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The big news from Baltimore is that the Orioles have just sent 35-year-old catcher-turned-DH Javy Lopez and cash to the Red Sox for a player to be named later. That’s obviously bigger news in Boston (though Lopez is hitting just .265/.314/.412, most of that coming in May), but it will certainly have an effect on this weekend’s series in Camden Yards as Lopez had done particularly well against the Yankees in the teams’ two prior meetings, going 9 for 25 with a pair of home runs.

Still, even with Lopez the Orioles had managed just two wins in six tries against the Yankees in April and June. With the way the two teams are playing right now and the way their starters have lined up over the weekend, the Yankees really should be going for a sweep here. The O’s are 9-11 since the All-Star break and two for their last six. The Yankees, are 14-5 since the break and have won eight of their last nine. Tonight the Yankees have a chance to tie their longest winning streak of the year at five games (they’ve done it three times already, but never reached six). They’ll send Randy Johnson to the mound to get it done.

In his last turn at home against Tampa Bay, Johnson had absolutley nothing, snapping a streak of four quality starts with a dreadful, strike-out free 3 1/3 innings in which he allowed nine runs on six hits and three walks. During his warm up session in the bullpen before that game Johnson was seen taking long pauses with his hands on his knees between pitches, but after the game he refused to discuss the matter.

Johnson’s opponent tonight will be Bruce Chen, who, despite his 7.07 ERA and an 0-6 record, but has been thrust back into the rotation by Kris Benson’s elbow tendonitis. In his first start back in the rotation, he faced the White Sox and allowed four runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings. The Yankees last faced Chen in April, driving him from the game after four innings on their way to a 7-1 win.

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The new-look Yankees look mighty good having taken their first two-games from fading playoff rival Toronto by a combined score of 12-3. But it’s important to note that the reason they won those games was less the 12 runs on offense than the mere three runs allowed by their pitchers, and that the one pitcher acquired at the deadline has yet to make his Yankee debut. The new Yankee hurler will instead debut today in a get-away matinee on what is already a brutally hot day in the Bronx.

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Bobby Abreu and Chris Wilson make their Yankee debuts tonight as the Yanks begin a three-game series at home against the third-place Blue Jays. Since taking two of three from the Yankees in Toronto a little over a week ago, the Jays have gone 2-5 on a West Coast swing against the Mariners and A’s, dropping their post-Hillenbrand record to 4-6. The Blue Jays did not make a deadline deal, but they did get Alexis Rios back in the line-up this past Friday only to go 1-2 against the A’s over the weekend.

As far as the starting pitchers go, tonight’s game is a rematch of the opening game of that last series, which the Blue Jays won 7-3 behind a strong performance by A.J. Burnett (7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 6 K), while beating up on Jaret Wright (2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K). Burnett followed that outing by getting rocked by the M’s for six runs (five earned) on ten hits over four innings in his next turn. Wright, meanwhile, gve up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk in Texas in his last outing.

Myself, I can’t wait to see the new Yankees decked out in their home pinstripes, regardless of the outcome, this is a banner night for Yankee fans.

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Sunday’s acquisition of Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle for Matt Smith and three non-prospects filled the Yankees’ two primary needs in one move for minimal cost. In fact, the move was such masterstroke that yesterday’s follow-up trade of Shawn Chacon for the Pirates’ Craig Wilson almost seemed like showing off.

To begin with, not only had Chacon been removed from the rotation after a disaster start in Cleveland on July 4, but with the acquisition of Lidle on Sunday, he had become a burden, a player occupying a spot on the 25-man roster who had no role to play and was unable to contribute to a winning effort when given an opportunity.

In exchange for this player, the Yankees obtained Wilson, a right handed first-baseman and outfielder with both patience and power at the plate who also has experience behind it. A career .268/.360/.486 hitter, Wilson is exactly the hitter I had hoped Andy Phillips would be at the plate given a proper opportunity. Unfortunately, Phillips hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, hitting just .239/.272/.401 in 235 plate appearances. Enter Wilson, who is just four months Phillips’ senior and has put up those numbers over 2,133 career major league plate appearances.

Yup, the Yankees have a new starting first baseman, or at least a player who can start every day and bounce between first, DH and the corner outfielders per the needs of the regulars in those other positions. If there’s any down side to Wilson it’s that he’s a subpar defensive first baseman, but according to Baseball Prospectus’s Rate stats, Andy Phillips has been just as bad this year despite what has looked to the naked eye like some excellent play around the first base bag. Of course, both are significantly better than Giambi (the exact numbers are a 93 Rate for Wilson and Phillips and an 83 Rate for Giambi). My theory on Phillips’ figure is that he just might be the defensive equivalent of Derek Jeter at first base, a solid player who makes some spectacular-looking plays within a deceptively small range.

