According to my YB.com colleague James, last night was possibly the toughest game in the Texas series. He was concerned (as were we all) about RJ's pitch count in his last start and the effect on his 42 year old throwing mechanism.

Johnson's very good (and periodically dominant) performance last night set the worried minds of the Yankees universe to rest. He surrendered seven hits, striking out seven and walking two. One never really got the feeling that RJ was in "a jam." However, the 129 pitches from the Seattle outing required RJ's strict adherence to a 100 pitch limit. "L'unita grande" was pulled after 6 innings.

In the game's final third, the Yankees bullpen continued to impress in the post All-Star game period. Proctor is rejuvenated and effective. Farnsworth is throwing more smoke and being minimally "cute" with the off-speed stuff. Mariano Rivera...it's enjoyable just to type the man's name.

Offensively, the Yankees were effective against Kevin Millwood, who was baffling in his last start against the Bombers. Melky was the individual leader with a 1B, 2B and a 3B. Jeter had an RBI triple and a double, and Miguel Cairo also hit a two run 2B. Offensive powerhouse Aaron Guiel added a solo home run.

Some guy named Rodriguez was 2 for 5 with an RBI 2B in the 7th. But, he revealed what a "fraud" he is when he could not field a high chopper that went over his head and into the outfield...wait a minute, you say that it was 15 feet over his head?? I don't care!!! The highest paid player in baseball should have a 7 foot vertical jump!! Trade him!!

We could probably get Aaron Boone back or maybe lure Drew Henson from the Cowboys. Last year at this time (the year he was AL MVP) Rodriguez had 27 HRs and 77 RBIs. This year he has 21 HR and 71 RBIs. There's one way out of this disaster...Cashman should DFA Rodriguez since he's obviously "a head case" and no longer valuable, then trade Phil Hughes and Jose Tabata for Miguel Cabrera....

Other observations:

1) Great to see RJ and Posada bonding after the key strikeout of Michael Young...very good to see that they've put the arguments behind them.

2) Standard Joe Torre head-scratcher: Top 5th. Miguel hits a double and Jeter.....bunts him over to 3rd. Even if you have never heard of Bill James, Jeter's line is: .346/.424/.476

Why on earth are you giving away an out with this man at the plate?!!?