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“If these guys would have beat us again tonight easily, a lot of heads would have been hanging in the locker-room thinking, ‘Do we have what it takes to beat these guys?”‘ said Matt Stairs of Fredericton, who scored three runs out of the leadoff spot. “It’s a huge win.”
(Toronto Sun)

Chien-Ming Wang vs. Roy Halladay was supposed to be a fine pitcher’s duel. Instead it was a blowout, as Wang suffered the shortest and worst outing of his career, allowing eight runs (all earned) in 2.2 innings. “He just got his ass kicked,” Joe Torre told reporters after the game. And so this contest was over for the Yankees before it really started. Yeah, they managed to hit three home runs off of Halladay (two by Robinson Cano), but that hardly put a dent into the Jays lead. Final: Blue Jays 15, Yanks 4.

“These games are easy to put away,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre, whose team is 20-8 since the All-Star break, “because you can’t point to any one thing and say this could have changed things.”
(Hartford Courant)

The Jays finished the series with a measure of self-respect after getting waxed twice. Clearly, some bad blood has developed between these two teams. The number one chief rocker, Alex Rodriguez, did not play as his calf was still sore from getting drilled the night before. Josh Towers, the man who has won more than ten games in a season exactly once, and the owner of a 45-54 lifetime record had the chutzpah to talk trash about Yankee first base coach Tony Pena after Tuesday night’s game. Jays third base coach Brian Butterfield, who used to work for the Yankees, was upset with a couple of slides from the same game. Lots of chest-puffing from a Toronto team that has several very good professional players but in total are, and have been, the epitome of mediocrity.

The Yanks and Jays play six more times against each other in September.

New York is back to six games out in the AL East as the Red Sox beat the Angels last night, but the Yanks are still just a half-a-game out of the wildcard as the Tigers and Indians continue to struggle.

Today gives a day of rest. The Yanks play three in Cleveland this weekend:

“Right now, we’re probably as good a team as we’ve been all year,” Torre said. “We’ll see how good that is when we test ourselves against the better teams.”
(N.Y. Times)

Amen to that. Hey, if the Yanks crap out against the likes of the Inidans, Tigers, Angels and Red Sox, well then, they don’t deserve to play in October. Full speed ahead.

Some mid-afternoon links fo yo face…

Allen Barra on Yankees hitting coach, Kevin Long:

The little things that Mr. Long helped Mr. Rodriguez with have restored A-Rod’s reputation as the game’s greatest slugger. A firm believer in using technology to study hitters, Mr. Long pored over DVDs of Mr. Rodriguez after his prolonged slump last season (during one stretch he struck out 12 times in 17 at bats) and noticed that A-Rod’s famous leg kick was too high. “Not only too high, but he was starting it a split-second too late. His knee was at his waist, and there was a 95 mph fastball coming at him. It was tough for Alex to get his leg down and turn his hips in time to hit an inside fastball — and the result was that’s what a lot of pitchers were attacking him with. It was basically a question of getting him into a better position faster. If you have to worry about getting your knee down before you hit the ball, you’re giving yourself too much to do. In this instance, it was a case of subtracting in order to gain.”

Did Mr. Long approach A-Rod and suggest a change? “It was more of a mutual understanding. We talked about things he could do, the mechanics of his swing. We spent four days in Miami before the season in a batting cage at his house, working on that leg lift and how to make his swing more compact, more powerful.” He taught A-Rod his “net drill,” which he describes thusly: “You take a stance parallel to a net only a bat-length away from you. You hold the knob of the bat to your stomach to measure the distance. Then, your coach flips balls to you and you hit them — without the bat touching the net. That’s how you know your swing is more compact. The drill forces you to pull your hands towards your body as you swing — it gets you in the proper position to turn on those inside pitches.”

Kevin Goldstein and Tyler Kepner on Joba Chamberlian. Here is Goldstein:

The resume is there for Chamberlain to step in and succeed at the big league level. The only question is whether or not Joe Torre will let him. In July, the team called up Edwar Ramirez, who struck out all three Minnesota Twins he faced in his pro debut, pitched one more time three days later, and then all but rotted on the bench for two weeks. Torre’s record of success cannot be denied, but he is a creature of habit, a manager who decides on a system and a role for a player and then sticks with it, even to the detriment of his own team at times. The Yankees have been waiting for a reliever all year to step up and take care of those three-to-five mid-game outs that lets them hand another lead to Mariano Rivera. Joba Chamberlain might be that guy, if they just give him a fair chance.

