I woke up uncharacteristically early this morning – around 6:45 a.m. – and a few things popped into my head. Unsurprisingly, they were baseball related.

• I’m jealous of other teams’ fans because at least they’ve had signings and trades to complain about. Yankee fans have only complained about the team not doing much of anything.
• Winter needs to end. It’s cold and I miss baseball.
• Is Francisco Cervelli really going to be the starting catcher? I’m not sure I can deal with that or seeing him throw balls into centerfield that were meant to land in the second baseman’s glove. Russell Martin wasn’t a world beater but losing his and Nick Swisher’s double digit home run totals is a scary proposition.
• What will seeing Kevin Youkilis in Pinstripes be like? Will I want to hurl? (Probably not. I don’t mind Youk.)
• Will A-Rod actually make it back after the All-Star break or will he miss the entire year?
• Is CC Sabathia really in the best shape of his life?
• What is a FanFest and how come it seems like every other team has them but the Yankees?
• Are the Yankees too special for a FanFest?
• Could I even afford to attend said FanFest?
• Would I even want to go? I’m not a big fan of people.
• Speaking of not being able to attend something, tomorrow is SABR Day and I cannot afford to go. I’m really bummed about that.
• Does Carl Pavano have the worst luck of any human being, ever?
• Seriously, how does one rupture a spleen, falling while shoveling snow?
• Why didn’t he hire someone to shovel his driveway?
• Will I ever actually ‘get’ sabermetrics?
• Well, get it enough to be able to write about it and not sound like a dunderhead?
• Francisco Cervelli?
• Last year, I pulled off the dual stadium doubleheader – day game at Yankee Stadium, night game at Citifield. What will be the special feat this season?
• How soon will Yankee fans begin to panic? Oh, who am I kidding? They’re already panicking.
• How will it be in my new seats? (I am moving from 420A to 413. We’re still high up – because I will always be an upper deck kind of girl – but the seats are cheaper which is great for this currently unemployed lady.)
• Which songs will be overplayed during sports themed commercials this year? (This is not a drive by ay ay ay ay -MURDER!!!!!)
• Will we see another #HIROKtober?
• I’m really going to miss #UNTUCK
• How effective will Mo be after nearly a whole year away?
• Will his knee be 100% by Opening Day?
• Speaking of Opening Day, I have a feeling that even though the Yankees are saying guys – Chris Stewart, Cervelli and possibly Austin Romine – will have to compete for the starting catcher’s job, Cervelli is who they have in mind. Call me paranoid but that’s how I feel.

Nick Swisher

*sniff*

Here’s the last guy to wear #33 for the Yankees.

Thanks for the memories, Swish.

Nick Swisher

A few moments ago, Brien Jackson, my colleague over at It’s About The Money, Stupid, tweeted a link to a piece by Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston on ESPN New York (stay with me) about Nick Swisher’s possible destinations. As you all know, Swisher is a free agent and is looking to make big bucks this Winter. Edes mentioned the Red Sox as being interested in signing Swisher, if they can’t sign Josh Hamilton, that is and then he says this:

The Red Sox look at Swisher as a fallback plan if they are unable to lure Josh Hamilton.

The San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians reportedly all have expressed interest in the 32-year-old.

Say what now? Come again? You all are see what I’m seeing, yes?

I realize he says “reportedly” but when have the Yankees been mentioned as being interested in signing or in their case re-signing Swish? It seems to me, at least so far in this offseason, that the Yankees were going to wipe their hands clean of Nick Swisher. So why is this the first time we’re all hearing about this even being a possibility? Is Gordon Edes just talking out of his rear end? And where are these “reports” of the Yankees expressing an interest in bringing Swish back?

Inquiring minds want to know.

(This is what happens when I’m starved for baseball news involving the Yankees…)

The American League Championship Series is only two games old and there’s been more drama packed into those two games than what’s usually written for a soap opera sweeps month.

You start with Derek Jeter’s broken ankle. Add to that the Yankees’s offensive woes. Then sprinkle in Nick Swisher’s sadness over being chided by the fans in the stands for his poor performance and add a dash of Alex Rodriguez, who also is having an abysmal postseason, actually saying the right things.

