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

So the Sox won and the Yankees lost. We lose a game of ground, but fortunately we don't lose much in the way of dignity or gain much in the way of cause-for-concern.

The Jays so-so bullpen won it for them, after the Yanks chased Alphabet early, and I'm pretty sure that guy has zero interest in another start against the Yanks in GNH again, because the kid had logged like a fraction of a homerun in his entire minor league career, and 5 in his 7-game big league tenure. 4 of the them have been frome the Yankees, 3 of them came today. See ya, Marc. Thanks for coming out. That short porch kills even the suavest of arms.

Unforunately, the guileless tosses from the unassuming Jays bullpen picked a fine time to be effective, with Shawn Camp keeping the Yanks grunting offense form ever getting the ball moving on some manufactured runs action. Our very own Aces looked great tonight, and to be honest, so did our starter. Last week Sergio, for the first time, actually looked to me like a legtimate sinkerball. Kept the ball down and no bells/whistles.

And today I noticed 2 things:

• He was dealing. Even more so than his last start.
• He was nervous.

He's pitching for a spot in the rotation, and like my mom remarked once, "There's little difference from the outside between people trying to get promoted and people nervous about getting fired."

His pitching wasn't the problem tonight, it was his ridiculous bonehead play that started out perfectly swimmingly, then ended up in a throwing error to 2B that allowed 2 runs to score and blow up the game for another 3.

So while I hate to assign blame to just one player...uh, here I go: Sergio Mitre lost the game for the Yanks.

The Yanks only stayed in this one because of solos from Jeter/Cano/Hairston. Which is how the Yanks lose these days, when they lose. When they can't put runners on base, old habits die hard. And if this were a more prevalent theme, I'd be aggravated. But, hey, no one expects the Yanks to go undefeated for the last 3rd of the season, they gotta lose at some point.

And all things considered, it would appear they did indeed heed the advice of one Ralph Waldo Emerson, as they lost as if they enjoyed the change of pace.

And no one expects the Yankees to win with Mtire on the mound, so at least we didn't waste an otherwise strong outing from one of our big guns.

So I'm wondering who really is responsible for the drastic turnaround in the way the Yankee are playing, as if late. Kevin Long? Eiland? Griardi, even?? Maybe it's more like that bizarrely uninteresting game Mouse Trap where it's all just a big domino effect, and no one cog is really functional without the rest. (This kid did NOT heed the advice of Emerson. At all.)

A few more notes before I very belatedly post the recap:

(I apologize for the lateness, I've been depriving my body of sleep like it's a fraternity pledge, and while I DID write this last night, I fortunately didn't actually publish it--fortunately being because there were about 7 words spelled correctly and even less phrases that fell within the boundaries of comprehensible syntax.)

• Alex Rios has been passed like a relay baton over to the ChiSox, igniting the rapt delight of my buddy Strange, who has essentially been teetering on the brink of complete mania ever since Buelrhe's perfecto. While me and our other buddy Kevin are sort of baffled by this amped excitement over a .264 batter who's more or less been on a steady decline for the last 5 years, I admit my feelings for Rios were somewhat fortified last night, after Strange shared this with me. His comfort with looking like a complete imbecile is admirable, I guess:

I like how this reporter isn't afraid to really throw down the gauntlet with all the hard hitting probes here. "Is it awkward in the showers?" (???) Erin Andrews now looks like a Pulitzer Prize worthy journalist.

• Last night handed me one of the biggest laughs I've had in months probably. First, I have the following Strange exchange:

S: "We should have a wsox yanks double header one even this week bc wsox playing out west all wk"
CYC: "Aight, Fri."
S: "Well yanks are out west then, so no."
CYC: "Thurs?"
S: "wsox are off."
CYC: "Well wed's a day game so.."
S: "Oh word?"
CYC: "Great plan, Frank. Are there are any days that actually accomodate this proposal?"
S: "Tonight I guess."

• So my extra innings package comes into play, and I tell him he can come over to watch the ChiSox game after I'm done with the Yank game. I'm walking back to my place around 10 and see a perfectly good 36 inch tv sitting on the curb, and if I hadn't been carrying chicken quesadillas in one arm, I would have just called upon my freakish Pollina strength to lug it 2 blocks to my place so I could have an extra tv in the apt.
  
  As luck would have it, Strange calls to let me know he's getting close and is almost over. "Hey, I'm on 88th and 2nd heading to your place, are you home yet?"
  
  "Almost. Hey, if you're on 88th and 2nd, can you pick up a tv?"
  
  Pause.
  
  "A tv?"
  
  "Yeah. Please. Well, if it's not too heavy, I mean. Oh, and I only have like 5 beers left, if you wanna grab a six pack or something."
  
  "Um. When you said you got your MLB Extra Innings rehooked up in your new place, I kinda assumed you had a tv. I mean, you know, someone says 'I have cable' and you don't say, 'yeah but do you have a TV?'
  
  So basically Strange thinks I invited him over to watch the ChiSox game and 10 minutes before the first pitch ask him if he could grab some beers and something to actually watch the game on. The best part is, the only obstacle he originally saw with that request was: "There isn't even a place to buy tv's on 88th. One that's open now, anyway. Or any at all, actually."

• Today we got Richmond up againt Justin. I'm not scared. He's [Richmond] gonna get lit up tonight. I'd definitely take the over on this one.