Christina Kahrl on the Yankees’ latest moves:

The release of Cairo, like the decision to pick up Betemit, demonstrates that Brian Cashman’s best tool in fixing this team is take away the toys Joe Torre likes to play with, and replace them with better toys. This isn’t about the manager’s comfort zone, it’s about winning the division, and the longer any vestige of that sort of haphazard, downright slack management style remains in play, the more the front office should be asking itself how long it can indulge this behavior.

Finally, here is Joel Sherman on the future of Cooter Farmadooke (via Steve Lombardi),Sweeny Murti on The Boss, Mark Feinsand on last night’s near brawl, Ben Kabak on Alex Rodriguez’s hamstring, Tim Marchman on why Baseball-Reference is the greatest thing since sliced bread, Ken Burns and our old, dear friend, Brian Gunn, on Barry Bonds breaking the all-time home run record, and, finally, just cause…a budget-ass recording of a classic Biz Markie/Redman freestyle circa 1990, which includes a great diss of the New York Knicks.

I caught some of the old Yankee game on YES last night. I almost fell off my chair when I saw Brad Gulden. I had completely forgotten that name. It got me to thinking: Who are some of your favorite scrubby Yankees? Chicken Stanley was a good one in the ’70s. I loved Dan Pasqua in the ’80s, Pags too. Bobby Meacham, of course, though I badly for him more than I actually liked him. Who else? Mickey Klutts, Brian Fisher, Lee Gutterman, Hensley Meulens, Paul Linblad, and the legendary Osacar Azocar. Just pulling names out of the air, though I really did like Pasqua and Pags. Whatta you got?

The Bombers whipped the Royals, 8-5 on Sunday afternoon, completing a three-game sweep. Godzilla became the first Japanese player to hit 100 home runs in the majors, and Mike Mussina pitched well again. The Tigers and Indians lost and the Yanks are now just a half-a-game out of the wildcard. Good times.

Here’s a question: What are the chanes that Bobby Abreu comes back next year? Unless he falls into another slump, his numbers will look awfully decent when all is said and done, no?

Also, the Yanks designated Mike Myers for assignment. Coming soon: Joba and Giambi.

We all know that George Steinbrenner isn’t the man he used to be. For several years now, the press has hinted at this fact as Steinbrenner has receeded from the public eye. He rarely speaks directly to the media. There have been whispers that the Boss is sick, that he’s got dementia, but nobody has come right out and said as much, which is more than a little curious considering just how public a figure Steinbrenner has been. But now Franz Lidz, formerly of Sports Illustrated, drops the bomb.

Here is the story. Discuss.

Yo, it is absolutely scorching out there today. It’s Do the Right Thing hot; Dog Day Afternoon hot. The old man, Rocket Clemens goes against Jon Garland this afternoon as the Yanks look for the sweep. It’s beautiful that the Bombers have already won the series, but that ain’t enough, right? More, more, more.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

(more…)

You wouldn’t have known that if you read the back cover of the Post this morning, which features a photograph of Alex Rodriguez sitting in the dugout. The headline? “May-Rod.” Yeah, I’m a dummy if I expect anything but shamelessness from a rag that traffics in human misery. Maybe it is the heat–and it is hotter’n’July in New York right now–but I’m just disgusted.

Vic Ziegel suggests his paper, The Daily News, isn’t much better:

Alex Rodriguez is the best player in the game. Okay, that was easy. There is no other candidate. When he makes it to the Hall of Fame, they will add a penthouse for him.

He is six days past his 32nd birthday, still a child in Yankee years, and is already collecting the kinds of numbers that will one day make Babe Ruth look like Ruth Babe.

A-Rod must be the best because no one – not the Babe, who was bigger than life, or the Mighty Casey, a poem’s cleanup hitter, or Barry Bonds, the body that ate Pittsburgh – can come close to A-Rod’s latest impressive headline. He was the big story and big picture on Page 1 of this newspaper yesterday. This is why: he didn’t hit a home run the night before. Hasn’t hit a home run, in fact, since the middle of last week. And didn’t manage to hit one last night in the Yanks’ 8-1 win over the White Sox. The Yankees tagged 13 homers in those two wins. None of them came off Rodriguez’s bat. Not one, nada. When was the last time a player ever made it to Page 1 for committing the sin of not hitting a home run? Never is a good guess.

