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

I woke up this morning at 6:30am on the couch, with the tv still on, all the lights still on, etc. Which is pretty much par for the course during west coast trips. The Yanks finished up in Oakland taking 2 of 3, but after losing last night to the Angels, they're on a 2-game losing streak. Which means right about now is when Sux fans start getting all, WATCH YO' SELVES. CUZ HERE COME THE RED COATS! BOOYAH.

(I know I just made up that hypothetical little exclamation, but even though it was just a figment of my imagination, it still pisses me off.)

It was a back and forth game the whole time last night. Angels score in the 1st. Yanks answer in the 3rd, scoring 3 and getting 2 up on the Halos. It was a veritable bouffet of hitting from both sides, with runs manufactured all up in this joint.

20 hits between the two clubs, with the top half of our lineup really pulling its weight.

Speaking of pulling weight, Tex went all Othello (meaning he showed his dark side, which is as poor as analogy as they come, but give me a little credit, it's Saturday and I'm still delirious).

After getting hit by a pitch and angrily taking first, he decides to reap revenge in spades by barreling into Bobby Wilson in his first start, with such gusto that he actually gave him a concussion and injured his leg.

Damn, Tex. I guess pitchers will think twice about beaning you next time, huh.

Although Scioscia actually avered that it was a clean play. Um, really? Were you looking at the same play at me?

"It was a clean play. No doubt about it. Mark is trying to score. The ball beat him by a little bit, Bobby did his best to try to get the tag down, and Mark just reacted. It's a tough play and Bobby is very good at it and stays in there well but unfortunately he was hurt tonight."

I'm actually shocked there was no warning issued to either side, but part of me has to assume that the umps kept thinking that these random acts of violence were, in fact, random, and not part of some larger scale vendetta. They were almost "too random," a la the corpses in Buffalo Bill's killing spree.

"Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random - like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter."

Even the right field/1st base ump got drilled at one point, and to his credit, he bounced right back, like one of those toy inflatable clowns weighted down with sand.

Yet another little vitriol on the day:

Napoli led off the fifth and was plunked by Burnett, who got the third out of the inning with a Rickey Henderson-like "snatch-catch" of Torii Hunter's line drive -- drawing boos from the sellout crowd of 44,002

Jeez, everyone needs to R-E-L-A-X. He caught it. What's the big deal. Since when are people so f'n incensed at catches and mound crossing and the like. Grow up, Yankee foes.

I was actually was like in and out of sleep on the couch, so it was kind of hard to keep up with the back and forth scoring. 3-1. Then the Angels take the lead 4-3. Then Nick Swisher ties it up with a solo bomb, and it's a classic marathon west coast game for us.

I vaguely remember the announcers talking about when the Yanks were in Anaheim last year and how each win was a hard fought one. They took 2 of 3 at the end of September. Ian Kennedy had come in, (way to ween him back into the fray), and just like last year, the Yanks weren't getting any wins handed to them.

But we were close, so close, last night. Until when Joba comes in and it really shows how much I've matured I think, that I'm not going off on him for letting up a 2-run ding to Morales. And even without checking the fangraphs.com report, I can tell you that I bet the pitch that landed in HR territory was a slider.

But here's another thought: why did Girardi put him in to pitch to Morales with a tie score when here's a look at how Morales does against each Yankee pitcher. You know who would be my last choice? Just guess:
Yeah, the guy who's throwing a hefty .714 against Morales. But what the hell do I know.

We're back on today in another few hours. Andy vs Pineiro. Tough one. The latter is so f'n good. So is the first one, I guess. (Very cutting analysis, I know.)

But here's the thing, every time you think the edge is obvious, that's the time when Pettitte explodes (in a good way).

We got this one. Bring it on.