After my visit to the Farmer’s Market yesterday I just had to stop on 207 to get the best chicken I’ve been able to find uptown. Doesn’t matter that they don’t speak English in there. It ain’t hard to say “Pollo.” I didn’t care that I had to wait 25 minutes at the lunch counter, with the homely but tough and unsmiling dark-skinned women just inches away, everyone sweating profusely. The chicken is worth the wait. Plus, I like the commotion, the smells, the language, the music, the heat and the sweat.

Speaking of mmm, mmm good, we’ve got a tasty pitching match-up today at the Stadium, as the talented Mr. Greinke goes against Joba Chamberlain. It’s going to be nothing short of oppressive as far as the heat is concerned. Should be interesting to see if these two young pitchers can keep the ball from flying out of the yard.

Over at the Post, Mike Vaccaro writes about Joba and ‘splains why, at last count, there are 43,792 compelling reasons why baseball is the greatest game. Which brings to mind a smug, but amusing piece that Tom Boswell wrote years ago, “99 Reasons Why Baseball is Better Than Football.”

Here are just a couple:

9. Baseball has a bullpen coach blowing bubble gum with his cap turned around backward while leaning on a fungo bat; football has a defensive coordinator in a satin jacket with a headset and a clipboard.

25. More good baseball books appear in a single year than have been written about football in the past fifty years.

37. Baseball statistics open a world to us. Football statistics are virtually useless or, worse, misleading.

54. At a football game, you almost never leave saying, “I never saw a play like that before.” At a baseball game, there’s almost always some new wrinkle.

64. Baseball means Spring’s Here. Football means Winter’s Coming.

78. In baseball, fans catch foul balls. In football, they raise a net so you can’t even catch an extra point.

82. Football coaches walk across the field after the game and pretend to congratulate the opposing coach. Baseball managers head right for the beer.

86. Baseball measures a gift for dailiness.

89. Football is played best full of adrenaline and anger. Moderation seldom finds a place. Almost every act of baseball is a blending of effort and control; too much of either is fatal.

92. Turning the car radio dial on a summer night.

Let’s everyone try and stay cool today while the Yankee bats stay hot.