I realize I’m adding to the sideshow by evening mentioning it (guilty), so let’s move on. The Yanks beat the White Sox about the face and neck last night by the tune of 8-1. Here is the real story: New York is now just two games behind Cleveland in the wildcard standings. Andy Pettitte labored early in the game but “grinded it out” and got plenty of run support: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, and everybody’s All-American, Shelley Duncan, all homered.

It was another tough night for White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who saw his pitcher Charlie Haeger tossed in the eighth inning for hitting Cano with a knuckle ball:

“The only thing I wish is Major League Baseball looks at this kind of stuff and sees what’s really going on out there,” Guillen said. “The umpire has the right to call anything, but you have to have a little bit of common sense about baseball to do that. I’ve never seen anyone try and get a point across with a knuckleball.

“You can’t win. You’re a baseball employee … a baseball bitch — at least I am.”

Good ol’ Ozzie. Always good for a quote. Finally, here is something that is sure to generate some conversation. According to Fortune magazine, the YES Network is for sale. That was quick, huh?

Big Andy Pettitte is on the hill tonight as the Yanks look to win the series against the White Sox. No soup for Alex Rodriguez last night. Of course, I’d love to see him hit that dinger–and, wouldn’t you know it, so would Michael Kay, who was amping himself up for his big call something ridiculous last night–but I’ll settle for a couple of hits in the meanwhile. Rodriguez had swung the bat well last night, a good sign. According to Pete Abe, Jorge Posada thinks Alex’ll hit a couple tonight after being shutout of the homerthon yesterday.

Milestones aside, the “w” is the thing.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Nothing doing so far with the Yanks in the trade market. The deadline is today at 4 p.m, east coast time. The morning rumors have Eric Gagne as a longshot to come to the Bronx and the Proctor-for-Betemit a possibility once again–here is coverage in the Post, News, the Times, and Newsday. According to Buster Olney over at ESPN, the Yankees:

…Seem destined to make a move today. If they cannot trade Kyle Farnsworth for what they consider to be equal value, then they’ll probably trade Scott Proctor to the Dodgers for Wilson Betemit. If they can find a deal for Farnsworth, then they’ll keep Proctor. Either way, Joba Chamberlain is crucial to their thinking — they hope the touted prospect can fill a role in middle relief.

They are sitting in the pole position, so to speak, on Gagne — they have prospects to offer, and he cannot stop them from acquiring him. But the Yankees have stood their ground against the Rangers’ trade demands, so far (which includes the team’s top prospects).

The Red Sox are still looking to add Jermaine Dye. They are also in on Gagne, reports the Boston Herald.

(more…)

Andy Pettitte pitched another credible game in defeat as a three-run inning was too much for the Yankees to overcome as they fell 4-2 to the Orioles.

“I’m just kind of fighting myself,” said Pettitte, who allowed eight hits and three walks, while striking out five. “I’m constantly having to make adjustments out there instead of it just being together for seven straight innings. I got in a little bit of a rhythm the last few innings, and that’s what’s frustrating — that I can struggle for a few innings and then it’s fine, but yet the damage is done.”
Kepner, N.Y. Times)

Scott Proctor may be sniffing around for the lighter fluid. He gave up a solo homer last night, the fourth dinger he’s surrendered in his last five games. As Pete Abraham mentions, “He looks like a guy who is worried about being traded, which perhaps he should be.”

But the story of the night was Baltimore’s rookie starter Jeremy Guthrie and the O’s pen. The Yankee offense was kept in check. Guthrie threw six strong innings, featuring a 95+sinker and a good breaking ball. Man, does he look like a keeper or what? In fact, there are a lot of things to be pleased about in Baltimore these days, according to the Washington Post.

The bad news for the Yanks? Boston, Cleveland and Seattle all won. Welp, today is another day. Let’s hope the Yanks come slugging tonight.

The Yankees and Orioles kicked off their weekend series this evening with some unfinished business. On June 28th, the Yankees lead the O’s 8-6 with two men out in the eighth inning when the game was suspended due to rain. RBI singles by Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter helped the Yankees rally from two down. It was raining like crazy as the Yanks came back and Baltimore third baseman Melvin Mora got himself thrown out of the game arguing with the umpires after the Yanks took the lead. The game should have been called sooner and you couldn’t blame Mora for being upset.

