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

Win. Win. Win. Win.

Look at that. The team to beat was beaten. 4 times in a row.

I apologize for the lack of coverage this weekend. Thursday night I just plain ran out of hours in the day. (Literally. I was still writing a manuscript for work when the sun was coming up, which gave me just enough time to shower, double check the manuscript for any sleepwriting mumbo jumbo that may have slipped in, and get to the office.)

And then this weekend I had to finally finally bite the bullet and paint the apartment. I mean, if I ever want to get a jump on the REAL paint job in my bed room, I'm going to have to knock the living area out of the way first (in terms of getting the paint done. I don't mean actually knocking down the living area.)

Since I wasn't allowed to take this with me when I moved out of my last apartment, I'm left with no other choice than to recreate this. (Actually, that's not true, since there are other choices available, such as subscribing to a more adult decor as opposed to painting my room like that of an 8-year-old boy. Semantics.)

HOWEVAH, I'm going to do the inside of the stadium this time.

Soon to be my room. Not "soon." But within a month. I hate relative terms.

Which I have a feeling is going to be a little trickier than the last mural undertaking.  But, you know, any excuse to adopt a completely consuming project that will monopolize my attention and waking hours.

So, yeah. A weekend of painting and Yankee games and vodka lemonades.

(I did get to see fellow sports writer Matt Waters play guitar--slash, awe us, bring house down--in the Upper East Side. AND smoke cigars with the great Joe K. We were celebrating what, I'm not 100% sure, though that didn't stop me from shouting to any passerby that "It's a boy!")

Aside from the DL-entry of Cervelli and Nova, the Yankees had a good weekend made even better by the fact it was a 4-game sweep, and made even better than that by the fact it was against one of the infinite "teams to beat."

We got to see a lot of Jeter in the dugout, which was starting to get a little awkward after a while, since it sort of felt like watching the Academy Awards when the camera man darts over to the losing nominee's face after the winner in announced. And said loser is forced to contort her face into an even mixture of grace/expected disappointment/excitement for the winner/aloof yet attentive. It's impossible.

If it were me, I'd just immediately crawl under the table and start playing Snood on my phone until I was sure the cameras had moved on to the next loserface.

Obviously, Jeter didn't crawl underneath the dugout bench. Mostly because he didn't lose anything, and also because he probably has more social graces than me. (I think CarrotTop has more social graces than me, too, though, so that isn't saying much.)

But seriously, every time Nunez did anything (fielding-wise) or didn't do anything (he had like 1 hit for the whole series), they'd cut to Jeter, as if to try to uncover some moment of revealing his true feelings. Did they really think he was going to scrunch up his face in raw jealousy at the site of Nunez making outs at SS like a pro? Or that Jeter would do that gentle half smile of condescension when Nunez would whiff?

No. When it comes to job security, I will say that while Jeter has about as much to worry about as an undertaker in Detroit, the rest of the DL tenants should be as worried as long-tailed cats in a rocking chair store.

Everyone for some reason keeps saying, "Yeah, and imagine how much better they'll be when Grandy and Tex and Jeter and Arod are back!" Maybe not that last part, but you know what I mean.

For my money, I don't care how the Yanks do it so long as they win. And right now, they are doing just that. As such, I'm not chomping at the bit to mess with whatever weird pact with the devil the team obviously made.

Lyle Overbay and Travis Hafner had triples in back to back games.

GGBG went yard for the 3rd time this year.

David Phelps struck out 9 batters in 4 innings.

Joba Chamberlain is chipping away at an ERA that started out looking more like the ticket cost for main level seating, and now looks more like the "handling fee" on Stubhub for said ticket.

Now do the same trimming with your weight.

Who on the team is in desperate need of being relieved of his decoy duties? I mean, the only player who everyone is poking is Tubbo. Seriously. Just because his fastest pitch clocked in at 92 mph.

(I was imagining this being said not by Suzyn Waldman, but by the illustrious Moira Quirk of GUTS fame.)

Arod's decoy is doing a fine job at 3B, and so-so at the plate, but I can't say with any confidence that Arod would be doing much better.

Wells is a beast. I said it last week, and I'll say it again, that this guy is the Carl Crawford we always wanted, but managed to dodge a bullet when he went to Boston, and now we get the bizarro edition of him.

It'd be like if all of sudden my ipod mini (it's blue with a green screen, ~2004) started working again, and not only could it play music, but it could do shit that the ipod, iphone, ipad, and possibly even the government itself, can't do. Like..display flash media content.

And it's kind of odd, because even though all 4 games were close ones, come-from behind thrillers, etc...it was like the blood pressure remained at even keel. There's just this very comforting committment to execution, sans frenzied panic.

(Compare that the the Jays' manager who is a nutjob. Not really Bobby Cox/Ozzie Guillen kind of way. But more like a Jack Torrance kind of way.

Very inspired gems from him this weekend:

"Basically what's happening is we're playing good enough to lose, we're not playing good enough to win." (What does this even mean?)

"You want me to go out there and hit or something? I couldn't hit when I played." (Ah, talk about resounding inspiration from your fearless chief. If that doesn't motivate a last place team, I don't know what will.)

"It's frustrating. I'm giving you guys the same comments every stinking day and I'm getting a little bit tired of it. I've got no answers." (Is he tired of the stinking days? Or the same answers? We need more information, John.)

On the other hand, I think the Decoys are causing Girardi to veer into Maddon territory, on account of him being so confused about what's happening here:

On batting Hafner against a leftie: "I just thought today was a good day to do it and he made it work." (BULL. SHIT. Uh-uh. You had a hunch? Stop. You're better than that.)

So the Yankees play the next 5 at home, 2 vs Houston, 3 vs Oakland. I'll be back to daily recaps this week. I can't say it enough how much I love watching the Decoys.

Now they just have to overtake Boston (2.5 games up), but I'm all for pacing yourself. Don't overexert yourselves.

Even though the DL is apparently a mecca of hedonism and utopian pleasure based on its popular appeal, I don't think the Yanks should try their luck with a new crop of Decoys for the Decoys. Let's just keep playing the way they're playing.