So, Wilson holds the line on defense and greatly increases the Yankees production on offense. Not a bad trick. The result is a line-up that could look like this upon the return of Robinson Cano:

L – Johnny Damon (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Craig Wilson (1B)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Melky Cabrera (LF)

And that’s without getting Matsui or Sheffield back.

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By now you’ve probably heard the news. After months of rumors, the Yankees finally traded for Bobby Abreu yesterday afternoon. Not only that, but they get to have their cake and eat it to as the deal also brought them back-of-the-rotation starter Cory Lidle, satisfying the team’s need for both another big bat and a viable fifth starter. And all it cost them was a quartet of expendable minor leaguers. More on the identities of those four at the end of this post, but first let’s take a look at the two players the Yankees have acquired.

Bob Kelly Abreu is exactly a month and a half older than Derek Jeter and arrives in New York with a career hitting line of .301/.412/.507. Here’s a complete list of active players who have hit at least .300/.400/.500 on their careers (minimum 1200 plate appearances, or three full seasons) along with their current ages:

Barry Bonds (42)*
Frank Thomas (38)
Chipper Jones (34)
Manny Ramirez (34)
Todd Helton (32)**
Bobby Abreu (32)
Lance Berkman (30)
Albert Pujols (26)

*Bonds’ career average just dipped to .299, but he deserves inclusion anyway
**Helton is more than six months older than Abreu

The Yankees have just acquired the third-youngest established .300/.400/.500 hitter in baseball.

That said, the key to appreciating Bobby Abreu’s talent is understanding that, despite his company above, he is not a home run hitter. To wit, here are the career home run totals for the four youngest players on the above list (career plate appearances per home run in parentheses)

Helton – 282 (20.6 PA/HR)
Abreu – 198 (30.9)
Berkman – 208 (20.3)
Pujols – 234 (16.3)

Rather, Abreu’s greatest strength is his ability to get on base. Only five players with a minimum of 1200 plate appearances reached base more often than Abreu over the last three seasons (2003-2005). Of those five (Bonds, Helton, Pujols, Berkman and J.D. Drew), only Albert Pujols currently has a higher on-base percentage than Abreu, who ranks fifth in the majors with a .427 mark. Notice that Jason Giambi’s name didn’t pop up anywhere in there? Bobby Abreu is a bigger on base threat than the man whose bones repel baseballs out of the strike zone.

Then there’s what Abreu does once he’s on base. Only eight men have stolen more bases over the last three years than Abreu, and Alfonso Soriano, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, Johnny Damon and Tony Womack are not among them. Here are those eight and Abreu along with their stolen base totals and success rates:

Scott Podsednik – 172 (79%)
Juan Pierre – 167 (73%)
Carl Crawford – 160 (83%)
Chone Figgins – 109 (75%)
Ichiro Suzuki – 103 (79%)
Dave Roberts – 101 (78%)
Carlos Beltran – 100 (88%)
Rafael Furcal – 100 (85%)
Bobby Abreu – 93 (80%)

Get the picture? Despite his bulky appearance (Abreu reminds me of a left-handed version of Sammy Sosa or Jose Canseco when he’s at the plate) and his 2005 Home Run Derby crown, Bobby Abreu is actually more of a lead-off type. He gets on base at a staggering rate and is a prolific and successful base stealer once there (he’s 20 for 24 on the bases thus far this year, good for an 83 percent success rate). That he also happens to hit about 20 home runs every year is a compliment to those core abilities.

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The complete game shutout. Last year, the Yankees got four of them, the first coming on May 7 when Mike Mussina shutout the A’s on a sunny Saturday in the Bronx. That kicked off a ten-game winning streak that pushed the 11-19 Yankees over .500 for the first time since the fifth game of the season. The last of those ten wins was the Yankees’ second complete game shutout, thrown by some guy named Carl Pavano in Seattle. Less than a month later, Moose tossed his second shutout, this one at home against the Pirates, kicking off a five-game winning streak that pushed the 30-32 Yankees back over .500 yet again. Finally, Aaron Small bookended things nicely by shutting out the A’s in Oakland on a sunny Saturday afternoon in September.

Last night, the Yankees received their first complete game shutout of the year as Chien-Ming Wang made short work of the Devil Rays by limiting them to just four base runners, two on singles, two on walks. Wang needed just 104 pitches to shut out the Rays in a game that lasted two hours and 33 minutes primarily because the Yankees put 17 men on base and scored six runs. Wang was perfect through four innings, faced just 30 batters, and recorded 18 of his 27 outs on ground balls. The only man to get past first base was Julio Lugo, who reached on an infield single with two outs in the sixth, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch only to be stranded when Rocco Baldelli flew out to center.

