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

First things first, let's take a moment for the legendary voice of the Yankees, Bob Sheppard, who passed away at the age of 99.

From Gerry:

"Did you just here this on tv: derek will use the derek jeetah bob sheppard tape to announce him at the allstar game...awesome."

And from ESPN:

While baseball radio play-by-players are the soundtrack of summer, the "Voice of God" was the symphony for the special day when you got to go to the ballpark.

How sad that this hero has left us, but in a way, it's almost life-reaffirming when you consider the fact that this man lived 99 full years. He's been the announcer for not only the Yanks by the NY Giants, and has received not only World Series rings, but a Super Bowl one.

He announced his first game for the Yanks back on April 17, 1951. The Yanks' lineup ncluded DiMaggio, Mantle, Johnny Mize, Berra, and Phil Rizzuto. And the opponents that day, the Boston Red Sox, were led by Ted Williams/

He's gone now, but certainly not forgotten, and if the Yankees can help it (partcularly JOrge and Jeter) Sheppard's hypnotic voice will be a mainstain in the Cathedral for as long as the spirit of the clubs' storied franchise lives on.

Thanks, Mr. Sheppard. 99 in our playbooks, #1 in our hearts. And who best to capture the class and elegance of "The Voice of God" than the Yankees themselves...



And then there was, indeed, the game:

Great game, CC! Way to complete the sweep! OH WAIT, NEVERMIND.

It would've been a sweep. We had a loss. Because of Justin.

Nice going, loser.

But great game for the Tubby on the team who's actually talented!

He kept the game scorelesss, while the Yanks stacked up 8 runs behind him. I missed a lot of this game not because of the World Cup (congrats, Spain), but because I was, as I mentioned early, in the throes of the longest day of softball in the history of my existence.

And this is counting when I was a softball freak and was attending sleep away "Refining Your Skills" types of clinics in Rutgers over the summer, and pitching coaches in weird upstate NY towns. How do people with sore legs function?

Seriously. I get having a gimp leg, but what do people with weak legs do in terms of walking around? Because right now, it was a struggle and a half getting across the street to buy a Red Bull and powdered donuts.

The big offensive days came from Tex (who I did NOT bench today, phew), Jorge and Thames.

Speaking of Thamses, isn't it kind of weird how the Yanks have only had TWO walkoffs so far this year? And they're both from him? The team had 8 before the ASG last year. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I know everyone loves the walk off, but sometimes it's nice to just beat your opponents cleanly and outright without the dramatics. A W's a W, after all.

And that W is thanks to Fatso, who won his 8th consecutive start, and joins David Price as the only AL pitcher with 12 wins. He's not starting on the All Star game, but he's probably the best pitcher in the league right now. I mean, once he gets into one o his streaking groove things, he's terrifying. He went on them last year, but were they this early? I seem to remember them being later in the season..

Actually speaking of the ASG: "The Yankees were taking two separate planes out of Seattle. One was going back to New York and one was going to Anaheim. Girardi, with eight Yankees All-Stars joining him for the Midsummer Classic, said the plane to Anaheim would have more people on it."

Ha! And Ichiro has decided to carpool with the Yankees. SO F'N WEIRD! GET YOUR OWN RIDE, FREAK!

My sister: "I would never get on the same plane as Sneahiro. That's 'sneaky Ichiro.'"

GOOD POINT.

Anyways, that's all she wrote for today. A WHOLE WEEK without baseball. After I complained mercilessly about the west coast games, now I'm kinda sad about the total lack of it. I know, I know. I'm impossible.

(Anyone else see how Cliff Lee's first Ranger start is against the Sox next Saturday? Way to be on the ball, Theo.)

Dustin Mosely's name spells End Slimy Outs. He gave up a homerun, but also ended slimy outs. I suppose. When he finished the game. Whatever, just so long as it's not Chan Ho Park or Justin Chamberlain, I don't care if Alanis Morisette is coming in for relief.