I don't remember the last Yankee game I've seen in its entirety.  I think it gores back to the Boston series.  You remember?  The one where we won all 5 games and basically put the BoSox on life support?  Ringing any bells?  Thought so.  Between the late games, work, and scheduling conflicts, I've got only bits and pieces and have listened to some on the radio.  I've got today's game on the radio, but I'd much rather be in front of the TV watching the Bombers.

How awesome is Chien-Ming Wang?  Holy freholy Batman.  He is without a doubt the ace of the staff.  If the Yankees need a definite win, he's the guy I want on the mound.  He should definitely get some consideration for the Cy Young Award.  If he can pull of 20 wins and lower his ERA a little bit, he's got a shot.

Are you getting the feeling that Derek Jeter is going to win the MVP?  I am.  It seems like every time the Yankees need a big hit, Jeter comes through.  Last night's game-tying double was a perfect example.  It tied the score and set up a Yankee rally.  We've been seeing this pretty consistently from our Captain.  With David Ortiz's unfortunate health issue, the MVP race might turn into a race between Jeter and Jermaine Dye.  Even if Ortiz were playing daily, I'd have to think Jeter is still would get some serious consideration.  There is a lot of talk on national radio that Jeter might already have it in the bag.  He'd get my vote.

Last night's loss to the Tigers was a little tough to watch, but it wasn't a bad loss in my opinion.  I only caught the last 3 innings.  It was tough to watch Proctor struggle.  It seemed like he was so close with the full-counts, but he just couldn't seal the deal, and Craig Monroe made him pay for it.  I understand why Mo wasn't used, but as soon as Proctor walked batter #2, I would have made the switch and brought in Mo to try and get 1 batter.  Torre at times, seems okay with not doing everything to win each and every game.  Proctor has now blown 7 saves.  Count 'em, 7.  That's a lot.  I am still not 100% sold on Proctor.  He's given up runs in 4 of his last 5 outings, and he's prone to giving up the longball, which we've seen him do several times this year.  If this is what life without Mariano is going to be like, yikes!  But as I said, it wasn't a bad loss.  The Yankee offense didn't do anything all game and had the score held at 3-2, the Yankees would have won with 3 hits.  3 hits from that lineup is horrible.  It was a game the Tigers definitely should have easily won.  I was impressed with Wright's outing.  He finally got an out in the 7th inning.  I hope he can do more of that.

The lead in the East seems to be growing very rapidly.  Between the BoSox injuries and the fact that they're not really all that good when healthy, the race is pretty much over.  I had a few reservations when the lead was 6.5, but after watching them falter on the west coast, I feel a lot better about the Yankees taking the East for the 9th straight year.  9 games up in the loss column with 30 to play is going to be a tough deficit to overcome.  I don't even think the Sox have a shot at the wild card they are that bad.  I think i saw a stat that the Sox were the worst team in MLB in the month of August.  Sorry, but I can't help but giggle.  I've been saying all year that I didn't think they were very good.  It's looking like they might finish in 3rd.  And I'm sorry, but I don't buy that Manny has an injury.  As soon as the Sox lost 5 to the Yankees, Manny basically went on vacation.  The Sox have no heart, in my opinion.

The Yanks stranded 3 in the bottom of the first and are now down a run.  Not a great way to start.  Let's go Yankees!!

J-Boogie

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days.  I didn't see much of the west coast trip and didn't really have much to say.  The late games kill me and I like to sleep so I usually only see about the first third of a game.  But you have to like that we're 7 games up. 

Everyone that follows baseball should know by know that David Ortiz is having tests done for an irregular heartbeat.  Did you know that an irregular heartbeat is a side effect of steroid use?  Go ahead, look it up, you'll see that it's true. 

I just thought I'd point out that connection.  Am I the only one who made that connection?  I'm not saying he juiced, just pointing out that this certainly lends to the theory that he did.  Maybe Big Papi had a little help becoming Big Papi?  Hmmm.  Now I wonder?

J

Am I the only one out there that can't stand watching Jaret Wright pitch?  6 hits through 2 innings.  Typical Jaret Wright.  What's crazy is that his ERA is lower than Randy Johnson's.  At least it was as this game isn't over yet.  I can't believe that.  Wright, in his 21 starts, has never pitched more than 6 innings, with many lasting less than 6 innings. 

I really hope the Yankees find a way to squeeze him out of the rotation.  He's had his moments, but his inability to pitch deep into the ball game doesn't help out anyone.  The Yanks bullpen is already overused, but luckily, they weren't used a great deal in the Seattle series.  The key components of the Yankee bullpen have had a few days off, and that might come in handy against the Angels.  The Yankees aren't exactly trucking out their best pitchers this series.  Wright, Lidle, and Karstens are going against the one team that consistently has the Yankees' number.  I'd like to say I'm optimistic, but I'm getting that feeling that the 5.5 game lead might dwindle a little bit the next few days.  It's another part of the schedule where ground can be gained.  Thankfully, there will be parts where the Yankees can get it back, so all wouldn't be lost if they totally tanked against the Halos. 