It was raining this afternoon in Baltimore but cleared up and the game resumed a few minutes after seven. All the statistics will count as June stats. Here’s the play-by-play:

The Yankees 8th
Rob Bell on the mound for Baltimore. He falls behind Hideki Matsui 3-0. This time Godzilla doesn’t swing at the 3-0 pitch, fastball strike. Then he grounds a sharp one-hopper to Kevin Millar at first and the side is retired.

Bottom of the 8th
Mike Myers, who had entered the game in the seventh inning starts the eighth inning against Nick Markakis. The first pitch is a breaking ball low for a ball. Another breaking ball, this one is high and away, ball two. Fastball on the inside corner, called strike one. Fastball, outside, Markakis swings late and fouls a ball to the left side. Breaking ball, Markakis waits, is late again but fouls it back. Another breaking ball, low and away, Markakis grounds a soft ground ball to Jeter. One out.

Slider inside, ball one to Chris Gomez. Fastball, high and away, ball two. Fastball, low and away, 3-0. Again low and away, four pitch walk. Aubrey Huff comes to hit and Torre calls for Mariano.

Mariano vs. Huff. Cutter, up and in, ball one. It didn’t cut so much as it swept. Another cutter. Huff swings late and grounds a chopper to Cano, who flips to Jeter, who throws on to first for an easy 4-6-3 double play. Nice and easy. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about, Mo.

Top of the 9th

Alex. Fastball low, ball one. Fastball, down the pipe, ground ball to short. That was a pitch to hit. You know he’s thinking about the home run. Well, so much for the Back-to-the-Future home run angle.

The first pitch to Jorge Posada is a fastball strike right over the plate. Slider, outside, 1-1. Another breaking ball, high and away, 2-1. Fastball grounded right at Brian Roberts at second. Easy out.

Bobby Abreu takes a questionable strike, low and away. Fastball, tailing away. Same pitch, same call. Same pitch again, low, 1-2. Another sinker, easy ground ball to second, side retired.

Bottom of the 9th

Miguel Tejada, who did not appear in the original June 28th game, leads off. Tonight gives his return from the DL. Mo’s first pitch is a cutter on the outside corner. Tejada swings and misses, strike one. Cutter in the dirt, 1-1. Fastball, low, Tejada takes an enormous cut and misses the ball. Upstairs, the ball cuts, and Tejada swings wildly through the ball. One out.

Corey Patterson fouls the first pitch–a cutter–off of his foot. Another cutter, this one doesn’t get in enough and Patterson lines the ball to right center. Abreu gets a bad jump, the ball gets in the gap and Patterson glides into second base with a double.

Ramon Hernandez is the pinch-hitter. Cutter, low and away, 1-0. Another cutter, low and away. Mo missed his target, 2-0. Posada was set-up inside. High and inside, ball three. Mo hasn’t been close in this at-bat. Pitches are really moving. Fastball strike, 3-1. Cutter, up and over the plate, lined up the middle. RBI single. Oy. Now, it’s 8-7 Yanks.

Jay Payton nubs the first pitch to Jeter who steps on the bag and quickly throws to first. But the throw is wide and Andy Phillips stretches to his right to catch it. His foot comes off the bag and Payton is safe. Jeter rushed his throw.

Brain Roberts takes a cutter for a strike. He was taking all the way. Posada is set-up inside. Mo taking a long time. I’m surprised Roberts hasn’t stepped out. Cutter, inside, 1-1. Another cutter, flat, high and outside. Posada was set-up inside. Mo missed badly again. Cutter “drilled deep to right field,” says Michael Kay. But he’s just too quick and the ball is foul, 2-2. The crowd jumped at that one. Now they are cheering. Fastball away, Roberts lines the ball down the third base line. Payton reaches third, Roberts holds first. Nice hitting by Roberts. The ball was up at little but it was outside; Roberts just stayed back and went with it.

Homina, homina, homina. Brandon Fahey takes a ball, 1-0. The crowd is rowdy. Another cutter low, Fahey fouls it off, 1-1. He did Mo a favor swinging at that pitch. Another cutter–slow chopper hit up the middle. Cano ranges to his right, leans over and backhands the ball. Without breaking stride he steps on second base, beating Roberts for the final out of the game.