As for the Yankees, they got on the board right away when a two-out Alex Rodriguez single plated a Johnny Damon lead-off double in the first. They added two more in the second. Andy Phillips led off with a single and was called safe at second when Julio Lugo bobbled and dropped the pivot on a double play ball off the bat of Melky Cabrera. Miguel Cairo then bunted both runners up and Derek Jeter drove them home with a single to right. Two more runs came in the fourth when Devil Rays’ starter Tim Corcoran (no relation) followed a Derek Jeter one-out double by walking Giambi, Rodriguez and Posada, the last two on nine pitches. Posada’s walk drove in the Yankees’ fourth run and drove Corcoran from the game. Chad Harville then came in and, after getting Bernie Williams to fly out to shallow left, walked in the Yankees fifth run by giving Andy Phillips a free pass on five pitches. Two innings later, Bernie homered off Harville to put the final score at 6-0

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Although it didn’t work out particularly well in Toronto, the Yankees have had some rather fortuitous timing since the All-Star break. First they faced a White Sox team that had a .648 winning percentage in the first half just as it hit its first serious skid of the year. The Yankees swept the Chisox at home to open the second half, and the Sox have since gone 2-7, pushing their skid to 3-12 dating back to their final series before the break.

Next the Yankees faced the Mariners at home without having to see Jamie Moyer or Felix Hernandez, taking two of three. They then traveled to Toronto on the even of the Shea Hillenbrand fiasco. The Jays took three of four that weekend, but have since lost three of four to put their post-Hillenbrand record at .500. Most recently, the Yankees stopped by Arlington, Texas to finish their season series with the Rangers with a three-game sweep. The last of those victories saw the Yankees score four runs in the eighth inning against Francisco Cordero, who just earlier today was sent to Milwaukee in the deal for Carlos Lee. Had that trade happened before the Yankees traveled to Texas, the sweep may not have.

Tonight the Yankees come back home to host a three-game weekend series against the Devil Rays. Good timing? Well, Scott Kazmir was supposed to start tomorrow, but has been skipped due to shoulder soreness. Alex’s boy, Yankee-killer Jonny Gomes, has a shoulder injury of his own that will require surgery this offseason. Though he’s tried to play through it, it isn’t working. Gomes is hitting just .121/.181/.258 in July and has been dropped to the bottom third of the order. Finally, Aubrey Huff, the other Devil Ray who always seemed to hurt the Yankees (in part because, like Gomes, he’s simply a good hitter), was dealt to Houston for a pair of minor leaguers two weeks ago.

Yeah, that’s good timing. Not that the Devil Rays have been a big threat to the Yankees thus far this season (the Yanks lead the season series 6-2), but every little bit helps.

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The Yanks go for a quick and easy series win tonight with their ace, Mike Mussina, taking the hill against former Padre Adam Eaton, who will be making his Rangers debut after spending four months on the DL due to a strained middle finger on his pitching hand. Eaton has made four minor league rehab starts, two in double-A and two in triple-A. He dominated in all four turns, allowing just one run at each level, but the Rangers kept him on a strict pitch limit which held him to a mere 12 1/3 innings pitched across those four starts. Part of me expects Eaton to get roughed up tonight, if not the first time through the order, then certainly the second time ’round as he gets past his minor league pitch limits. Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the Eaton.

Last week’s heat wave has given way to some absolutely beautiful days here in the New York area. Not that it does the Yankees any good. Last night’s game time temperature in Arlington was 94 degrees, but the Yankees were as cool as the other side of the pillow, answering a second inning solo homer by Mark Teixeira off Randy Johnson with four runs over the next three innings.

In the third, a pair of two-out triples by Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter tied the score. In the fourth, Alex Rodriguez and Bernie Williams scored on a two-out double by Miguel Cairo to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. In the fifth, Alex Rodriguez received some cosmic justice when, with Melky on third and Jason Giambi on first and one out, Rodriguez hit a sharp grounder to third and Texas third baseman Mark DeRosa tried to nail Melky at home, but threw the ball in the dirt, allowing Cabrera to score.

The Rangers got that run back in the bottom of the inning when that man Teixeira drove home a Gary Matthews Jr. double with two outs only to get nailed by Cabrera when he tried to stretch his hit into a double and overslid the bag. Two pitches later, the Yanks returned the favor via an Aaron Guiel solo shot.

A pair of doubles by Jeter and Rodriguez added another run in the seventh, capping the scoring at 6-2 Yankees. Johnson, showing no ill effects from the 129 pitches he threw in his previous start, pitched six strong and Proctor, Farnsworth, and Rivera combined to hold the Rangers to three hits and no walks while striking out five over the final three innings.

