Now Ozzie's stealing his colorful material. That's a straight ripoff of Joaquin "The Dog" Andujar - "There's one word in America that says it all, and that one word is'You never know.'"

To steal a phrase, it's just Mo being Mo.

Or stolen from Bobby DeNiro in "Midnight Run": "I got 2 words for you. Shut the f--k up."

One of my favorite baseball memories is getting to the Stadium very early and sitting in RF bleachers. It was '98 and the Yankees had already clinched the pennant and had a closing series against the D-Rays. Mariano was standing in right centerfield doing his early long toss with the bullpen catcher near the RF foul line. Mariano looked to be throwing so easily but you could hear the ball zip as it passed right in front of you in the bleachers at eye level. Then the bullpen catcher would crow hop and have to give it every bit of effort to throw back to Mo in what by comparison was a lollipop throw. And then Mo throws back - another buzzing bee right before my eyes in bleachers. It was beautiful.

Mo's cutter may have no room for improvement but Rivera himself appears to be getting smarter as a pitcher as he ages. I think he realizes that his cutter thrown for a low strike gets a lot of ground outs and double plays. For every 10 pitch strikeout lost a two-inning save is gained. Mariano is getting to be so efficient he's reviving the multi-inning save - with the same # of pitches.

Mo Mo.

No Mo Kyle.

Didn't have ten hits.

Who be the next in line after Ponsoni. The best thing we can say is cheap.

4 Speaking of the two-inning save, Torre managed his bullpen perfectly in that game. He left Wright in the sixth until he got in trouble, went to Villone instead of Proctor, used Myers to get Thome in a big spot, then went straight to Farnsworth in the seventh, again avoiding Proctor, then didn't hesitate to bring Mo in to kill a rally in the eighth. Perfect.

Props also to Joe for benching Bernie against the righty.

I love it when a plan comes together.

6 I thought the story of the game was the 7th inning. Much-maligned bullpen gets Jeter off the hook.

Farnsworth's 8th inning didn't bother me because he had already earned his keep in the 7th.

But the double plays in the 8th and 9th were good, too. I guess it would be okay to have more than one storyline. Are you listening, sportswriters?

It's so hot in NY, Sidney Ponson's flask just exploded.

It's so hot in NY, Johnny Damon gained 5 lbs. over the weekend drinking water, while Sidney Ponson gained 6 adding ice to his rum.

It's so hot in NY, Alex Rodriguz is wearing light clothes, and carrying only thousand dollar bills in his wallet.

The streets of NY are so hot, Kyle Farnsworth decided to ride the subway -- but somebody should tell him it's a lot cooler INSIDE the subway cars.

It's so hot, Jorge Posada will be wearing pinstripes under his catcher's gear tonight... to clarify, that's just pinstripes, no uniform.

It's so hot Derek Jeter is reducing his pregame workout to just one super model, and two starletts.

It's so hot in NY, an ice cream cone melts faster than Tanyon Sturtze.

It's so hot, Carl Pavano's over-worked air conditioner had to undergo season-ending surgery.

It's so hot, Scott Proctor stopped warming up in the bullpen -- which is like saying Joe Torre stopped wearing pants.

It's so hot in NY, every where you go you can hear the Mr. Softee music blaring from Steinbrenner's golf cart

It's so hot, bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan will have the relievers warming up with water balloons.

It's so hot, Jason Giambi's tattoos evaporated.

It's so hot, Wang's groundballs could start a lawn fire tonight.

5 Well - maybe Pavano is next in line after Ponson's flame out? Is the guy ever going to pitch again? Geez. I see him sitting on the bench in uniform and shake my head. They should make him buy a ticket and sit in the bleachers.

8 Good ones, Sliced. How about: It's so hot, fans are frying eggs in Freddie Sez's pan

6 Agreed, except for leaving Farnsworth in longer than the one inning.

The rule with Farnsy seems to be 'quit while you're ahead' - he never seems to have 2 good innings (or games for that matter) back to back, hence the need for a Dotel. Which should be nice.

I saw only one article noting that Rivera is the only AL closer to reach 400 saves. It seems more impressive, although I guess NL saves probably include facing a lot of pinch hitters.

So is Mo going to get #500?

What a change here lately....two weeks ago comments were being made that Cashman and co. all need to be fired. Torre was the worse manager. Cashman was the worse GM.

Ho-hum....this team is great to watch. I'll gladly take this team vs. last year's at the end of the regular season. Last year's team made me proud, but there's something about this team that I love. I haven't panicked this year like I have in years past; this team has this calmness and confidence about them that makes me feel really good.

12 Well, generally if you are a pinch hitter in the NL, you are either not much of a fielder or don't hit well enough to start. David Ortiz and Travis Hafner wouldn't last very long in the NL. Therefore I would say it is more impressive. That said, saves isn't a very good stat anyway. It seems like there should either be different kinds of saves(Hard or Easy) or they should revise what is a save.

10 Nice, Bama.

It's so hot, thousands of NYers are trying to cool off in Ponson's shadow.

