May All Over Again: Angels 18, Yankees 9

Every time the Junkees do well, I'm too mad to blog. But then you have games like the last two against Anaheim, and you realize that life ain't so bad after all, and my dream of a Yankee-free October may come true after all.

When they were playing .750 ball, I thought, that's it. These guys are going to win the World Series. But a closer look at that run reveals that a lot of the games were blowouts where Old York scored a ridiculous number of runs, which, as we know, is not the way to win pennants.

In other words, the starting pitching is still spotty, and Mike Mussina is pitching exactly the way I thought he would. Giving up 7 earned runs in less than two innings gives him a hefty 5.22 ERA. His signing this past offseason may have been the worst in baseball.

Then the Yanks pull within two, scoring four in the third to make it 7-5. But Ron Villone and company gave it right back, and now we can see what the pitching situation is;

Mike Mussina: Done.

Chien Ming Wang: Been struggling lately. Is prone to giving up a lot of hits, gtes out of them with double plays, but has been lousy starting with the Toronto bombing. His ERA has gone from 3.49 to its current 4.10.

Clemens has looked old at times.

Phil Hughes has shown that his six no-hit innings against the Rangers was a fluke. He has gotten shelled in three of his last four starts.

And that leaves us with Andy Pettitte, who has been pretty good for the most part, despite a WHIP of 1.40.

So come playoff time, the Yanks have Pettitte, and no one else they can count on. So maybe all those blowouts weren't so bad after all.

Here We Go Again: Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4

Doesn't matter that Andy Pettitte was mediocre. Doesn't matter that Snorre's new boyfriend, Luis Vizcaino, almost blew the game. Doesn't matter which hitters went hitless, and which guys are in a slump. What matters is that my hopes and dreams of a Yankee-free October are flying away in the wind.

Yanks won a heartbreaker, 5-4 on Monday. The Jays had a lead, couldn't hold it, nearly came back, but didn't. And Old York continues to roll.

When they beat up on the bad teams, it was upsetting, but as Manny pointed out, whadaya expect? And give credit where credit is due - the Yanks haven't merely "gotten lucky," they've played really well.

Yes, the slugging has to take a break at some point, but when? Will it be too late? The Blue Jays were supposed to be better than the bad teams. But one game into the series and they are not.

Oh the pain. Oh ... the pain.

Lousy Pitching, Yankees Win Anyway, Beat D-Rays 7-6.

I know it's sour grapes, but the Yankees were able to fiest on lousy Tampa Bay pitching for most of this series. Sure, they couldn't pull out a win when Clemens pitched a stinker on Friday, but on Sunday they did just enough to win. But come on, Edwin Jackson was not beating the Yankees.

It's never good when the Yankees win, but Mussina was spotty as usual, and the bullpen nearly gave the D-Rays a win with Villone stinking up the joint, and Farnsworthless reverting to form.

On Saturday you had Wang do the same as Mussina, 3 earned runs in 6 innings. I don't care that people call that a quality start. A 4.50 ERA doesn't cut it.

Clemens, of course, got rocked on Friday, with 5 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Another start or two like this and he ought to go the way of Julio Franco. Ah, all those fans who got pumped about two decent outings in a row....

So out of four games, they got only one good start, and that was from Andy Pettitte. What you have to take out of this is that a team that has even mediocre pitching will eat up these type of performances. Old York was lucky that as bad as their arms were, Tampa Bay's were worse. To put things in perpective, the D-Rays are dead last in ERA in the majors with a (gulp!) 5.80 mark. The second worst? The Texas Rangers at 5.05. Wow.

If these were all 5-0 games, I'd be way more paranoid. But the way they played this weekend gives me hope.

Lousy Start to Second Half: Junkees 7, D-Rays 3

What a game. What a crappy game. Andy Pettitte didn't have his best stuff, got out of some jams, but it didn't matter, as Tampa Bay was as flat as a pancake, losing to Old York 7-3 in a 1998 kind of game - you were never confident that the Devil Rays were going to start a rally.