Mix them all together and you have a recipe for high drama.

Jeter’s broken ankle

Seeing Derek Jeter being helped off the field on Saturday night was not fun at all. The feeling of dread that consumed every Yankee fan from here to Siberia was similar to the feeling of dread we all had the day when Mariano Rivera tore his ACL. Doom and gloom were in the air and the Stadium turned into a funeral home when the Tigers ended up winning Game 1 by a score of 6-4.

Jeter was by far the best hitter in the Yankee lineup during this postseason and as evidenced last night, he will be missed.

Word is that Jeter will most likely need surgery on his ankle and he won’t even be with his teammates in Detroit for Games 3 and 4 – Game 5 if necessary.

The Abysmal Offense

So much has been said about how bad the Yankees offense is. It is truly an unbelievable sight to behold. It seems like every batter starts in an 0-2 hole and can’t recover. Another amazing stat is that the Yankees have been scoring more from the ninth inning on than they are in innings 1-8.

How is that even possible?

Are the guys they’re facing unstoppable? Not really. They’re not terrible either. It’s a combination of the opposing pitchers having a game plan for the Yankee batters and the Yankee batters failing to make any adjustments.

How many times do I have to see Robinson Cano flailing at pitches outside of the strike zone? Enough is enough already.

And not that Cano is the only guy in the lineup having problems – the team’s average is .205 so far for the playoffs – but he seems to be the one that looks the most out of sync. He also now owns the Yankees’s playoff record for futility with an 0-26 streak at the plate.

Can you believe that? In all the years the Yankees have been around and have been in the playoffs, Robinson Cano of all people now owns that record.

It’s as if someone put a curse on this team. Silly fans, we all thought the injuries throughout the season were bad. They were nothing compared to this.

The Boo Hoo Fans Are Booing Me Crew

After last night’s game, Nick Swisher had a lot to say about the fans. Most of it wasn’t good and it seems he is really trying to leave New York on a bad note. Given his pending free agency, how he performs in the playoffs and how the Yankees are looking to cut payroll in the future, Swish definitely has one foot out the door.

When speaking to reporters after the Yankees’s 3-0 loss in Game 2, Swisher unloaded on the fans in right field.

While admitting he’s a sensitive guy, Swisher noted that fans were blaming him for Derek Jeter’s injury during Saturday night’s game. In case you missed the disastrous 12th inning, Swisher lost a ball in the lights which turned into an RBI double for Delmon Young. It put the Tigers up 5-4. Jhonny Peralta came up next, hit the ball to Jeter and all hell broke loose.

It’s very silly for anyone to say that Swisher caused Jeter’s injury. Jeter has been playing on a bum foot for the better part of a month. He had been hobbled, been getting cortisone shots so he could play and the ankle was weak to begin with.

And what would have happened if Swisher made the play, got the second out of the inning but Peralta still hit a ball to Jeter even with the defensive alignment changed with a runner still on second.

Would it still be Swisher’s fault?

Swisher probably should have kept his mouth shut. I understand he’s frustrated and that he’s not used to Yankee fans turning on him but the way he’s behaving now is similar to the way he behaved when he wanted out of Chicago in 2008.

And who of all people actually sided with the fans? Who said he didn’t blame them for getting on the Yankees for underperforming? That’s right kids, Alex Rodriguez.

“We haven’t scored a run in a long time. I’m right there with them. You can’t blame them.”

To be honest, I don’t know what to even think of all of this. One thing you need to know about me is that I don’t boo my team. I just don’t and I really can’t stand when other people do it. But I also can’t police other people at a game, as much as I’d like to. They have every right to scream and yell and act like dunderheads as much as I have the right to sit quietly and not participate in the madness.

Who knows? Maybe the change of scenery will be good for the Yankees. It’s weird to say this but they may not be booed as much in Detroit as they were at home.

So what can we take away from all of this drama? Well, for one thing, the American League Championship Series is seven games for a reason. Yankee fans know all too well that it’s never over until the final out of the final game. Is there a chance the Yankee offense can recover, remember how to hit and make this a series?

Of course they can. Today’s off day will probably help a lot.