The offense is going to have to pick these guys up all weekend.  It's looking like they'll need to tonight with Wright on the hill.  I have confidence that they'll put up some runs.  Lackey, Santana and Saunders aren't exactly pushovers, so it may not come early and often.  The arms need to keep it close.

Go Yankees!

J-Boogie

I just heard this on XM and I had to pass it along.  It's something that I failed to realize but it tells volumes about the Boston Red Sox. 

The Red Sox are currently 69-56.  They had a record of 16-2 during interleague play.  If you take away interleague play and look at the Sox record against just the AL, the core of their opponents, the Sox are 53-54.  The Sox are less than .500 against the AL.  If you remove their 11-1 record against Baltimore, the Sox are 42-53 against the rest of the league.  The Sox currently have the 6th highest winning percentage in the AL.  If you remove interleague play, they drop to the 9th best team in the AL, ahead of Baltimore, Tampa, Cleveland, KC and Seattle.  Does that put into perspective how bad the Sox are?  Wow.  I have to laugh.  Incidentally, the team with the best record in the AL if you remove interleague play is, you guessed it, the New York Yankees.

If you look at head-to-head records against the AL, the Sox have a winning record against Baltimore (11-1), the White Sox (2-1), Seattle (4-3), Tampa (9-8) and Texas (5-4).  The White Sox and the Rangers are above .500 on the season.  The only teams that have a winning record against the Yankees are the Angels (3-4), the Twins (1-2) and the A's (3-6).  Those 3 teams are all above .500.  The Sox have games left with Chicago, Tampa, and Seattle.  It's possible that they'll drop that they end up with losing records against those teams.

Against AL teams above .500, the Sox are 23-35. That's less than .400.  Add in the NL and they improve slightly to 26-35, a winning percentage of .426.  Against AL teams above .500, the Yankees are 39-27 (.591).  Add in the NL, and they move to 42-30 (.583).  Add those totals up and you'll see that the Yankees have played 72 games against teams better than .500.  The Sox?  Only 61.  The Yankees have played 11 more games against tougher opponents than the Red Sox.  Eleven!  The Sox have 37 games left, 23 of which are against teams above .500.  The Yanks have 38 games left, with 19 being against teams above .500.  The home stretch favors the Yankees.  But in the end, the Yanks will have played 7 games more than the Sox against teams over .500.  6 of which were split between the Angels and the Mets.  That's a lot when you think about it.  So not only will the Yankees have a better record than the Sox at year's end, but they'll have played the tougher schedule. 

Man, if the Sox want to make the post-season, they are going to have to go on an incredible run and play better than they have all year.  Let's face it, they aren't that good.  I would go as far as saying they're average and definitely not as good as their record.  But the games aren't played on paper, and their record is their record.

Shhh, do you hear that?  No?  I hear it.  I heard it yesterday but it's a little louder today.  Can't place the tune?  It's taps.  You know?  The trumpet song they play in the military to honor the dead.  Hear it now?  Well, if you can't, it's going to get louder and louder with each passing day.  If you listen close, you should be able to pick it up.

J-Boogie

Greetings from cloud nine.  I'm still hanging out up here after the Sox beatdown  I'll be coming down soon.  Not because I'm expecting a Yankee loss, but because it's time to move on and focus on the next series against Seattle, losers of 11 straight.  Now, I fully expect the Yankees to lose to the M's.  It might even be tonight.  There's no reasoning behind that other than it always seems like a team snaps its losing streak against the team I like.  Remember the streak the Royals snapped earlier this season?  It was against the Yankees. 

In the comment section of my last thread, Levelboss was wondering how many wins it would take to knock Boston out of it, or better put, how well would the Red Sox have to play to get back into it.  Now, I've never been a fan of this type of speculation because there is no way of accurately predicting how well a team will do. You can only assume, so will do that.  Since the Yankees win the division in the event of a tie, we'll figure on what is needed for the Sox to win the division.

