When will you people ever learn? Haven't you seen enough horror flicks to know that you never assume the evil monster is dead? Of course not. It's human nature to see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear and believe what we want to believe. Sure, sooner or later Jason Voorhees and other fiends were bound to really die, but along the way a lot of people had to pay the price. By the way...check your calendars. You do know what this Friday is, don't you? The 13th might symbolize the beginning of bad luck and a return to normalcy for the rest of baseball.

Although it has become chic in many circles to write off the Yankees, be careful when making predictions. Sure they under-performed during the first half of the season. If you take into account all the injuries to their starting pitchers, which resulted in 6 rookies making starts for the team, a 42-43 record just might be a bit deceptive. Considering they were once 21-29, one game under .500 really isn't all that bad.  Despite enduring a brutal 3-9 stretch at the end of June, they rebounded to beat the playoff contending Twins (3 out of 4) and the Angels (2 out of 3) to close out the break. Did I mention that they are only 7 games behind Cleveland in the loss column for the Wild Card with about half the year to go? Your "juvenile premature enunciations" of foretold Yankees woe may have to wait for at least another month.

Thanks to the baseball Gods, the Yankees had to endure one of the most difficult first half schedules in the game. The team also suffered through the decimation of their rotation, injuries to key players (Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Doug Mientkiewicz) and unexpected slumps by .300 hitters (Bobby Abreu, Robinson Cano, Hideki Matsui).  This toxic mixture of bad fortune and foul play made for panic in the Bronx and blissful pandemonium everywhere else. "Ding-Dong the Yanks is dead, the Yanks is dead, the Yanks is dead. Ding-dong the wicked Yanks is dead!" Not so fast flying monkeys. The team would rather not be in this situation, but the next month will tell the tale. We may actually need more time than that before we can officially get the headstone ready for the funeral.

The Yankees will resume activity this Thursday. From July 12th- August 10th they will play 28 games. In that span they will compete against only 5 teams. Those fortunate clubs and number of games are as follows: Tampa Bay (8), Toronto (7), Kansas City (7), Baltimore (3) and Chicago (3). As old farmers across America would say, "Gentlemen it's time to make hay while the sun shines". July is looking to be a beautiful month in the Bronx. With this schedule don't be surprised to see the Yankees claw their way back into the mix.

Still not buying? Let's check out their wild card competition during the same period of time:

Mariners: Big series with Detroit, Oakland, Anaheim and Boston.

Twins: Matchups with Oakland, Detroit, Anaheim and Cleveland.

A's: Clashes with Minnesota, Anaheim, Seattle and Detroit.

Indians: Tough games with Boston and Minnesota.

Blue Jays: Numerous battles with the Yankees, Boston, Seattle and Minnesota. 

Tigers: Confrontations with Seattle, Minnesota, Anaheim and Oakland.

As for the Red Sox? I'll lay off them for now. Let's just say that this side of the Yankees, Boston probably has the easiest next month or so. However, they do face the Indians, Mariners and Angels during that span. Besides, I can only concentrate on one thing at a time. As any good Yankees fan knows, division titles are over-rated to begin with. The team needs to get back in post-season contention before any aspirations of running down the Red Sox can truly commence. If they never catch Boston then good riddance. I rather enjoy the underdog role for a change.

If New York gets back into the race, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and try not to be overcome with nausea as heat from the dog days of summer overwhelms you in your disgust. If I'm wrong I promise to shut up long enough so you can start getting the nails ready for the coffin. I may see you then... "But not yet". It's just not time to quit. They're not as dead as you think.