Will they do that?

We’ll find out tomorrow night.

The Yankees Are Going To The ALCS!!!!

When my brother informed me that there were $20 tickets available for today’s game I told him, “I’m not sure I can handle being at a do or die game.” He agreed and we didn’t get the tickets.

Now that it’s over and the Yankees have won, I’m still glad I made that decision. I wouldn’t have been able to handle being there in person. Kudos to the people who were there.

Today, the star of the game was CC Sabathia, who pitched a complete game to lead the Yankees to victory.

The game followed a familiar pattern: Both teams weren’t hitting and both pitchers were on fire. For the Orioles it was Jason Hammel setting the Yankees’s batter down one right after the other.

The first hit for the Orioles came in the fourth inning off the bat of Nate McClouth but the Orioles didn’t score off Sabathia and the game remained scoreless.

In the fifth inning, Mark Teixeira led the inning off with a single and in a move that shocked pretty much the entire world, stole second.

Yes, Mark Teixeira stole a base.

That set up Raul Ibanez to play hero again and he did, smacking a single to center which scored Teixeira and putting the Yankees up 1-0.

Things got interesting in the sixth inning when McClouth came up and hit a ball to right that just missed being a home run. It was so close that Buck Showalter asked the umps to review the play to make sure it wasn’t a home run.

Thankfully for the Yankees, the call stood, it remained a foul ball and Sabathia ended up getting McClouth swinging to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees struck again, thanks to a Derek Jeter single which was quickly followed by an Ichiro Suzuki double to put the Yankees up 2-0.

After CC set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, Nick Swisher continued his stellar performance at the plate by striking out on three pitches. Yes, that was sarcasm.

Curtis Granderson, whose bat awoke from its series long slumber to hit a single in the fifth, hit a solo home run to right to put the Yankees up 3-0.

Now, the eighth inning is when things got dicey.

Matt Wieters started things off with a single, then Sabathia walked Manny Machado. The next batter was Mark Reynolds who struck out – the Yankees did a good job quieting his bat this series. Lew Ford came up and hit a single past a diving Jeter to score Wieters and advance Machado to second.

Robert Andino hit an infield single, thanks to the fact that no one was covering third and CC had no one to throw the ball to. The bases were loaded with one out and Nate McClouth coming to bat.

To say that my heart was beating out of my chest would not be hyperbole. It really was. I thought I was having a cardiac episode.

In the battle of Sabathia vs. McClouth, CC won this time. He struck McClouth out.

With two outs and the bases still loaded, with the Orioles still threatening, Sabathia got J.J. Hardy to ground out to end the inning.

Crisis averted.

After the Yankees were set down quickly in the bottom of the eighth – thanks to a Robinson Cano double play – Sabathia walked out to the mound to finish what he started.

He got Adam Jones to fly out to left on an 1-0 pitch. One out.

He got Chris Davis to strike out. Two outs.

And for the final out, Sabathia was able to get Wieters to hit a grounder back to him to end the game.

Ballgame over, Yankees win, and they’re heading to the American League Championship Series to face the Detroit Tigers.

(If you noticed, I didn’t mention a certain player being noticeably absent from the lineup. That’s because it’s been discussed enough.)

Some things to take away from this series

A few guys need to start hitting the ball. I’m looking at you Swish and Cano. Tex and Granderson snapped out of it alittle bit today.

The pitching was superb – both the starters and relievers. Courtesy of Jeff Quagliata who does research for YES: the Yankees had a team ERA of 1.76 in this series which is the lowest ERA in a five-game LDS since division play began in 1995. Amazing.

If there were an ALDS MVP I think CC Sabathia would win it with Raul Ibanez getting an honorable mention for his performance in Game Three and overall in the series (he was 4-9).

And there is no rest for the weary, Game One is scheduled for tomorrow night.

Rest up kids, there’s more baseball to watch!

Well, that was fun and scary.

First it was scary. Then it was fun. So let’s skip the scary stuff, shall we?

The game was tied 2-2 going into the ninth inning.

Close games are Baltimore’s ‘bread and butter’ so to speak – they were 29-9 in one-run games this season and if the Yankees were going to score, their fans would prefer for them to score more than once.