It's so hot, Bob Sheppard will sit-out tonight's Cotton Eyed Joe.

It's crazy hot out there. Randy Johnson just greeted a NY cameraman with a friendly smile, and offered to buy him lunch.

13 Absolutely.

Let's say he gets 20 more this season - that puts him at 420. That only equals 2 more seasons of 40+ saves each, (possible if he keep up his current pace), or only 26-27 saves per season over 3 years, 20 per over 4 years. Entirely possible, considering he's got 21 at the halfway point this season at 36 years old.

Simply amazing, considering he's worked in the post-season as well for the last 11 years straight. OTOH, Hoffman's pretty much guaranteed to go home and start resting his arm every September 30th.

I appreciate what Rivera does more and more every day, and I'm already booking a room in Cooperstown for 2015-2016 sometime... (I figure about 4-5 more years of playing + the 5 for the HOF requirement).

16 Thanks Sliced, now I've got to try to get the image of Bob Sheppard doing the Cotton Eyed Joe out of my head for the rest of the day...

13 Fo' Mo Years! Fo' Mo Years! I was thinking the same thing this morning. I think he'll do it in three, providing for the unfor. 9 Sorry, ain't gonna happen; he's got other things to worry about now. Word is Mr. Softee filed suit against him the other day. Something about trademark infringement...

A Short Note From the Folks At Fox Sports...

Bernie's back
For those people wondering how it is the Yankees are not only holding steady but actually gaining ground on the Red Sox despite the absence of Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, 37-year-old Bernie Williams is a huge part of the answer. Viewed as little more than a part-time DH and fill-in player heading into the season, Williams has been forced into regular duty and rediscovered his stroke. Saturday's 2-for-4 lifted his average to .284, which would be his highest in four seasons. At the end of April, Bernie was hitting .217 with a .283 slugging percentage. In 208 at-bats since, he is hitting .303 with a .462 slugging percentage.

Bronx Banter Nightmare: Bernie does so well this year he comes back for next?

Yours truly.

The GOB Fan Club

I'm still stuck on Posada wearing nothing but pinstripes.

3 Andujar was quoted in SI in 1987, the year before Midnight Run came out - maybe they stole it from him, too?

14 A wee tad of hyperbole there. No one's ever said Joe was the worst manager ever, or anything close to it. He was getting criticized pretty constantly for his handling of the bullpen, which was atrocious (and has been for a long time). After two days of using his bullpen uncharacteristically well, he gets applauded here - I don't think that's half bad on our part. But it also won't stop me from being leery, because there's too much experience for me to believe that he'll do this well for long.

I agree that it's fun to watch these guys (though a starting outfield of Melky-Bubba-Guiel may not win a lot of games. I think that Steinbrenner has never realized that fans are much more willing to cut a little slack for homegrown guys.

18 Easy. Gator doing 'YMCA'...

19 I meant to finish that first line, but I guess it's better left unsaid.

20 As a huge Bernie Williams fan, I would like to see Bernie finish his career with the Yanks. While it is nice that he is posting around a .800 OPS recently, his defense has been quite bad, negatins some of his ability with the bat. Since Giambi is entrenched at DH, Bernie doesn't really have a position. Bernie can play for my team anytime, but I don't see how he helps the Yanks in 2007.

22 I'm a huge Guidry fan - hence the screen name - but have you ever heard him talk? I'm not all that sure that he can spell YMCA...

25 Well yeah, but if I said Larry Bowa then that would have opened up a big can of worms...

20 He can pinch-hit for Sheppard doing Cotton Eye Joe...

But I like Bernie, too. I tease because I care.

Who saw this about Schilling and posting comments at NYY Fans? When he will come to the Banter???? I would love to get a conversation going with Schill.

http://tinyurl.com/p4je7

For a real look at the competition read and celebrate:

http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/projo_20060717_17seancol.17f4008.html

mcadams is one of the more astute rsox media watchers.

29 I can't seem to get your link to work. What is the source for that story?

Sliced Bread - your "It's So Hot" rant was hysterical - the 1st two alone nearly made me snarf water out of my nose!

Great weekend for the Yanks!!!

31 It's from deadspin.

I was able to get to the link fine.

Here is the full link:
http://deadspin.com/sports/baseball/curt-schilling-cant-live-without-his-modem-187787.php

30 Ill, if I was that nervous all the time, my head would probably explode as soon as I hit the Major Deegan. And you say he's one of the more astute ones???

I have 1 extra ticket for tonight, in the bleachers.

If interested email by 4:30: jen AT nosenseworrying DOT com

35 Great name for your blog. One of my favorite Rivers quotes, though there are so many of them...

33 Thanks Dimelo. Here's an interesting quote from a post from Schilling:

"[Vladimir Guerrero] and Soriano cover more area than any hitters in the game. Sori's HR in the 8th inning of game 7 was probably one of the most incredible results ever for me. Ankle high, less than an inch from where I wanted it, tape measure homer, no one does that. Add to that the quick look over my left shoulder to see Mo taking his jacket off......."

