PENNANT RACE?

Neither Girardi or Maddon will say it, but I will: taking the Wild Card has some distinct advantages over winning the mighty AL East outright. With Cliff Lee looking like the one who dominated for the Phillies last October and November, they have become the team you would rather not face in the shorter, first round of playoffs. Not taking anything against the Twins, who are more equipped for a longer series, they just don’t have that Number One Ace who can be a major difference maker.
The Yanks have faced Lee and David Price back-to-back and made them both look like, well, Lee & Price. Twenty innings and one run, you cannot expect to win too many games that way. CC Sabathia and Price hooked up in one of those pitchers’ duels match-ups like two of the top CY Young candidates they are.
And even though the Yanks dropped their 4th in a row for the first time all season, and are the last team to have a losing streak of that length, I didn’t have to hear Michael Kay babbling in my ears about it, so that was a positive.
The first “burst” of action didn’t come until the 5th inning when Jorge tried to surprise the Rays and steal second. It’s not an awful idea, but he’s nailed.
The “awful” idea came later and by the brain and feet of Gardner. He pinch-runs for Berkman, who had pinch-hit and reached via a base on balls. And yes, Gardy does have forty steals this season, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why he stands there for a few pitches as Posada flies out on the second pitch. Gardy swipes second on the first pitch to Kearns, setting up a runner in scoring position—even if it’s now two outs. And I suppose I should’ve just left him alone, because there goes Gardner trying to steal third and he’s nailed for the third out, breaking that old cardinal sin that stands true for the other twenty-nine ball clubs, as well.
And someone had to score. Girardi leaves Robertson, Joba and Mo in the pen as Mitre gives up the walk-off dinger in the 11th; these walk-offs against the Yanks are getting old…
Watched the end of the Padres/Rockies game, scouting for the Giants and it was funny to hear the San Diego announcers intone “Troy Tulowitski” as if they were saying “Derek Jeter.”


Tried to watch a low-budget thing called “Several Ways to Die Trying” that Netflix sent my way. I could only get through about 45 minutes of it, and only a couple ways, before the whole thing became trying. Am I really supposed to take a high school student’s novelist aspirations seriously? I shake my fist and mumble, “Grow up,” and press the eject button, slipping it into the red envelope to return with a sneeze…


New Ted Leo cd is out; hope that means they’ll come back and play Los Angeles again; I’d be down for that. Hoping somehow that a Pavement/Sonic Youth ticket comes my way for the Hollywood Bowl, although I may already be bound for San Francisco and the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival where I shall get my fill of guitar rock ‘n roll.