not Nick Lachey from 98 degrees. I guess the dude from LFO was picked to round out the crew. What the funny looking guy from the Backstreet Boys was busy? Honestly, this show is pretty bad, but it's just too funny to not watch. You know, in that unintentionally funny kind of way. Sorta like Flavor of Love. By the way, when I googled Color Me Badd, I came up with this tidbit; they are listed on Billboard as the 7th biggest musical act of the 90s. Really? Were the 90's that bad?

As for a good show to watch, I've really been into this show Mad Men on AMC. Good show about Ad Execs during the early 60's. From the executive producer and writer of "The Sopranos" Matthew Weiner, comes Mad Men. It's a provocative tv show about the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising firm. Good cast to boot, with John Hamm playing a really dark and introverted character, and the lovely January Jones(best known as Cadence from the American Wedding movie) as his wife. I like this show a lot.
It's probably the best TV show to debut this summer. While I'm at it, the other day I caught one of those VH1 Classic Albums shows. This one was about Nirvana's Nevermind. Pretty cool documentary on the making of that album. Includes interviews w/ Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, producer Butch Vig and Thurston Moore.

Yankees have been playing like crap the last few days. Losing two of three to the Angels didn't help. And so far splitting the first two games against Detroit. Not looking good going into a huge series against Boston this week, who have been playing well. This is that stretch where they really needed to play well, and they have played just OK. A few things that have hurt the Yanks are the starting pitching has been pretty bad lately, namely Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens. Wang and Pettite have both pitched well their last time out(hopefully that continues), and Phil Hughes continues to be an enigma. Fans are starting to hate on the Joba Rules, believing the kid should pitch when the team needs him, despite the strict rules to keep him from getting hurt. Big series against Seattle next week too. It's kinda funny because, the Yanks really have their own destiny in their own hands. Ask most teams and players, and that's what they would want. It's pretty basic, you play to win today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Where are those Mariano Duncan t-shirts when you need them.


Listening Pile:
I downloaded Bishop Allen's new album, The Broken String the other day after I clicked on a banner by accident linking me to their song"Rain". I have their 2003 album, Charm School, which I thought was a pretty good listen, but a little uneven.

The band released an EP every month for a year, and they ended up with some 4 dozen songs, of which they picked 8 and added two new ones to make up this album. After years of underground rumblings with their self-released debut the Brooklyn by way of Boston - based group should command a bit more attention for their new masterful album, combining cinematic lyrics, plaintive, passionate vocals and jangly indie-rock. "Rain" is a bouncy, new wave-ish track, and the rest of the album is playful, capturing life's fragile, beautiful moments.

And my dreams all fade away

Pete Abe at the Lohud Yanks Blog posted this earlier:

Received this press release from YES today:

The YES Network is enjoying its highest New York Yankees ratings ever, with its primetime Yankees telecasts ranking No. 1 in New York on 27 of the past 29 game nights. YES’ primetime telecasts have regularly outperformed ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and all other New York broadcast and cable stations this summer.

Tuesday’s Yankees-Blue Jays telecast on YES registered a 7.4 TV household rating (715,000 viewers), the highest-rated and most-watched program on YES since September 29, 2005, when the Yankees-Orioles telecast scored a 7.6 TV household rating (731,000 viewers).

This suggests two things to me: People really like how this team is playing and there’s not much on in the summer.

Um... yeah, you think. Last night I found myself watching The Nine and Top Chef. Seriously, what has my life come to. There are times I pray for death looking for something to watch on TV during the summer. I also have been watching Survivor...er... Big Brother Season 112. Things are bad. I literally watched Feasting on Asphalt for the 2nd time in 3 days last night, while the Yanks were getting killed. I will say, one good thing that came out of the Bonds home run chase, was getting to watch all his games on ESPN2. As an East Coast baseball fan, I never get to see any of the NL teams play, especially the NL West. That was kinda nice. The parks in LA, San Diego, Arizona and SF are sure nice too. Some of the best out there from what I've seen.

Anyhows, here is when the Yanks' schedule gets ridiculous. 17 out of 20 games against the Red Sox, Angels, Indians, with 3 each, and 8 against the Tigers(and Placido Polanco's misshaped head), who beat mercilessly on the Yanks last year in the postseason. You can come out of those games two games over .500, and win two of out 3 against the Orioles, who have given the Yanks fits all season, and we have a very good shot of getting into the postseason.

