Game 14: Next Time You See Me

The best part of this road trip? Michael Kay is at home and we are treated to the dulcet tones of smooth Kenny Singleton. Look out! So tonight, it won't be "Phil Yoooooous" pitching, it will just be Phil Hughes.

The SoCal kid looks to build upon his previous partially successful outing against the Angels. Last Wednesday, Hughes held the Halos to two runs in 5+ innings. He had flashes of dominance (3 H, 6 K) but struggled with his command and efficiency (5 BB, 108 pitches).

Hughes has never faced Oakland as a starter and only pitched one inning in the Coliseum as a reliever. No one on the A's has faced Hughes more than three times in their career and those who have don't have much of an advantage considering that Hughes has evolved significantly as a pitcher since then.

The Yankees aren't too familiar with Ben Sheets either. The only time he started against the Bombers was all the way back in 2005 and the only guys in the line up that day who are still on the team are Jeter, Posada, A-Rod and Cano.

After missing all of 2009 and having the flexor tendon in his pitching elbow repaired, Sheets landed on his feet in Oakland, fetching a handsome $10M, one year contract which could make him a prime target come the trade deadline (although his contract specifies that the club won't offer him arbitration and therefore can't receive any draft pick compensation).

Big Ben is off to a solid start results-wise, having allowed only 5 ER in 17 innings (2.65 ERA). However, his peripherals tell a different story (4.60 FIP). Over the course of his career, Sheets has walked just two batters per nine innings, but in his first three starts of 2010, he's averaging over 5 per 9 and has amassed more free passes (10) than strikeouts (8). These issues are to be expected from a guy who had elbow surgery and took 18 months off in between starts, though. Sheets has had success despite lacking command thus far, so logic dictates that if he can cut down on the walks he might be even more dangerous.

Conventional wisdom says the pitcher has the advantage when there is no history between he and the batter, but I tend to think stuff like that is a little overstated. It might help to know a pitcher's tendencies, but it can also be harmful when the pitcher knows that you know his tendencies, so on and so forth. Players can study up on and watch as much video of each other as they want to and by the second or third time through the lineup, any advantage of unfamiliarity one way or the other has been neutralized. If Sheets or Hughes make another start against the foes they are facing tonight later in the season, then there might be an edge for one side or the other.

Next time you see me,
Things won't be the same,
If it hurts you my darling,
You've only got yourself to blame.

[Song notes: The double video seems appropriate because it's a West Coast night game and I went with this version because we used the Dead's at the end of last year. The title to YouTube video says that it's the Rolling Stones and Muddy Waters when in fact it's Buddy Guy on stage. The clip comes from this DVD, was recorded back in 1981 and was one of the last five concert appearances of Waters' incredible career.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Randy Winn, ladies and gentlemen. Even though Nick Swisher broke an 0-16 slump last night with a 2 RBI single, Winn gets the call against Sheets. Swish had played in every game so far this year and Winn has had some experience against Sheets (although not any success).

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Winn RF
Gardner LF

Athletics:

Cliff Pennington SS
Daric Barton 1B
Ryan Sweeney RF
Kurt Suzuki C
Eric Chavez DH
Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
Gabe Gross CF
Adam Rosales 2B
Travis Buck LF

Pete Abe's Stealing Our Schtick

Just kidding. Pete appears to be every bit the music enthusiast we are, but I have to admit, he came up with one today that I had never heard of.

The whole Brill Building / Tin Pan Alley type stuff is sort of a forgotten part of American music history, but it was really the primary source of popular music between the first wave of rock and roll in the early to mid 1950s and the British Invasion led by the Beatles and the Stones in 1964.

In their farewell concert, The Last Waltz, The Band tried to pay tribute to all periods of their career, and by extension all facets of post-1950 popular music, by inviting guests to represent these different stages and genres. So even though he sticks out like a sore thumb in a game of "one of these things is not the like the others", that's why Neil Diamond is included amongst the likes of Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, and Muddy Waters.

Sorry for yet another music-centric post. I'm out of ideas at the moment and counting the minutes until the weekend gets here.

World Boogie Is Coming

"If you've got Dickinson, you don't need anyone else"
- Bob Dylan to Harp Magazine, May 2003

This will have nothing to do with the Yankees and little to do with anything previously posted at Fack Youk, but given our musical leanings here, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. Last week I mentioned how August seems to be a terrible month for deaths, both in baseball and music. Just hours before that post published, Les Paul went to the great beyond. Now, there is another loss to mourn.

Last night, as I was finishing cooking dinner, I logged onto to my favorite music website, jambands.com. It was only then that I learned that Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson passed away Saturday, at the age of 67, following triple bypass surgery.

Even if you're a music buff like Jay or me, you may never have heard of Jim Dickinson, but chances are you've heard Jim Dickinson. The man's music career has spanned the past forty-plus years and has associated him with some of the biggest names in music history.

As a sideman, Dickinson recorded with the likes of Arethra Franklin, Sam & Dave, Ry Cooder, Delaney and Bonnie, Arlo Guthrie, Mavis Staples, and Duane Allman. His Dixie Flyers were the house band during the heyday of Criteria Studios in Miami, where he worked with legenedary producer Tom Dowd.

