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

Well, I'm home now. 3am. And recapping the game that happened about 12 hours ago. Let's just say I'm borderline paranoid about some things. And by some things I mean that the thought has crossed my mind more than once that WHAT IF, just WHAT IF, Jeter breaking Gehrig's record pissed some ghosts off, and now we're screwed? Because WE JUST LOST A SERIES TO THE FUCKING ORIOLES. Yeah, I'm sorry, I just dropped the F-bomb there. But I'm more that a little perturbed by what happened tonight.

• AJ Burnett. I've said more than once I'm not even remotely nervous about him. And for some reason, I'm still not. Despite the fact he is...wait for it...1-5 with a 6.19 ERA since July 27...and...wait for it...5-0 with a 2.01 ERA IN THE MONTH PRIOR TO THAT..I'm not concerned. I'm not kidding, I have no idea why. And it's not like I'd pull any punches here. You guys know as well as anyone that if I'm worried, I don't mince words. But regarding AJ, I'm not. He's good. He's not pitching good. But he's good. And I trust him.

• Now might be a good time to bring up that when I woke up this morning, it was the 3rd inning. And I put on the game and was like, 'sweeeet a nice pitcher's duel to deliriously pass in and out of consciousness to today.' 6-1 looks A LOT like 0-1 when someone has just put in eye drops that dilate her pupils and make things a bit blurry. So for much of the game, I was working on the assumption the score was 0-1. Imagine how I felt when I went up to fix to volume, got closer to the tv, and discovered that upon closer look, the score was actually 6-1. Heartbreaking.

• We just lost a series to the O's. Read that sentence again. The series we lost before that at Yankee Stadium, was to the Nationals. Sweet Christ. Tomorrow we may see Jose Reyes pitch a perfect against us, if this pattern of "wtf" continues.

• NY was flat today. Flat. And if it's not the curse of Jeter/Gehrig, then it's the reality of the rain. The Yankees can't play in the rain. They can't. I empathize. I don't like playing in the rain, either. But f'n deal with it, guys. Because now we're about 1 loss away from getting "reeling" tagged to our name. And there's nothing worse. Except for dog shit. My dad always says, whenever someone assigns "the worst" superlative to anything, "That's not true. Stepping in dog shit is worse." Sage wisdom, dad.

• "We have not clinched anything or won anything yet," Jeter said. "Our focus has always remained to try to win games and win the division, so that's what everyone's looking forward to." Ok, so NOW all of sudden we're all "HEY WHOA WHOA, let's take it easy and not get ahead of ourselves here." A week ago, we were a "a lock." Now it's "let's just see what happens." Die, pessimists. Die.

• Sliders and Yankees do not get along. What pitcher among our roster has a good relationship with his slider? Seriously. Brian Roberts connected on a slider left hanging over the plate, to belt a salami, the 3rd one hit in the new park. But none by a Yankee yet. 3 slams hit off our pitching staff this year 3. None by a Yankee. I'm going go puke now.

• After the slam, AJ retired the next 17 or 19. Igive him credit. If Joba had let up a 4-run ding, he would have been cowering in a fetal position somewhere. So, while you can say, "whatever, who cares what you did for us AFTER you left up a million runs," I'm gonna go ahead and say I appreciate the continued effort from him. I like AJ.

• Sometimes I feel like the crusader and defender of all troubled Yankees. ARod and AJ. Not Joba though. Who I hate.

• I love the AP's interpretation of Molina's assessment of AJ:

Catcher Jose Molina said Burnett might be tired at this point of the long season.
"That's a question a lot of people have got to ask," he said. "I don't think
he's tired. I don't think he needs a rest. I think he's 100 percent ready to go
because to me he seems like he's battling every time."

• Does that not make sense to anyone else??

• More from the AP:

While the Orioles are last in the AL East at 58-83, outings by Matusz and
21-year-old rookie Chris Tillman on Friday gave them a lift. "It makes you feel good heading into the last few weeks of the season about what the future possibly holds," manager Dave Trembley said.

• OH COME ON. You're in a cross town rivalry with the Nats for who can get eliminated from the season first. And now you're excited about 2 good starts? It would really be a lot better for everyone involved if you just rolled over for us. You're not going anywhere. And wouldn't you rather see the Yankees than the Sox do well in the AL?

• Removal of the facade in the outfield at old Yankee Stadium began last week. Sigh. Don't worry, ghosts. I'm in the process of painting it on my wall to immortalize it.

• Exchange of the night:

CYC's sis: Ohhh what a cute dog!

Cute dog owner: Yeah, he's a good dog.

((back and forth about his adorable dog Toby who looks like the dog from "The
Mask"))

CYC: He's pretty excited about stuff, what do you feed him?

Cute dog owner: Oh, you know. Crack.

CYC: REALLY? That's awesome! I love your dog and I love you for feeding it
crack!

Cute dog owner: Ok, bye!

CYC's sis: See, those are the types of lines that make guys go away,
Kris.

• Today's game was 2 and a half hours. O's are realllly itching to get out of the season, huh.

• No one had a particularly "good" day. Tex, Posada, and Cabrera MAYBE, but even that's really nothing to write home about. In fact, the only people who are allowed/justified in writing home are Brian Roberts (3-4, 4 RBI) and Nolan Reimold (2-3, 1 RBI).

• 15 for 28. That's how many of Matusz's first pitches were strikes. Yet he only walked 3??