Boooooo......Ya!!

Ah, fickle Yankee fans. How you love to boo yourself the A-Rod. How you take such pleasure in vocalizing your personal frustrations in life in the direction of the reigning AL MVP. Yes, he makes $250 million. Yes, that more than any of us will ever sniff.....perhaps all put together. Yes, he occasionally strikes out with runners in scoring position. And, yes, he hits game winning home runs. Funny how those boos turn to yaas in a flash. Get over yourself.

Tonight's 2-0 win was not about A-Rod, as much as it seems every game is about him in some way. Tonight's game was about Chien Ming Wang and a knack for the ground ball. 8 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, no runs, and a whopping 4 double plays. Tonight's game was also about Robinson Cano and Andy Phillips. Their defense was huge in a number of crucial situations. Wang was able to relax on the mound because the right side of the infield was turning in gold star plays throughout the evening. They even saved their biggest connection for the 9th inning, when a shaky Mariano Rivera needed a slick 3-4-3 double play to get out of some trouble. It seems Mariano has lost strike three lately. He'll probably find it in the backseat of his car one day after work. That's where I often find things I can't seem to locate.

This game was also about Bernie Williams. I admit that I complained at having Bernie in the 5th spot. It made no sense to me during the pre-game. It made no sense to me when A-Rod struck out twice on breaking balls. It made no sense to me up until the moment he hit his late inning home run. It suddenly was forgotten when he got his curtain call to the chants of "Bernie, Bernie". Now I remember, it makes no sense. Robinson Cano is a lefty that could slide in behind A-Rod and force pitchers to respect his line drive prowess. He makes contact and hit smokers to both fields. A-Rod might get a few more fastballs, or pitched closer to the middle of the plate, if Cano was put behind him. With Bernie, despite the great moment at the Stadium, I'm not throwing Alex anything remotely resembling a straight pitch. Sorry Bernie. I love you, but you need to hit near the bottom of the order.

Zito was also good, but A-Rod is so talented that a low and outside change up can wind up in the seats. No shame. On a different night, maybe the A's win the ballgame 3-1 or 5-1, but Wang made sure that didn't happen and we're back in first again by percentage points thanks to a rain shortened game at Fenway, which the Stockings dropped to Texas 6-0. Way to go Yanks.

Finally, this game was about Hideki Matsui, who will be missed by everyone around the team and who wrote a typically humble Japanese style letter to all of us apologizing for his time away, and thanking us for supporting him. Get back soon Gojira.