Now, if Unit can continue to pitch like that in October . . .

Anyone else see that Kaat's last broadcast is this Friday?! Why so soon? (And why not a YES game where those of us with Extra Innings could actually hope to see it?!) I will miss Kitty. I wish Kay was going instead, but oh well.

Question: Why is the "Magic Number" 11? I thought it was 10. The Red Sox can win maximum of 95 games. Yanks need 10 to get to 95 and they've already won the season series with Sox and therefore the tie-breaker for the division crown if they both finished with 95.

2 not if they both tied the wild card.

3 Thanks! I thought they crown the division champ first - the yanks and then send the red sox into the wild card tie break? or did i mix that up with another sport?

3 OK, i got it. there would be an extra game in some cases to break the tie. So magic number is based on 163 games not 162. Sweet. 11 it is.

So what do we think about Ortiz' comments promoting his MVP chances and slamming the Captain's MVP chances? Here is the url: http://tinyurl.com/ngpng

Let me go first:

1) Ortiz is lucky that I don't have a vote because he wouldn't have a shot at winning the award. No DH is ever getting my vote for the MVP. He sits on his butt for most of the game which is why he rarely has a serious injury and he thinks he should get the award over a full time player on a playoff team? Please.

2) Manny would be the MVP of the Red Sox ever year not Ortiz. Without Manny in that line up, Ortiz would be a good hitter, but he never get all those good pitches to hit.

3) Ortiz has obviously spent too much time thinking about the MVP. He should be focused on trying to get the Red Sox back into the playoffs instead of obsessing over an individual award.

4) Nice how Ortiz threw his teammates under the bus there. Could you imagine the uproar if A-Rod has said that selfish BS? So much Ortiz being this good guy.

Who cares what Ortiz has to say. He isn't going to win the MVP.

A-Rod's back, Giambi isn't...

Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Bernie Williams DH
Aaron Guiel 1B
Melky Cabrera LF

6 I agree that Ortiz is not the MVP, but I disagree with you about the DH thing.

I posted this elsewhere today, but I like it so sorry if someone is reading this twice. If my wife makes 100K at 1 job and I make 125K at two jobs, I am more valuable to the family. If I only make 75K at 2 jobs, she is more valuable. If the DH brings home more bacon than the position player, how he does it irrelavent. As the case was last year, none of the DH's are outhitting the position players by a great enough margin to overcome their defensive contributions.

Ortiz's comments were ignorant and self-serving, but he'll get a free pass for them.

With about 20 games to go my ballot is:
1) Jeter
2) Mauer
3) Manny

9 I simply don't agree with about the value of a DH versus a position player. If a DH and position player have similar offensive numbers or even lesser numbers, then the position player is far move valuable, period. The position player actually helps on defense while the team has to pay another player to play defense for the DH.

A more appropriate example would be if you and your wife made the same amount of money or even less money than you at work, but at home she does all the house work, yard work, maintenance of your home, plus takes care of the children while you sit on your butt and drink a six pack of beer. In this case, your wife is far more valuable to your family than you are because you don't have to pay a nanny, housekeeper, repairman and gardner.

Simone, I don't think jonnystrongleg was disagreeing with you about that. DHs are 'disqualified', but clearly they have to be a whole lot better than a position player at the plate, to be more valuable.

I tend to think of it like this: your 'value' (as in MVP) is your value over a replacement player, which means Jeter's value is his value over a replacement SS while Ortiz' is his value over a replacement DH. But a replacement DH hit a mile and a half better than a replacement SS. (Mauer scores big on this measure too, of course.)

David Pinto kind of tees off on Ortiz here:
http://tinyurl.com/zs8a7
(and Pinto isn't a Yankee fan at all and doesn't dislike the Red Sox).

Urp. "DHs are not 'disqualified',..."

10 I think you missed the point. The DH would have to outproduce the position player by a big margin offensively to replace the defensive contribution. No DH has EVER been able to do this, but it's theoretically possible. If one of the DH's put up Bondsian 2001-04 stats, he would be more valuable than any position player this year. Just because you don't like DH's isn't going to change their relative value to their teams.