I thought it was over after Soriano's HR. C'est la vie...

37 In the book, The Last Nine Innings, Schilling said the same thing there too.

33 I will never really like anyone like Red Light who so constantly craves attention with his comments. It's a personality trait that drives me absolutely nuts, and his particular brand of self-conscious self-promotion is frequently like a poke in the eye with red hot needles.

With that said, I have to respect him for the way he's come back, and for what he's done in his career. I did think the exchange with fans on the other message board last night was interesting, and his encouragement of some give and take with other posters who disliked him was good.

But that's as much good as I can say about the guy. I still root against him as fervently as I do against any individual athlete in sports.

39 I agree. But I can't ever appreciate anything good/bad he's done in his career.

It almost seems a bit anti-climactic to discuss who the Yanks NEED after the sweep of the World Champion White Sox, but Rotoworld has thrown out the following two nuggets of juicy info:

1. The Royals have dropped their asking price for Reggie Sanders and are talking to the Yankees about him in a deal that might also include Elmer Dessens.
Kansas City GM Dayton Moore may be giving up on the idea to receiving a top prospect for Sanders. Including another young arm with Tyler Clippard or J.Brent Cox might be enough to get something done.

2. Bobby Abreu would consider waiving his no-trade clause to join the Yankees, but a friend said he'd want an extension through 2011 to do so.
That seems unlikely to happen. All along, it's been assumed that Abreu would at least want his $16 million option for 2008 picked up, which is fair enough. A contract through his age 37 season would be pretty steep, though. The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Tigers are believed to have varying degrees of interest in Abreu. It's a long shot, but there's a brief report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press indicating that the Detroit is close to a deal for him.

Discuss amongst yourselves...

39I'm not certain I can give him that much credit; IMO he came off as very disingenuous with his penchant for saying "I didn't actually say that." Honestly, I couldn't care less about his politics because that has nothing to do with how he pitches. I give him credit for helping his team win the games they needed to, but if he were to come to Banter with that "I never said that," he'll likley get a nice steamy cup of STFU.

But, I'm just a rookie; so like me it's just easier to ignore him.

41 There is no way in hell the Yankees give Abreu an extension through 2011. Well . . . at least I hope not.

Wow! What a weekend for the Yanks! I was stuck working so I had to watch the games on DVR, well, minus Fox Saturday and its WWE baseball broadcast. We hand the White Sox their first three game sweep of the year and pull into a virtual tie with the Red Sox at .5 games back. Clutch hitting, clutch pitching, Mo providing even more evidence of his greatness. Makes a boy feel good.

A couple notes:

Why oh why did we sign Kyle Farnsworth? I didn't like the numbers at the time, and I still dislike the guy. To boot, ESPN had to show his implosion from last year versus the Astros. There is a reason the guy has less than 30 saves for his career. Get healthy Dotel. I say deal the bum and get some value for him. Throw Matt Smith into that role and see ow he performs.

Note to Arod: Just play baseball already. No more interviews for you! I try to support you and you come out with "the wild card is out of reach." If you really believe that, then get the fuck lost. Get in the batting cage with Donnie and shut your mouth. Why don't you just say we don't have a chance to win the division? I really do try to cut the guy some slack, but when I hear garbage like that it really makes me wonder how much fire and competitiveness he really has. He seems as reactionary as an ESPN analyst. Jete was asked over the weekend about the comment. He responded like any competitor should saying "I didn't say that," "The wild card is not out of reach for the Yankees." Thanks Jete.

3 games back, hmm. Looks like it's not out of reach after all.

I would not trade JB Cox or Clippard for Sanders. The man has a .307 OBA, and a .245 EQA. Guiel's is better than that.

Sanders should not be traded for anything more than cash and a bag of balls. I mean, its not like KC really has any bargaining leverage. They are a terrible team and Sanders does nothing for them. Add to the fact that Sanders is a bad player, and why should we give up two of our middle-to, in the case of Cox, bright prospects? If Cash trades Cox for Sanders I will go insane...

If they throw in Dessens, the price should be even lower.

Maybe A-Rod is trying to brainwash himself into thinking that they have to win the east because the WC is 'out of reach?'

8 ROFL! Y'know, that almost makes it worth sweltering in the heat...

41 I think that Detroit is the spot for Abreu. The Tigers' pitching is going to recede, so the bats will have to pick up the slack, and right now they don't have the horses to do it. What they lack is lefty power and patience, and Abreu fits the bill. Furthermore, the Tigers have the pitching depth in their system to cover Philly's demands. I am surprised that the Detroit media has been so cool to the idea.

49 But what about Abreu's no-trade clause? His friends say he wants NY.

I think it's going to be the Mets who get him, if we don't.

Do I see KC in in Boston tonight? I guess it was nice gaining ground while it lasted.

51 Yup, I think we'll do good not to lose ground the next few days. No biggie...even if we lose a game, as long as we keep playing well and winning series, we'll gain more ground eventually.

The key is maintaining our level of play...in general, I think we've been playing better than Boston, diminished offense, shaky relief and all.