Even Steven

Back to .500 is Mission Accomplished: Part One. If anyone ever doubted that pitching wins championships, there is no room for disbelief after seeing our gigantic offense fail time after time to make up for the awful deficits that our patchwork rotation was creating game after game. A healthy rotation has recently produced an 8-3 stretch that deserves an asterisk thanks to a blown call on a stolen base in the 8th inning of that Mariners debacle. The record says 8-3, and that's all that really matters, but we can take some comfort in knowing that the quality of those 11 games was 9-2.

I'm hoping to see Moose get that 7th inning in his next outing. Using 5 relief pitchers to get 9 outs is just hideous. I leave it at that. Wil Nieves getting his first hit was like winning the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. You send in your application never expecting to win, and then they show up at your door with balloons and that giant check. Seeing him get thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch was a bit like the good people at Publisher's Clearinghouse apologizing for the mistake and heading to your neighbor's house with the goods.

I must say that I prefer to see Abreu hitting two and Jeter 3. Abreu's OBP is so good that Jeter should see some great RBI chances. He is hitting around .420 this season with RISP. I hope Joe sticks with it, though I doubt he will.

One interesting note is the rather caustic and lengthy hate mail I received yesterday about my piece. I think my article was pretty clear. I tried to explain that the Yankees back end rotation looks much better now that Clemens and Hughes are replacing Pavano, Igawa, and the other assorted AAA guys we had running out there. I think we can make a little run at the Sox. I also said that the Sox are a great team and that they could just as easily continue to run away. Some people out there are just so psychologically and emotionally disturbed that they seize upon things as trivial as sports, or even more trivial things like small time sports blogging, to vent their excruciating frustrations with life. It's not the first hate mail I've received, but I find it interesting nonetheless. At first, it always gets my back up. I'm the type to fly off the handle when confronted. I'm a fighter at heart. The thing is, I end up feeling very sorry for the people who take so much time and energy to basically shout themselves raw to release whatever tortured demons are inside of them. You have my pity.

Here's to another win and a step closer to 5 over. That's next on the list of things to do for the Bombers. See you tomorrow. Go Yankees.