The point in 8 is that you have to measure the absolute value of the contribution, measuring how they contribute is just window dressing and your personal preference.

6 Ortiz said some foolish things there. Especially since Hafner is having a better season than he is.

If I had an MVP vote, I'd go by WARP1, which includes offense and defense, and adjusts for park, position, etc:

Jeter - 8.5
Mauer - 7.8
Hafner - 7.7
Dye - 7.5
Tejada - 7.5
Morneau - 7.0
Young - 7.0
Crede - 6.9
Posada - 6.6
Ortiz - 6.5
Konerko - 6.4
Thome - 6.0
Manny - 5.7

Methinks Ortiz ought to be quiet. I might have forgotten someone and so he might be even lower on the list. If I added pitchers, Ortiz drops from 10th to 17th! - and Jeter loses to Santana (10.4!). Other pitchers of note:

Papelbon - 8.1
Halladay - 8.0
Mo - 7.4
Liriano - 7.2
Verlander - 6.8
K-Rod - 6.7
Wang - 6.2
Weaver 5.6

I think this is the Cap'n's year. Sorry, Papi.

11 Yeah, what he said.

6 I agree Simone.

I read that and lost any whimsical "like" I had for the guy. He went from fearsome-yet-loveable Schreck guy, to whiny, woe-is-me, I won't win the MVP and it's not fair baby.

It's so unseemly for a guy to openly campaign and then discount his own chances 'cause Jeter has all the toys at his house. He actually is campaigning for Jeter to NOT win it. He goes so far as to name all the guys he'd vote for before Jeter. If I were the Captain, I'd punch him in the face the next time I saw him.

For a really great analysis of who should win the MVP check out the RLYW. SG has a great number check that makes a strong case for Jetes.

16 If I were Jeter, I'd tell Farnsworth to punch him in the face. Fairer fight, methinks.

I'm glad to see Cliff approved of my math to show that the Cubs were eliminated.

The Yankees magic number is 11 and they can't be guaranteed that if they tie with Boston at 95 games that they would both make the playoffs as there could be two teams in the Central with more wins.

The media are so dumb-assed about MVP, they always make it an "either/or": either DHs are disqualified or Ortiz has to win; Ortiz is just parroting the "big man with HR/RBI line", and those guys do traditionally win....

By the way in either Runs Created or RC/game, Jeter flat beats Ortiz. He's second only to Hafner in total RC, 5th in RC/game (behind also Manny, Thome and Dye). His current .394 with RISP helps here: notice that in a formula that counts clutch hitting, he comes out ahead of Ortiz! And this is before counting fielding...

Hmmm--if you use Win Shares, which includes fielding, he's tied with Ramirez and Mauer (don't know if that formula considers situational hitting).

I guess I'd say Jeter, Mauer, Ramirez...have the same players ever finished 1-2 in batting title race and MVP?

Simone: would you ever give a pitcher MVP?

The House that Dewey Built (a Red Sox blog) has this to say about Papi's comments:

http://tinyurl.com/rqd23

Basically, it says Jeter is the MVP, so shut up Papi.

PS--Ortiz comes 4th and 6th respectively by those methods, btw....and after having read that Globe piece, let me just say, to rework an old line, that Papi doing baseball performance analysis is like a bird doing ornithology....

According to Peter A., Kris Benson has a sore throat so "The oft-shelled Rodrigo Lopez will take his place." Let's hope that adjective stays true to form.

Also, Mo's next throwing session was bumped back to Wednesday.

Mo will be ok. Mo will be ok. Mo will be ok.

Apparently Kris "Stop Looking at My Wife When You Do That!" Benson, has strep throat. It's Rodrigo Lopez instead tonight.

