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

David Price (7-7, 4.75), or as I like to call him Joba Lite, goes up against Chad Gaudin (1-0, 4.08) tonight, as the Yankees play their 140th game of the year, or as I like to call it, the 2nd game Jeter tries to sidestep ARod Syndrome.

After sweeping yesterday’s double header, the Yanks left the stadium feeling pretty good about themselves. Except for El Capitan who somehow went 0-8 on the day, which I’m pretty sure in the first time in the history of time that he posted an O-fer on a twin bill.

Though he may not have been productive offensively speaking, he certainly was productive in generating the news reels spinning about whether or not our storied Clutch Boy is possibly the Best Ever?

Amazing how things change so quickly in the sports world.

Other sluggers didn’t have quite so fruitless an outing, with Mark Teixeira sailing 2 past the stadium confines. No one took this harder than Andy Sonnanstine, who asserted it was possibly the worst day of his life. Carlos Pena waxed a bit dramatic as well, though, noting that he was “crushed. It felt like you had taken my heart, thrown it around and stepped on it.” Oh, come on. You guys are the team formerly known as the Devil Rays, and you act like this is this first time you got mauled. Slow your roll there, boys. And while you’re at it, know your role.

Price is as good a pitcher as any for them to follow up this “heartbreaker” as he pitches straight from the Joba School of “Ok are you lights out, erratic, or just overrated?” Thought. He’s not lacking in the K department, albeit very much so in the IP one, thanks to the premium placed on babysitting nubile arms these days.

I’m thinking Aces comes in huge this game, since I don’t trust Gaudin for more than 7 batters. Unfortunately, David Robertson may be hitting the operating table, which is one of the last things I wanted to hear on my first day back from the holiday weekend. It ranked right up there with, “We need to redo all the copy on these.” Eh, can’t fight city hall.

The Yanks have so far matched their total win numbers from last year, and boast a 9-game lead over Boston. I love that number so much. They’re also 39 games over .500 since 2004. (I hate that number. 2004. At the risk of sounding all Carlos Pena-y, it was the worst year of my life.)

So here are the big numbers for tonight:

• 2,721: Gehrig’s total hits
• 3: hits Jeter is away from tying above #
• 16: AL East Magic #
• .333: Tex’s BA agains t the Rays
• 6.5: games up on the Angels
• 0: games lost with Gaudin starts
• 10: Games won by Aces

Let’s go Yanks. This is for all the aggravating losses we suffered against this club over the years.

Strike first, strike hard, show no mercy.

Tell em, Joe!