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

Wow. I can't believe I'm home. I don't know what happened. It's really like I blacked out, and wasn't that much different than an actual alcohol-induced blackout. For the 2nd day in a row I woke up with my face up against the filing cabinet in my office. I looked at my phone, saw it was 8:30am, and got up and started working. And then all of sudden it's 10pm, and I'm going home.

My actual home. As in my apartment.

The whole weekend seemed to be interminable. It kept piling up, and I went from determined to just puzzled/deflated in the realization that it may never stop.

I was in and out of my buddy's office watching the game in bits and pieces on his computer, until the skies opened up and drenched the stadium in dark rain. I got this kind of quilted patchwork of game updates, sometimes from the radio on in my office, sometimes from stopping by buddy's office, sometimes from the BlueBerry, from texts from my friends, etc. It was all over the place.

Now I'm realizing that the game was like some kind of extension of my day.

It started out not so hot.

Podsednik's 2-run homer put KC up early, (and my God, how in God's name is this guy still relevant??) Grandy retaliated with a solo. (Doesn't it seem like at the first sign of even VAGUE and harmless murmurings questioning the validity of this acquistion, that Grandy steps up his game? I like it. He buys himself more time to change the doubters' perceptions.)

By the time the tarps were starting to get rolled out, the Yanks had taken a 6-3 lead, and the lineup was massacring the hapless Royals. God, their defense is HEINOUS. Seriously, just cringe-inducing to watch. (CYC: "Jesus. They look like the Mets." OchoOcho: "Um, let's not blow it out proportion..")

Sean O'Sullivan (didn't we JUST see this guy? In a different uniform..?) started out ok, for the first two innings, anyway, and I was starting to cultivate an irrational contempt for the guy. I think it was because he name sounds so harmless and likable. But he was looking like anything but.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and by that I mean, I hotter bats prevailed and saved me from adding yet another complete stranger to my growing list of people whose names inspire involuntary ire. 4 runs in the 3rd, and the hits were popping off faster than I could wrap my head around.

Then, like a Debbie Downer at a meeting who has to insert "Ok let's not get too excited about the productivity. It turns out that we're probably all gonna die anyway," the rain came. Hard. And I really didn't think this one was gonna resume. Wouldn't be the first time the Yanks would have to postpone the 2nd half of a KC game for a month.

2 and a half hours later, the email: "Game back on. Brett Gardner is too amazing for words."

When I wandered back into the office sanctuary with the YES broadcast, I was dangerously close to hitting my breaking point. I think almost everything in life is a matter of mind over matter, and that makes nothing impossible. But of course, this isn't true, because as rosy as it sounds, it turns out that I can't lift a VW Cabrio to move it closer to the curb after I've done a shitty job parallel parking, and I can't log 5 hrs of sleep in 3 days without my mental acuity taking a big hit.

I stared at the computer monitor in dazed disbelief.

"I don't get it. The game's still on? It's almost 6:00...NOTHING IS ENDING TODAY, IT'S OFFICIAL."

But as I continued to watch, I was okay with this seeming endlessness. The 8th inning was ridiculous. There were throwing errors, rampant stealing, base hits, extra base its. My mind was spinning, in a good way.

"I feel like I'm playing Red Light, Green Light, or something. I look away from your computer for half a second, I look back and the runners have somehow all advanced."

I waited (I would say "I waited 'patiently' but the speed of the game really didn't call for even a modicum of patience) for Arod to get up. I think I would have officially lost it if I missed his 600th HR on account of a meeting or something.

Bases loaded, 2 outs, raining, long game. Another Roy Hobbes-esque stage set for the Great and Powerful Arod.

And he was SO swinging for it, I loved it.

"He looks like Reggie Jackson with that cut."

But Blake Wood weighed the options in his head. He could walk Arod and be a pussy and avoid being a historical footnote, at the expense of costing your team a run and costing yourself your pride. He could gulp, close his eyes, and roll the dice. Or he could try to do the one thing that seems to preserve his dignity yet curry the vitriol.

Which was drill Arod in the hand.

MY ASS he didn't mean to.

And of course, after my heart stopped for about 18 seconds, my first thought was how sickened I was going to be when I saw haters delighting in the sight of the legendary Arod eating dirt in the pursuit of 600, at an AB that couldn't have been ideal. Bases loaded and KC only down by a few runs? Cmon, THAT WAS THE AB.

He was SUPPOSED to be getting an easy strike, so as to avoid the forced in run. But nooooo. Blake Wood should die of ghorrhea and rot in hell. Would you like a cookie, son?

Cano brought in some more ribbies, including the 1000th of his career. Jeter was 3 for 4 (what confidence issues?) Tex is an animal these days, he went 2 for 4 today, and in the last week, his BA is .391, bringing his season OBP to .375. Not bad for a guy who walked arouned like Jon Favreau in "Swingers" for the first half of the season.

Phil Hughes got the gift win, which makes our #5 starter's record 12-3. He let up 3 runs in a so-so outing, and was bailed out by the surprisingly effective and improving Boone Logan.

Then Justin Chamberlain came in, and then Chan Ho Park came in, and made me start to wonder what exactly they bring to the table other than filling the void Kyle Farnsworth left open in our bullpen.

The two of them seriously are more of a nightmare than the 2 kids in "Problem Child 2."

Between the 2 of them: 47 pitches, 3 walks, 3 hits, 3 runs.

But the Yanks pulled it off, because GGBG is amazing, because Grandy took KC deep twice, because Tex is more than making up for lost time, Jeter is done with the holy slumping thing (doesn't suit him, really), and because KC spent all their budget on the batting cages, and none of their budget on a fielding clinic.

Hey, I'll take it!

Now the Yanks heado out to the Tribe for a joy ride in Cleveland. The Indians have actually been doing quasi-well in the last week or so. 7-3? Not bad. Javy faces the famed Philly running back. Once again, I predict a great one from Javy. Maybe THAT's why Justin came in today.

To erase the possibility of using him in Javy's game.

I'm totally ok with that logic, to be clear.

Gnite. baseball fans! I'm out like Georg Brett before the game was appealed...