The Yankees won on Friday night in the Bronx vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2. The win combined with Detroit's loss clinched home field for the AL playoffs for the Yankees.

The Yankees got home runs from Abreu, Damon and Posada combined with six strong innings from Mike Mussina to coast to the victory.

From Yankees.com:

From the official site:

Don Mattingly's Blog has just launched. Wanted to mention it.

According to the official site:

So, I'm in 2 fantasy baseball leagues. In both of them, I am in the playoffs and this is the last round of the playoffs. In one, I'm playing for 1st place. In the other (our league here at YanksBlog.com), I'm playing for 3rd. I'm looking for some extra quality starts. I give Darrell Rasner one start. Just one start. The only time I've ever had him on any of my teams and I am only keeping him for one day. Just one start, that's all. Sigh.

Rasner lasted just 2 and 1/3 innings, giving up 5 ER and taking the loss. The Yankee bullpen was good in relief, especially Sean Henn who threw 3 and 2/3 innings of 0 ER ball and Jose Veras who pitched 2 of his own. Octavio Dotel pitched the 9th, allowing 2 ER.

The big story of the night, though, was Daniel Cabrera's near no hitter. Due to a pair of fielding errors and passed balls, the Yankees were able to score a run without getting a hit. The no hitter was taken into the 9th. First up was Johnny Damon. He grounded out to first. 2 outs away.

Robinson Cano didn't let it get any farther, though, as he put a single into left. Bobby Abreu followed this up by hitting into an inning ending double play. Game over. Pretty bad game, but hey, it could have been a no hitter.

With the loss, our shot at 100 wins is gone. Today at 7:05 PM, Gustavo Chacín goes up against Moose. I had both Moose and Chacín on one of my teams. Moose is starting and I've dropped Chacín. Fingers crossed.

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There are several assumptions in this scenario, so bear with me:

If the Yankees (knock on wood) achieve their goals this postseason:

1) Torre retires with ring #5, one for each finger on his right hand.
2) Mr. S. buys him out with a mutually agreed upon arrangement...no doubt a very attractive package.
3) Joe Girardi becomes Yankees manager. The Marlins' performance this year has removed any doubt about Joe G's capabilities.

Any thoughts on this?

Last evening, the Yankees put 16 runs on the board for the second time in 3 games, eventually winning 16-5. Finally, the team had their opening day lineup fully deployed. (Plus some career .300/.400/.500 guy from Venezuela who always looks to be at ease. I feel like I could tell Bobby that an asteroid was going to hit the earth and he'd shrug his shoulders and blow a bubble). This was the lineup that was to make scoring 1,000 runs a trivial effort...had they been intact, they might have made it look easier than that!

There was no mercy for the team from the Babe's hometown, as Anna Benson's ex-husband and his bullpen mates threw batting practice to the Yankees on a clear almost Fall evening in the Bronx. (Summer is reluctant to leave the stage this week in the northeast.)

The Yankees largely achieved their respective personal goals at the plate. Sheffield and Matsui both continued a successful restart of their seasons. Giambi allayed fears about his wrist with a home run. Robinson Cano stayed on the radar screen in the batting race but much more importantly solidified his position as an infield regular for years to come. Posada, Abreu, Damon...it rolled on.

So what do we have? Are we witnessing a team that, with this lineup, will steamroll its playoff competition?

Or are we deceived by offensive outbursts against teams that are 25+ games out of the playoff hunt?

I recommend overall caution...but by all means allow yourself to daydream. It is soothing and fun to contemplate the team laying waste through the playoffs en route to #27.

Jeter is a finalist in the Players Choice Awards for the A.L. "Outstanding Player" award. He's up against David Ortiz and Jermaine Dye.

The Yankees obliterated Tampa Bay in the last road game of the regular season. A lively first inning began with Damon hit by pitch, a Jeter walk and an Abreu 3 run shot over the centerfield wall. I was amused that Baldelli jumped up on the wall as if to make a play, because the ball was at least 40 ft. over his glove.