14 Nice analysis Shaun P, I entirely agree. Regarding Papi's comments, I think he does not come across particularly well. From all I have heard/read regarding Ortiz, he is one of the more well-liked players in the clubhouse (and across baseball). That's why I have a hard time believing that he was consciously trashing anyone, or throwing his team mates under the bus. As I read the Boston Globe piece, I got the sense that Ortiz was just "talking baseball" with the reporter, who then turned this into a piece that made Ortiz look bad. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on what makes a player "most valuable" (Papi apparently think s that HRs and RBIs are the only factors that should be considered), but Ortiz should probably know better when it comes to talking to reporters. He could learn from Jeter's PR script (I dont' care about MVP/batting title/ etc., I just want our team to win)and his amazing abiity to stick to it.

That was 21 from the Captain.

26 Jeter matches Bernie Williams' 1993 effort.

Nerts.

Not Cool. That's Rodrigo Lopez man.

Burgundy has other things tonight, so I won't be in. Brick will fill in for me tonite.

If this Randy Johnson shows up in the playoffs...oh my.

30 This RJ+ May Moose+ Wang+ Recent Wright.

Then October is our lucky month.

29 I like lamp.

Who the hell is Paul Guiel?

33 Don't know. But Aaron Guiel got a hit...

34 The MASN announcers kept calling him Paul

Melkster!

Paul Giel (pronounced the same way as Guiel I believe) was a University of Minnesota football/baseball star, who signed a bonus contract with the Yankees in the 1950s, but never played in the majors.

He passed away recently.

My mistake, Giel did play in the majors. I didn't see him listed under Yankees players because he was a bonus baby for the Giants!.

And you can also question my use of 2002 as "recent."

Yea, let's see Papi do that.

39 You'll never hear me complain about that. My wife hates it when I tell a story about "the other day" 8 months ago, or "a couple years ago" 1987.

40 I would pay to watch him try that

I guess the Curse of the Gimpy Crow is applicable to former Red Sox players as well

40 that would be funny to see :)

That was close to a HR.

Holy guacamole.

Well, now that wasn't very pretty, now was it.

In field HR...from the O's...

Now, the Yanks need some Banter support.

47 Now this turning ugly fast.

I think Bad Randy has reappeared.

Very ugly inning. So far.

On Ortiz: I'd give him a pass on this one. I'm sure he's incredibly frustrated, easily irritated by media questions, and so on.

Unit's required bad inning.

16 At minimum, Ortiz shouldn't be identifying his colleagues who he doesn't consider worthy for the award.

20 I would not award the MVP to a pitcher. Three hours and/or 7 innings per week is not MVP, imo. Pitchers have their award which is the Cy Young.

Phew. no more damage.

Strange how our veteran pitchers (RJ and Moose) seem to flounder when something in the field goes array, while Wang seems to mostly keep his poise in those situations.

RJ seems to skid for a bit, then regain his cool.

55 Wang kind of had his share, luckily, that was at the beginning of the season.

56 Yeah that time he did, sometimes not so much

56 What do you think now?

59 That Diet Dr. Pepper does not, if fact, taste like regular Dr. Pepper.

Jeter with a chance to take the batting title lead....

I don't have a problem with Ortiz's comments. They asked him his opinion, he gave it. Granted, that's not something we're used to as Yankee fans - I think the last time Jeter gave a straightforward, honest opinion to a reporter was, well, never.

Ortiz didn't disparage Jeter in the least, he just thinks the MVP should be a big power hitter, a big RBI guy. It's just like people who think that the MVP should have to come from a winning team, or that it shouldn't go to a pitcher. Or, for that matter, that it shouldn't go to a DH. You may disagree with any of those opinions, but they're all very common, and I can't kill Ortiz for them.

Personally, I'm not convinced Jeter should be MVP, either.

So much for his chance to take over the lead...

Yeep. Damon was out by a mile.

53 I believe he was specifically asked about Jeter.

Why steal there? Did he get a bad jump, or a bad call?

Doesn't seem right that Jeter is one for three. The league hits .300 of Lopez.

