Pulling The Tights and Grabbing The Ropes For A Win

I've been accused of only posting after wins. Hopefully this post ends that nonsense.

This guy is a Yankee hater....but he's on to something...Hilarious.

Old-school Wrestling fans know what I mean when I talk about pulling the tights. It's when a wrestler (generally a rulebreaker/bad guy)is getting his ass kicked and resorts to underhanded tactics to win a match. Like waiting for the ref to turn his head and bashing your opponent with brass knuckles. Or using the ropes for leverage to pin someone.

In the Yankees case on Tuesday, it's taking advantage of bad umpiring to tie and win a game. The Bombers are well known for their opportunistic ways...so when they won Tuesday's game with Melky's homer in the 11th, I was pleased....but hardly surprised.

But this is where Baseball Karma comes into play. Wednesday afternoon's game tells us why you never crow too loudly about a win like Tuesday's. Because incompetence has no friends. As bad as the timeout, the third base ump called while Phillips was half way to third...the Posada "safe" call on Tuesday was as bad if not worse. Wednesday's loss was karmic payback for Tuesday's looting.

The Mesche-Johnson game was the one I had the most concerns about. Not because of Randy. But because when he's on like he was on Tuesday, Gil gives us fits. I thought Randy would pitch well. But I was concerned that Mesche would pitch better. That wasn't the case, but with the bats asleep and the umps lending a helping hand, it was enough to keep the M's from getting swept.

Yeah, the Yankees are now a game and half back after the loss, but I'm not going sweat it too much. My philosophy is to gain a game a week. We gained two plus after the Sox lost three of four versus the A's last week. That was a gift. Oakland never beats Boston and probably never will after last week but it enabled us to gain some extra ground with our sweep of the Chi-Sox. A game a week in the standings will enable us to put pressure on the Sox and cement our position in the standings.

You probably think that after Wednesday afternoon's power outtage at the Stadium that I would be screaming for another bat. On the contrary, on most days we'll have enough to win our fair share of games. What I'm excited about is any sort of help we could get from the arms race. Normally I feel about four runs and six plus innings the way my hero Stringer Bell feels about 40 degree days. Nobody gives a f**k about either.

But Ponson's outing on Tuesday has me almost giddy. If he can give us an outing like that everytime out, it can do wonders for us. All we need is someone who can keep the team in the game and give us some length so the Proctor and Farnsworth's arms don't implode. In other words, a fifth starter. The state of pitching in the majors is such that the Yankees can win most games if the starter keeps the opposition to four runs. If Ponson can keep us in ballgames so we don't have to go to the pen in the sixth inning everytime he starts, it means more gas in the tank for our guys in the pen for September and October. Torre was just on WFAN and said that Dotel had another setback today. Which means that we might not see him for a while, if at all. Who knows what Pavano will give you. I'd love to live a pipedream and think that those two along with Sheff and Matsui will be on white horses and make the difference in September. But fairy tales are for children, not serious baseball fans.

Noone is going to go out of their way to help the Yankees so outside of giving up one of our prospects...any help we get will have to be internal. Gillick is going hold anyone up who want Bobby Abreu. So is Bowden concerning Soriano. Shea Hillenbrand is an option ...but if he's going throw temper tantrums over playing time, how's he going to feel about splitting time with Andy Phillips if Joe decides on a first base platoon?

My gut feeling is that we're going to go into stretch run with the guys we have now...including Cano, when he gets off the DL. Which isn't as bad a proposition as some might think. I don't know what Melky Cabrera is. Whether he's a fourth outfielder on a good team or a potential star in the making. But I'd like to find out. He's a fun player to watch who knows where we'd be without him right now. There's something intriguing about going into battle without an all-star at every position. You actually have to play baseball to win games. Focus on the little things that ironically kept us out of the World Series for the last two years. Those things are now in the forefront when you can't bat around at will. It was nice seeing the Yankees win games with solid defense and pitching the last couple of weeks.

This might be blasphemy, but I'd almost rather miss the playoffs then to see Cashman do a Kazmir. I don't if any of our guys will be that good. But I'd like a chance to find out.