Alex walked and probably should have been called out on strikes after taking a close fastball from TB pitcher Jae Seo. (more on this later) Sheff just missed a fastball, flying out to deep CF. Cano had an infield hit and the stage was set for Matsui.

TB pitching coach Mike Butcher was a lit fuse after the Rodriguez non-call. On a close inside pitch to Hideki that was called a ball...Butcher freaked. I mean, became completely unhinged. Grabbing & bumping umpires, screaming obscenities, you had to love it. It was George Brett pine tar-esque....He reminded me of Jack Nicholson at the end of the courtroom scene in "A Few Good Men" when his character explodes and tries to rush Tom Cruise while being restrained by MPs.

After 14 pitches and about 10 minutes, Matsui centered a low fastball and hit it about 12 rows back in right field, 6-0 Yankees. The rout was on.

Jeter and Cano both recorded 2 hits each, thus keeping pace with Mauer. Jaret Wright was acceptable. Bobby Abreu was 4 for 4, and the September callup Cannizaro hit his first major league jack. 16 runs on 20 hits meant that everyone got healthy.

Everyone except our favorite 6' 10" lefty. Randy has been shut down until the playoffs with apparent back spasms. The media reports that the playoffs are "iffy" at this point.

What would the week before the playoffs be without a little drama?

Just picked up this tidbit from Yahoo!: Derek is the only shortstop - ever - to have 5 200 hit seasons. He's also the only shortstop to have 4 200 hit seasons. There are only 4 players who have had 3. They are Johnny Pesky, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada and Michael Young.

According to Yahoo!, Chien-Ming Wang will be our game 1 starter. Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson will be next. I read an article the other day that said that Torre was considering using Jaret Wright for game 4, as well.

From the official site:


You can vote now.

In a game that featured Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez Robinson Cano, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams, the star of last night's game was...J.P. Howell!? Yes, the Yankees were blanked by a guy who doesn't even have a photo on his player page. The 23-year old lefty threw 7 shutout innings and outdueled Randy Johnson as the Rays beat the Yankees 8-0 in the second game of a four-game series.

Johnson had a shaky outing, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings. Jose Veras gave up two runs and Octavio Dotel allowed a run (thankfully we didn't need him as much as originally thought) as well. Dotel has allowed 9 runs in 10 IP this season.

Not much to say about the Yankee offense, which recorded only four hits in the game. Gary Sheffield was 0-2 and is still looking for his first hit since coming back from his wrist injury. He made his first error at 1B as well. Cano and Jeter were each 1-4 and now trail Joe Mauer by 5 and 6 points, respectively, in the batting race. Cano can be eligible for the batting title after today's game if he gets five plate appearances (you can divide his would-be 481 PA by 155 team games played and get a number just over 3.1 or you can save yourself the trouble and just trust my math ;) ).

Well, the good thing about these games that are played after the Yanks have already clinched the division is that I can watch a game like this and when it's over I can just tip my cap to the young lefty Powell for a job well done. Nothing really significant to point out about the game besides the fact that everyone made it out in one piece and the Tigers have inched to within a half game for home-field throughout.

The Yanks and Devil Rays will resume the series this afternoon at 1:15 E.T. Mike Mussina will be on the mound to face Brian Stokes.

From the official site:

According to Jim Baumbach:


lol. It's a good thing for him that he's not signed to a contract that allows us to be that strict with him.

Mariano Rivera returned for the first time since August 31st and saved the game for Chien Ming-Wang with a three strikeout performance.

The Devil Rays jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Baldelli home run. Robinson Cano tied the score at 1 with a homer. The Yankees took the lead in the seventh with a two run homer from Aaron Guiel and an RBI double from Melky Cabrera.

Wang pitched seven strong innings. Proctor pitched the eighth and Rivera closed out the contest. The game also saw the return of Gary Sheffield to the lineup and his career debut at first base. The series resumes tomorrow night in Tampa Bay.