62 Blasphemy!

I just hate to give up outs to anyone with an ERA over, say, 5.00. Whether it be bunts or bu getting caught stealing.

62 I don't agree with your logic, especially in the world of sports. You NEVER call out another guy to pump youself up. That's a way to get a ball in your ear.

Don't be a player hater, to use a phrase that I actually can't stand. If the voters want to choose Jeter, or David Eckstein, or Phil Mickelson for AL MVP, it's not the place of a player involved in the race to downplay the accomplishments of his competitors to boost himself. An MVP doesn't NEED to do that. If he were such a clear cut choice, he'd let his stats do the talking for him.

I think it's "bitchy".

65 If he was asked about Jeter, he should say, "I'm not worried about Derek Jeter. He's having a fine season and the voters can make their own choices. I think my numbers are the best out there and I hope I can take home the hardware."

That's how an MVP handles that kind of question. Give me the trophy for cryin' out loud! ;)

Game's half over, and it is only an hour & a half??

71 When asked about Ortiz' comments, Jeter said, "I'm not interested in winning the MVP. I'm interested in winning the division."

70 For what it's worth I agree. But I think the worst part was him throwing his teammates under the bus. Very surprising from a noted team player. But it'll wash over.

73 Money.

Man, Randy's pitching much better than the number of baserunners would suggest. But it's worrisome: when he gives up The Big One there are gonna be men on.

Crap. (&@#@&!

74 and others. OK, I was working from what Suzyn Waldman said, I hadn't read his entire comments. As she told it, Ortiz said he'd vote for Dye or Konerko or Morneau; when asked about Jeter, he said Jeter's having a great season, but doesn't carry a team single-handed.

That's what I was working from, and that part of it wouldn't have offended me. But a player should never make his own case for MVP, especially at the expense of others. (Gary Sheffield has certainly been known to toot his own MVP horn, but I don't think he's disparaged other players in the process. The voters, yes, but not the players that I know of.)

73 Of course that's what Jeter said. It's what he's been saying for 10 years, he should have it down by now.

A frustrating inning, since RJ was pitching well, and the Yanks have been hitting hard liners right at people. Oh well, only a 2 run deficit.

Bet Johnson is taken out at this point. We'll see Karstens next inning?

78 - yeah, you're expressing my view.

Cy Lopez working his magic.

I know this game means nothing, really, but, they should be hammering this guy, not going down in order when he's over 90 pitches. Ugh!

Frank Thomas homers yet again, now 6 straight games for him.

Put Nick Green and Sal Fasano in! They know how to handle the Boids. ;-)

Ugh. Please tell me JD isn't hurt.

Mauer singles, at .351 now. Dang.

86 A starting catcher batting .351 is mind-boggling.

@(@))$#*#$

Randy not exactly looking like a world-beater today.

Oh well, RJ continues his up and down season.

How many career wins does RJ have? I know he wanted 300, but I dont think that happening.

Maybe he will walk next year....

It started off so well.
But I'm having a hard time getting upset. I'd be happy if Jeter could get two more hits today, actually.

This is horribly frustrating. We should not be losing a Randy Johnson - Rodrigo Lopez match-up 5-2. At worst, we should be winning 8-5 right now. Johnson is bad, but Lopez is terrible.

Maybe the Yankees can hit Hoey.

93 Well, look at the bright side - most we can lose tonight is 1/2 a game.

And the Mets are getting killed.

91 Nah, RJ isn't walking away from $16 million. Not many people would.

I gotta say, I'm concerned about RJ in the postseason. Who knows which one will turn up on any given night?

Hoey, what a funny name.

This would be a good time for the Captain to gain a point or two on Mauer.

97 One factor could be that the focus just isn't there - 10 games up, and we're playing Baltimore on a getaway day on a Monday night. I had barely enough interest to watch the game, let alone play in it.

There ya go. I like that, swinging away on the 3-1. Exactly as good as a walk, but adds to that batting avg...

