Three Days of Smiles, and One of Them Came Before Rush Hour

Prior to reading this, let's set the mood. Please indulge me by pressing play.

Good thing this series didn't mean anything, right?

It was only this past Monday that the Yankees took their second-worst shutout loss in franchise history (16-0), and in the process left Detroit losing 3 of 4. As if that wasn't bad enough, Mike Mussina may have effectively sledge hammered the final nail in his professional coffin (more on him later); and oh yes, the Red Sox were coming!, the Red Sox were coming! And not only were they coming, they were coming in with an 8-game lead in the division and certainly looking to have some fun with their 3 best pitchers set to take the mound.

Naturally, Man Ram and his traveling circus were poised to affirm their gargantuan lead and make life that much more difficult for the Yankees and their playoff aspirations. Or maybe Boston just wouldn't care since their lead is so insurmountable and losing to the Yankees right now wouldn't be such a big deal. Yeah, sure it wouldn't. Regardless, it was more than likely that Boston would leave the Bronx with no less than a 7 game lead, right? Well, not exactly, and Man Ram only stuck around for 1/3 of the extravaganza.

Tuesday: Andy Pettitte out dueled Dice-K (who's given up 15 runs in 19.1 innings against the Yankees this year; I love this guy) and got a little help from Boston's former cro-magnon son...Johnny Damon. Plus Boston had the good fortune of being properly introduced to Joba Chamberlain, whom I may one day (dependent on further evaluation) have Baptize my children. Sprinkle a little Mariano in there and game one went to the Pinstripes.

Wednesday: Roger Clemens v. Josh Beckett - Ah yes, the Cy Young candidate against the living legend. Even I was a bit apprehensive. Little did Boston know The Rocket saved his best start of the season just for them, taking a no-hitter into the 6th (when Papi absolutely pulverized a baseball into "The Short Porch" (get it?). Anyway, Rocket finished 6 strong innings and despite Farnsworth doing his very best, yet again, to sabotage the Yankee lead, it was A-Rod's homer off of Beckett in the 7th (God it was great seeing the look on Josh's face) after his moment of stupidity (where he overran first and got thrown out) to seal the game for the Yanks. You have to give a lot of credit to Beckett though, the poor bastard was pelted for 13 hits and somehow managed to only allow 4 runs. Plus Coco Crisp, of whom Terry Francona, prior to start of the series, claimed was "the best center fielder he'd ever seen," (well said Skip) came about two feet short of a Matsui shot to the gap and left his faceprint in left centerfield. A little more Mariano iced the cake and gave the Yankees the first two games; but who really wants two when you can get three?

Thursday: Chien-Ming Wang was unbelievable as he got into the 7th with a no-hitter, and boy I know Boston could have a 50-game lead and still would've been devastated if the Yankees no-hit them. Unfortunately, it was indeed broken up, but had no effect on the end result: Sweep. And I'd be silly to forget mentioning the brilliance of Mr. Youkilis running outside the basepath (nice job by the umps getting the call right, that's what we pay 'em for folks).

Pitching, pitching, pitching. The Yankees only allowed 6 runs in the series and the bullpen held the leads in each game. And that mighty mighty mighty mighty mighty Boston pitching staff got out pitched the entire series. The only thing missing, and its absence left me feeling quite empty frankly, was the presence of Eric Gagne and his uncanny ability to give up runs in the late innings. Basically the series had almost everything I could ask for. And please let me not forget the efforts of J.D. Drew, who gracefully went 1 for 11 in the series with 3 strikeouts and no RBI, and whose slugging percentage is now a Ruth-esque .386. Absolutely brilliant.

Yes Boston, I know the lead is still five games and it's still relatively safe to assume the Yankees won't catch up...blah blah blah. You're right though, I definitely concede that. The Wild Card is the realistic goal, but I bet Boston felt a lot better on Monday than they do right now. And this was major for the Yankees, who now get to host the Devil Rays while Seattle goes to Toronto. Also, nobody thought that Boston would visit the Bronx and leave with 3 losses, not to mention Mr. Traveling Circus is having back spasms. No complaints here. Hopefully the next time these two teams meet they will be in closer proximity in the division, and maybe then I'll get my wish for Gagne, or my personal favorite: Wakefield. See you soon Beantown.

In Other News, Moose No Longer in My Five

Can't say I know for sure where this will be going. I know that with Mussina it's been "what have you done for me lately" for what seems like the last 3 years or so, but you gotta feel for the guy now that retirement may finally be staring him in the face; or maybe it's kicking him in the 'nads.

It's something that has to be done right now, though, and trying Ian Kennedy right now is a good alternative, even if it's only for one start.

The Yankees tried this formula at the beginning of the season with DeSalvo and Karstens...and it failed miserably. As much as Cashman did not want to bring up Phil Hughes, he's bringing up the "children of the farm" like it's going out of style. And he has reason: It's working. They say Ian is a like Mussina in that he's more of a pitcher; not really a hard thrower, has a lot of breaking pitches, etc. The essence of Kennedy's game is control. And we all know what happens when a pitcher has control issues. If Kennedy looks terrible, we'll know he's not ready and Moose will more than likely make the next start he can be penciled in for. If Kennedy comes on and looks sharp, well, then Moose better pack a toothbrush...cause he'll be somewhere sitting down for a long time.