Dickinson later recorded and toured with the Rolling Stones. He provides the piano on the recording of "Wild Horses". In the Stones documentary Gimme Shelter, Dickinson can be seen lounging next to Keith Richards as the band listens to the playback of the freshly cut track. More than twenty five years later, Dickinson would record with Bob Dylan on his critically acclaimed comeback album, Time Out of Mind.

In the early 1970s, Dickinson returned to the Memphis area, where he'd spent most of his youth. From then until the end of his days, he was at the forefront of the Memphis music scene, the city from which Sam Phillips and his Million Dollar Quartet brought rock and roll to the rest of the nation. He was instrumental in the rediscovery of blues acts such as Furry Lewis, Bukka White*, and Sleepy John Estes, often playing in their backing bands.

*White once played in the Negro Leagues, gifted his cousin B.B. King with the first guitar B.B. ever owned, and was an innovator of the National Steel guitar. One of his steel guitars is currently owned by blog favorite Derek Trucks.

Upon his return to the Memphis area, Dickinson also began a solo career, releasing the critically acclaimed Dixie Fried in 1972 (featuring Dr. John and Eric Clapton). After a 30 year hiatus, he jump started his solo career in 2002, releasing four more albums prior to his passing. During his recording hiatus, Dickinson continued to perform, assembling the legendary Memphis band Mudboy and the Neutrons.

For more than thirty years Dickinson has also enjoyed a wildly successful second career as a producer. He guided the recordings of artists such as Big Star, Toots Hibbert, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Replacements, Albert King, The Radiators, and John Hiatt.

In the mid 1970s, Dickinson moved slighly south of Memphis, to the hill country of north Mississippi. There, he established his Zebra Ranch Studios, and along with his wife Mary, raised their sons Luther and Cody. Growing up in that household, and in that region of the country, the Dickinson boys were exposed to a wealth of musical greatness, and were soon taken with the famed blues musicians of the hill country: Otha Turner, R.L. Burnside, and Junior Kimbrough. In 1996 the brothers Dickinson and childhood friend Chris Chew formed the North Mississippi Allstars, my favorite band, whose song "The Meeting" I used for our game preview just last Wednesday. The lyric I quoted at the bottom, "If you ain't right you better get right" was an old phrase Jim was fond of using. As father, mentor, and producer, Jim was a guiding force for NMA.

While Jim Dickinson is now gone, his legacy, in the recorded music he left behind as a performer and a producer and in the music that will continue to be created by his progeny, will last. Another phrase Jim was fond of was "World Boogie is coming". Indeed it is, and when it does, Jim Dickinson will be largely to thank for it. Rest in peace Jim.

Game 41: Tumbling Dice

Jay's vacation winds to Baltimore tonight to see Trey Anastasio with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Meanwhile, back in New York, the Yankees will go for a sweep of the O's.

The subplot for tonight's game will be Aubrey Huff vs. Joba Chamberlain. When the two met on May 10th, Huff took Joba deep. Apparently insulted by Joba's "fist pump" antics following one of his 3 career Ks against him (in 8 previous PAs), Huff now had his revenge and the ten year veteran responded with exaggerated, preconceived fist pumps while rounding first and crossing the plate. He made sure he was looking right at Joba both times. You tell me whose actions are more bush league.

That said, I doubt anything will happen tonight. This is essentially a media issue at this point. While I wasn't opposed to some sort of retaliation 11 days ago, why mess with a good thing now? Perhaps a good brawl would have served to kick start a team that had lost 6 of 7, but there's no sense in resorting to such tactics when you've won eight in a row. Joba's best revenge will be to sit him down, not knock him down. And if that fails, the two teams still meet nine more times this year. Sometimes it's better to have a long memory as opposed to a short fuse.

Brett Gardner returns to the line-up for the first time since banging up his shoulder during his daring/ill-advised mad dash for the plate Sunday. Damon takes a seat after wrenching his neck chasing Adam Jones' HR last night. He should only be out one day, which of course is Girardi-speak for "he'll be having his vertebrae fused tomorrow morning". And CMW will make one more AAA start. That means Hughes will start in Texas Monday, where he'll look to do this again (minus the pulled hammy). Thanks to LoHud for all of the above notes.

Yesterday we went with the Beatles, so it's only fitting that today we go with the Stones: the Gehrig and Ruth of the British Invasion - and arguably all of rock and roll. Just like a crap shooter, you need some luck in life. Mick and Keef needed luck to still be alive and touring after all these years. A ball club needs luck to rattle off a winning streak this long. Since I dropped in this week we've seen sixes and sevens (and eights), tonight we go for nines. Let's hope the dice tumble the Yanks' way tonight and they don't crap out.



Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry,
Don't you see the time flashing by?
Honey, got no money,
I'm all sixes and sevens and nines.
Say now baby I'm the rank outsider,
You can be my partner in crime.
But baby, I can't stay,
You've got to roll me
and call me the tumbling dice.