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

I get out of my mind frustrated whenever I'm walking anywhere, because no matter how fast I try to go, I can never move as fast as I want to. I just always feel like I could be motoring at a greater pace. And that's why no one likes walking with me anywhere. Unnecessary speedwalking in situations that don't require an aggressive pace.

It's been 2,309 times more frustrating since the surgery, but now I'm starting to get the quick back in my step. And slow-walkers/stop-shorters/strollers are 6,117 times more subject to my wrath.

Every time I get stuck behind a slow-walker now, I want to grab them and get eyeball to eyeball with them, shouting "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF--A GIMP IS BEHIND YOU. SOMEONE IN A BRACE IS ANNOYED YOU'RE NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH. YOU DISGUST ME."

And that's EXACTLY how the Yankees should feel if they don't bank a sweep against the Nats.

I was legitimately surprised when I started watching in the top of the 2nd and the Yanks weren't up by 5 runs already.

I had to go back and review the scoring summary. When my buddies who missed the end of the game asked how the Yanks pulled ahead, I realized it was in no one way. In no one Yankee way, anyway. No Matsui solo bomb or Jeter clutch single. The only way the Yanks pulled out the win was through Cano. The only reason they tacked any runs up at ALL was because of Cano.

"How'd they get ahead? Uhh, manufactured runs? I don't know, in their weird, progressively becoming standard operating procedure of the small ballers finding holes." (T.W.S.S.)

Pena, Gardner, Cabrera, Cano. With a little help from Damon and Tex. It's like watching the first Mighty Ducks movie. A real feel-good effort from the scrappy young guns generation. The guys who run a hard 90.

"Just all around a good game," New York manager Joe Girardi said.

Yeah, let's not go overboard, Joe.

They pulled out a W, yes, but can you really say "all around good" in reference to a game defined by a comeback win against the Washington Nationals?

The Nationals are currently 20 games out of first place. Their record as of 6/17/09 is 16-46. They're just very, very bad. Sometimes I watch teams with records like that (or in the same hemisphere as that kind of record), and think, Eh this is still a professional ball club. They're not so bad.

But the Nationals are just horrible. They make fundamental errors, they don't play balls correctly. (T.W.S.S.) It's almost a shame that Strasburg's talent will be wasted there. Though I have to admit, I'm not ready to jump on his Lebronlike-wagon just yet. Ever since I read "The Last Best League," I see these athletes in a different way. There are just so many good ones, so many outstanding ones even. We look at players like Wil Nieves or Cody Ransom or Tyler Clippard and scoff at their sub-.200 BA or triple digits ERA. But those guys got drafted. They were once in the upper echelon of some talent pool and were deigned skillful enough to play professionally.

Which is why I'm not ready to hang my hat on the Strasburger and fries combo meal just yet. Despite the fact that every source and scout who knows this stuff, have almost universally claimed he is beyond everyone else in his league. He's playing in a different stratosphere.

The same was said about Lebron during his draft. He's delivered well beyond my expectations, which isn't saying much since I assume all bballers now suck, but I'm guessing most of the NBA-viewing world didn't anticipate this level of superior talent.

But that's the NBA, and this is a young pitcher. In 1997, Ryan Anderson was drafted 1st by the Mariners. In his senior season he threw 3 no hitters and of the 157 outs recorded during his starts 133 of the were strikeouts. From 1998 – 2002 he was listed as baseball’s top prospect by Baseball America. Pulled into the majors in 2001, where he promptly tore his rotator cuff. 2001 season over. Working out in AAA in 2002--another shoulder injury. 2002 season over. Same thing in 2003. Signed with Brewers in 2005, couldn't throw close to as good as he used to, and retired. Now he's a chef.

I'm not saying Strasburg doesn't have what it takes. I'm just saying we should entertain the possibility that he could end up as a Duck Tour Guide in 5 years.

Just don't expect this to be a Rowengartner situation, where a reliever comes in in August and manages to single handedly take a last place team to win the pennant.

But in terms of the 2009 Nats, you can't fault them for any offensive difficulties against CC, (especially since they did manage 6 hits off him), but they make the Royals' defense look like an iron curtain. And they may or may not have had a little bit of resistance from the officiating that went the way of NY. But by and large, they play like they have a director who tells his actors they're free to do their own blocking.

The Yankees, on the other hand, are starting to look like one of the best defenses in the league. In no small part due to the golden ace on first base. The amount of runs Tex has saved is invaluable. The last time a 1B had this profound an impact on the team?

14 years ago.

Bruney and Mo combined for the hitless final 2 innings, a brilliant trio of pitchers for the day. Which shall now be followed up with our favorite point of contention in the rotation, Chien Ming Wang.

Here's what I don't understand about Wang supporters. I 100% applaud loyalty to someone with a demonstrated history of excellence. I think it's admirable that people argue against his dismissal because he's done a lot for the team, and we owe him the chance.

Why do we need to give him that chance NOW? Why can't he have it after he's brought his sinker ball back to snuff? He's hurting himself and the team by continuing to take the mound as a one-trick pony, with that one-trick only working a fraction of the time. I'm not saying we dishonorably discharge the kid. I'm saying we give him more time to work out the kinks before sending him back into battle.

Just because someone was good years ago doesn't mean they should necessarily be playing now. If you live in the past, you die in the present.*

In the meantime, I like to keep the Wang starts interesting by playing a little game I developed called WANGMAN:


You keep track of his pitches, and for every homerun he lets up, you draw another limb.

I know. Maybe I'm just as evil as Belichik.

Other thoughts from today:

• I really, really don't like things that taste too much like the food they're supposed to be artificially flavored of, ie Popcorn flavored Jelly Belly's, Southwestern Ranch Baked Lays, weird Tasti Delite flavors like Girl Scout Cookie, or Mojito flavored gum.
• The top 5 actors who have only played 1 part over and over aga are Keifer Sutherland, Wiliam Zabka, Ben Stiller, Diane Keaton, and Jennifer Lopez. I watched The Lost Boys the other night because there was only 1 baseball game on. And it made me appreciate yesterday a lot.
• It's supposed the rain for the next week. There's been about 89 seconds of sun this summer. And about 712,000 hours of people torturing me with their umbrellas.
• And last, but not least, Congratulations to Chien Ming Wang for having a son with his wife Chia Ling, on June 16...little baby Joba Wang.
  

Justin Jesse Wang, really.

Could be JJ Wang, which I like.

But definitely not as much as I like the way "Jobawang" just zips out, like a screaming slider.

Onomatopoeia at its finest, for certain.



*Satan†
†Bill Belichik‡
‡Caught cheating