They didn’t let the fans down.

Russell Martin started things off with a solo home run on a 2-0 pitch from Jim Johnson.

Yes, the Orioles brought their closer into a tie game. It didn’t pay off for them.

Raul Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki all followed with singles. Ibanez was replaced by Eduardo Nunez when he made it to third and when Ichiro hit his infield single, Nunez scored easily, putting the Yankees up 4-2.

They weren’t done.

Alex Rodriguez struck out but Robinson Cano came up and after started the night 0-4, he belted a double into left field which scored Jeter and Ichiro. Cano reached third on a throwing error by JJ Hardy.

The Yankees were up 6-2.

Buck Showalter replaced Johnson with Tommy Hunter and Nick Swisher hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Cano.

The score was 7-2, Yankee fans were thrilled and Oriole fans were filing out of Camden Yards.

Sabathia came out in the bottom of the ninth, trying to get a complete game. He started things off by inducing a ground ball out from Manny Machado, then striking out Chris Davis.

After getting two strikes on Lew Ford, Sabathia surrendered a double to Ford and was taken out of the game.

Joe Girardi brought David Robertson in and he – Robertson, not Girardi – got Ryan Flaherty to strike out on a foul pitch to end the game.

Yankees win and guarantee at least a split in Baltimore.

Sabathia only gave up two earned runs on eight hits, walked one batter and struck out seven on 120 pitches.

Some facts from @yestoresearch:

• Derek Jeter now with 55 multi-hit postseason games, adding to his MLB record.
• This is the 8th ALDS Game 1 in which the Yankees scored 7 runs or more. (1995, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012)
• Yankees with 5-run 9th in postseason for first time since they put 6 on the Red Sox in Game 4 of 1999 ALCS.  It was tied 2-2 then too.

Two things stick out in the standings. Wait, no, three things.

1. The Yankees have sole possession of first place again.
2. The magic number is now 2 to clinch the Division.
3. Holy shit, the Red Sox are really 69-91 and 24 games out?!

This is exactly the game Yankees fans were hoping for this afternoon when the Red Sox lineup was posted.

Jokes were made about the Red Sox throwing the game. Even Boston’s beat writers were joining in on ripping on the lineup Bobby Valentine came up with.

And the Yankees needed to beat up on a team that was trotting out six guys who were in Triple-A at one point in the season and who was without both Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.

It was a must-win situation.

CC Sabathia started things off with an eight-pitch two strikeout, first inning and the Yankees were on their way.

The Yankees, in a shocking turn of events, didn’t score any runs in the first inning which had been their specialty this year against the hapless Red Sox. Instead, they waited until the second inning tonight to drop a nine-spot on Boston.

Clay Buchholz started for the Red Sox but was not in the game as that second inning ended. He became the only Red Sox starter in the live-ball era to allow eight earned runs in fewer than 2 IP against the Yankees.

Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Mark Teixeira who returned to the lineup tonight, all hit home runs in the second inning.

Cano’s was one of the longest hit at the new Stadium, Martin’s was reviewed – and upheld – and Teixeira’s was his 24th of the season. Oh and Cano, just for good measure, added a double in that second inning. He finished the night 3-5, all three were extra base hits.

Sabathia earned his 15th win of the season and thanks to a strong eight-inning performance, reached the 200 inning plateau. He gave up two runs on four hits with two walks and seven strike outs.

From Jeff Quagliata, research guru for the YES Network, “CC Sabathia one of just 2 pitchers since 1995 to throw 200 innings in 28 or fewer starts – the other was Cliff Lee in 2010.”

Freddy Garcia came in to finish the game in the ninth and induced two ground outs and struck out one batter.

The Yankees victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss in Tampa helped to give the Yanks a one game lead (again) in the American League East with two to play. The magic number is down to two.

In a cute moment, Melky Mesa came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning and hit an RBI single – his first major league hit – which scored Eduardo Nunez. While he was running to first, the YES Network cameras caught Eric Chavez yelling, “Touch the base!!” from the dugout.