Farnsworth has now struck out the side in his last two appearances and hasn’t walked a man in his last 11 innings pitched, dating back to June 25 against the Marlins. His line over that stretch is 11 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 8 K. Proctor has also been pitching well of late. Since the All-Star break his line is 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 12 K.

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Like every other team in the AL West, the Rangers are a straight-up .500 ballclub. That’s why there are just four games separating first and last place in that division. For their part, the Rangers have by far the best run differential of the bunch and stand just a half game behind the first-place A’s.

The three-game series set to start tonight will finish their season set with the Yankees. Back in May, the Yankees swept a three-game set in Texas, then split a four-game set with the Rangers in the Bronx thank in large part to one of the wildest games the Yankees have played in recent memory. That adds up to a 5-2 advantage in the season series for the New Yorkers. Now, if the Rangers are a truely .500 team, they’ll catch fire and sweep the Yanks here to even the season series, then punt their ensuing three-game set against the Royals, leading to much rending of garments among the Bronx Banter readership.

For the more enlightened members of that group, win or lose a highlight of this series should be that we’re getting our first look at rookie Ian Kinsler (.304/.370/.492) who, along with Jose Lopez and the still MIA Robinson Cano, gives the AL an exciting crop of young second basemen.

Tonight Randy Johnson takes on Kevin Millwood. Both veterans have been headed in the right direction of late after rough starts to their seasons, though both also suffered a pre-All-Star break hicup. As is becoming a tradition in my pregame posts for Johnson’s starts, here’s Randy’s combined line in his last three starts: 22 2/3 IP, 18 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 HR, 1 BB, 22 K.

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Last night’s match-up of Mike Mussina and Roy Halladay was the sort of pitching confrontation people circle on their calendars weeks ahead of time, but while it did turn out to be a low-scoring, one-run game, it was ultimately a disappointment for more reasons than the ultimate result.

For one thing, the best pitching duels are the ones that reach the last three innings in a tie or with a one-run lead with neither team having scored more than three runs (a rule I just made up). But last night the Yankees broke a scoreless tie in the third when Miguel Cairo singled, stole second and scored on a Johnny Damon double, then added single runs in the fourth (Alex Rodriguez double, Posada single, Bernie RBI groundout) and fifth (Melky infield single followed by a Toronto error on a stolen base attempt that sent Melky to third and a Cairo sac fly that plated him). With a three-run lead after four and a half innings and Mussina cruising (just two Blue Jay base runners, both on singles, one that didn’t leave the infield, and six strikeouts through five), the suspense had gone out of the game. This appeared to be the Yankees’ night.

Then Aaron Hill led off the sixth with a double. He was moved to third on a groundout by John McDonald as the Blue Jay order turned over to face Mussina for a third time. With Reed Johnson up, Joe Torre played his infield back, willing to trade Hill’s run for an out, but Johnson hit a hard grounder right at Alex Rodriguez at third, giving him an easy play at home with Hill going on contact. Rodriguez fielded the ball cleanly, but his side-arm throw home tailed to the left of Jorge Posada who, once again frozen by the prospect of a charging base runner, failed to make a full effort to catch the ball. Hill was safe because of Rodriguez’s bad throw and Johnson went to second because of Posada’s failure to glove the ball, though only Rodriguez received an error on the play.

That play opened the doors for the Jays, who promptly plated Johnson when Frank Catalanotto dumped a single into shallow right. Vernon Wells followed with a soft single to left and both Catalanotto and Wells scored on a rocket double down the third base line by Troy Glaus that gave Toronto a 4-3 lead.

From there Mussina settled down, retiring the next (and last) five batters he faced. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay was doing the same. When Derek Jeter lined out to second for the second out of the eighth inning, Halladay had retired the last six men he had faced, but despite his having thrown just 93 pitches his manager didn’t want him to face Jason Giambi with a mere one-run lead. Four outs away from victory, John Gibbons replaced Halladay with dominating lefty closer B.J. Ryan.

Giambi took Ryan’s first four pitches to run the count even at 2-2, then poked an outside pitch through the shortstop hole vacated by the shift for a two-out single. Joe Torre sent in Bubba Crosby to run for his lumbering DH, and Ryan pitched around Alex Rodriguez, issuing a five-pitch walk to the Yankee third baseman, who never took his bat off his shoulder. Ryan’s next pitch bore in on the righty-hitting Jorge Posada, snapping his bat off at the handle, but Posada was able to get enough of it to loop it into left for a game-tying single. Having blown the lead, Ryan struck out Bernie Williams on three pitches to end the inning with the go-ahead run on second.