1. If the Yankees play .600 ball over the next 38 games, they'll win 23 games and go 23-15.  The Sox would have to play .810 ball and go 30-7 over their last 37.  The Yankees are currently playing at a .610 clip, so this scenario could very well play out in terms of an expected Yankee win total.  The question is can the Sox play .810?  I think we all know the answer to that.
2. If the Yankees play .500 over the next 38 games, they'll go 19-19.  The Sox would have to go 26-11, a winning percentage of .703.  The Sox are currently a .556 team.  They'd have to play out of their shoes and the Yanks would have to be average for this to happen.  As a comparison, the best team in baseball, the Tigers, are currently playing .640 ball.
3. Let's say that the Sox play at a .600 clip, which is very possible.  They'd end up with another 22 wins, and go 22-15.  To catch the Yanks, the Yanks would have to go 15-23, or play at a .395 clip.  That too is unlikely.
4. Let's assume the Sox win .556 percent of their remaining games.  That's a record of 21-16.  The Yankees would have to go 14-24 for the Sox to catch them.  That's a winning percentage of .368.  Considering that the Royals are the only team in MLB to have a winning percentage worse than that at .362, the Yankees would basically have to be the worst team in baseball over the last quarter of the season for the Sox to catch them, assuming of course that the Sox play to their current winning percentage.  I think it's a pretty safe bet that the Yankees will be better than .368.  So the Sox would have to step it up and play a lot better than they are now.  A lot better.

So what does all that mean?  Not much.  But it does add a little perspective to well, or how poor, each has to play for a reversal of fortune.  It's pretty impossible to assume anything when it comes to baseball.  We all know the unlikeliest of events can play out.  For example, sweeping 5 straight in Fenway or losing 4 straight in the ALCS when you are up 3-0.  The impossible is possible, and when it comes to Boston and New York, you can't rule out anything.

The only number that has any bearing on things right now is the "magic number."  For those unfamiliar with the calculation, you take the number of the team's remaining games, add 1, and then subtract the number of games they're ahead in the loss column.  For the Yankees that calculates to a magic number of 32 (38+1-7).  That number goes down by 1 every time the Yankees win and/or the Red Sox lose.  32 combinations of Yankee wins and Sox losses, and the Yankees will be the AL East champion 9 times running. 

Peace, love, and pinstripes.

J-Boogie

edited to add on 8/23: I corrected some of the figures as I miscaculated the remaining games.  SO the numbers are up-to-date.  I also added some additional text.

It was just a few days ago when the Baltimore Orioles kicked some Yankee butt in our own house.  At the time, I offered up a silver lining.  For those that don't remember or didn't read it, here's what I wrote:

After the Yankees get their butts handed to them, they bounce back and go on a nice run.  Take a look:

• The Yanks get beat by the Indians 19-1.  The Yankees then go on to win 9 of their next 10 games.
• The Yankees get beat by Toronto 13-5.  The Yankees go on to win 4 in a row, and 10 of their next 12, one of which is a 19-6 loss to Tampa Bay.
• The Yankees get beat by Tampa Bay 19-6.  The Yankees go on to win 6 of their next 7.

It looks like this has happened again, and it couldn't have come at a better time or against a better team.  Henceforth, we will call this the "slingshot."  Thanks to Levelboss for the term.  We're at 5 games and counting on the recent slingshot.  If you had told me before this series that the Yankees were going to sweep the Red Sox in Fenway, I would have said you were nuts.  Most people were figuring that one team would win 3 games.  But the best possible thing that could have happened to Yankees, happened.  They swept a 5 game series against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.  That statement deserves to be repeated.  They swept a 5 game series against the Red Sox in Fenway Park.  The Yankees went 7-2 this year at Fenway.  The Yankees have already clinched the season series against the Sox.  The Yankees went Mola Ram on the Nation.  If you don't know what that means go watch "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."  You couldn't have asked for a better series. Big props to Cory Lidle for stepping up his game today.  Am I the only one that thinks it's funny that the Sox couldn't beat the Yankee JV team?  No Damon.  No Giambi.  No Posada.  Man that's gotta hurt.  I'm reminded of a quote and I think it's quite appropriate: 

"How do you like them apples?" - Will Hunting

For your listening pleasure, I've changed the song on my little music player.  So make sure your speakers are on.  It won't disappoint.

More later.  I'm still on cloud 9.

J-Boogie

HAMMERS!!  The nails in the coffin are ready to be hammered.

I bet you thought I was going to say brooms.  Maybe tomorrow.

Peace, love, and PINSTRIPES!

J

I don't really need to go into detail on how great the Yankee win was today.  We all saw the game.  We all know what happened.  We all saw another a**-whooping.  We all saw the Yankees stretch their lead in the AL East.  We all saw Josh Beckett walk everybody and their brother.  We all saw the Yankees put up another dozen or so runs for the 3rd straight game.  We all saw Johnny Damon hit another 3 doubles and continue to have a great series.  We all saw Josh Beckett give up his league-leading 32nd HR.  We all saw Randy Johnson no-hit Boston in every inning but 1.  There's no need to get into all of that.  What I do want to do is make a prediction.  And here it is:

Within the coming days, there will be big news coming out of the city of Boston.  And I'm talking BIG.  Earth-shattering if you will.  And no, it won't be that the Big Dig is finally finished.  It's much bigger than that.  It's something that the world has been waiting for and so desperately needs.  What's the big news going to be?  What's my prediction?  What is going to be unleashed on the world and take the "Nation" by storm?  Well.......