That guy Brett Gardner, remember him? He actually came to bat in the ninth, ahead of Mesa. He ground out but advanced Nunez to second. The good news is he didn’t break!

Some facts:

• Yankees have scored 9 or more runs in three of their last four games.
• Alex Rodriguez tied Stan Musial for 5th on the All-time RBI list with 1,950.
• Granderson and Martin hit back-to-back home runs in that explosive second inning. It was the 12th time the Yankees have done that this season.
• Nick Swisher hit the 250th double of his career.

STOP DOING THIS TO ME

I think the Yankees may be trying to kill me or at least make me age at least 3-5 years every game they play this week.

This easily could have been one of those games, you know, the kind that makes you want to punch holes in your walls. And it actually was heading in that direction when the Jays took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning. Phil Hughes was taken out of the game after surrendering all five runs on eight hits. He walked two batters, struck out four and gave up a home run. Yes, I know, shocker.

Derek Lowe came into the game to stop the bleeding and actually did what he was supposed to do. He pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit, no-run ball. Boone Logan also did his job by getting a left handed batter out and then even got a right handed batter out!

Amazing!

The Yankees scored one run in the sixth inning thanks to a Henderson Alvarez wild pitch which scored Nick Swisher from third. That pulled the Yankees to within three.

When the seventh inning started, two moves were made. Toronto replaced Alvarez with Brett Cecil and Joe Girardi pinch hit Eduardo Nunez in place of Eric Chavez.

The Yankees won that move when Nunez singled to start the inning.

Next, Toronto brought in Steve Delabar who promptly gave up a ground rule double to Derek Jeter to put runners on second and third with no outs. Ichiro Suzuki hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 5-3.

In one of the biggest at bats of the year, Alex Rodriguez, worked a walk against Delabar to put runners on first and second with one out.

Robinson Cano stepped in and hit his 46th double of the year which scored Jeter and pulled the Yankees to within one run, 5-4.

Toronto, once again made a pitching change, this time bringing in Aaron Loup who added his own wild pitch which scored Rodriguez from third to tie the game at 5-5.

Just as things were getting good for the Yankees, Nick Swisher lined into a bad luck double play to end the inning.

Still, the Yankees came all the way back to tie the game. Momentum seemed to be on their side.

After Lowe and Logan combined to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh the Yankees made things happen in the eighth. They scored two more runs thanks to a walk, a single, a sac bunt, a sac fly and a single. The run scoring sac fly was hit by Nunez and the single by Jeter.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and the Yankees came up big again in the top of the ninth.

Rodriguez singled, Cano singled and Swisher walked to load the bases against Jason Frasor. Then Curtis Granderson hit a rocket down the right field line for a double which scored both Rodriguez and Cano. The Yankees went up 9-5.

Now, you didn’t think things would end all nice and tidy with a 1-2-3 inning by Rafael Soriano, did you? Come on, kids. You know better than that.

Soriano had to make it so scary that most Yankee fans were looking for brown paper bags to breathe into. He gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Then by the grace of God or some other force of nature, Soriano got Yunel Escobar to ground into a double play. Yes, a run was given up but hey, I’d give up one run for two outs any day of the week. Especially with a four-run lead.

Thankfully, he got Adam Lind to ground out to second to end the game.

Untuck, Yankees win, all that jazz, breathe in, breathe out…

So the Yankees are still tied for a share of first place in the American League East because there was no way Baltimore was losing to Boston because Boston is absolutely horrible.

Anyway, hold onto your butts Yankee fans, these final three games are going to be frightening.

Do you see what I see?

Yep, the magic number to clinch the Division is five. If Baltimore had lost it could have gone down to four.

Since the Red Sox are good for nothing, the Yankees will have to be like Pedro Cerrano from Major League and say, “Eff you Jobu, we do this ourselves.”

And they did do it themselves tonight with an 11-4 victory over the Blue Jays.

Things got started when Nick Swisher hit a two-run double that gave the Yanks an early 2-0 lead. They added another run in the third inning when Derek Jeter grounded into a double play with the bases loaded – it Raul Ibanez scored from third to but the Yankees up 3-0.

