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

"This is the type of baseball that I enjoy. It's high intensity. This is why you play the game." -R-Mart

Sweet Christ, what the hell is it with everybody getting off on this whole suspenseful element? To be sure, I DID enjoy this game. Because they won. And because it was not, as R-Mart purports, intense.

Also, from some reason that quote makes me nostalgic for 4L. There was something very Kanye about the quote. Except, the opposite, sort of: This is the type of baseball that I enjoy. That's that shit that I like. Yeah, buddy.

So there's that. Also, happy birthday Alex R! Glad the boys could make it happen for you last night!(Pause.) Ugh, sorry, I just reread that. I'm glad the Yankees could make a win happen for you last night, to be clear.

The Yankees supposedly have a 99.7% of making the playoffs. So they're like one of those desserts that's all, "We're ALMOST fat free. I mean, we'd totally be 100% far free if we wanted to be, but like we're basically fat free. 99.9%. Guaranteed. Almost."

I mean, Ima go off topic for a second (maybe it'd make more sense if I announced when I was going to stay on topic, rather than the opposite?) Anyways, is anyone else wondering about the mindset is for a team like the Brewers?

They have a 0.1% chance of making the playoffs, but that isn't a 0.0% chance so I really like imagining Norichiko Aoki (sp? doesn't matter) trying to hoist himself up on a soapbox in the locker room, and then giving a rousing speech about never ever ever giving up that no one understands, because the translator botches everything?

Aoki said, though a translator, "Forever I do not want to sacrifice any event north."

And then somewhere Winston Churchhill is nodding and giving a knowing a wink in the background. Because HE knows what he meant. 



"私は運命を歩いていたかのように感じられて、すべての私の過去の人生は、この時間のために準備されていたことはなく、この裁判のため"

Back to R-Mart, the disciple of the Glenn Excitement Philosophical School of Thought (GEPST). But you know what, I'm just gonna let our boy R-Mart be, since he's really been showing up lately. Plus, I like R-Mart. I like how he wears his heart on his sleeve. All of his press comment etc are devoid of PR polish. They're just guileless candor said sans translator. Cheers, R-Mart. Keep it up, you're a good egg.

(For those into that kind of stat/details thing, R-Mart hit a 3 run bomb, putting his September BA at a respectable .263. Considering his overall 2012 season BA is hovering around .210, it goes without saying that this had not been a banner year offensively for him. Or defensively, for that matter. Even though my dad insists I must be watching a different Russell Martin because he's been great behind the plate all year.)

Anyways, the Yanks beet the Jays 11-4, and the O's beat Boston 9-1, and the 1-game lead in the East remains, with 5 games left to play. Just typing that sentence made me feel like I used to feel in the 20 minutes I'd be pacing backstage before the curtain went up. That damn-kids-playing-tetherball-with-my-intestines kind of feeling.

After a very un-Yankee-y game on Thursday, where Ivan Nova pitched Toronto into a 6-0 victory, but didn't pitch himself out of a job, since what are the options? Nova's got AJ Lite potential. Meaning the potential to be a diluted version of AJ Burnett. Is that a compliment? Sometimes. Which is exactly why he's AJ Lite.

Kuroda gets his 3rd win in 5 games, and his line for the game embodies the entire team's season:
in a little over 5 innings, he allowed 10 hits (matching season high), 2 runs, 2 walks, and 4 Ks.

Similarly, I was talking to our favorite excitement mongrel today about how it's weird the Yankees are in 1st place.
"Yeah, they did have a 10-game lead and all..."

"No, no. It's weird because barring that 1.5 month spurt of awesome (pause) right before the All-Star break, I feel like the Yankees have been not that impressive more often than they've been impressive, yeah?"

Then Excitement Mongrel's fellow art director (a Met fan) chimes in that the Yankees run differential is something like 110, while the Os' differential may actually be negative. That was an appropriate comment because it supported the fact that yes, this season and the resulting standings have been all loony tunes.

You know what one of the greatest parts about the game was? The efficacy of the relief performances. It was "neat," for lack of a better word. My favorite words to hear are always "We're way ahead of schedule" because it indicates that everyone is being efficient. The conga line of Phelps, D-Rob, Eppley, and R-So got the job done, albeit there was no shirt untucking.

Another great part of the game? The Jays' starter's post-game self-evaluation: "I didn't throw a lot of strikes. I was kind of all over the place." THANK YOU, CHAD. That was very honest of you. I hate it when losing pitchers are like, "I felt like it was a strong outting, my sinker was working for me. I just threw a couple of bad pitches." No one cares. You lost the game.

As for Yankee offense, aside from R-Mart, there was the Swish dounle to put the Yanks on the board, Jeter's GIDP that scored a run (of course. Even when he GIDPs, it's lovely and helpful), Sneach was on base a few times, but I'm not sure I ever really saw him bat. Again, I'm not sure he ever really does. He just will wind up on base somehow. He taught David Blaine everything he knows, I'm sure of it. Cano and Chavez capped off the scoring in the 8th and 9th,

All in all, the Yankees got 13 hits on 188 pitches (good grief, way to work the counts!), and were .333 with RISP.

Oh, and GGBG returned to line up. NBD.

More like...BD! Ok, yeah he was one of the only 2 people on the team to not get a hit (hi, Dickerson), but welcome back, Short Round!

I'm glad everyone's back together. It's nice to see all the start-of-the-season guys convelescing for Yankee Time (fall). Although I wonder if anyone on the team is looking at them like my dad looks at people who try to avoid waiting on the exit ramp line off a highway, and try to cut in from of him at the last minute.

Probably not though. See, I'm already losing my grip on logical thought and it's not even Socks series time. I got an early taste of how my aggression is going to manifest itself for the reason of baseball, when hanging out with my former co-worker Brian W. who said, (verbatim):

"How awesome is it that the Yankees are consistently playing this great now, in the last week of baseball, when it counts? They've only lost one! I love how they're just killing it."

I guess some people might look at this and think, well what's wrong with that?

To those people I'll say the same thing I told Brian: "I swear on everything's that holy, if the Yankees start shitting the bed now, I will come and find you and garrote you."

"I don't know what garrote means. You copywriters can't even make threats like a normal person."

Normal?

I love baseball.