With the game tied, Torre turned to Scott Proctor in the ninth despite the fact that Mike Mussina had thrown just 92 pitches through seven and had retired the last five men he had faced. Fortunately, Proctor was able to pitch around a two-out Wells single in the eighth and, after a Ryan similarly stranded a one-out walk to Melky Cabrera, worked a perfect ninth. Seemingly discovering a miracle cure for Jeff Weaver Syndrome, Torre next turned to his own dominating closer, Mariano Rivera. Rivera set the Jays down in order in the tenth. The eleventh was another story.

After the Yanks went down in order to Justin Speier and Brian Tallet in the tenth and eleventh, Frank Catalanotto lead off the eleventh with a 0-2 single off Rivera, but was then gunned down by Posada as he tried to steal second. With one out, Rivera’s first pitch to Vernon Wells was a ball inside, but the second hung over the plate and Wells crushed it over the wall in left for a game-winning home run, the first off Rivera since Bill Mueller took Rivera deep almost two years ago exactly in the game best remembered for Rodriguez’s fight with Jason Varitek. Thus, in a game that looked like a must-see pitchers’ duel, neither starter factored in the decision, and two of the best closers in the majors gave up the lead. Yuck.

Oh, and if you think I’m disappointed because my team just happened to lose, check out my take when the Yankees lost a pitchers duel to Halladay and the Jays that actually lived up to the hype.

Tonight the Yankees get their first look at A.J. Burnett in a Blue Jay uniform. Burnett, one of the more misguided signings of the offseason, has already had two stints on the disabled list due to torn scar tissue in his surgically repaired right elbow (Burnett had Tommy John surgery in 2003). Between those two stints he made two undistinguished starts (10 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 4 HR, 2 BB, 10 K). Since being activated in late June he’s made five more with results varying from shutting out the Nationals to giving up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings to the Phillies (or, perhaps worse, six runs in six innings to the Royals). The similarly injury-prone Jaret Wright, who followed up his career-best 10 strikeout game against the Devil Rays by striking out just one White Sox in an otherwise solid outing, takes the hill for the Yanks. If this game ends without either pitcher wincing and walking off the mound while holding their right arm like a dead puppy I’ll be impressed. That said, wouldn’t it be fun if this turned out to be the pitchers’ duel last night wasn’t?

In November 2001, the Toronto Blue Jays hired Oakland A’s director of player personnel J.P. Riccardi to be their new general manager, hoping that some of Billy Beane’s sabermetric pixie dust could revive the declining franchise. The Blue Jays, the first team ever to draw 4 million fans back in 1991, and back-to-back World Champions in 1992 and 1993, had seen their attendance decline steadily in the wake of the strike, with fewer than 2 million fans coming to SkyDome in 2001. Their on field success was in similar decline, with their best post-strike season placing them 26 games behind the 114-win Yankees in 1998, and their record declining in each of the following three seasons.

Riccardi’s first year saw the Jays decline by another two games, but their attendance saw a small but meaningful improvement. In 2003, Riccardi’s second season, the Jays improved by eight games, winning just two fewer games than in 1998. Things seemed to be going according to plan, with young stars Vernon Wells, Roy Halladay, Eric Hinske, Orlando Hudson, and Josh Phelps leading the charge. But just as quickly the bottom dropped out. Injuries and disappointing seasons shaved 19 wins off the Jays’ record in 2004 in a season when many, myself included, expected them to finally disrupt the New York and Boston hegemony at the top of the division. Instead, they broke Tampa Bay’s hold on last place.

The Jays bounced back just as quickly last year, improving by 13 games despite finishing eight games below their 88-74 Pythagorean Record (an exact match of their real life 1998 finish). Emboldened by that improvement, signs of weakness from the Yanks and Sox (who tied for the AL East lead and were both eliminated in the ALDS), and an increase in cash flow in the wake of their buying out the lease on the rechristened Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays approved a total of $210 million in payroll increases over the 2006-2008 seasons. With the extra cash, Riccardi went out and signed fellow initialites A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan to absurd contracts and traded for high profile cornermen Troy Glaus (who also makes a pretty penny) and Lyle Overbay.

Still, despite their splashy offseason, I really didn’t expect much from the Blue Jays this year. Thus far, I’ve been wrong as the Jays have been hanging tight in the AL East and Wild Card races and on pace for their first 90-win season since their last World Championship season. But the cracks are beginning to show.

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With a big four-game set against the third-place Blue Jays on deck, the Yankees have picked a good time to get hot. This afternoon they go for their second straight sweep in an attempt to avoid their first second half loss.

The man for the job is former Mariner Randy Johnson, who pitched one of his best games as a Yankee last year against his former team and their future ace, Felix Hernandez. That game was a thrilling pitchers’ duel in which Johnson held the M’s hitless through five innings and the Yankees emerged with a 2-0 victory. That was an emotional game for the big man, as it was the first time he had pitched in Seattle in six years and he was facing a phenom who many believe will challenge Randy’s position as the greatest Mariner hurler of all time.

