Thanks for the laugh Emma. It was certainly needed after a brutal few days.

A rainout would really be nice today, if only to skip Ponson's turn.

And, as I said last night in the comments, I'm guessing (in the best case) a grade 1 deltoid strain for Joba.

http://tinyurl.com/68fcr2

Stop stealing my act!

Dr. Andrews recommends two weeks of rest for Joba followed by a return to the bullpen. Then, IPK and Hughes return to the rotation. All three perform exceptional in their roles and the Yankees ride a late surge to the playoffs?

Now, I just need to find a way to get myself to believe that.

I'm still not ready to say this team is done (although it's looking bleak). The Yankees spotted the rest of the world 10 wins at the beginning of the season (I think that's how many games IPK and Phil lost, combined). I would think that if ponson and rasner had taken those starts, the Yanks could have at minimum won 4 of them. Add 4 wins to their current total and they're ahead of the Sox. This is despite their inconsistent play throughout the season. The Red Sox are due for a correction - Manny's out, Ortiz may be hurt again, Lowell is experiencing hip problems, and Bay will come back to earth a bit. I just can't see giving up on the season unless we're still behind on Sept 1.

Our rotation may not have enough to win through the post season, but you never know.

I think Molina played last night because:

(1) I-Rod can't play every day anyway, and with the Texas heat, good to get him the rest.

(2) Molina, career vs LHP: .267/.310/.403
Molina, career vs RHP: .229/.265/.312

When you know I-Rod isn't going to play every day, and you know Molina can't hit RHP worth a damn, why wouldn't he start against a LHP?

Thanks for the laughs, Emma - you made the sting of another crappy loss hurt less.

Btw, he's one of two Yankees on my All-Girl team. The other is Maryanne O'Rivera.

in any case, i think you are misunderstanding what people are saying by trying to pass someone through waivers. waiver deadline waivers is not like DFA waivers. you're not cutting the player. and in this case, the purpose isn't to get rid of the player, it's to see whether you can find value for the player. remember, pudge, giambi and abreu are (most likely) going to be type A free agents after the year, who will very likely bring in a 1st round and supplemental round draft pick. however, you'd put them on waivers now to see if someone might offer you something worthwhile in exchange, something at least as tasty as the draft picks you would get if they stay and then walk. if a team claimed a player and didn't offer something sufficient, the player can always be withdrawn, which is what i'd imagine would happen ...

18 19 and don't forget that nolan ryan in all his smugness was there monday night

His biggest pet peeve is "pitch counts". He constantly points out how pitchers back in the day threw 130-140 pitches with no ill effects, and how today's pitchers should be able to do the same.

Mr. Wolf ... meet Mr. Chamberlain.

People who make comparisons to previous eras without considering context really have no clue.

The Yankees are sending Chamberlain and his test results to Pensacola to be reviewed by Dr. Jim Andrews. I keep having to explain to people that this isn't necessarily bad; that if the Yankees were sure he needed surgery, it's more likely that they would have kept him in New York with Dave Altchek. We'll know more after the visit, but indications are that Chamberlain has some damage, but that surgery is not an immediate indication. So far the Yankees are only willing to say that Chamberlain will miss his next start, but they're also giving off signs that Chamberlain will need to go onto the DL. The biggest worry is the location of the pain: while the team is insisting that the center of the shoulder is good, that's still one location where referred pain shows up for the labrum.

I had made a melodramatic assertion in one of the game threads a while back that we might be out of it by Labor Day weekend -- this was before Cashman brought in Nady, Marte and Pudge. Of course, our pitching seems to be nosediving and the hitting continues to be maddening as the road trip is underway, which is contributing to the feeling of a lost season.

But looking at the 22 game stretch starting with this Texas series, and ending with the homestand against Boston (which brings you right to the holiday weekend), if we manage to tread water (11-11 or even 10-12), we won't be out of it.

That means all we have to do is split against Texas, and win two or three of the series between now and September -- we're likely to lose most of the road series against the good teams. As long as we don't get swept by anyone, we'll still be 9 or 10 games above .500 at the end of this stretch.

The key is that the Red Sox don't establish any more of a margin -- maybe gain 2 or 3 games tops. I don't think the wild card contenders from the Central or West are going to be the issue. We need the Sox to stay within striking distance.

Yes, it still means we'll have to win something like 21 or 22 out of our remaining 29 games, and hope for some help (like Tampa and Boston beating up on each other while we take care of both of them), but we could do it. Then again, as I type all this, it sure doesn't look good, does it?

Pitch Counts: I am sick and tired of this "historical" argument that pitchers back in the day threw 1000+ pitches and were all fine. Sure its true that Nolan Ryan could stand up to that, but for every Ryan there's a Bird, or any of another hundred pitchers who got burned out completely. Until I see statistical evidence as opposed to a few outliers I continue to think pitch counts are a good thing. As for CG, compare say SS back in the day (Scooter) to current ones (A-Rod, Jeter, Tejada, etc.) Hell Ian Kinsler is a second basemen! Lineups today are much harder to get through than they used to be. I'm sick of all these old fogies bemoaning the lack of true pitchers or whatever. Nolan Ryan is actively harming the pitchers he's responsible for because of his cranky, stubborn, retarded attitude. How did Kerry Wood and Mark Prior do when pitch counts were ignored? Remember when David Cone almost lost if arm/life?

Now, how this relates to Joba, the organization was as careful as they could be with him. Sometimes these things just happen, I can't really point any fingers on this one. Pitchers (especially young ones) get hurt. It sucks, but there's not much else you can do. Maybe Hughes and IPK ride to the rescue. We'll see.

id say that the red sox are due for a correction- resulting in a higher winning percentage. the sox are really underperforming by theur pythag, and rather unlucky (15 straight losses in one run road games- numbers that arent likely to hold the rest of the season).

I don't think that's any knock on Pudge, though. As both Girardi and Flaherty have said, it takes time for a pitcher and catcher to get used to each other.