In the coming days, someone is going to come up with another silly and strange saying to rally the Red Sox and the Fenway Faithful.  You know, something reminiscent of "Cowboy Up" or "we're just idiots."  That's what's been missing from the Sox all year.  That's the reason why they aren't playing well.  It's not their horrible pitching staff.  It's not that Coco Crisp can't hold a candle to Johnny Damon.  It's not that Theo slept through the trade deadline.  It's that they don't have a silly motto.

The creative minds out there in Beantown need to get on this.  Come on already.  The world is waiting.  Mark my words.  It's coming.

Peace, love and pinstripes.  Go Yankees.

J

It's hard to believe that the start of game 3 of the Sox/Yankees series isn't far away.  It seemed like only hours ago that game 2 ended.  Oh wait.  It did.  Man that was a lot of baseball.  The longest 9 inning game ever to be played.  Wow.  From a Yankee fan standpoint, that day could not have gone any better, with the exception of Farnsworth getting hit by that line drive.  If you're a Sox fan, you've probably been listening to Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" non-stop since last night.  The Yanks took both games of the doubleheader, and that's huge.  It guarantees that regardless of how these 3 games go, we leave Boston with the division lead.  We're in a much better position to win this series, which would mean we could split the final series at home and still win the season series with Boston.  If you ask me for my honest opinion, I have to think that the momentum from yesterday is going to carry over to today's game and the rest of the series and we should be able to take at least 1 of the remaining 3. 

I know it was only 2 games and they took place on 1 day, but as I mentioned a few days ago, when the Yankees get their butts handed to them they bounce back and go on a run.  The "slingshot" effect if you will (thanks Level).  The offense certainly didn't show any signs of slumping yesterday.  26 runs.  34 hits.  What's surprising to em is that they only went yard twice, both by Damon.  Of all those runs, and all those hits, only 4 were scored on the longball.  The hit brigade was in full force.  Bad timing if you're a Red Sox fan.

And I have to apologize to the missing "Mad Dog."  He called Derek Jeter as the AL MVP pretty early in the season.  At the time, I didn't think DJ had a shot with all of the talent in the AL.  I'm starting to come around to the fact the Jeter is going to get some serious consideration for MVP, especially if the Yankees win the East and the Sox miss the playoffs.  How huge was his 2-out, bases clearing double in the 7th inning last night?  Captain Clutch baby.  He may have only gone 1 for 6 in the nightcap, but he saved the 1 for the right time.  You have to credit a lot of the Yankee lineup for coming through in 2 out situations.  Yesterday was a great day offensively for the Yankees, especially if your last name is Cabrera or Abreu.  What the heck are they going to do with Melky when Matsui comes back? 

Wang was again awesome.  He's quickly becoming the ace of this staff.  You have to love Cashman for not trading him, or Cano, or Melky, for that matter.  He was able to pitch his way out of trouble quite a bit yesterday.  The Sox were all about the extra base hits, but Wang didn't let many of them find there way home.  I wonder if he'll get any Cy Young consideration.  He should get a vote or two if he stays on his current course.

The only negative things about yesterday was the pitching in game 2.  I don't know one Yankee fan that thought Ponson was going to give the Yankees more than 3 innings.  Personally, I was writing off last night's game before it even started.  I figured Ponson was going to pitch and get shelled, and then we'd see reliever after reliever come trucking out and get hit as well.  It was going to be one of those games where you couldn't get anyone out.  And for a while, it looked like that was going to happen.  But the Yankee pen nutted up and held the Sox scoreless for the final four innings, not counting Ortiz's solo shot off Mo.  I can see why Villone had a rough go at it as he's pitched quite a bit lately.  But Proctor, Myers, Farnsworth and Mo pretty much did what they get paid to do, shut down the opponent.  Even this Brian Bruney cat looked alright, save the walks.  I like how when Mike Myers was on the bump, the YES team showed how he positions himself on the mound when he's facing righties and lefties.  The lefty specialist can now get out the righties too.  Way to go Gator for having him try that.  I don't think Mel would have.  The bullpen turned in a solid performance and allowed the Yankee bats to take care of business.  If only the Sox could say the same about their pen.  Their staff is in shambles.  These next few games will be interesting if starters from either side don't go deep into the games. 

The only other dark cloud in yesterday's DH were the errors.  When A-Rod committed number 22 in the 9th last night, I about died.  I could just see the Sox rallying after that and Alex costing us another win.  But Mo was on the hill, and getting 5 runs off of Mo isn't an easy thing to do.  Then I felt better.  But the errors are someday going to come back and bite us in the rumps.  Not a good fielding day.

