Pardon the momentary detour from baseball, but today Floyd Landis exhibited one of the 5 greatest individual performances in at least the last 50 years of American sports.

Yesterday he was the disgraced favorite, cracking on the side of a mountain in the 90+ degree heat and spectacularly falling from favorite to goat. He went from leader to 11th place in pathetic fashion.

In a display of rage combined with world class athletic ability, today Landis rode away from the field and conquered 4 massive mountain climbs in searing heat (by himself!!) to close the overall gap from 7 minutes to a mere 30 seconds. His performance today, after yesterday's dud, was at least a 750-1 shot.

Superhuman. Herculean. Keep the yellow jersey in the US, Floyd!!!

Do I have to post when the Yankees lose, or can we just ignore yesterday afternoon?

Just joking: Like many things in life, we have to "swallow the medicine." In yesterday's case, "the medicine" was a one run loss to a team that was ripe for a sweep. Factors contributing to this loss:

Factor #1) Randy Johnson must now forget the first half and behave like an ace. 2 hits in the first inning and the mistake to Sexson in the 4th seemed more like lapses in concentration than a serious pitching problem. The hit batter in the 8th turned out to be the difference.

Make no mistake: RJ was good. However, he can (and must) be great. On the other hand, it's very easy to say that the Yankees offense should have won this game for Johnson, if it wasn't for:

Factor #2) Seattle's starting pitching and bullpen: Gil Meche was quite good, allowing one hit through 5 innings. He also got out of a high-leverage (defined as the probability to change the game's outcome) jam in the sixth by inducing the dangerous Giambi to ground out.

In the 7th, "non-clutch" Alex Rodriguez got a key single and scored the tying run when Andy Phillips (who, incidentally, still hopes that Neil Young will remember that southern man don't need him around, anyhow) doubled.

Unfortunately, the tough Seattle bullpen shut the door from that point. (Rafael Soriano is worth a mention, BTW)

Enough of Seattle...because here comes Toronto! The Yankees had better crank up the diesel, we all know that Toronto has been lurking for the last few weeks.

However, Torre's extensive use of Cairo, Guiel, Crosby and Green (sounds like a jazz quartet) lately is worrisome for the offense. Is the boss's recent chatter about the free-swinging "guy I prefer" to be believed? Is it a ruse?

UPDATE/CORRECTION: I need to cut down on the cough medicine, because I mistakenly typed that the Red Sox will face the Twins this weekend. In fact, they face Seattle after a rainout makeup with Texas.

Let's see... Bobby Abreu, Reggie Sanders, Alfonso Soriano, Craig Wilson, Roberto Hernandez, Jose Guillen:


Via Pro Sports Daily.

Sidney Ponson took the mound for the first time as a Yankee last night, and after allowing a three run homer to Richie Sexson in his first inning of work, I couldn't help but think "Ugh, here we go." Ponson, however, actually settled down after that, allowing only one more run and leaving the game with a line of 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 SO in 6.2 IP. He was still on pace for the loss though as the Yankees were trailing when he was replaced by Ron Villone in the 7th.

The Yanks were still trailing 4-2 in the 9th when Andy Phillips led the inning off with a double. Aaron Guiel brought him in with a base hit with one out, and moved to third on an infield single by Jorge Posada in which he probably should've been called out. Johnny Damon followed that up with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Alex Rodriguez, who was out of the lineup with what Joe Torre said was a bruised toe, entered the game as a pinch hitter and struck out in his only at bat, which was interrupted halfway through with a 2 hour rain delay. Both teams went scoreless in the 10th and Melky Cabrera led off the bottom of the 11th and ended the game with his 4th home run of the season.

The win is the Yankees' 5th in a row as they kept pace and remained a half game behind the Red Sox and 2.5 behind the White Sox, who both won last night as well. A-Rod's replacement at 3rd base, Nick Green went 3-3 with two doubles and has actually been a pretty decent contributor so far when the Yankees have used him. Andy Phillips had two hits including a home run in the 2nd, and Jason Giambi drove in his 77th.

The Yankees will look to sweep their second consecutive series (3rd if they would've been able to hold onto a 5-run lead in St. Petersburg) and they will be sending Randy Johnson to the mound to face Gil Meche. Johnson has been solid of late and hopefully this is the start to the type of second half he had last season. Meche has been pretty good for the Mariners this year, as he is 9-4 with an E.R.A. of 3.87.


EDIT: Fans who run on the field are idiots and I don't condone it, but something about this picture just makes me laugh. Found it on the Seattle Times website.

Tonight's victory was not pretty. Alex made three errors on what should have been routine throws and Wang was competent, though not as sharp as he has been. However:

John Damon was 3 for 4 with an RBI...Cashman's December surprise continues to succeed. Damon's offensive production has surpassed his last year in Boston.

Cairo had a 2 run single, cementing his position (for better or worse) as one of Joe Torre's "character guys."

Jason Giambi continues to thrill us and carry the Yankees with his power. He added an upper-deck HR off Jarrod Washburn to increase the Yankees lead to 4-2, which ended the scoring.

