God I love beating that douchebag Papelbon.

Nice work by your boy Gardner, TMS.

Gardner's hit the ball well a lot of times despite his low average. I like the kid.

btw, scouting report on Alfredo Aceves from 1 of the posters that reports on our AAA affiliate:

Alfredo Aceves made his AAA debut, which was delayed due to a trip to the DL with a groin strain. He pitched 3 scoreless innings. Aceves tossed a perfect 1st inning, striking out Brandon Inge on a curve. He gave up a single in the 2nd and 2-out triple in the 3rd, but got Inge to make the final out on a groundout. Aceves threw 49 pitches--32 strikes. Aceves line: 3.0 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 2 K's--0 walks. 2 groundouts--4 flyouts.

Posted by VDesai:

Lot of baseball to play, and we just took 4/6 against the top 2 teams in the division without Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui (or our ace starter for that matter).

these wins definitely renew my hope in this team... at least we know they got a pulse... the season is a long ways from over no doubt... i'm still holding to my prediction that we win the AL East this year... we still have a lot of games left against TB & the Sux.

maybe Sir Drinks Alot Sidney Ponson can be this year's version of Aaron Small? Cashman's been pretty good at these types of garbage heap acquisitions... i like what i've seen so far from Ponson... he looks like he gets along well w/the guys in the dugout & he fits in nicely here... he geniunely looks happy to be a Yankee... hope he doesn't make me eat my words w/a stinker on his next outing.

Posted by TMS:

if the Yanks can stay w/in 6.5 games or maybe gain a game or 2 going into the AS break they'll be in great shape... Cano's bat is getting hot as always in the 2nd half & Wang should be starting to rehab in a few weeks & hopefully will be ready for the last stretch of games... now we just gotta figure out if Matsui is done for the year, & if so, what do u guys think about signing Barry Bonds as our DH for the rest of the season? his lefthanded bat at YS would be pretty damn scary.

I still don't think the D'Rays are going to keep up this pace. In the end I think we're gonna be right in the mix for the Wild Card.

Quietly, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras and Dan Giese have emerged as really viable options out of the bullpen, especially Veras who looks like he has the stuff to be the lights out setup guy we have long been looking for. Krazy Kyle also finally looks like he's come around a bit as well. You have to be happy with the way Joe G has handled the pen lately...been a pretty nice mix of guys.

Meanwhile everyone piles on ARod when he's struggling, but quietly he's having another MVP type season despite missing a few games. Right there with the leaders in OPS/AVG/Home runs. Once we get Damon and Matsui back the lineup can start rolling. Cano is finally awake now...when he gets on a streak he can really keep the offense moving.

Posted by VDesai:

Posted by TMS:

if the Yanks can stay w/in 6.5 games or maybe gain a game or 2 going into the AS break they'll be in great shape... Cano's bat is getting hot as always in the 2nd half & Wang should be starting to rehab in a few weeks & hopefully will be ready for the last stretch of games... now we just gotta figure out if Matsui is done for the year, & if so, what do u guys think about signing Barry Bonds as our DH for the rest of the season? his lefthanded bat at YS would be pretty damn scary.

I still don't think the D'Rays are going to keep up this pace. In the end I think we're gonna be right in the mix for the Wild Card.

Quietly, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras and Dan Giese have emerged as really viable options out of the bullpen, especially Veras who looks like he has the stuff to be the lights out setup guy we have long been looking for. Krazy Kyle also finally looks like he's come around a bit as well. You have to be happy with the way Joe G has handled the pen lately...been a pretty nice mix of guys.

Meanwhile everyone piles on ARod when he's struggling, but quietly he's having another MVP type season despite missing a few games. Right there with the leaders in OPS/AVG/Home runs. Once we get Damon and Matsui back the lineup can start rolling. Cano is finally awake now...when he gets on a streak he can really keep the offense moving.

Farns has been pretty much lights out the last few outings... it's like we're in the Twilight Zone all of a sudden... Joe G has definitely done a good job of handling the pen this year... not relying solely on 1 or 2 guys the way Torre tended to do for long stretches at a time & burning out their arms completely, like what happened w/Sturtze, Quantrill & Proctor the past few years... Veras has been good all year pretty much & has really stabilized the pen, & Edwar & Geise give a really nice different look from all those power arms we have in the BP... Robertson has been doing a solid job too, & we still have arms in the minors to call up if we need to... i love the mixture & i think our BP is in much better shape this year than it's ever been, especially w/Mariano dealing the way he's been all year... usually he goes through a tired arm phase at some point in the season but so far he hasn't shown that (except for a 2 game stretch where he allowed runners to score in tied ballgames & took the L)... only one that still makes me incredibly nervous now is Hawkins, but hopefully he will only see innings in mop up duty for the rest of his time here.

ARod is never gonna get his just due in NY until he comes through in the postseason & they win a WS... it sucks cuz the guy is the greatest player we will ever have the privilege of watching play, but Yankee fans have become extremely spoiled & hold everyone up to the Derek Jeter come through in the clutch standard... btw, Jeter's been extremely UNclutch for the past few postseasons & has played his part in the 1st round eliminations, but the blame all goes on ARod's shoulders.

after looking up Sexson's stats, i see that he's absolutely killed lefty pitching this season... his #'s vs. lefties are horrible tho.

in 61 AB's this year vs. lefty pitching:

.344 BA / 5 HR / 12 RBI / 9 BB / 13 K / .423 OBP / .623 SLG / 1.046 OPS

not bad at all actually... if he's strictly used vs. lefty pitching i think he can help us... the Yanks can sign him for less than $200K if he clears waivers... definitely a huge upgrade from the rightside than Betemit.

I read a rumor about an Ohlendorf for Damaso Marte swap? That would help a lot- cheaper option than Fuentes and a pretty good reliever in his own right.