Well, we're about a half-hour from today's game.  Man how the time flies.  Johnson v. Beckett.  Two guys that are very inconsistent.  Should be a fun one.  But it'll likely be a pitching duel.  I can see that happening.  So the game starts at 1:20, so it should be over by around 5-5:30.  Let's go Yankees.

Peace, love and pinstripes.

J-Boogie

Just curious if I'm the only one that can't get into the Yanks/Sox game?  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it's the bottom of the 5th and we're almost at the 3 hour mark.  Most games would be ending about now and we've just passed the halfway mark. 

The game has been full of action, but it just doesn't feel like an exciting game, to me anyway.  It's currently 10-7 Sox at the end of 5.  There's plenty of time for a Yankee comeback.  This game is far from over.  At this pace, we're looking at around 1am. 

J

I'm listening to the Yanks/Sox game at work.  It's the Red Sox feed on XM.  A-Rod is up and the Sox announcer says: "Do you think A-Rod can see the message that's on the scoreboard?  It says that Alex Rodriguez leads all 3b with 21 errors."  Or it went something like that.  Now if that isn't a nice little dig at A-Rod's expense, I don't know what is.  Now I don't know if he saw that, but I do know he saw Abreu cross the plate on his RBI single.

The score is currently 8-3 Yankees in the middle of the 7th.  How does that look on the scoreboard?

Edited to add @ 4:12- The Sox announcer says in the top of the 8th that the stadium is pretty quiet with the Sox down by 5.  The only thing you can hear on the radio is a "Let's Go Yankees" chant.  I found that funny.

J

It's the middle of the 7th and the Yanks are down 12-2 to the Orioles.  It's just one of those games when nothing goes your way.  But there is a silver lining.  After the Yankees get their butts handed to them, they bounce back and go on a nice run.  Take a look:

• The Yanks get beat by the Indians 19-1.  The Yankees then go on to win 9 of their next 10 games.
• The Yankees get beat by Toronto 13-5.  The Yankees go on to win 4 in a row, and 10 of their next 12, one of which is a 19-6 loss to Tampa Bay.
• The Yankees get beat by Tampa Bay 19-6.  The Yankees go on to win 6 of their next 7.

That's encouraging and if history rings true, the Yanks could do pretty well this weekend in Boston.  Barring a comeback of epic proportions, the Yanks will head to Beantown with a 2 game lead over the BoSox.  The likeliest of outcomes is that Boston takes 3 of 5, and the Yanks leave Boston with a 1 game lead.  The Yanks do have the potential to take at least 3 from Boston, as their pitching staff has a lot of question marks as well.  It is going to be one wild weekend.

Peace, love and pinstripes.

J-Boogie

I just wanted to send Jaret Wright a thank you on behalf of Yankee fans everywhere.  I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Thank you Jaret for walking 4 batters.  Thank you for giving up 5 runs on 2 hits.  Thank you Jaret for only pitching 3 innings.  Your performance today guarantees that the Yankee bullpen will likely be pretty tired for the upcoming series against the Red Sox.  Your efforts are much appreciated.  Thanks!

J-Boogie

Well, they sort of a make a big move.  Octavio Dotel has been activated off the DL.  That's huge.  Think of it this way: it's like a big trade that you didn't give anything up for.  For all intents and purposes the Yankees acquired Dotel for Jose Veras.  The Yankees just added a huge arm to their bullpen and it's mid-August.  This smells and feels like a blockbuster, even though it's not.  Dotel hasn't played for the Yanks all year, so it's like he wasn't even a member of the squad.  Am I making sense?  Do you smell what J-Boogie is cooking?  What team wouldn't love to add an arm of Dotel's caliber to their roster in the heat of a pennant race?  This is big.  Just be healthy.  Knock on wood.

Oh yeah, the Yanks have 2 more of these deals in the pipeline: Matsui and Sheffiled aren't far behind.  These are huge shots in the arm.  The big question is going to be: who gets sent to C-bus?  Oh wait, it's almost September 1st.  Nobody has to go.  Depth baby.  Depth. 

Go Yanks.

J-Boogie

That didn't take long did it?  The Yankees made up the 2 games they dropped to the Sox in the standings last week.  This just goes to show that I know what I'm talking about.  You can't freak out about a "slide" because the schedule is built for these things to happen.  When you match up with a good team and your rival doesn't, you're bound to lose a few in the standings.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, re-read my post from 2 days ago.  The Red Sox know all to well how this goes having dropped two straight to the Tigers, while the Yanks play the lowly Orioles.  No offense O's fans.

Memo to those Yankee fans that were giving up on the Yankees 2-3 days ago and thought the sky was falling: you're not true Yankee fans.  Your membership has been revoked.  The Yankees are percentage points away from having the second best record in all of baseball.  You don't play through 120 or so games and have the second-best record in the game, if you're not a good team.  Why did you lose your faith?

