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

Either I'm getting more normal or my faith is getting stronger. If historical and anecdotal evidence counts for anything, the best bet is the latter.

I hate losing. Not that anyone enjoys losing, I guess. But I take it personally. I take it out on others. I let it govern my emotions and dictate the outlook of my days/nights. But last night, I didn't even bat an eye when Cano struck out with bases loaded.

Beyond the simple fact that the Yankees indeed did lose their 4th game in a row to the Sux, what could I really be upset about? I'm not even doing the whole making lemons out of lemonade thing or whatever. I'd love to find a flaw in their game, it would give me something to monitor when I'm watching the team progress each game.

Which is not to say they are flawless. But consider the facts:

• Mark "God Help Me if I Hear Yankee Stadium Boo Him Again, the Guy is a F'n God" Teixiera hit back to back homeruns when they were down.
• Ditto for Damon, minus the ding
• Robinson "God Help Me if Anyone Takes Issue with the League's Best Batter Striking Out" Cano gets large portion of latitude for his performance to date. He's one of about 4 players that can't be thrown under the bus for a crucial SO
• Speaking of SO, how long before someone calls to attention the 7Ks Aceves pulled from him ass in 4 innings of pitching? Good morning, bullpen! Welcome to the Bronx!
• Speaking of bullpen, Jonathan "I Constantly Confuse Myself Intimidation Glare with my Constipation Stare" Papelbon has been delightfully shaky, unreliable, and basically the sun has set on his reign of terror. Welcome to year 3 of the Majors, assclown. (He is like the athlete version of Bill Simmons--insistent on retaining all his youthful calling cards of the glory days despite/in spite of the writing on the wall
• I love how the Yanks are tentatively exploring the world of not taking crap. Jeter never argues. Ever. Mr Pick Your Battles. Good for him for speaking up.
• And speaking of speaking up, 1B coach Bogar must have got inspired by all the talk of tipping pitches that's circulating the sports media grapevine. But in the spirit of knee-jerk-reaction-defaulting-to-obnoxious-aggression, Bogar calls Girardi a "f&*%ing prick." Question: What the hell exactly goes on in Boston's orientation seminar that so meticulously instills this undying devotion to classlessness?? It's like more steadfast than my alma mater's honor code or speaking tradition.
• Maybe Phil Hughes' box score isn't one for the books, but this is why I don't trust box scores. His pitches themselves looked pretty good. He had control and they were moving, they weren't the pitches of a sloppy meatballer. They were the pitches of a guy who had a less than stellar outing. The guy has talent and he's not budging from my fantasy team.
• Their defense looks so good. So good. One off throw by Jeter--I can get over that, I also saw a lot of range. That's right. RANGE. Which brings me to the only bummer on the bases--Berroa. He's like Giambi on the other side of the field. We fixed the "oh, shit, where's the ball gonna land" problem at first, but it was like the spot in the Cat in the Hat. It just got tossed over to the other side of the infield, and I'm looking through my fingers every time there's a soft grounder hit to 3B.
  
• JUST A FEW MORE DAYS TIL THE A-VOID IS FILLED WITH THE BEST 3B IN THE GAME WHO ISN'T EVEN REALLY A 3B BUT HE'S JUST. THAT. GOOD.
• Which means a few more days til Teixiera starts saying things like, "Whoa, a fastball down the middle?? I haven't seen that pitch since last season! Giddy-up"

• There's a line in the movie "The Beach" that goes, "When you develop an infatuation for someone, you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason, a bad one will do just as well. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example: in the long run that's just the kind of dumb irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But at the time - it's the charming eccentricity you've been searching for all these years." When Nick Swisher walked in the bottom of the 9th to load the bases, my crush on him grew some more and I knew that, to answer the quandary posed at the onset of this recap/post, I'm probably not making any significant moves toward the more normal end of the spectrum.