"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Well, the Yankees have made me happier than a pig among guinea pigs! And like a pig among guinea pigs, I think we can all agree:




The Yankees are in charge here.

For the first time since 2006? Didn't sound right when I read it but I guess that makes sense. No playoffs last year, and won the Wild Card in 07. But at no point during either of those seasons we were in 1st? Wow. Well, it feels good to be back up where we belong.

Watched the game at Duke's last night instead of my usual haunt. Was kinda like going to GNH..I didn't know where anything was, and with the old stadium, me the NYSJ used to play a game where we'd text each other shots from our seats and guess the location and I could usually get it right within a row or 2. Now, I'm just lost. And same thing with Duke's. The tvs were confusing. I think maybe I just got thrown by the fact the Baltimore-Detroit game was on. I can't imagine a match-up with less of a vested interest from NYC.

I "watched" the Sox game on my phone during the rain delay, and kept expecting my screen to refresh with the a Bay HR that tied the game or something. I mean, they were playing Toronto, who have been so averse to scoring runs, you'd think there was anthrax at homeplate or something.

But no. Sure enough, the Jays, who haven't won a game since the turn of the century (or in the last 9 games anyway), ended their skid with a win over Boston. Ortiz went hitless for the 19th time this season and was the only Sock without a hit. Casey Janssen, the winnng pitcher for Toronto, got his first win in 2 years to drop the Sux, who have lost 5 of their last 8 games.

The only remotely positive aspect of that game for Boston was the remarkable performance from RP Daniel Bard. Bad night for the city I guess. The Lakers got into the finals, which for some reason is a matter of concern for Boston. I will never in my lifetime see a city so firmly entrenched in the concept of misery loves company.

When the Yanks game finally did come on, it took about 7 minutes of my buddy having to explain the standings to me. "Sooo, we were a half game back. But the Sox lost. So that means....we're tied? No, wait. That's not right. We're 1 behind them? Um...ok carry the 1...I don't know." ("Uh, the Yanks would be half game ahead. Wow.")

C.Lee vs Petitte. Great matchup. I get very, very nervous now for whatever Yankee is on the mound when they're playing the tribe. I can't hear "Cleveland" without recalling the most ridiculously BS game in recent Yankee history: the infamous Bug Game, when a pitcher who hadn't walked anyone all season, who had a .00000001 ERA, couldn't get the ball over the plate because he was attacked by what may as well have been killer bees. Techically, the were midges. But it was disgusting, and they ended up losing that game when a passed ball allowed the tying run in in the 8th. Complete BS. I could have killed Torre for not putting up more of a fight about stopping the game. Guess Steinbrenner wasn't too thrilled about it either.

Even though the camera kept panning to more and more menacing things looming in Progressive Field, Petitte managed to sidestep any terrorist activity from the insect community, and only allowed 1 run in 5 innings. (Only 1 K though? Guess he's not really a strikeout pitcher, but he's not exactly Wang either. Struck me as a little odd...) But since no Yankee pitcher can take the mound without leaving it with an injury souvenier, reports of Petitte's ailing back are now punctuating the Yankees' newsreels.

Seriously, is the whole team in some kind of contracted system of injury tag-team. Posada returns, Petitte leaves. Wang returns, Bruney goes back to the DL. Please for the love of all that is holy, keep AJ/CC healthy. AJ is so frail, and though CC is the antithesis of frail, there's always the impending risk he has a stroke.

(Speaking of, WELCOME BACK, JORGE!! Could you give me a rough estimate of how long you'll be sticking around? Because the catcher spot on fantasy roster has been more unstable than Vince Young.)

Our offense was just good enough to win, with Swish coming through with an RBI and the rest of the team punching in hits here and there, although the LOB number still hovers around double digits. They're playing well though, and I don't think enough credit has been given to Teixeira for not just his defensive dominance and offensive explosion. But for a seemingly quiet leadership that he's somehow effected even in his first year in pinstripes.

He's a good star--plays the right way, works hard, doesn't piss anyone off, and just runs his own race. His impact on ARod goes beyond having the 2 bat next to each other. But when ARod returned to the lion's den after his surgery and offseason from hell, Teixeira was an old friend that ARod had played with and I think that made everything easier for him. If you watch the postgame after a Yankee win, you'll always see Teixeira celebrating the work of the entire team, but especially the younger guys and rookies. He plays to win, and doesn't seem to give even 1 thought to anything other than playing baseball and playing it well. He may not have the charisma of Swisher or the collective personality of the rookies, or the star quality of ARod. But it's cool. He's good for the team.

And Aces continues to be good for the bullpen, and THANK GOD it looks like the club finally caught on to this principle, that it makes 100% more sense to pitch Aces, who has been consistently lights out, than overlook him in favor of Team What's-the-over/under-on-how-many-pitches-til-a-game-tying-homerun-is-let-up?

And yet watchin this neat little win came at a price. Trying to summon Linda Blair neck contortions to see the tv has today left me feeling like there's a ruler lodged between my shoulder and beneath ear.