The stakes are far lower today, with the Yanks playing a house money game at home against Gil Meche little more than 12 hours after one of their most improbable wins of the year, but Johnson seems to be back on track, turning in quality starts in five of his last six outings. Here’s hoping that trend continues today.

Kelly Stinnett gets his second straight start due to Jorge Posada playing the late innings of last night’s game. Melky moves up to the two-spot. Alex Rodriguez returns to third base. Guiel starts in right and bats seventh behind Phillips followed by that man Nick Green (5 for 12 with two doubles, a homer, three walks and a stolen base as a Yankee) at second base. Randy’s old nemesis Eduardo Perez starts at DH for the M’s.

Temperatures reaching 100 degrees, a threat of thunderstorms, Alex Rodriguez (toe) and Jorge Posada (four straight starts) out of the line-up, and Sidney Ponson on the mound for the Yankees? My hat is off to the fans who chose to sit through that in person tonight.

For what it’s worth, things have been quite heavenly for the Yankees recently. They’ve won eight of their last nine, easily their best stretch of the year, they’re tied in the loss column with the Red Sox, just 2.5 games behind Chicago in the Wild Card chase, and, with a winning percentage two points better than the Mets’, have a better record than every team in the National League. In fact, only two teams have lost fewer games than the Yankees thus far this season and the Yankees have a 6-1 record against those two clubs (the Chisox and Tigers).

Keep reading that paragraph as Sir Sidney gets a right pounding at the hands of an exceedingly average Mariners’ line-up tonight. It will help. As might the fact that The Big Ponson Toad is going up against Joel Pineiro, who’s been down-right Ponson-like of late.

The Mariners are a hard team to figure. They started the season on the expected course, going 22-32 over the first third of the season. They then won 20 of their next 28, briefly poking their heads above .500, only to have lost eight of their last ten. And so they sit two games under .500, but just four games out of first place in the AL West and with a winning Pythagorean record, but also in last place in an ugly division lead by the A’s, who have the inverse record of the M’s and are the only team in the West with a losing Pythagorean record. Got all that?

What it all adds up to is that the M’s are a nearly perfect .500 ball club. They’re in the middle of the pack in terms of hitting and pitching. Their lineup is well-balanced with a full supply of average players lead by the pesky, but not overwhelming offensive tallents of Ichiro Suzuki. After Ichiro, Raul Ibañez is their biggest threat. On the mound, 20-year-old uberprospect Felix Hernandez has struggled in his first full season, making the 43-year-old junkballer Jamie Moyer the team’s ERA leader once again. In fact, the only dominant performances the team has received this season have come from the bullpen, with 29-year-old J.J. Putz and former prospect Rafael Soriano making Eddie Guardado expendable.

Really the Mariners are just dull. Ho hum. Here’s hoping the Yanks don’t suffer a let-down after this weekend’s unexpected sweep of the World Champs.

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The second half of the Yankees’ 2006 season kicks off with a bang tonight as the Yankees take on the defending World Champion Chicago White Sox at the Stadium. The White Sox are one of two American League teams the Yankees have yet to face this year (the other, the Mariners, comes to town on Monday), and one of two teams that stands between them and a playoff spot. The White Sox lead the Yankees by six games in the Wild Card race. That’s a much tougher row to hoe than the 2.5 game deficit the Yankees face in the AL East, but the Yanks and Chisox are actually far better matched than you might expect.

Although the reputations of their two pitching staffs differ significantly, both have been equally effective thus far this season, with the White Sox allowing 4.715 runs per game and the Yankees allowing 4.721 runs per game, putting the two teams in a virtual tie for the fourth-best run prevention in the American League. The same thing is true on defense. Despite their disparate reputations, the Yankees actually have a slightly higher defensive efficiency than the defending World Champs, with the two teams ranking third and fourth respectively in the American League.

Where these two teams differ is offense. Thanks to the acquisition of Jim Thome (.298/.414/.651, 30 HR, 77 RBI), a career year from Jermaine Dye (.318/.397/.646, 25 HR, 68 RBI), and a breakout season from 28-year-old Joe Crede (.294/.331/.512, 16 HR, 57 RBI), A.J. Pierzynski’s rediscovery of his 2003 form (.320/.365/.440), the usual contribution from the suddenly consistent Paul Konerko (.313/.384/.449, 21 HR, 67 RBI), and more of the same from Tadahito Iguchi (.287/.346/.429), the White Sox have the major league’s best offense, and one that’s powered by getting on base and hitting for extra bases.

