Kyle Fits Papi With A Golden Sombrero

How sweet it is to be able to write that.

When I read Ortiz's line last year, I was shocked to see that he struck out 100 times. Shocked, because it seemed like none of them were against the Yankees.

To fit him with a nice, tight collar has been long overdue. That breaking ball buckled his knees in the same way he's been buckling Yankee pitchers and fans the last two years. I could have done without the walks and the swinging bunt hit by Pena. But he managed to rebound with strikeouts of Youkilis and Papi. Pena's brainfart at third didn't hurt matters either.

Note to Proctor and Johnson; watch what Mo did versus Manny in the ninth inning. He backed him up with the first or second pitch of the at bat before he could get dug in and comfortable in the at bat. You don't throw a friggin meatball down the middle and hope that he doesn't crush it (they did, and he did). He ended up flying out harmlessly to right, in part I think, because Mo brushed him back twice and never let him get comfortable in the batter's box.

I think Proctor will learn this. But this is something Johnson used to do all the time. He never let you get comfortable at the plate. This concerns me more than any alleged loss of stuff. He still has enough stuff to get top notch guys out as his matchups vs Ortiz showed. But if he has no confidence, than that's worse than having arm problems. He did just enough to get through five and get the win and there were some good things to take from his start. But he's got a long way to before we can call him the ace of this staff again.

He may not be the ideal player of what some think a Yankee corner outfielder should be, but I'm liking what I see out of Melky Cabrera. He has a good eye and finds a way to get on base. He also has a cannon of an arm. He's going to make his share of mistakes, particularly in the field. But the more he plays, the better he'll get. It gives Cashman and company a chance to see if he has a future here, or if we can package him to get another bat or arm at the trade deadline.

We took two out of three from the infidels with far from our best team on the field. With KC next, this is an opportunity to string together some wins and start a nice win streak.

Finally....some good news....