After the Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Yankees lead to 3-1 – thanks to a solo shot by Colby Rasmus, Russell Martin hit his 20th home run of the season, a three-run shot that gave the Yanks a 6-1 in the sixth.

A scary thing happened in the sixth when Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch from Brett Cecil. Cano remained in the game but he was seen leaving the clubhouse with ice on his hand and according to multiple reports, will be getting x-rays. The last thing the Yankees need is Robinson Cano being seriously injured right now. Let’s start forming the prayer circle now, shall we?

The Yankees continued to tack on runs, with the final blow coming off the bat of Eric Chavez who hit a two-run, opposite field home run in the ninth. It was Chavez’s 15th home run of the year.

He’s the ninth Yankee player to reach the 15 home run plateau this season. That ties the major league record with the 2005 Indians and Rangers.

Hiroki Kuroda, wasn’t sharp tonight. He was lucky to have only given up two runs because he allowed 10 hits through 5.1 innings. He got himself into and out of a whole mess of trouble. If he were pitching against a better team, the outcome could have been a lot different. Still, tonight’s outing was Kuroda’s shortest start since all the way back on May 21.

Despite the so-so outing, Kuroda was aided by his offense – for once – and earned his 15th win of the year.

Old Man Derek Jeter hit his major league leading 209th hit tonight and every Yankee starter had at least one hit – the Yankees had 13 in total. Ichiro Suzuki, Swisher and Martin all had two hits apiece.

Maybe it’s because I truly do expect the Yankees to beat the Twins every time they face them, but this was a particularly tough one to swallow. Everything was just rolling along so smoothly until the 7th inning. Phil wasn’t great, but neither was the lineup he was facing. Nick Swisher and Russell Martin went deep against the impressive, young (and fantastically named) Esmerling Vazquez. Yup. This one had win written all over it. Alas, it was not written in the stars (Sidenote: I will not miss hearing Tiny Tempeh’s “Written in the Stars” this postseason. What an atrocious recording). Well, I’m not going to beat this one to death because it will hurt me to do so, but let’s have a look.

The only relief I enjoyed tonight came from the Tums I popped after dinner

I’m a fan and frequent apologist of Phil Hughes. It’s true. Tonight will be no different. Phil didn’t have his best fastball tonight (sitting at 91-92) but it was enough to keep the Twins at bay for 6.2 IP. Prior to the 7th inning, Phil was pitching like he should against this lineup at Target Field: lots of fastballs, lots of strikes.

The one run that scored while Phil was physically on the mound came in the Bottom of the 4th. Joe Mauer led off the inning with an opposite field 1B, one of his 3 hits on the night. Hughes looked to respond well initially, striking out Justin Morneau and getting that lumberjack Ryan Doumit to pop up. With 2 down, Chris Parmalee hit a seemingly harmless blooper down the line in shallow left that looked like it was going to dunk in for a 1B, which would have held Mauer at 3rd. Unfortunately, we were all treated to another installment of The Adventures of Raul, as the ball bounced away from Ibanez into foul territory and he failed to field it cleanly. Mauer scored from 1st to bring the Twins closer at 2-1.

Fast forward to the Bottom of the 7th. Hughes had been cruising, retiring 7 straight until Doumit singled to lead off the inning. Chris Parmalee (he of PH RBI 3B from last night fame) then grinded out a walk, fouling off several tough pitches from Hughes. Annoying, to say the least. After an at-bat like his, I generally start to shift in my seat, avert my gaze from whatever nonsense I’ve been getting into on the internet with the game on in the background, and prepare for Total Game Armageddon. With no one out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Phil Hughes got the streaky/occasionally dangerous Trevor Plouffe to pop up. Jamey Carroll followed with a grounder to SS that looked to be a run scoring 1B off the bat that Jeter was able to knock down, only allowing everyone to move up one base. Bases loaded, 1 out. At 93 pitches, Phil knew that the end was probably near. He bore down and threw 6 straight fastballs to Pedro Florimon, blowing him away for the 2nd on his 99th and final pitch of the game. Now, with the bases still loaded and 2 outs, it was time for some binder action. Final line for Phil: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 99 pitches.