A 'Baltimore Chop' for Jetes!

Attaboy Jeter.

100 Good point (he wrote, hopefully). Has Randy historically pitched better in the post-season?

Hm, why no advance there? Well, Abreu is going to walk so it doesn't matter.

You know what's kind of funny and cool? If the season ended today, Jeter wouldn't even have his highest career BA.

Dang. Abreu hasn't taken a lot of pitches today. Hit that one hard enough, anyway.

104 Historically he's been real strong in September, but it's not the same guy. At this point his history might as well be written by the dictator of North Korea because it's not going to match up with reality in any way, shape, or fashion.

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.

Nice clutchitudeness by ARod!

Robbie clears 'em! Very very cool.

This guy is pretty bad.

The best hitting DP combo ever!

Man, Melky would have caught that 'double' in his back pocket.

ROBBIE!!! Ok folks, the good luck charm is that my wife turned the game off to watch 9/11 stuff.

As morbid as that may be.

Hoey's (heehee) ERA has more than doubled. Poor guy.

Any decent outfielder would have had that one. As Singleton just pointed out, Tatis is an infielder, and it shows.

We all know what this means, right? It's EDSP time.

116 Yeah. (I have the sound off.)

114 I figured SF Yank must have gone out for ice cream. Let's stick with that, since it can work other days too.

Weird. The Luke Hudsons, Javy Vazquezes and Rodrigo Lopezes of the world seem to keep our lineup at bay, but then the bats swiftly mete punishment upon the Jimmy Gobbles and Jim Hoeys.

I don't know whether to be impressed or confused. Pretty cool to see the scoring come in bunches like this, though.

I had to laugh when I heard Sterling describe Tatis' play. "He played it poorly and then he fell down"

116 An Enrique Wilson special.

Has the vein in Ron Burgundy's temple stopped throbbing yet?

118 Well, I only started watching GameCast at the beginning of this inning. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Tatis with his best "Jim Leyritz in the outfield" impression.

123 But does Hawkins still have the no-hitter?

120 That about sums it up. Looked like he misread it off the bat, coming in instead of going back. Then he turned the wrong way and got his feet tangled up.

124No, they changed the rule.

RJ had to be the happiest with that inning but only a 3 run lead isn't safe yet. Looks like Joe's new phenom is in

Randy has to have the best run support in the majors, or close to it. He stands to win #17 if they can hold on. Incredible.

128 Randy certainly seems mediocre at best compared to Wang

Strikes out Mora - I like this kid more and more. Get Markakis and Tejada, and I'm sold - at least for tonight. ;-)

130 Maybe he can throw at Rodrigo Lopez and hit him showering in the locker room to boot...? They still owe him for nailing Jeter earlier.

130 Me too, a lot.

Bruney may be the Yankees' secret weapon in the post eason.

As of today, Bruney makes the playoff roster. HAS to.

Give Bruney Villone's spot on the post-season roster.

That's right! I was just thinking, "Now who can he throw at..."

Nice, easy inning. Well, Baseball God owes us at least one Brian Bruney in exchange for the Pavano and the Dotel he screwed us out of.

Answer: Brian Bruney

Question: Who will replace Mo in a couple of years?

Heck, give him the Big Eunuch's spot.

130

sounds like he sealed the deal. This guy is great. Arizona's bad

With Bruney and Dotel, we have a pretty hot pen these days.

I honestly have liked Bruney since his first game in Boston. He showed good stuff and some poise right there. He kind of melted down in Arizona so it's been a nice surprise for sure.

Getting a guy with a fresh arm who can maybe get some big outs is almost required in the postseason these days.

Ron Burgundy has it right in 93 with the score 8-5.

118 I didn't exactly go out for ice cream this time, but instead grabbed a bowl of cereal. I think it may have to do with the process of eating. The more I can figure this out, the better off we all are.

