9.5 Weeks

Although there is really nothing sexy about 9.5 during these recent weeks (boy am I stretching for this theme), the Yankees current place in the standings looks a lot more like Kim Basinger than John Merrick.

The Red Sox scored 22 runs over their 7 game West Coast swing, which is 3.14 runs per game. If you take out the 10 run outburst in the first game against Arizona, they scored 12 runs in 6 games, which is easy to calculate at 2 runs per contest. Fortunately for the Yankees, the Red Sox woes coincided with a stretch against some pretty awful clubs. We did a number on both Chicago and Pittsburgh and have closed the gap a little bit. The wild card is a 5.5 game deficit, which isn't beyond reason now. Even 9.5 games looks like something we can make a good run at, the way things are shaping up now.

What more can be said? Abreu and Cano look great. A-Rod continues his MVP season. Jeter is Jeter. Melky is playing very well, especially in center. The only weird thing is that it all has happened since Giambi stopped "clogging up the bases with his bad heel" as Tim McCarver mumbled during the last series with the Red Sox. Giambi has some real value as a threat, but I like the way the offense looks with Damon at DH and Melky playing the field. First base without Mientkiewicz really hasn't lost much, and it's rather amazing that Miguel Cairo is a significant offensive upgrade over Mr. Eye Chart.

Here comes Arizona. They are one of the worst teams in baseball at putting runners on base, so we will have a good shot at another series win with Wang, Mussina, and Pettitte taking the hill. That sounds really good. The Red Sox get 3 games with Colorado. Let's hope Todd Helton and company can put up some crooked numbers against the Red Sox frontline guys. See you tomorrow. Go Yanks.