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

What a weird day in baseball.

I'm trying to keep up with all the games simultaneously since I don't have the luxury of staying up til all hours of the night anymore. So, as I'm watching the Yanks get shut down by the O's while Javy Vasquez pitches exquisitely, I'm also refreshing my computer screen, delighting in the fact that not only is Boston down by 3 in the 5th, but Tampa's down by 5.

Chicago is beating Texas by 4, LAA's beating KC by 1...

Then all of a sudden, within minutes really, Boston's up by 2, Tampa's up by 2, Texas has scored 5, and KC has rallied to win.

So during all the this, the Yanks are struggling to squeeze a run off the weirdly effective pitcher who I keep thinking the announcers are calling Maddox. Finally Grandy knocks a solo shot off him, his first in Yankee Stadium, and we're up by 1. Is it really bratty that I'm kinda sheepish about the fact that the Yanks are only up by 1 against the O's? Like coming in 3rd in a county-wide frisbee toss contest when there's only 7 contestants to begin with. It's like a dumb competition in the first place, and you're still not dominating. (Yeah, I'm speaking from experience.)

Then Javy shows his mortality and gives up a bomb to Corey Patterson. Again, if we're going to let the O's take us deep, I kind of wish it was someone like Markakis. Score's tied and things don't look good for the boys, particularly when Javy loads the bases with 1 out.

Luckily Miraculously he strikes out Adam Jones on a complete aberration, as the 2nd "strike" wouldn't have been in the strikezone of a Ken doll. (The 3rd strike, however, was quite masterful, and that one pitch was just a microcosm of what Javy's capable of, and the strides in maturity he seems to be making.)

Again with the luck in the 8th, when an absolutely horrendous throw from Tejada lets Arod reach first on a soft grounder to third. Not only would this have been the 3rd out, but it let 2 runs scored.

I think Michael Kay put it best when he said, "The O's are a terrible team, and the thing about terirble teams is that they always find new and different ways to lose."

And that's what they did. The O's almost had the Yankee beat, but instead they handed the win away.

I'll take it.