Worth pointing out that Pettitte's been horrible in June and July. With 3 earned runs in 5.2 innings, his ERA creeps up to 4.27. Nice.)

On one hand, you can say that Tampa Bay stinks, so what do you expect. On the other hand, however, I don't like to think that way. I know Yankee fans are horny about their schedule, facing sub-.500 teams for the next few series, but any of those teams could get hot and give the Yanks a run for their money. In the beginning of the season Old York was getting beat by Tampa, Toronto, Chicago, so to me it's not hopeless.

Only two things to highlight. First, two caught stealings for Old York, one for Damon, and the other Melky. Second, Cano went 0-4, but who cares. This better not be the start of a roll.

- Red Sox won, so the lead remains at 10, and the tragic number for elimination in the AL East dips to 67.

Igawa Stinks Up Joint (What Else Is New?), Junkees Win Anyway 7-6

Wow, hard to believe Igawa's ERA is ONLY 7.14, after giving up 5 earned runs in 5 innings. Wait a minute, I thought he got straightened out in AAA.... Hard to believe it's only 7.14 because that means he gives up 7 earned runs every 9 innings. I don't remember any scoreless innings. Where did those go?

So the Yankees jump out to a 5-2 lead, and of course, Igawa can't hold it. Shemp's homer in the eighth puts them ahead, and Mariano comes in for a SHAKY ninth, allows a run but nails his eleventh save after a pretty questionable strike three call, but the calls have gone both ways this year, so I can't complain too much. Nevertheless, he got a little lucky. If Cuddyer walks you have Morneau up with a couple runners on, and I don't think Mariano holds on. He was far from dominating today, and we haven't seen the dominant Mariano in quite some time. So that's a good sign.

Offensively Old York did well against lousy pitching, getting 13 hits. The only highlight was Ringo's 0-5. Ringo's July average is .176, so we'll keep an eye on that.

So that's it. Otherwise, Detroit won, so Old York gains nothing in the wild card race, and Anaheim comes into town, and they always give the Yankees fits. Should be a fun weekend.

Moose Pitches Like Old Self: Twins 6, Yankees 2, Tragic Number in AL East 70

For all you Yankee fans who got horny when the Moose shut down the A's last time - ha! Actually, he wasn't horrible (even though I don't consider 3 ER in 6 innings a "quality start"), but he couldn't hold the lead either, and after giving up the 2-run homer to Kubel, you knew he was out of gas. So his record is now 4-6.

Has anyone noticed that A-Schmuck is 0 for his last 18? His last hit came on June 29th. Yes, he still has great numbers, and he may still be the AL MVP this year, but he's been hot and cold. Great April, lousy May, great June, lousy July (so far).

Speaking of cold, that was the Yankee lineup today. They came up with four hits, and I know some of the regulars weren't playing, and it was Johan Santana, but they way the Old York broadcasters were going crazy about the offense in the previous few games, you expected something better.

And Brian Bruney came on in the ninth, trying to keep the lead to a managable two runs, and he gives up a home run to a guy hitting .182. If he gives one up to Morneau or Mauer, fine. But Luis Rodriguez? Gotta love it!

And the Red Sox won, so the lead goes back to 12. To be honest, I got paranoid after Tuesday's Yankee win. I thought it was the start of another hot streak. But Minny wins at Yankee stadium for only the third time in their last 18 games, and all is well in Yankee Despiser land.

- BTW, didn't go crazy about A-Rod's hammy injury because until I see him on the DL, it's much ado about nothing. Although Snorre may use it as an excuse for Alex's cold streak.

Clemens Should Have Signed With Boston: Orioles 4, Yankees 0 - Tragic Numbers 77, 79

So far, Clemens is 1-3 with an ERA of 5.32. I told you guys he'd have issues in the AL after dominating the NL (Comedy) Central. But no, the Junkee fans didn't believe me. What can I say? This is not Ca$hman's year. So it's probably better he didn't go to Boston.

Once again, the Bronx Bombers failed to do anything offensively. Damon went 0-4, as did Abreu, and zero extra base hits for anyone.

