When you're hot, you're hot...

When I got home from Shea last night my girlfriend was wrapped up on the couch watching the Yankee game. My sister loaned Em a stuffed animal of Marsupilami, a popular comic book character in France, a couple of years ago, and Marsu has been on the living room couch since the Yankees started their winning streak last week. I thought I'd mention to Em before we retired that the Yanks hadn't lost since Marsu has been on the couch, but you know what they say about messing with a streak. (Oops.)

I saw Gary Sheffield hit a line-drive homer off of Barry Zito--he swung so hard that he nearly knocked himself off of his feet on the follow-through--and also watched the Yankees leave a lot of runner on base. The A's were leading 2-1 when I went to bed.

I used to agonize over not watching the Yankees' west coast games, but now, I actually enjoy the surprise of waking up in the morning and waiting until I get to the newsstand to see what happened. As you can imagine, I've had two excellent mornings this week. (For a re-cap of the game from a New York-perpective, head on over to Clifford's Big Red Blog.) The Yankees did leave a lot of men on base last night, but they are a team on a roll, and they overcame their mistakes--as well as Oakland's--and came-from-behind again, scoring two in the ninth and winning, 4-3. Jason Giambi hit a solo homer off of Zito to tie the game at two, and Alex Rodriguez added a solo shot off of Arthur Rhodes in the top of the ninth to tie the game at three. Tony Clark's double later in the inning proved to be the game-winner.

It was another sickening loss for Oakland. Mariano Rivera allowed back-to-back singles to start the ninth, but retired the next three batters for the save. Derek Jeter sat out with a stomach virus, and Jose Contreras was demoted to the minor leagues. Ruben Sierra sat with a sore leg (though he did pinch-hit) and Kenny Lofton is still riding the pine. Other than that, everything is coming up roses and daffodil's for the Bronx Bombers.

The Red Sox remain tied for first with New York as they beat the Indians last night. Cookie Monster hit two bombs, as Boston halted its five-game losing streak. Pedro Martinez will pitch tonight.

In other news, Rocket Clemens keeps on rolling along on his Magical History Tour, and MLB sinks to a new low.