FISHING FOR A COMPLIMENT DURING YANKEE INSANITY

I'm freaking out. Any Yankee fan that tells you that they are calm as can be right now is bullshitting you. The Orioles are nipping and Buck Showalter may have smiled, those reports are unconfirmed...and he'd deny it anyway.

The Yankees play 1 more game against the Red Sox and then, the season is over. Just like that. There is no way of knowing what will happen before it happens but rooting for your Yankees like your life depended on it is a good start. Last night was a great game but no one wants extra innings at this time of year, especially when the Yankees are still trying to win the division. That Walk-off by Raul Ibanez was amazing last night, and seeing Francisco Cervelli actually be apart of it was pretty cool too.  But all this action is just making me crazy!  I needed to figure out what to do to calm me.

I'm trying anything to keep my mind clear and not panicked. I played an old Pat Benatar LIVE from Earth album this morning, random I know, but I was able to take my mind off my Yankees and take me back to my youth. It's one way to forget about the current Yankee nuttiness.  The music takes me to past girlfriends and remembering my crush on Pat Benatar and then, once the album is finished playing on my iPod, I find myself wondering on Twitter just to see everybody talking about the Yankees. I can't escape it. So what does a guy like me do lately? I make it about BYB, just to keep my mind off the games coming up. Sure, Twitter is an interesting world.  So I went for it the other day... a few Re-tweets and a few loyal Bleeding Yankee Blue readers wrote us back quickly. These readers are not only good to us at BYB, they're great to us and we appreciate it.

They retweet our pieces every single day and we love it. Thank you!!! But yeah, that kept me occupied, that kept my mind from thinking about recent Yankee losses and the past 15 games and what could possibly happen tonight and beyond.

Look, I'm tired of bringing you the "daily beat", meaning, I'm tired of writing that the "Yankees must win games". I'm tired of writing that "No one wants 'the wild card'". You'll heard it all before, many of you aren't stupid, you're smart and I can tell by my readership the past few days the same line doesn't work anymore. So let me try a new approach, clearly unable to contain my focus for my Yankees team any longer.

The Yankees have made the playoffs. The Yankees need to win the division and I'll go further, the Yankees should NOT celebrate if they win it, because the struggle has been so tough, so brutal, so gut-wrenching for us fans, it's almost not fair. That's right I said it... I'm being hard on my Yankees.  Sure, the Yankees will celebrate if they win the division. Sure, they'll blow off alittle steam, but for any fan out there that's like me, was this season emotionally draining or what?  I think I have an ulcer. I had plenty of trouble sleeping and I can't believe how the past 2 months have developed.

That being said, know this... I love this club and much like I do when the Yankees start the playoffs Saturday night, I'll be there with remote in hand, my Jorge Posada jersey on and a bucket of Corona next to the couch. Or should I say, a bucket full of Dos Equis. After all, I do want to one day be "the Most Interesting Man in the World."

Look, our Yankees can win it all, but like Jeter has said when things get alittle too overwhelming..."One game at a time." He's right. We just need to do our thing as a team and as fans. We are the New York Yankees after all, and behind Derek Jeter, we can be the greatest team again.

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PINIELLA & SINGLETON ARE ONTO SOMETHING...

Below is an actual conversation between Singleton and Piniella, I added dialog with from The Most Interesting Man in the World because that's how my demented mind works... more on that in a moment...

Ken Singleton:  "As great as the Yankees looked early in the season hitting a lot of home runs, now they've hit a rough spot. But, we all know that they're not this bad. So I think there's a hot streak coming, I don't know when...it might start tonight, it might start tomorrow. It may be the day after that but there's a hot streak left in this season."

Lou Piniella: "I agree with you Kenny."

The Most Interesting Man in the World: "How about they just believe in themselves...like me."

OK, so the conversation above is from last night's game... the bottom of the 6th inning... Cody Eppley was pitching. Yes, I added The Most Interesting man in the World's line...humor me.
 I was half watching last night because, like always, I'm doing a million things, yet still trying to watch the game, plus, I'm not "in love" with my team right now.  I wasn't watching at that moment, but I heard Kenny and Lou talking and I had the most incredible visual of Ken Singleton and Lou Piniella with the Most Interesting Man in the World in a dark smoky piano bar late at night, drinking Dos Equis, having the conversation above.

The reality was, they weren't there at all, they were instead calling the Yankee game and as sober as can be. The worst part was this...I subscribe to what they are saying.  I really do believe the Yankees can climb out of this funk and it's not a silly statement at all. Ken and Lou may be just calling Yankee games, but they are smart dudes and they have a ton of stories and simple ideas and experience that make perfect sense to any Yankee fan that needs a boost watching their team crap the bed.

Kenny and Lou have been around the block. Hell, Kenny Singleton would have you believe that he played with Paul Blair for years with the Orioles.  Truth is, he only played 2 years with him, but that doesn't matter. What matters is Kenny knows the game, and so does Lou Piniella.

I loved Sweet Lou, as a player, as a manager and while I picture them having a couple of drinks with the Most Interesting Man in the World, they aren't at all, but they are speaking gospel to my ears. The reality is, Yankee fans know this losing streak isn't the end, but lately, when the Yanks lose a game, or don't score a run, we always seem to feel like the world is ending. Why because we're better than this.

Trust me, this isn't the end of the world.  This is a dry spell, a rough patch, a bad spot, a lousy run....it's not October, it's September...we can do this, we just need to believe...we just need to have confidence, like the Most Interesting Man in the World does in the Dos Equis ads.

The last few days I've been talking about "moments".  I've seen it happen time and time again over the years. In Little League, in high school ball and definitely in the pros. Something always happens that triggers a team rally and team run. A "moment" breaks a tough losing streak and suddenly, everything changes.

It could have been Russell Martin's heart filled sprint to first base the other night to score an RBI and beat out an infield single.  It could be Joe Girardi getting ejected when Chris Dickerson struck out last night.  The bottom line, the Yankees need something, anything to get going. But it's more than that...the Yankees need to recognize it and understand that "it's time" to turn it around.  If they don't, they're toast.

Bottom line, we all know The Yankees are capable.  We all know the Yankees just aren't playing like the Yankees.   Can it change? It can, but without that moment, without that confidence... forget it.

Look, the next several games are crucial. The Yankees will play the Orioles, the Red Sox and the Rays again.  This is the American League East, these are the teams the Yankees MUST beat, so let's GO already!

Finally... I'll leave you with this, more actual conversation between Ken Singleton and Lou Piniella...ending with The Most Interesting Man in the World:

Lou Piniella: "And you don't have to win every day. Win 6 or 7 out of 10. Stop the bleeding."
Ken Singleton: "Get back to winning the series."

The Most Interesting Man in the world: "How about they just win a game?"

Right now, they're not only the most Interesting MEN in the World, they're the Smartest Men in Yankeeland...

Trust me... we need to bring alittle humor to this Yankee situation right now... if Bleeding Yankee Blue keeps writing articles about disappointment and aggravation, I'm not too sure I can go on like that!

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.