For the first time in about 18 months, I almost turned the game off in the 8th because I was convinced that the Yankees would win this game. Mariano notwithstanding, the team is building momentum:

4 in row and 18 games over .500.
Dotel on the way.
Does Cashman have something interesting for us before July 31st?
Matsui...we've heard the rumors that he's ahead of schedule. Dare we hope he'll be back in August?

It's good to be in the Yankees Universe tonight.

Mariano Rivera. There’s really not much to add regarding Mariano’s career that hasn’t already been said. He has been lauded by his teammates, his opponents, those he’s played for and by those who are far more eloquent than I am. Still, I’d have felt bad if I didn’t congratulate him on what has been a truly amazing career to this point (and it's not nearly over yet).

He’s truly been something to watch for the last 10 seasons. All Yankees fans know the numbers but David Pinto over at Baseball Musings points them out just in case you forgot:


It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to watch him go about his business. I don’t usually get worked up about professional athletes because for the most part, they’re just regular people who have been blessed with physical gifts. However, Mo is one of the exceptions. Heck, I even have a McFarlane Rivera toy (it’s not a doll, it’s an action figure!) propped high on my desk. With Mariano, I, along with millions of fans out there, simply can’t help it - he is simply just too easy to like. He has always exuded class and determination and personally, his quiet intensity and devotion to his religious beliefs have always reminded me of my dad, which for me, is the highest compliment I can give.

Mariano once said that he thought that the good Lord was a Yankee. Considering how blessed the Yankees and their fans have been to see Mariano pitch in pinstripes for the past ten years, I think he might be right. It will be a sad day when Mo walks off the mound for the last time but until that day, I will continue to be amazed by his performance, humbled by his modesty and in awe of his faith.

Playing to another sold out crowd the Yankees continued their winning ways and beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium to complete the series sweep.

The game started off badly for the Yankees as Jaret Wright walked Podsednik and Iguchi singled. Thome followed with a lined double down the right field line to score Podsednik with the games' first run. Wright then buckled down and retired Konerko and induced Jermaine Dye to hit into a double play to end the inning. A-Rod made a great play on the Dye ground ball by snagging it on the backhand and turning it quickly.

In the bottom of the first after one out, Derek Jeter homered to left to tie the game at one. It was the first homer for Jeter since May 16th. Two batters later A-Rod connected for a two run shot and the Yankees had the lead at 3-1. Wright then got tough only giving up two more runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. The Yankees were able to add three more thanks to RBI from Giambi, Cairo and Bubby Crosby.

The game stayed at 6-3 when Ron Villone relieved Wright. In the seventh he allowed the first runner to get on and then induced a perfect double play ball but Jeter bobbled it and the Chisox had runners on first and second. Mike Myers came in and with one pitch got Thome to pop up to center. Farnsworth was next and retired the next two batters.

In the eighth though Farnsworth was not effective. A.J. Pierzynski homered to the upper deck to decrease the lead to 6-4. The next two batters also reached and Torre had no other choice but to summon the Sandman. Rivera got Uribe to pop up for the first out and then induced Scott Podsednik to hit into an inning ending double play.

In the ninth Tadahit Uguchi doubled to start the inning and then Mo walked Thome to put the tying runs on base. Rivera then got tough as Konerko tried to pull an outside pitch and hit into a double play. Jermaine Dye was then struck out swinging to end the game. For Rivera its his 21st save of the season. With the Red Sox losing to the A's the Yankees are now only 1/2 game behind the Red Sox for the lead in the AL East.

The Yankees won their second straight game against the White Sox Saturday afternoon in the form of a 14-3 blowout. The victory pulled the Yanks to within 4 games of Chicago for the wild card and kept them on pace with the Red Sox, who currently lead the Bombers by a game and a half.

The pitching matchup pinned All-Star Mark Buerhle against Mike Mussina, who some say was snubbed and should've been on the team instead of Buerhle. Buehrle didn't help his case yesterday, as he lasted only 3 innings and gave up 8 runs (7 earned) on 8 hits. Mussina was pretty good, allowing three runs, all of which came in the 6th inning as he improved his record to 11-3.

Four of the runs came in the 4th, where the Yankees bunted twice in a row, the first one resulting in a base hit (Cabrera) and the other reaching on an error (Damon) to load the bases. Jeter and Giambi followed that up with two consecutive two-run doubles to put the Yankees ahead 8-0. Five Yankees recorded at least two hits, including Jeter and Bernie, who both doubled twice. Andy Phillips drove in four runs, including two on a home run in the 6th. Bubby Crosby also hit his first dinger of the season.

Does someone want to explain to me why the Yankee pitching staff gets so much criticism while everyone raves about the White Sox' staff? One of the FOX announcers pointed out before the game (forget if it was Buck or McCarver) that the Yankees' rotation ERA is actually lower than Chicago's. The Yankees are actually 4th in the American League in team ERA Chicago and Boston are 7th and 9th respectively, and for whatever reason the Yankees are the only team out of the there that needs pitching help.

The Yankees will go for the sweep this afternoon and will try to pull to within 3 of Chicago for the wild card, as they'll send Jaret Wright to the mound to face Freddy Garcia. Game starts at 1 ET.

From the official:


I'd have to give that one a pass.

From the official site: