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

On the plus side, Mother's Day was lovely. My mom, grandmother, and godmother were all glowing in their maternal glory. Me and my family are incredibly, incredibly blessed.

Also, any time I go home, I rediscover the joy of what grown-up cooking tastes like. Even when my mom emails me recipes (or, in terms of my dad, gives me bizarro instructions over phone like "Hold the piece of bread 8 inches above the sink, soak it with your LEFT HAND! Kristen, this is important. It has to be your left hand.."), my food never comes out quite the same.

Coincidentally, the second I departed from Long Beach and made my way back into the city, things for the Yankees started going sour. If I were my Mom, I'd definitely capitalize on this illusory corollary in future requests to get me to visit home more. "Fine, don't come home this weekend. If you're okay with the Yankees blowing another game, that's your decision to bear that guilt."

(My mom, btw, is now the proud owner of a CYC hat! Almost as rewarding as her excitement over it, was the fact my dad said, "I want one, too!" My mom then smartly advised him against wearing a hat that said "chick" on it.)

In the drive back to NYC, my dad, sis, and I listened to the insane stylings of John Sterling, as he continued to leave us in the dark over what was going on on the field.

As my sis slept in the back seat, me and my dad grew increasingly frustrated trying to make heads or tails of what the hell the Yanks offense was doing, based on the ever-befuddling "It is high...it is far...it is...wait, no. Was that caught? Yeah, ok, Pedroia makes the catch on a pop up to shallow left. No, wait. Right. Right field. To end the inning."

So when the score inflates to 3-0 in the 3rd, after Ortiz continues to relish his bat against the Yanks on a ground rule double, the bases are 2/3 full, with Beltre stepping up to hit. Sterling comments, "So now if Beltre gets a base hit here, that should just about be the game."

IN THE 3rd INNING. A 5-0 DEFICIT IN THE 3RD INNING AND STERLING, AFTER SEEING THIS TEAM OVERCOME METAPHORICAL DRAGONS OF DEFICITS, RAISES THE WHITE FLAG.

I mean, technically, he ended up being right, but semantics. Sweet Christ, I've seen the Yanks ride out wayyyy bigger problems than 5 runs.

My buddy Jon reasoned, after the game was over, that "AJ was due for a Bad AJ outing." True story. We couldn't expect the guy to really continue on this path FOREVER. And if there was going to be a time for him to log a bad day, this was going to be the time to do it.

Coming into Sunday's game, the only not great game he's had so far this season was the 2nd game of the year: 4 runs in 5 innings against the Sux, but we ended up winning thanks to Grandy's late HR.

And in the history of AJ's time in Fenway, that was his best.

From ESPN:

Last year, they sent him out three times and he came back with two losses and a whopping 14.21 ERA. After Sunday night, his cumulative record as a Yankee in the most hostile of territories is 0-3 with a 12.68 ERA. In five starts, he has surrendered 32 earned runs in 22 innings pitched -- including eight home runs, the latest a fifth-inning blast by Hermida that chased him from Sunday night's game.

Oh great. Another thing for the media to jump on in terms of "things that get inside the Yankees heads." It's ALWAYS something. ALWAYS. Why does the media seem to the Yanks are like this porous commodity by which psychological demons can come and go as they please? If you think about it (which, I've learned, the media rarely does, as a rule), the history of comebacks and fortitude and flat-out success would indicate that the Yanks are not only subject to things getting under their skin, but quite the opposite actually.

That the Yanks can weather adversity. If for no other reason, they have to.

I'd be less inclined to suffer through the misfortunes of a job paying minimum wage, but if I'm getting a respectable paycheck, I'd HAVE to suck it up and deal.

So, yeah, AJ was bad last night, regardless of what was in his head or what wasn't in his head.

In a little over 4 innings, he have up 9 runs (a career high), 9 hits, and 3 BB. He's the first opposing pitcher since 1952 to give up eight runs or more in three different games at Fenway. Congratulations!

He had this to say after the game:

"I don't want to take anything away from these guys, but I think I would have had a bad start no matter who I faced."

Uh, well, that's a fine attitude there, AJ. Stop taking post-game rhetoric lessons from Joba.

The Yanks had 7 hits on the day, but the only players who contributed anything offensively were Cano (2-4), Arod (1-4), and Swish (2-4). Swish hit another monster shot, making that like 78 in the last week or something. Arod went yard, too, and I just love it when he does that at Fenway. This is probably my favorite, but I'm also partial to this one, too, despite the ultimate loss the Yanks took on the day.

A-Rod has hit 20 home runs at Fenway Park, the most for any active player who has never played for the Red Sox. For his career, he has 43 homers and 122 RBI against the Sox.

That's awesome.

Anyways, so the game was meh. I lambasted Sterling for giving up on the game too early, but I will say that if Bad AJ is out there, there's not a whole lot you can do. Especially against Lester. The once-slumbering Boston bats awoke against AJ, and I will unequivocally aver that I do NOT think that last night's game should in any way give Sux fans hope for turning their team around.

Like I said, if Bad AJ is out there, you're not dealing with a fully functioning pitcher. So while they did have an offensive breakthrough yesterday, it's like a chick getting all giddy because her boyfriend said "I love you" for the first time...immediately following his 9th Jager shot.

Tonight we play Detroit. I feel a big winning streak coming on now. May is good to the Yanks. They come home this weekend for the Twinkies. And you gotta assume the MLB schedulers just either have something against Minnesota or have a Nelson Muntz-esque sense of humor.

Historically, that particular weekend hasn't been the best for the Twinks...