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

The Angels always beat us and are so scary and no one wants to play them because that will be our undoing. At the risk of sounding like I'm going to default to Dennis Green here and emphatically iterate that if you wanna crown them now, then crown their ass. But that's why we took the damn field.

Everything's attainable.

Even a win against the neutralizing Halos.

Before I get into the game, I just want to plug "Monk," one of the best shows on tv, and one of the only things I actually watch outside of Family Guy and Baseball Tonight. I think I feel some kindred spirit feelings towards the main character since he's socially awkward and OCD.

But in the most recent episode, he loses his first case ever to this lawyer (Harrison Powell) who just destroys him on the stand. And so Monk is scared to ever take a case again for fear of going up against this guy. But then at the end, the scary lawyer and him have the following exchange:

Harrison Powell: Do you really want to go up against me again, Former
Detective Monk?
Adrian: Yes I do. I'll see you on the ball field.
Harrison Powell: The ball field?
Adrian: I've seen your curveball. I can hit it now.
Harrison Powell: Oh, I'm really looking forward to this.
Adrian: No, you're not.

I'm not gonna say the Yankees "have the Angels' number" or anything a little over the top like that. But Girardi tonight probably showed the most incisive and aggressive managing he's shown all year. By simply beating the Halos at their own game. If that's what it takes to beat em, then giddy up, Guzman and Gardner.

Let's go.

• The AP kills me: "Mark Teixeira hit a two-run triple on a play that caused Angels center fielder Torii Hunter to lose a shoe." That's their lead. It sounds like something I would say, actually. In fact, I'm kinda disappointed they didn't hyperlink to this. Because that's what I would have done.

• That Vlad is one scary MFer. I don't care how good the Yankees are or how good any pitcher is...that is without a doubt the last guy I wanna see at the plate. I'm not kidding. More so than Pujols, Manny, Ortiz (of yore), etc. EVEN MAUER. I think I only say this because I'm not just terrified of Vlad as a hitter. I think I'm actually just plain terrified of him in general.

• Swisher goes yard to tie up the game after the aforementioned dragon's solo in the 2nd gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead. 6 dings in 14 games for Swish. Not bad, not bad. Good thing he remembered how to take pitchers deep at home.

• Yankee fans really got to stop relying on Mo, he's past his prime. Yeah, remember that? I do. I also remember him having 40 saves in 2005. AND IN 2009. You're so f'n rad, Mo. 998 career K's for him. One more and my favorite all time Yankee will be swimming in 9's. I like it.

• Yankees magic number is 12, with 17 left to play. Doesn't it feel like it should be lower than 12? We're 7.5 up on Boston, which is good, but I need at least 2 of 3 from Toronto before I fully cleanse the O's weekend debacle off my palate.

• The Yanks also have a 6 game lead on the Angels for best AL record. I don't think I've ever assigned this much importance and consequence to home field advantage ever. In any season, any year, any sport. I am salivating for this.

• Joba didn't look so bad today. 4 hits in 4 innings. 1 run. 2 Ks. Aces followed him to do about the same. 2.2 innings. 2 hits. 1 run. 2 Ks. So are the 2 of them like now considered the equivalent of our 5th starter? Or 4th starter? I don't even know anymore what happens after Andy. I'll go on record saying that I'm ok with Joba starting if Aces is attached to him after 3 innings. And they split the work evenly. If I HAVE to see our set-up man emeritus in the ill-advised starter role, then I want Aces backing him.

• Teixeira was the player of the game, going 3-for-4, one HR shy of the cycle. (Who was the last Yankee to get the cycle again...? How come Melky's name isn't gratuitously dropped ad nauseum ad infinitum in the same way that Tony Fernandez's was?)

• Why was Tex so mad about the interference? He got a triple. His first since 2007. And it scored 2 runs, yeah? I really think he's got more than a little Paul O'Neil in him.

• While I'm the subject of light criticism of announcers, could I request that we stop comparing any good steal to Dave Roberts? For obvious reasons. And because, well, is that the only big steal guy you can come up with??

• The Angels' aren't very good defensively. Why am I just noticing this? They're ok, I guess. But nothing to be scared of.

• Anaheim sent in...15 different players? If the Yanks were trying to emulate the Angels' game, then it would appear that the Angels were trying to do the opposite. Like Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron! (Or preferrably, Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold.)

• Welcome back, Gardner! And welcome, Guzman! The two of them are like freaking video game characters. Like Sonic the Hedgehogs or something. It's great. I sometimes underestimate base-running prowess, but tonight demonstrates how key it is to have kids like that on the base paths that can not only wheel around with lightning speed, but also keep their heads in the game and and jump at chances to take extra bases.

• When Napoli's throw to third sailed into the outfield (completely Figgins' fault, btw), Gardner didn't waste a nanosecond before making his way home. One more second can mean the difference between a run and an out.

• Torii Hunter, who I adore right after Carl Crawford in my non-Yankees crush league, consistently has the greatest, most incisive and glowing, astute things to say about my boys: "This year, I think it's something different about those guys," he said. "It's a fire, some kind of fire, I see in those guys. It's totally different." I love it. Or when he said about the fans at Yankee Stadium:

"I love Yankee Stadium. The atmosphere and energy there is great. And the fans
know the game. When they get on you it can be pretty personal, but it's always
about your baseball game. When someone screams, 'You just can't hit that
slider,' that's someone who knows what they're talking about."

There are fans who yell, "you just can't hit that slider"? Interesting.

The Yankees have now won five of their last six home games vs. the Angels. A week from today, we're in Anaheim.

This is it. The home stretch. Tomorrow Mitre goes against Halladay. Hm.

• 2 games against Toronto.
• Weekend in Seattle.
• Start next week in Anaheim.
• Back to NY for Boston.
• Close the regular season home games with KC.
• Finish the regular season at TB in the first week of October.

I'm really nervous. Not dread nervous. But after typing that, I got the feeling you get seconds before you go on stage for a play. Excited, jittery, nervous, but at the same time, aware that if you just play like you have been, you could very well blow everyone away.


"I felt that I was walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.”