TiVo alert: tomorrow @ 10am on YES is the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Yankee Stadium. 

To quote Ice Cube, "Today was a good day."

Peace, love and pinstripes!

J-Boog

Like I thought, we split the home series with Anaheim.  I hope you took the time to read my last post.  You'll know why there is no reason to abandon the good ship Yankee.  The set-up of the schedule is built to have some good runs, and then some times where you go .500 and drop a series or two.  That's just how it goes.  If you really want to get a nice perspective on the MLB schedule you should check out a post over at Bleeding Pinstripes.  Geoff over at BPS raises a lot of good points and has some interesting questions about the MLB schedule.  It's a good read, everyone should check it out.  One interesting tidbit: the Yankees play the Angels 10 times and the Mariners 6.  The Red Sox play the Mariners 10 times and the Angels 6.  Now take into account the Yankees played the Mets 6 times to the Red Sox 3 games against the Braves.  Someone tell me how that's fair to these teams?  Like Geoff said, the Yankees not only have a better record than the Sox, they've traveled a tougher road to get there.  Well said.  You can't dispute that.  You have to remember that MLB is a business.  Businesses are set-up to make as much money as possible.  One way that MLB can maximize its profits is to play with the schedule so that potential playoff/division races aren't decided in early July.  Think about it.  It makes sense.

As for yesterday's series finale with the Angels, it was a pretty good game from a Yankee standpoint.  The offense was firing on all cylinders, cranking out 16 hits, with everyone chipping in.  The Captain sets the tone with a 2-run big fly to get things started.  Jorge snapped out of his slump with 3 hits.  His jack of Brendan Donnelly was nice to see.  Micheal Kay mentioned before the game started that people say that if John Lackey is fidgety before the game, he hasn't done as well.  He was fidgety and he didn't do as well.  I'm paraphrasing what Kay said as I can't remember it word for word but it's interesting how observant people are. 

A-Rod came through with the game-winning sac-fly, missing the grand salami but a few feet.  How huge would that have been for A-Rod?  A-Rod's average has risen 10 percentage points, and his OPS has risen 31 percentage points over his last 7 games.  He's 11 for his last 25 (.440) with 3 jacks and 7 RBI.  It looks like he's turning the corner and becoming "A-Rod" again.  August has been his best month numbers-wise of his career.  Things are looking up for A-Rod.  On a similar note, Giambi has increased his average 10 points and his OPS 24 over the last 7 games.  He's 9 for his last 23 (.391) w/3 longballs and 8 RBI of his own.  The middle of the lineup is beginning to crush.  And why do people think the end is near?

Even Randy Johnson looked pretty good.  He is going to be one of the keys to the Yankees success over the next month-and-a-half.   His last 2 outings are what we need to see.

Was it me or was Kyle Farnsworth hitting 100-plus on every pitch?  In the words of Phil Rizzutto: "Holy Cow!"  Now I'm sure the MPH was inflated as most ballpark radar guns are bumped up a few, allegedly.  But still, holy cow!  Every pitch.  100.  101.  100.  101.  Stick with the heat Kyle.  Stick with the heat.  Stop trying to get cute with the slider and just throw the gas.  It gets the job done.

So the Halos are gone and the O's come to town.  This is the part of the schedule where we might gain a game before heading to Boston this weekend.  The Sox have the Tigers in town.  The best road team versus the best home team.  The road team won round one.  No reason to think they can't win round two.  Tonight's matchup of Schilling v. Bonderman should be pretty exciting.  It might be tough for Curt to pick up his league leading 15th win.  If Moose and the Yanks can get to Erik Bedard, which is no easy task as Bedard has good stuff, then Moose might take another step closer to his first 20-win season.  I think he's got another 7 wins in him.  Let's hope that the tandem of A-Rod/Giambi keep mashing and that Moose can tame Yankee-killer Miguel Tejada.  It should be a good series.

Go Yanks!

J-Boogie

With the recent swoon against the Halos, it seems a lot of people are ready to call the end to the Yankees run.  Unless your name is Kasey Anderson, I don't get why you'd think that?  First off, everybody needs to go read Mark Feisand's latest post.  Second off, everyone needs to remember that this is baseball.  It's a 162 game schedule.  You have to expect the stretches where one team will play some tough teams, and other teams will have a little easier go at it.  The Yankees are currently playing the Angels.  They Angels are the one team that has a winning record against the Yankees in the Joe Torre era.  I haven't looked at updated win-loss records this year, so things could have changed, but the Angels have always been the Yankees Achilles heel.  At last check, the Sox have only lost once to the Orioles this year.  You'd be foolish to think that the Red Sox weren't going to pick up a game or two at this part of the schedule.