That’s not to say that the Sox don’t have a couple of stiffs. Juan Uribe has 11 homers, but a Womackian .264 on-base percentage and has been losing occasional starts against righty pitching to Alex Cintron, who has just two bombs, but 56 more points of OBP. Rookie Brian Anderson, meanwhile, has more than replaced Aaron Rowand’s defense in center, posting a staggering 122 Rate, but is cruising down the interstate at .192/.280/.324, forcing his manager to sacrifice his glove for the bat of lefty-hitting utility man Rob Mackowiak (.309/.396/.407) against certain right handers.

The contrast between the Sox and the Yankees lends a great deal of support to the idea that what the Yankees most need is a big bat for right field. (A quick aside, today’s New York Post back page featured a big photo of Bobby Abreu along with a headline suggesting that the Mets and Yankees were both trying to deal for the Phillies’ right fielder. First of all, the Mets aren’t going to get a right fielder from a division rival when what they need most of all is starting pitching. Second, it reminded me of a similar Post back page from 2000 featuring Sammy Sosa. Sosa didn’t wind up going anywhere, and the Yankees made a brilliant and unexpected deal for David Justice. Seeing that Abreu headline, I began wondering who might be a similar high-profile, yet off-the-rumor-radar acquisition for the Yankees this year. It would have to be a veteran with a big contract looking to jump off a sinking ship for one last chance at a title. Preferably someone who’d been there before, maybe even had a ring of their own. The names that I came up with were Moises Alou and Luis Gonzalez. Remember, you heard it here first).

That said, any team willing to take a gander on Sidney Ponson is clearly in need of pitching. The Yankees are still fourth in the majors in runs scored, but with their sudden loss of faith in Shawn Chacon (which hasn’t been entirely undeserved, but still feels premature), they’re essentially without a fifth starter. Aaron Small’s glass slipper has shattered, Darrell Rasner might not return to action this year, Matt DeSalvo and Jeffrey Karstens crashed and burned in Columbus and were demoted to double-A, Ramiro Mendoza has been awful of late, Sean Henn spent most of the first half on the DL, Steven White is still finding himself in triple-A, and the Yankees’ fourth starter is Jaret Wright, who still hasn’t pitched out of the sixth inning (though after he struck out ten and walked none in his last start while allowing just four hits and throwing just 91 pitches and still got the hook after six, I became even more convinced that the Yankees have imposed that ceiling in an attempt to keep Wright healthy).

Think about this for a second: wouldn’t Jason Schmidt help this team more than Bobby Abreu?

At any rate, this weekend’s series with the World Champs is a big one. The Yankees need to make a dent in the Sox’s Wild Card lead and prove that they can hang with these big boys the way they did with the AL-best Tigers at the end of May. Tonight they’ll take their first stab at the Sox by taking on the undefeated Jose Contreras. Easily the Sox’s ace this year, Contreras has actually not been as consistent as his 9-0 record might lead you to believe. He’s the only Sox starter to have missed a turn, having spent 15 days on the DL with sciatica (the Sox as a whole have been alarmingly consistent, their opening day roster differing from today’s by just one man, reliever David Riske, and their current record falling just two games shy of their record at the same point a year ago). After being activated in late May, Contreras recorded three no-decisions, dodging the loss in a 12-8 defeat at the hands of the Indians who touched up El Titan de Bronze for six runs in five innings. In his last three starts in June, he gave up 15 runs in 17 2/3 innings and three of his last five starts have also been no decisions despite his receiving an average of eight runs of support over that span.

The Yankees will counter with Randy Johnson. Johnson was acquired prior to the 2005 season to be the difference maker and in a way, he has been. The Yankees won their division last year because of a late-season run that was lead by Johnson’s stellar performance down the stretch in which he won each of his final eight starts, posting a 1.93 ERA and a 0.82 WHIP and allowing just two home runs over 51 1/3 innings pitched. They then lost the ALDS in large part because Johnson spit the bit in Game 3. With the Yankees easily within striking distance of the playoffs coming out of the All-Star Break, it’s very likely that Johnson, who was maddeningly inconsistent during the first half, will make the difference yet again down the stretch.

The Yankees can guess at what they’ll get out of the other three permanent members of their rotation in the second half. Mussina will likely regress slightly from his strong first half, but will continue to turn in quality starts. Wright will continue to give the Yankees a solid five or six innings each time out with an occasional stinker, and Wang will continue to mature into an efficient and occasionally dominant innings eater. But Johnson’s a mystery. He was excellent in four of his last five starts during the first half (take off the eighth inning of his final start against the Indians when he was trying to save the bullpen with a nine-run lead and his line in those four outings was 27 1/3 IP, 15 H, 5 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 27 K), but the exception was a miserable loss to the Mets in which he allowed eight earned runs (though he did strike out seven in six innings pitched). It could be that this is what Johnson is now, inconsistent, but if one side of Randy Johnson’s split personality takes over, he will take the team with him to glory or destruction. Tonight we’ll get our first indication of which direction he’s headed.