Listening Pile:
Just saw that UNKLE is playing a show in NYC at Webster Hall on October 18th. I am totally blown away by this information. With his U.K. label Mo' Wax, James Lavelle helped launch the instrumental mid-'90s downtempo breakbeat era, eventually dubbed trip-hop. Lavelle has always found a way to make some of the most interesting electronic music out there, with lots of guests on his records singing their parts, from Josh Homme, Thom Yorke, Ozzy, to Ian Brown and Ian Astbury. My man's technique is sick. Psyence Fiction and Never, Never, Land were outstanding albums, and so far from what I've heard of War Stories, it's top notch too. Plus, you need to see the video for "Burn My Shadow" w/ the Eastern European dude from ER.

At the end of the day, one shall stand, one shall fall!

Finally, got to see Transformers. Loved the special effects, the robots, Megan Fox and it was a half-way decent plot.
However the real actors totally brought that movie down. Why the hell was John Torturro in that movie? He's an amazing actor and he played a horrible part, as agent Simmons. Megan Fox was lovely, as expected. So, was Rachael Taylor. Where the hell did she come from? Shia LaBeouf plays that same annoying goofy character he always plays. Blah, Blah, Blah... But seriously, the stars of the movie, were the Autobots and the Decepticons. The fight scenes were sick! The fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron was unreal, and a great way to cap off the movie. I am soooo getting this movie on DVD to watch through it on HD at home. I wondering if Megan and Rachael seem more real?

Came across this the other day and totally had to share it. You, can go to the Simpsons Movie site and make your own avatar in your likeness. As you can see to your right, it may not come out looking exactly like you, but hey, close enough.
I don't think anyone ever thought there would be a movie, none the less a website to make yourself into a character, or Simpsonized as they like to call it. I remember, when I moved to Springfield, NJ from Hillside in 1990. Every kid, including two of my best friends, Mike and Adam, were wearing Bartman t-shirts. Jeez, how far things have come in 17 years. Really sad to see that our Springfield lost out to Springfield in VT, in the movie premiere contest. That's a bummer. But I bet it could have something to do with the lame movie we entered and the lack of an actual movie theater in the town.


On the baseball front, the Yankees have won 6 out of 8 to start the 2nd half of the season. With four more games against the Devil Rays this weekend, then four more against the Royals leading to a three game series against the Orioles, plus the last two innings make up of a game from a few weeks ago, the Yanks have a real good shot at getting back into the postseason race. If they can win those 3 series, they'll put themselves in a really good spot leading into August. We've been getting pretty good pitching lately from our starters and the bullpen, with the exception of Krazy Kyle Farnsworth, aka the Farnswacker, has been pretty good too. That guy is worthless, unless there is a brawl brewing on the horizon. We do play the Red Sox a few more times this season, not that that's really enough reason to keep him around.

The bats, I have to say, have been pretty lukewarm against the starters lately. It seems they don't get going until the starter is almost out of the game, or the bullpen is in. A-Rod hasn't really hit well since the break, but has a few homers to balance it out. Seems like he's pressing for the homer a bit too much, when he should be looking to hit the ball the other way. And don't get me started on how sedentary our baserunners are on the basepaths. Can Torre call for a stolen base every once in while. Have we not learned anything from the Championship teams of the last few years? Manufacturing runs is always the best way to get an offense going and disrupt a staring pitcher. Serenity Now! Read this article about Dontrelle Willis and his problems lately. The D-Train has been derailed. He can't win a game if his life depended on it. And... he's been killing my fantasy team. I had the choice to keep him or Justin Verlander. Ugh! Also, came across this SI Feature with their picks for best athletes by number.

The easiest choices? Pele (10), Michael Jordan (23), and Lawrence Taylor (56). Numbers that lacked star quality: 65 (Elvin Bethea), 67 (Reggie McKenzie) and 69 (Krumrie).

Runner-up: LeBron James.

Worthy of consideration: Kirk Gibson, Pete Maravich (college), Calvin Murphy, Ryne Sandberg.

Um... #23, you ever hear of a guy by the name of Don Mattingly? Anyhows, there are some great debates, and certainly some no-brainers. Clemente and #21. Robinson and #42. Joe Montana and #16. LT and #56. Check out, it's a cool little feature.


Listening Pile:
BRMC is back with new album, Baby 81. It's a return to form for the San Francisco threesome. While their last album, Howl, wasn't a disappointment, it did lack that gritty, raw rock sound the band had become known for. That album was mostly acoustic, with an americana and rootsy twist. The new album sees them return to the howling(no pun intended) guitar wall of sound and pounding drums. A great piece of work work that reminds many of their early work, with dark textures, sonic soundscapes, and oozing sexuality. For the first time since their S/T debut album, they sound like a cohesive band that enjoyed making this album. With drummer, Nick Jago back in tow, after some addiction problems saw him leave right before the recording of the last album, the group has rejuvenated themselves, with a record that captures much of what initially made them such a great group.