This team is starting to remind me of the Yankees of 1989-1992, when they couldn't buy a win. But hey, I'm not complaining.

- One thing I've noticed but haven't pointed out is that Old York is issuing a lot of free passes this year. They're third in the AL in walks allowed, trailing only Texas and Baltimore. This means more baserunners, and greater pitch counts, which is why Snorre is killing the bullpen.

- They've also allowed the most stolen bases in the league.

- What makes these losses even sweeter is that it's the Orioles without Miguel Tejada. Before the series I thought, okay, what can you do? They're going to face lousy teams and beat up on them. Yet here I am a couple of days later, and the O's may take out the brooms.

- Not too upset at Boston's struggles, because Old York hasn't gained anything.

- As much as they may not be out of the wild card race, still like the fact that they have four teams to jump over. Obviously if they win 20 in a row it won't matter, but even if they pick it up, all those teams have to go in the toilet for them to get past them all.

- Wang faces Cabrera in the series finale. Wang was unimpressive in his last outing, but who knows. Could go either way. (Really insightful point, if I may say so myself.)

How Sweep It Is! Rockies 4, Junkees 3: Tragic Numbers 82, 86

What a day. Roger Clemens struggled big time. I know, he didn't give up a ton of runs, but anytime you throw 90 pitches in 4.1 innings, you know you don't have your best stuff. I'm sorry, 4 earned runs in 4+ innings is not why you're getting $18 million! Seven hits and a walk in 4+ innings - he's lucky they didn't score more runs.

Props to the bullpen -- Snorre's boyfriend in particular (Scott Proctor) -- pitching a scoreless rest-of-game, but it wasn't enough as the offense, once again, faltered.

Johnny Damon is absolutely killing them. He's now batting .249 with no power, and has no business playing. As I've said a zillion times, if you're injured, go on the freakin' DL. Who knows - perhaps there's an element of PR that the guy has never been on the DL, and gosh darnit, they intend to keep it that way even if he can't move.

Abreu, ever since that 4 for 4 day is 6-28, also known as a .214 batting average. Cairo's doing nothing, and Andy Phillips can't buy a hit. Otherwise, the Yanks had opportunities but sqaundered them. In the series, they went 1-18 with runners in scoring position.

But not to worry, Snorre and Clemens had plenty of excuses: "I was taking deep breaths on the mound. My mouth got dry a couple times," Clemens said. "That was the more difficult part. Heat or cold is not a big deal. The one inning a storm blew in and the wind changed direction. The wind hit my chest and caused me to throw the ball out of the zone. But I made the adjustment. Then, the wind started to blow straight out." Can't make this stuff up.

So now it's on to San Francisco. We'll see what happens. Kei Igawa pitches Game 1, so we may as well pencil in another Yankee loss. Then Wang on Saturday and Mussina on Sunday. The Giants are a lousy team, they don't score any runs, but the pitching is not bad. In this series, they have (in order) Matt Cain, who's pitched way better than his 2-7 record, Matt Morris, who's having a really good year, and Noah Lowry, who has underachieved. I'm actually glad they don't face Zito, who stinks this year.

Because of the anemic offense of the Giants, I wouldn't be shocked if Old York takes 2 out of 3, but I wouldn't mind another series loss or sweep.

Okay, Now I'm getting Nervous! Junkees 4, D-Backs 1

I could write about Johnny Damon's lousy offensive year, especially following an 0-4 night. I could write about Farnsworthless's shaky inning, allowing a walk and a hit before wiggling his way out of it. I could mention that Melky was 0-3 dropping his average to a mediocre .253.

But I won't.

Old York won, they're back at .500, and here we go again. My dreams of a Yankee-free October are going the way of Katie Couric's viewers.

All I want is one loss to prove that they are not invincible. Tuesday night's game would have been a good night for a loss. Boston won, so the lead would have been back to 10.5. Instead, I have to sit and wonder if Livan Hernandez has any shot of beating them. After all, if the NL Cy Young award winner can't beat them, who can?

Very upsetting. Very, very upsetting.