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Sidney Ponson is bad.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time today to do this right, but I had so much fun putting together my AL roster last night, I couldn’t resist trying to do a rapid-fire NL roster. Here goes . . .

Starters voted in by fans:

1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Chase Utley
SS – Jose Reyes
3B – David Wright
C – Paul Lo Duca
RF – Jason Bay
CF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Alfonso Soriano

Okay, first thing’s first. Reyes has opted out due to being spiked on the hand. The replacement chosen was Edgar Renteria. I’m down with that. Throw in Miguel Cabrera beind Wright at third and we have a rep from every NL East team as well as a member of the home-town and NL-worst Pirates.

Moving up in the standings we need a Cub. Michael Barrett was in the mix for catcher, so let’s take him. Lance Berkman is tenth in the majors in VORP, so he’s our Astro. Chris Capuano is the Milwaukee VORP leader, our Brewers rep and first pitcher. Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks pulls the same trick. The Giants similarly give us Jason Schmidt. I voted for Matt Holliday to start over Soriano in the outfield, so I’ll take him as my Colorado rep. Bronson Arroyo is far and away the Reds’ VORP leader. I’m suspicious of his success, but his .282 BIPA seems legit, so he joins the pitching staff. Brad Penny and Nomahhh have equal claims to the Dodgers spot. Since I have two first basemen already, I’ll hold off on this one to see whose name pops up first when I go by position. The Padres give us Chris Young, which is fun for me because he’s a guy I had pegged for a big season this winter.

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As I did last year, I thought it would be fun to try to assemble my own versions of the two 32-man All-Star team rosters. The only rules here are that the fan vote counts, but the player vote doesn’t, and that each team must be represented. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away and only had time for the AL roster, still, this should answer your questions about why some seemingly worthy Yankees aren’t in Pittsburgh tonight.

Starters elected by the fans:

1B – David Ortiz
2B – Mark Loretta
SS – Derek Jeter
3B – Alex Rodriguez
C – Ivan Rodriguez
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
CF – Vladimir Guerrero
LF – Manny Ramirez

First thing’s first. Ramirez has begged out of the game, clearing the way for Vernon Wells, who is both a proper center fielder and worthy of starting, so that’s all candy and berries. So reset the outfield:

RF – Ichiro Suzuki
CF – Vernon Wells
LF – Vladimir Guerrero

DL – Manny Ramirez

Next up, let’s get our reps from the worst teams in there to avoid any Mark Redman-style eyesores. From the Royals I’m going with David DeJesus (.310/.404/.477), who both leads the team in VORP and is really the only member of their team with any kind of future. From the Devil Rays I’ll go with Scott Kazmir (3.27, 10-6, 9.73 K/9), again the team leader in VORP and a young player with a bright future (far brighter than DeJesus’s to say the least). Moving up in the standings we need an Oriole. That team is basically Miguel Tejada (.315/.362/.510, 17 HR, 62 RBI) and change and again Tejada is the team leader in VORP (by a lot). Easy choice there. Next are the Indians. Travis Hafner (.322/.461/.650, 25 HR, 74 RBI) leads the major leagues in VORP and was shafted last year, so he’s an easy choice.

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Thanks to Chien-Ming Wang’s dominant outing last night, and the strong defense that enabled it, the Yankees ran their streak of scoreless innings pitched to 18 before the Devil Rays were finally able to break through with a single run in the ninth. It was too little too late as the Yankees capitalized on a Rocco Baldelli error for a run in the sixth, then drove Scott Kazmir from the game in the seventh when Johnny Damon, who scored that first run as a pinch-runner for Jason Giambi, tripled in Melky and Jeter to make it 3-0. Damon’s triple was just the fourth extra base hit by a lefty off Kazmir all year. The Yanks got two more in the eighth off reliever Edwin Jackson and that was all she wrote, 5-1 Yanks.

Today the Yankees have a chance to both sweep the Devil Rays, who took three of four from the Red Sox in the series prior to this one, and extend their current winning streak to five games, tying their two longest winning streaks of the year. Not a bad way to enter the All-Star break, though one almost wishes they didn’t have to take four days off the way they’re playing right now.

The man trying to stop them will be Casey Fossum, who held the Yanks to two runs over 6 1/3 back on May 3, but wound up losing that game 4-2. More recently, Fossum’s been pulling a Jaret Wright routine, lasting no more than six innings with ugly peripherals, but managing to minimize the damage, allowing two runs or less in four of his last five starts. Most recently, the ex-Sock held his former team to one run over five while striking out eight.

Kris Wilson will take the ball for the Yankees and will be backed up by a very well rested bullpen, with perhaps only Kyle Farnsworth, who pitched in each of the last two games, unavailable.