If you're a Yankee fan, I'm sure you remember earlier in the season when they were 3-5 games back.  And then they made a run and there was a period of time where the Yanks and Sox went back and forth, leapfrogging each other for the top spot.  And then what happened?  The Yanks fell back 3-5 games.  And then they clawed their way back and the two teams danced again.  Then the Yanks fell back again, and again they made their way back, but this time, the Yanks took the 3 game lead.  Anybody see a pattern here?  As teams make their way through the schedule, where 1 team plays a good team and the other plays a bad team, this is going to happen.  After the Angles, the Yanks host the Orioles, while the Red Sox host the Tigers.  This benefits the Yankees.  After the Yanks/Sox have their face-to-face meeting, both teams head out west.   The Yanks play Seattle, and the Sox play Anaheim.  Advantage = Yankees.  Then they flip-flop.  Advantage = Boston.  Do you see my point?  I think it's clear.  If you're jumping off the ship because of the last 3 games, do us all a favor and stay off the ship. 

Also, the Yanks may only hold a 1-game lead, but they both share the same win total.  The Red Sox have played 2 more games than Yankees, both of which they lost.  When the Yankees make those games up they can stretch that lead by another full game by winning both.  Win 1 and you still have a 1-game lead.  The ball right now is in the Yankee court.  And it's not like the Red Sox are crushing teams.  They could have very easily been swept by Cleveland.  They split the series and the 2 games they won were on 9th inning walkoffs.  They lost 3 of 4 to the D-Rays and the one game they won was on an 8th inning run.  Then there was the 3 game laugher in KC.  We all know what happened there.  And their last series against the O's.  The Sox easily took game 1, needed extra innings to win game 2 and won on an error, and barely held on to win game 3.  They gave up 18 runs to the Orioles in the 3 games.  How is that impressive? 

Let's not forget Yankee fans the following names: Matsui, Sheffield, Dotel.  Those 3 could join the team very soon.  The lineup is going to be more potent than it was to start the year, and the bridge to Rivera will be strengthened with Dotel.  The team will only get better. 

It's just a bad part of the schedule.  It's going to equal itself out in the end and the Yanks will come out on top because they are the better team.  The Yanks just played the defending World Series champs and the one team that always beats them, while the Sox played the Royals and the Orioles.  You're an idiot if you thought the Sox wouldn't make up ground.

Peace , love and pinstripes.

J-Boogie

You have to love announcers.  To open up today's Yankee game, Michael Kay talks about how great Chien-Ming Wang is at keeping the ball in the park.  He mentions that he's never given up more than 1 HR in a start.  He also mentions that Wan's first inning ERA is second only to Roy Halladay.  He says this and the wife and I look at each other, and we both knock on our wooden coffee table.  Chone Figging then leads off the game with an HR and there are 2 on with 1 out.  So much for trying to cancel the jinx Kay slapped on Wang.

Announcers, when will they learn?

J-Boogie

edited to add @ 1:20- 3 runs are in, 2 are on, and 1 is out. 

edited to add @ 1:22- bases loaded, 1 out.  Angels have 6 hits.

edited to add @ 1:24- the pitcher's best friend bails out Wang.  3 ER.

Thanks a lot Michael.

<Insert laughter here>

J

I'm working on creating photo albums from our recent trip.  Some may be a little dark as I'm still figuring out the camera.  Here are some from Fenway and the rest are in an album:

This was the first thing we saw on the streets of Boston.  Ah, regional slang.

The back of the person standing in front of me in line.

I took this so Sox fans could remember the glory days when they were in first place.

Why, thank you.  We hope to come again.  If anyone wants a trick on how to get tickets when they first go on sale, let me know.

Here's me hoping to get an autograph or two.  I didn't get any.  I could have gotten Coco Crisp, but he's Coco Crisp.

And the home of the brave.  I've noticed many players put the left hand on their back during the anthem.

The return of Boomer, I mean, Boomah.

I love it when they call me Big Papi.  Ortiz limbering up before dinger #1.

Papi's pimp strut after dinger #1.  I just missed the point to the sky.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.  Are they crazy?  They want me to pitch to these guys?

The Green Monster, err Monstah, in all its glory.

Manny getting the brush back. 

Papi's walkoff.  I was disgusted but I knew it was coming.

Ball game.

Celebrate good times, come on.  Haven't I seen this before?  Many many times before.

Who's the dude afraid to get into the mix?  Get a little closer, don't be shy? 

Enough already. 

What a game!  If only the Tribe pulled it out.  Either way, we had a wicked good time.

Check out the photo album for all the pics from Fenway.  We had an awesome time.

Go Yanks!