And that’s that. Whew. Jeez, that was a bunch of excitement early in the evening. Mo gives up a run but the Yanks win. They now trail the Red Sox by seven games. The regularly scheduled game will begin in about twenty minutes. Y’all come back now, ya hear? In the meanwhile, check out this article I wrote about shortstops for SI.com.

Just like that the Yankee offense turned back into a pumpkin last night as they were blanked by the Royals, 7-0. It’s not that they didn’t put runners on base–once again they did that very well. They simply could not get a big hit. Hideki Matsui failed twice with runners on. In the first inning he popped up a 3-0 pitch with runners on the corners and in the the fifth he grounded out, swinging at the first pitch, with the bases loaded.

Then there was Kei Igawa. More mediocrity. Igawa gives up hits when he’s ahead in the count, and runs with two men out. He’s an entirely frustrating pitcher to watch and with Phillip Hughes about set to return to the majors, it is likely that Igawa’s days in the rotation are numbered. And if Joba Joba gets called up to pitch in the pen, the running man Igawa might find himself back in the land of Dunder Mifflin.

No soup for Alex Rodriguez either, who is sitting on career homer #499.

Hey, the Yanks were due for a stinker. They lose a game to the Red Sox who pounded the Indians in Cleveland. The Bombers now head to Baltimore to face the O’s, who are coming off a three-game sweep of the Rays.

The Yankees have already won this four-game series against the Royals but man it sure would be nice if they win again tonight. Greed is good, cousin. The very iffy Kei Igawa goes for the Yanks, while Jorge De La Rosa is on the hill for K.C. As you may have already heard, Alex Rodriguez hit career dinger #499 against De La Rosa. Everyone in the park will likely know this fact by the time Rodriguez comes to hit and I’m sure they’ll remind us a couple of several times on the YES broadcast too. I wouldn’t count on A Rod getting too much to hit but who knows? The way he’s been going this year, De La Rosa just better not make a mistake.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

The Yanks not only got smoked by the Rays tonight, they used up six pitchers in the process. Moose was terrible and Edwar Ramirez wasn’t much better and when it was all over, the Rays won 14-4. To make matters worse, the Sox rolled tonight, and just like that, the Yanks are eight games out again. With a killer double header tomorrow. Who is gunna pitch if things get dicey? Oh man, it could be a long weekend.

You may commiserate in the comments section below.

My wife has gotten used to listening to me rant and rave as we watch the Yankees each night. All of my shouting and cursing used to drive her up the wall–she just couldn’t understand why I would let something I have no control over get me so upset. She probably still doesn’t understand but she’s come to accept my neurotic behavior. Last night, I was in good form, gloom and doom from the start. “Honey, I don’t think the Rocket’s got it tonight, he’s going to get pounded.” I screamed like Ed Harris in Glengarry Glen Ross when Alex Rodriguez hit into a double play to end the forth inning. You can imagine how bad it got by the time the bullpen–Proctor, Bruney, Villone–were issuing walks late in the game.

All this on a night the Yankees won. Imagine how infuriated I would have been if I rooted for the Jays? Toronto left runners on base in each inning but the second and the ninth. They left two on in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth and left the bases loaded in the seventh, and were 1-14 with runners in scoring position (they are 3-30 with runners in scoring position since Monday). This allowed the Yankees to come from behind and beat the Jays for the third straight day. Final score: Yanks 6, Jays 1. It was another rousing win the Yanks who have won six of seven since the break.

Roger Clemens allowed nine hits and a walk over six innings (Alex Rios had four hits, three against Clemens), but repeatedly worked his way out of trouble. Shawn Marcum threw twelve pitches to Johnny Damon to start the game, but was remarkably efficient after that. He wasn’t necessarily dynamic, but he was extremely impressive, changing speeds, throwing strikes. He fell behind Rodriguez 3-0 with runners on the corners in the fourth inning and just one out. He then threw Rodriguez two beautiful change-ups, and got the double-play to get out of the inning.

Scott Proctor was an adventure in the seventh, hitting a batter, giving up a single and walking a man to load the bases. He did retire two men and Mike Myers came in to get the final out of a half-inning that took 25 minutes. The long stretch was just what the Yankees needed to drive Marcum from the game. Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu singled to start the bottom of the seventh and Rodriguez came to the plate with men on first and third. He drove a fastball over the head of left fielder Reed Johnson, good enough for a double and two RBI (Abreu got a great jump on the ball). That makes 92 Rib-Eye Steaks for Rodriguez on the season. Later in the inning, Andy Phillips singled home two more. Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano added RBI singles in the eighth.