Girardi decided to turn to Boone Logan to face Denard Span with the game hanging in the balance, and the move left many a fan shaking their heads. Span has a career reverse split (.293 vs. LHP, .282 vs. RHP) and came in hitting over .300 against lefties on the year. To boot, Phil had retired him 3 times on weak ground outs. The manager, we are not, but this move was tough to comprehend. As expected, things really got off to an enchanting start. On his first pitch to Span, Logan yanked a slider that bounced off the plate and threw the legs of Russell Martin for a wild pitch, allowing Doumit to score and cut the lead to 3-2. Later in the at-bat, Boone would back off on a slider, spinning it right into Span’s wheelhouse. The result? A 2-run 2B into the gap in right-center to put the Twins up 4-3. After issuing a free pass to Ben Revere, Logan was left in to allow another RBI knock to a lefty – this time a RBI 1B by Joe Mauer to put it out of reach at 5-3. And there it was: Total Game Armageddon.

Simply put, Boone Logan has not been very good in the month of September. Over-use may play a part (this was his 77th appearance) but whatever the reason, he is seriously struggling with his location right now. He’s blown 2 leads in his last 3 appearances, and doesn’t inspire any confidence in me that he’ll be able to retire someone like a Prince Fielder come playoff time. Hopefully he figures it out or Joe gives him the rest he needs.

Not enough home runs (a meager attempt at some positivity)

The Yankees’ offense was entirely one-dimensional tonight, after being nearly entirely one-dimensional last night. Nick Swisher continued his 2 week hot streak with a 2-run blast in the Top of the 4th to put the Yankees up 2-0. It was Swish’s second straight game with a HR, and his 3rd in the last week. For a guy who has suffered through serious late-season burnout in his career, it’s nice to see Nick heading into October on a high note this year. Let’s hope he keeps it up.

In the Top of the 7th, Russell Martin led off by ripping a line drive HR to left center that at the time felt like a glorious insurance run. It was Russell’s 19th HR of the season, exceeding his total of 18 from one year ago and matching his career high set with the Dodgers during his breakout campaign in 2007. As difficult as it was to watch Russell struggle through the first half, he’s actually rebounded well enough down the stretch that his year-end numbers will look okay when viewed through the lens of his plus-defense behind the plate. They will not, however, tell the whole tale. In addition to getting some big hits (Yanks’ only 2 walkoff HRs this year) Russell really impressed me by continuing to try to right the ship all season even though his season looked doomed after only 6 weeks.

I’m bummed, let’s wrap this up

• Derek Jeter’s 1B in the 1st inning extending his hit streak to 19 games. Shocking, but true, fact: Jeter is only 23 hits away from passing Paul Molitor on the all-time hits list. Significance? That would give Jeter the most hits of any player never to win a batting title. It’s sort of shocking to me that neither Molitor nor Jeter ever snagged one, and probably would be to others as well. Feel free to throw that trivia question around at happy hour this week.
• Derek Lowe pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th. Equally as shocking as the previous bullet point.
• Andruw Jones got the Yanks within 1 with a solo HR off of Glen Perkins in the 9th. It was only his 15th hit, and 3rd HR, of the 2nd half. Jones has looked very old for the last 2/3 of this season, so we may be witnessing the final few at-bats of what was a stellar career. I’m trying to look past how much he’s hurt the Yanks this year and enjoy it. You should too.

The Yanks will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon at 1:10pm EST, sending CC Sabathia (13-6, 3.47 ERA) against Samuel Deduno (6-5, 4.54 ERA). Hopefully CC can double up on his strong performance against the A’s last Friday night at the Stadium.

I saved this for the end because it makes me sick: The Orioles lost 4-0 to the Blue Jays tonight, so the Yankees missed an opportunity to go up 2 1/2 games in the AL East with 8 to play. The good news is that while no ground was gained, the magic number was reduced to 7. Final tidbit comes from the Department of OPTIMISM (YEAH!). With the Rangers extra inning loss to the A’s tonight, the Yankees remain only 2 off the pace for the best record in the AL. I’m trying not to focus on that, but it’s there folks. Now excuse me while I go console myself with Minnesota State Fair delicacies such as fried oreos and fried Twinkies. Enjoy.