J-Boogie   

It's been about a week or so since my last post.  The trip back from St. Louis went fine, but when I got back home I had to deal with the fact that my home PC was dead and my only option to access the Internet is at work.  Now normally I don't mind sneaking online at work.  But when you return from vacation, it normally takes about 2 days to catch yourself back up to where you were before you left.  I'm not quite to that point yet, which really irritates me because I really detest working.  It's just not something I'm cut out for.  Too bad I can't get paid to blog all day.  I'm actually at work now, killing time before my Wednesday night softball game.  The good news is that I've replaced my home PC and I'll return to blogging regularly, as well as getting back to commenting on the regular blogs I comment on, as well as some new ones I was perusing.  On to the Yankees....

I am very encouraged as to the Yankees place in baseball right now.  It's crazy when you realize that the Yankees are the second best team in baseball right now in terms of winning percentage.  And they aren't even running on all cylinders.  Cano was missing for over a month.  Sheffield and Matsui have missed almost the entire year.  Can you imagine where'd they'd be if those guys were healthy?  They'd probably have a record similar to, if not better than, the Tigers.  The Yanks have a series record of 17-3-1 in their last 21 series.  Over their last 15 series they are 12-2-1.  And they've won their last 4.  If I did my math right, they are 24-8-3 for the year.  That's impressive.  That equals October baseball.

The Yanks have been playing great baseball as of late.  It wasn't long ago that they were hovering about 4 games back of Boston.  I had a post a while back about how the Yanks would catch and pass Boston in the standings, and right now it's playing out like I thought.  Things right now look good if you're a Yankee fan.  knock on wood.

The acquisition of Bobby Abreu is looking great right now.  He may not be hitting for power, but with a .414 average, I won't complain.  Cano comes off the DL and racks up 3 hits.  Jeter is in a "mini-slump" if you can even call it that, as he's 4 for his last 22.  I'm still waiting for A-Rod to just get buckwild on everybody.  August is supposed to be his best playing month of his career.  9 for 28 to start the month isn't bad.  I just want to see some more extra base hits from him.

Boston is struggling right now.  The loss of Varitek is huge to that franchise.  Flashback to their Sunday loss in Tampa Bay.  Timlin, Papelbon, and Tavarez each give up bombs and the Sox drop the game to the D-Rays.  Is this possibly because the Sox backups aren't the best at calling games?  I think Greg Maddux had an issue with Javy Lopez as a catcher when they were in Atlanta if I'm not mistaken.  Someone correct me if I'm thinking of someone else.  Varitek was a leader on that team and he is remarkable when it comes to handling pitchers.  I don't think we're going to see that kind of value from Lopez.  Regardless of who is behind the plate right now, the Sox aren't playing well right now.  There's still plenty of time for them to turn things around, but the Yanks don't show any signs of slowing.  It's going to be an interesting 2 months.  It's funny how around this time of year to start to root for 1 team 1 day, and root against them the next depending on what suits your team's needs.  Hopefully, the point doesn't come where I have to root for the Red Sox.  When the White Sox visit Boston in September, I'm curious to see what the standings look like and who I'll want to win those games.

I hope to get up some pictures of our trip in the next day or so.  I'll also update my autograph ball collection.  Randy is on the hill tonight.  I hope the real Randy shows up.  Unless the real Randy is the new Randy and that means that I want the old Randy to show up.  Go Yankees!!

Peace, love and pinstripes.

J-Boogie

Just got back form tonight's Cardinals/Brewers game at the beautiful new Busch Stadium.  And so ends another fun-filled stadium trip.  I wish this one could have been longer.  But it was fun nonetheless.  Unfortunately tomorrow, I have a 12 hour drive back home to Buffalo.  It'll be good to be home, but I am dreading having to go back to work.  Stupid job.

Today started much like yesterday.  As we were driving to St. Louis, we stopped along the way at a mall that had another scrapbook store, which was again named "Archiver's."  This time however the final bill was a wee bit more.  Yesterday, the wife spent about $40 on stuff, today it was just shy of $90.  Who knew a stamp that says "Thinking Of You" would be so much.  It was about $10.  Whoever thought up this junk has to be living in the tallest of cotton. ******** out there, like my wife, eat that stuff up.  But hey, at least she got a free tote bag.  If you spent $50, you got a free bag.  If anyone affiliated with "Archiver's" reads this blog, please do everything in your power to STAY OUT OF BUFFALO!!  I'm begging you.  After dropping a mortgage payment on scrapbooking junk, we headed into downtown St. Louis to check out the famous Arch.  It was nice and all, but I didn't really see the attraction.  It was cool to look at for about a minute, then I got bored with it.  There was a 2 hour wait for the elevator ride up the arch, and time wasn't on our side.  So we snapped a few pictures, and headed to Busch.

We walked around the stadium for a while and then went and got in line.  As usual, we were the first ones.  Anyone who wants to get the good autographs, needs to get there early.  Unfortunately today, there were no autographs to be had.  No one on the Cards signed.  Pujols was really the only one I wanted.  After the Cards BP, I went over to the Brewers dugout to try and get HOFer Robin Yount to sign, but he wasn't