137 As Chris Rock might say, "Sllllllllllllllllow down'...

142 You're going to put an awful lot of weight come October.

Bruney's got a 0.84 era, with and 16 ks and only 6 hits in 10.2 ip

If we were Sawx fans we'd be talking about how he's better than Mo.

Don't look now but Minnesota is going to win the central the way things are going (they'll be 1.5 back after tonight, they're up 8-1). If Detroit can hang on to the wild card that is very good for us Yankee fans.

Batting title update: Mauer up 4 points

It would have been nice to have had a Papelbon to groom into a Mo replacement. I haven't seen anyone obvious on the horizon who could actually partially fill Mo's shoes. Has Bruney only been a reliever or was he a starter?

146 They're up 6-1, not 8-1.

Didn't I call it? Although, this is probably an appropriate time to use him (unlike most other occasions).

144 That's the thing. I can eat as much as I want and not gain a pound. Aint it great? I'll be chowin down in October.

oy, Proctor.

142 So the tactic is for you to go get, then eat, a sweet, cool dairy product.

146 I'm getting a little scared of the Twins, actually. Liriano had a great AAA start, apparently, and Santana is, well, Supernatural.

Oh, crap. Crap. What's with this guy, three dingers in two games???

145 The key number there is: 10.2 IP.

Oh that's fabulous. Looks like the guys who were fine all season (Proctor, Villone) have chosen mid-September to melt down.

Terrific.

I really miss Mo.

as I said oy, proctor

(By 'this guy' I meant Hernandez, not EDSP.)

153 You may have it there.

Speaking of Mo, is all this rest pure good (aside from the reason he's resting, of course), or is there a genuine 'rust factor'? I have no idea whether 'rust' is nonsense or real.

Time to ice Proctor and Villone till the last week...

I'm not a regular Joe basher, but he needs to be punched in the face. Where the hell is Ron Guidry?

I honestly hate to see pitching coaches from the 50's, 60's, and 70's because they are always of the mind that a guy can either throw 175 pitches per outing, or that relievers "stay sharp" by pitching everyday. I want a guy who retired in the 90s to take over and bring a more sensible perspective to the pitching choices.

I think with Mo, there is a "rust" factor.

But what can you do? He's injured.

Did we get Bruney off waivers? Does that mean EVERY OTHER team passed on him? If so, Cashman is looking like a genius. I can't believe some of the lowly teams would pass on a kid like Bruney.

162 So you want either Jimmy Key or David Cone too:) I've always thought either would be great.

So, when Jeter's streak has been mentioned recently, it has always been:

"...longest for a Yankee since Bernie hit in 21 in 1993..."

Anyone else think this is the Cap'n's way of telling GOB "You're not really relevant anymore"?

MYERS!

See any 'rust' on him? ;-)

166 I do, but I think the most important questions that should be asked of any potential pitching coach should be:

1. How many pitches is the maximum a guy should throw in a game? answer: 120-125

2. How many pitches should a pitcher average per start over the season? answer: 105

3. How many days in a row is acceptable for a reliever to pitch before he sits out a game or two? answer: 3 days

4. Boxers or briefs: boxers

Hm, Bruney and Myers plow through with ease, making Scotty look very iffy by comparison. 161 I think you're right, that's the way to do it. Maybe Joe waits until we actually clinch? But at that point, it will be neck and neck with Detroit. Probably.

How bout a tack on for a little insurance Alex

I'm more worried about the Halos somehow sneaking in the wild card, than I am about any other team out there. If the Halos and Red Sox are both out by the time the playoffs roll around, I will be very happy.

If Farnsworth is coming in, that homer is HUGE.

They already had the lead so it doesn't count.

Arod is sick no more.

170 Any other requests? ;-)

170 Nice job calling it!

70 thank yo Alex

168 But Torre loves Guidry because he's got a belly full of guts. That's a direct quote.

172 Man, I hear you.

Halos and Sox are finsihed.

I think the playoffs will be:

Yankees vs. Detroit
Minnesota vs. Oakland

That would be sweet.