The speculation has already begun on Boston's version of the FAN, WEEI.

The word is that Sheffield can be had for 2 years, 18 million and the Yankees will "undoubtedly" release him at season's end...

According to the official site:

Today is a day for celebration. That title has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

The Yankees won the AL East for the ninth straight time last evening. As a fan, I would like to thank the entire Yankees organization for its commitment to excellence.

How many other organizations (in any field) explicitly proclaim that any outcome other than #1 is a failure?

And it seems like yesterday that it was June 1st and "another outcome" seemed quite probable. The loss of Godzilla and Detective Shaft. The 1,000 runs scored hype dashed. As I've written before, I live in Boston and I heard the "Yankees are done!" taunts many times in the early summer.

But the Yankees demanded to be relevant. Mussina, Jeter and Giambi carried the team in the first 4 months of the season. A jerry-rigged outfield rotation of rookies, career minor leaguers, Kansas City castoffs and a pretty good jazz guitarist :) held the line, and the Yankees stayed on the AL radar screen.

Suddenly, Cashman struck like an angry rattlesnake at the deadline. Bobby Abreu was the catalyst that propelled the team for the last 60 days. Also, don't forget Damon. Remember Damon, the big gamble? The jealous protection of Phil Hughes? Brian Cashman is the best GM in baseball. I am remarkably comfortable typing that.

Yes, Boston's 5 game Waterloo (With the Yankees playing the Duke of Wellington) will remain in the forefront of everyone's mind, and rightly so. Please do not lose track of the other 80-odd wins that were not against Boston. Recall those huge early sweeps of Detroit and the White Sox?

So: Be magnanimous in victory. Shake a Boston fan's hand and wish his team good luck next year. A famous Ancient Roman once wrote: He conquers twice who in the hour of conquest, conquers himself.

And go Yankees in the playoffs!

With last night's Red Sox loss, we've clinched a division title for the 9th straight season. This ranks 2nd behind only the Braves run of 14 which has now come to an end. One at a time...

From Mark Feinsand:


From MLB.com:


Also from MLB.com:


Finally, from the New York Daily News:


Congratulations to everyone involved.

According to Zap2it:


Oliver Platt will play George Steinbrenner, John Turturro (I'm very sneaky, sir) will play Billy Martin and Daniel Sunjata will play Reggie Jackson. It's slated for July 2007.

Via Steve via Monsters and Critics.com.

At the behest of compelling comments from both Alex B. at Bronx Banter and Steve L. at Was Watching, I surfed on over to SI.com to read Verducci's latest and was immediately confronted with this beauty:


1) If you were the youngest person to hit 400 home runs IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL, would you not be proud of that achievement? (Spare me in advance all the "winning is all that matters" sentiment, because you know you'd be proud).

2) If you were having a job interview and wanted to make a good impression that you were going to be a polished, professional employee, wouldn't you wear a tie? Regardless of the time? If a person is wearing a tie at 1AM, that would signify to me that he cares enough to make an extra effort, something that I'd want in an important employee.

Verducci conveniently omits when he received that "impression" from Red Sox brass. Was it after they lost Alex and had embarked on an effort to downplay both a) their mistake and b) his talent? (I live in Boston...I heard this campaign on sports radio and other outlets with my own eyes/ears).

I stopped reading the article after that point. Tom Verducci is not a mind reader. His attributions of the motivations and mindset of Giambi, Torre, Alex and other Yankees may or may not be true. One thing is true: They are Verducci's opinions varnished with the gloss of Sports Illustrated and his "intimate access" and "extensive journalistic experience."

In other words, almost 100% meaningless blather. If some schmoe (me) writing for a blog can identify 2 massive holes in his "portrait" of Rodriguez in the first paragraph, the whole thing is not worth your time.

One aspect of this is important to point out, however: if you're not important, they don't talk about you.

Mo's ready to go (that being great = the greatest understatement), but for some reason, this made me laugh:


Geno, Mr. T and Gator. That sounds like quite a group.