Only a matter of time before some player goes Sweetback on one of those umps..

[17] a tough division in which offense in general all over baseball is falling back to earth and pitchers have taken advantage of I don’t know what, exactly (I don’t buy this Year of the Pitcher crap); but I wondered the other night if we don’t give the hierarchy enough credit when things (like this) go right. Chessmaster Hex is an easy target here and there, but he’s already proven himself twice (Manager of the Year with a lowly Fish roster, 2009 WS Champs) and despite his bewildering kung fu, the team is tied for best record in baseball. It’s hard to imagine this team collapsing in the stretch run, but not too hard to see them bounced early from the playoffs, either. In fact, this year there are no clear winners among the supposedly playoff-bound, especially when you take into consideration the Year of the (Baaaaddasss) Umpire. Sure makes for bad kvetchup here, but it’s gotta be kinda good in general (I say “kinda” because of the foul umpiring).

The playoffs seem almost a lock, unless Boston does the impossible (they’ve done it before), but can the Yankees win this way in the post season? Will everything fall into place (Arod, AJ, Jeter, Hughes, Javy, Pettitte, Granderson, Joba) when the competition steps up a notch? Very interesting season, a dramatic arc in the making. And despite the sentiment here, Girardi is starting to look smarter than the average bear. We’ll see how it ends up.