ARod has an amazing stroke. Did that look like a HR coming off the bad? Looked like a lazy fly to me. Man!

180 Mike... ya think Minn will overtake Detroit?

181 That's when you know A-Rod is going good. That guy has hit some SHOTS that look like "cans of corn:)"

so one more homer and A-Rod ties that pharmaceutical industry representative Canseco

I miss saying "Mo time."

180 Hope you're right, Mike. That would be the ideal scenario for me as well. I just don't know how much to trust the A's to maintain a comfortable lead before the final seven games with the Angels.

168, you meant to reference 165?

182 I virtually guarantee it. They have been the best team in baseball since May and Detroit is being exposed lately. It's just a matter of a week or two. Hell, the White Sox could also pass Detroit if they're not careful.

Imagine Detroit missing the playoffs. It could happen.

Hi all - I'm very late getting here tonight! But I decided to take the time to be a girly-girl and give myself a much-needed manicure.

1 - Randy was...eh, OK - I guess!
2 - Myers & Bruney rocked.
3 - I know I said I didn't hate Torre last night, but man this guy is reeeeeally pissing me off now. WHY does he continue to abuse Proctor this way? Seriously - he's got to be a smart enough manager to realize he's being over used! Damn!

On a happier note - go A-Rod! Thanks for that insurance run! And why didn't Benson pitch for the O's tonight?

Flanagan mentioned his first hit was against Charles Nagy. Which Retrosheet bears out. He was catching Matt Young in that game. Young threw an Andy Hawkins-no hitter in that game.

I'm late, but yeah, Alex!

Mauer 1 for 3. Should get 1 more AB.

Soriano just caught trying to steal his 40th base. How good is he? Potentially 50-40 this year is sweet. I stil have a Yankees #12 jersey. No need for him on our club, but I have to admit that I cheer for him every single night.

191 At least two person named Alex that we know are having a great day.

Aha, Farnsy- set the batter up with 968 fastballs right over the plate, then slip in a slider on the 969th pitch. Brilliant!

I shouldn't have called Flaherty "Flanagan". Stupid Irish surnames and Orioles players in my brain!

189 Abby, Benson was a last minute scratch because of strep throat.

197 was that from yelling at his wife?
(DOH!!!)

195 Too funny.

Good win. Night all.

Good win, all. Rays tomorrow, creeping ever closer to wrapping up this division. Wish it was possible to do it before the Sox even hit town.

Thirty games over .500, at last! Never would have thunk it when Mats and Sheff both went down.

And that's the ball game.

202 And guess who are coming back tomorrow or Wednesday?

From Peter Abraham's blog re: Proctor

The Yankees. Pride. Power, Pinstripes. Proctor.

Mikeplugh, I bet Detroit hangs on. Mainly because they have a very soft schedule the rest of the way.
Nice win. Poor Scotty Proctor, and ungood Unit, but a few very encouraging performances (Bruney, A-Rod, Farns, Robbie).

204 Pavano and Sturtze?

Mauer HBP

207 Dude you almost made me spew Pepsi out of my nose over that one! Too funny!

209 Giambi and Matsui.
That gives us a shitload of depth. But I doubt Matsui will be fully useful coming off a wrist injury.

210 No, not full Godzilla strength, but still one hell of a bench. I mean, quite an upgrade from Andy Phillips and Bubba Crosby and Miguel Cairo pinch hitting.

Torre said Matsui will be activated tomorrow and might start at DH.

Joe said he'll "probably" put Matsui in the lineup as a DH tomorrow.

Man, I'm pumped for Matsui to be back, I really miss him even though I love that it allowed Melky to emerge. And if Sheffield can even be a threat off the bench that will help. Put it this way, it sure beats Mike Aldrete or John Vanderwal.

Line of the Day:

"The Yankees. Pride. Power, Pinstripes. Proctor."

— By Peter Abraham

http://www.lohud.com/blogs/lohudyankees.html

205 - 215 Sorry, efb — Didn't catch your earlier post at first glance...