WHY PITCHING WINS BALLGAMES

The last time I felt this feeling in my gut it lasted through the winter and I was pissed at the world. It was 2004 and the Yankees blew the ALCS verses the Red Sox losing 4 in a row. I was distraught. I'm right there again, disgusted and anxious and I want to punch Pedroia in the bad foot.

How in the world can the final week of baseball be falling apart like this for the Yankees? There is no way of understanding it.

Pettitte, who I love, looked horrible. No way to get around it. It was a horrible start in what is considered a do or die series. Think about it, they need a few games to essentially clinch playoff spot and they are pissing it away with a 3rd place team. It doesn't make sense right now.

I'll will tell you though, in all the disaster of tonight's game, let's talk about class for a moment. Curtis Granderson. He had 3 hits tonight, but that's not the story. The story is he hits a hard ball that was clearly an out down first base. It takes a weird bounce and smacks Lowell in the face. After Grandy gets to first, he calls time out and checks in with Lowell. Now I hate the Red Sox, but that's a class act. At that moment, selfishly I'm thinking "Good, maybe waiting for Lowell to get up is a good thing, it distracts Beckett and then the Yanks will rally and score 9 runs to tie it."

It's funny the way things work. Eventually the Yanks showed life, just not enough and at the end of the day, it's another loss and we're knocked out of first place. The Rays beat Toronto and now all I can do is hope the Yanks win the next 2 and take the series. That's all we have right now. One game at a time of course, but think about winning the series.

By the way, props to Tex for hitting 2 solo's. The last home run he hit before that was August 31st. That's a long time. Maybe he'll come out of his slumber now. And, I loved A-Rod's 2 home runs, Swish's yard looked sweet as hell, and Berkman's swing is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen, I just wish the ball would grow eyes and get away from the fielders. Having someone like him in the lineup is key, especially if his base hits are consistant. I'm telling you, Berkman's as close as it gets right now. That and the combo of a Jeter hitting in 11 straight, Swisher and Tex hitting as well as Alex and Grandy and we have something, now if we could only pitch well too. Damn, that would be something now wouldn't it?

The bottom line tonight is the Yankees lost to the Red Sox. It's harder on the fans than losing to the Royals or the Rangers. Fans hate the Red Sox, Hell, the Yankees hate the Red Sox, and they hate us back. So, what do we do? Saturday and Sunday need to be the beginning of something big, a winning streak.

Vince Lombardi once said "It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." It's go time Yanks, it's go time.

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