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

Arod's 2nd game back, Yankees' 2nd straight loss. How many losses with Arod do you think it'll take before there's actually a case for him being bad luck for the team?

I mean, right now there's no statistically significant evidence that supports this. Because they haven't tested the variable enough yet. 25 games without Arod. Now they need 25 with him. I don't think it's possible actually to accurately test this theory, by scientific standards anyway.

In less negative Arod news, our third baseman became the ONLY PERSON IN BASEBALL HISTORY to hit 100 RBIs in 14 straight seasons, passing Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Fox.

As Michael Kay said, "ALL of baseball history. Think about it, that's a LOT of players. And he's the only 1."

That's really nothing short of amazing. Can you imagine that? Being the first person in the history of ANYTHING to do something?

And it's not even qualified by anything. Like, "first person to to reach 14 100-ribbie seasons who's under the age of 35." Or "first person on the Yankees to reach 14 100-ribbie seasons."

Nope. Just first person ever. Unreal.

So the Yanks drop their 2nd in a row, losing to the O's after staging a somewhat dramatic comeback. This game made AJ look worse than he really was. If anyone else had pitched this game, it'd be like, "meh, it was a blah game. No offense. Sleepy. Lazy. We'll get em next time."

But because it was AJ. and because he hasn't been able to hit anything close to resembling a "stride" in the entire 2010 season to date...he looked worrisome and troublesome.

Burnett (10-13) lost for the fifth time in six decisions, giving up four runs, seven hits and four walks in seven innings.

It wasn't TERRIBLE. 4 runs isn't a lot. But 4 walks is. And 7 hits in 7 innings isn't that bad. Against the O's maybe, but you know, when you think about it, the O's offense isn't really THAT atrocious sometimes. There are definitely much worse teams. It's actually kind of odd that the O's are soooo firmly entrenched in the cellar of the league. They're like over 30 games out of the Wild Card, but they got decent pitching sometimes. And decent hitting sometimes. I don't know. Nor do I really care, actually.

Has anyone else noticed that it's getting kind of more annoying than usual listening to Kay? I mean, I was like one of his biggest fans. When everyone else persisted in lambasting his penchant for idiocy, I wrote it off as innocuous entertainment. But lately, he's becoming a little too obsessed with himselve.

All those "I HEART KAY!" signs at the stadium really aren't doing anything to thwart his burgeoning ego. Nor is his pending nuptials to a superhot fiance.

Ah, whatever, bigger fish to fry, etc.

The Yanks went down 1-0 early, when Tex opted to go for a double play rather than get the out at home. A smart move at the time. Though that run ultimately came back to haunt us.

Arod tied it up with a solo bomb (22nd of the season, 605th overall), and it's sad that he won't get another 30-hr season. I mean, unless he hits 8 homeruns in the next 20 games, which isn't impossible really, but I'm not going to bank on it, since he's been a little lax in the long ball department this year. I'm ok with that.

He's getting the job done in a very understated way.

2 more runs scored in the 5th and 6th, with a single from Roberts and then a sac fly from Weiters. Kay tells us this story about how Weiters was getting hazed when he was a rookie but then everyone had to back off because the team was informed that "Hey leave the kid alone, he's going to be your leader now."

If I was a veteran O, this would incense me. It also would incense me to hear Showalter tell Kim Jones that he actually WANTS to be the team that a playoff contender clinches a postseason berth against.

"I want the younger players to see what it's like."

Um, yeah, that'd be like parents saying they want their kid to be present when his friends open their college acceptance letters from a school he didn't get into. Just so he can see what it's like when someone DOESN'T get rejected.

How humane.

Arod brought in the 2nd run of the game for the Yanks with a sac fly, then Cano singled (sorttttt of) to tie it up.

Actually it was a Mets-esque play in the outfield, with the SS and LF both managing to screw up a completely playable pop up. That was really Pie's ball, Izturis was just being annoying, as the awkward spelling of his name suggests he would be.

Roberts RBI-single in the 7th plated the go-ahead run, and the Yanks couldn't make anything happen in the last 3 innings of play. It was nice to see Colin Curtis back in the fray, even if he DID strike out to end the game. (On a pitch that was blatantly outside, but whatever, who's to say that if he had gotten the call, the Yanks still would have converted that into a baserunner and ultimately a run?)

On the brightside, the bullpen continued to look good, and just like last year the Yanks have someone managed to take their biggest weakness in the first half of the season and turn it into their greatest asset in the second half of the season, ie they have the league's best pen right now.

SO weird. And awesome, to be sure.

Things I'm NOT liking right now: Jeter's streakiness, rotation's uncertainty, the interminable "Andy Updates" that provide ZERO insight into when he's returning, and a less than cohesive lineup.

Maybe it's just this day game stuff. Maybe they'll be back to electric form when they're playing under the lights.

Who knows.

As for now, it looks like I'm back in the troubling realm of watching the Sux and Rays with great vested interest. UGH, I hate this. I know, I know. We need the Sux to win.

But telling myself that over and over and over again STILL does nothing to convince me of it.

So cheers to the Rays losing...not the Sux winning.