Bruney and Villone each walked a man in the eighth, bringing the tying run to the plate. Mariano Rivera came in and he retired all five men he faced, lowering his season ERA to 3.18. The Red Sox lost to the Royals and the Yanks are seven back, six in the loss column. While I’m still cautiously optimistic about the Yankees chances of making the playoffs, they are now winning games that they had previously been losing.

So yo, happy 67th boithday, Joe Torre.

It’s all about baby steps for the Bombers who go for the sweep this afternoon with Chien-Ming Wang on the hill.

By Will Weiss

At the Winter Meetings in 2003 in New Orleans, not long after news broke that Gary Sheffield—then a free agent—would sign with the Yankees, I asked his former manager at the time, Bobby Cox, the kind of player he was, how he would fit in the Yankee clubhouse and most importantly, and how he would get along with Joe Torre.

“Joe’s gonna love him. He never gave me a problem,” was Cox’s response.

While Sheff was in uniform for the Yankees—for the first two years at least—he was arguably the most important hitter in the lineup. He provided protection for Derek Jeter in the three slot and for Alex Rodriguez or Jason Giambi if he batted fifth, got on base and drove in runs. His right-handed bat gave Torre the option to alternate lefty-righty from one through nine, which he loved. And he had a competitive, angry edge from an everyday player not seen since Paul O’Neill’s retirement. He played hurt and he played hard. His teammates respected him.

That reputation, at least among his former Yankee teammates, is likely gone.

(more…)

The Yankees won the kind of game last night that they’ve been losing all year. Kei Igawa was doo doo, getting killed by the long ball (after being ahead in the counts, no less). But he escaped trouble in both the first and second inning, a turn of events that would prove costly for Toronto. Scott Proctor later gave up a game-tying homer, still the Yanks prevailed, thanks to a two-out, two-run single in the seventh by Andy Phillips.

“It’s a lot of joy to see what he’s doing, especially with what he’s been through,” said Jorge Posada, who singled to start the two-out, tie-breaking rally against Josh Towers. “He’s come out here and getting a chance to play, and he’s doing everything we ask for. It’s a lot of fun to see.”
(Tyler Kepner, N.Y.Times)

Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez all homered as the Yanks beat the Blue Jays, 6-4. Mariano Rivera gave up a lead-off triple to Troy Glaus in the top of the ninth–Glaus narrowly missed hitting his third dinger of the night–but then struck out The Big Hurt swinging, Lyle Overbay looking, and got Aaron Hill to ground out to third to end it.

It was Mo’s third save in as many games. The Bombers have won four of the first five games since the break. It’s nice to see them playing better but I’m not letting myself get too excited yet. Let’s see how they fare tonight against Doc Halladay.

Man, guess who is playing for the Long Island Ducks of the Independent League these days? Welp, the roster includes Jose Offerman, Ed Yarnall, John Halama, Edgardo Alfonzo, Carl Everett and Pete Rose Jr.

The Rocket got kicked around in Tampa Bay on Friday, the 13th as the Yankees lost, 6-4. The Bombers made Scott Kazmir work but had little to show for it (The Devil Rays flashed the leather all night along too). Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui hit back-to-back dingers late, but it wasn’t enough. Phillip Hughes had another successful rehab start–Pete Abraham has the latest (Pete also has a nice little Chien-Ming Wang anecdote).

In other “news,” Jason Giambi, blah, blah, blah, Gary Sheff, fat mouth, blah, blah, blah.

Yanks and Rays play again tonight. Stay cool peoples, it’s another scorcher today…

The Yanks started the second half right with a 7-3 victory over the Devil Rays in Tampa Bay. Stop the presses, they are a .500 team again. I didn’t catch but the last two innings though on the count of I met up with a group of old New York Giant fans up the block (Cait Murphy came and spoke about her new book, Crazy ’08, which looks excellent). But I was thrilled to learn that the Bombers caught James Shields on an off-night. Andy Pettitte wasn’t great, but he was good enough as Bobby Abreu led the offense. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Abreu hit back-to-back-to-back dingers in the fourth inning. Sweet.

Jeff Karstens had a re-hab start. Be nice to see him back in the bigs, huh?