How Are Things On The West Coast?

Things have been strange lately to say the least. July 4th hit me hard in the middle of last week. I keep reading all this stuff about how people want to move a holiday like the Fourth to the first thursday of the month. Now, theoretically, it sounds like a great idea. Like how Presidents day, MLK, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving are always fixed. Plus you get the extra day off, for a Thursday holiday. Lets give it up for the four day weekend. Last week was just a pain in the ass. The holiday did nothing for me, as I had to work half the day anyway, with one of the artists I work with playing a show that day. It killed my day. Killed it. Plus the weather didn't hold up and that just made things worse.

This past weekend was also a baseball induced blur, with old timer's day on saturday, then a marathon 14 inning game, then a regular 9 inning blow-out on sunday. The all-star break landed at just the right time. Those two games in two days, plus 2 games the previous Sunday and Monday proved to be way too much in such a short period of time. Which makes me think, those Ultimate Roadtrip folks have kind of got to be out of their minds. 4 games in 8 days made me kinda go nuts, I can't imagine what 162 games in 6 months would do to me. I'm thinking at some point it starts feeling like Groundhog's day and you're just begging for the toaster to fall into the tub. I ""mean, I LOVE baseball, but really, that's got to be just mind-blowing. I got to a point, when I could not even look at another hot dog. I was literally trying to figure out what beer I hadn't had yet. I'll say this, the Beers Of The World stand they have is a total rip-off. You literally pay $8 for a 12 oz beer, that if you bought at the grocery store, would cost you, no more than a $1.25. And, there's nothing special, it's Pilsner Urquel, Blue Moon, Amstel Light, Grolsch, and Corona. Nothing special really. Meanwhile, you could just go to the Heiniken booth and get a 24 oz. beer for $10. Now, which one sounds like the good deal. hmmmm. That's one of those things that drives me crazy. It's not up there with the great subway challenge, but it's up there.

So, while I'm on the subject of baseball, I'll throw this out there. The Yankees have 77 games remaining. It's been said that they would have to win about 95 games to make it to the postseason. The Yankees currently sit at 42-43. That means they would have to win approximately 52 games out of 77 to end up in the postseason. Aside from those two weeks in early June when they won something like 12 out of 13, they have not looked like a team that could win 52 out of 77. But here is where it gets tricky. 54 of those games are against teams below .500. 14 against the Rays, 10 against the lowly Royals, 12 against the Orioles, 10 against the Blue Jays, and 3 more versus the stumbling White Sox. There's some room to really get back into the swing of things. Now, I know the Yanks can win against those teams, but honestly it seems the Yanks have played pretty poorly against bad teams this year. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can see a big let down if they don't get going fast after the break. And, if they don't get off to a good start and get themselves 7-10 games over .500 before mid-August, they could be done for. As maybe their toughest stretch starts August 16th when the Yanks, start a series against the Tigers, followed by the Angels and then the Red Sox. That's 14 games against 3 very good teams, and possibly the 3 division winners. If the Yankees can pick up those 7-10 games, and play decent ball in those 14 games, this season has a shot, otherwise, we'll start looking towards 2008 a lot sooner.

Wow, now that's kinda depressing huh!

Listening Pile:
Interpol's new album, Our Love To Admire, has been in heavy rotation on the iPod. Their third full length, sees them sort of pick up right were Antics left off. It's dense, dark and brooding album, with the usual vague lyrics and swirling guitars. My biggest beef with the album, is that the production, while a bit excessive at times, tends to drown out a stellar drummer in Sam Foggarino and a superb bass player in Carlos D. In fact, it's a distraction because while Interpol have never been ones to beat you over the head with a sharp melody, the dense structure of the low end on most of their previous work, kept things intact and flowing with ease. I hear a few songs that sort of go nowhere and miss that deceptive low end. However, the record is pretty darn good. I love the melodramatic first song, "Pioneer To The Falls", as well as the confessional, "Rest My Chemistry". "Heinrich Maneuver" is a great first single, but lacks a solid follow-up. This album needs one more really solid rocker. Mammoth", almost pulls that off, but just lacks a catchy hook. There are a few other solid tracks on the album, but a good portion of the record sort of just sounds like filler. It almost seems like they came up a few songs short and just came up with a few uninspired tracks to finish the album.