Finally got to see the Yankees live and in person over the first three days of this week and left Target Field a mostly satisfied customer. Yes, there's still some second-guessing abounding from Girardi's ill-fated decision to lift a still in-control Phil Hughes in the middle game, but CC Sabathia quieted many doubters yesterday with eight, very strong innings leading an 8-2 win.

Going to two of the games by myself -- and note: those were the ones the Yanks won -- lead me to be forced to listen to the Twins fans around me who leave a lot to be desired when it comes to not only knowledge of the game, but of their home team as well. In a reverse of what I used to experience at the old, Yankee Stadium (I've only been able to catch a few games at the new, big ballpark in the Bronx) the better my seats got over the course of the three game series, the more knowledgeable the fans were. This really did shock me. My season tickets in the Bronx were in the upper deck at the Stadium and the best baseball conversations went down up there. I often wound up with friend's tickets -- most notably a friend who worked for TOPPS at the time -- and would find that in those great seats everyone around me talked about nothing but how great their seats were.

In section 222 on Monday night, second deck at Target on the third base side, I had no choice but to hear a fan near me yell for a "review" when Granderson nailed their guy at the plate. The call for review was seconded by a couple other people. This is not the NFL, Twins-fans, this is MLB and there really still is no such thing except for the disputed fair/foul, over the wall etc. homerun calls and the foul lines thing.

They talked a lot about team salaries and were generally off by about $50M in regards to both the New York and the Minnesota team. When the guy beside me, who seemingly was a little better informed than some of the others despite his insistence that every single pitcher threw only fastballs and junk, started bemoaning the unfair advantage the Yanks had he took to the middle infield as his proving ground. As he checked the stats for our amazing double-play team of Captain Derek Jeter and Robinson Canoe, he cried that the Twins never, ever could have middle infielder who could hit 20, 25 HR's.

Out of the side of my mouth, and it was the only time I opened it during the Yankees 6-3 win behind the six scoreless innings by Andy Pettitte, I mentioned Roy Smalley. He's still quasi-famous in the Twin Cites although his eponymous bar near Target closed down this season. Smalley's not ancient history either (although the Twins only have 50 seasons so what is for them?) but the guy stumbled. He wasn't sure. I wasn't positive either, but I did have to cop to that maybe, just maybe Smalley only did that in New York Yankees pinstripes, but nope - Smalley hit 24 for the Twins, 20 was his highest mark for NY. Uh hem.

Yesterday, in my best seats of the series, section 111 where I was about 20 rows behind the Twins on-deck circle the guy behind me starts yakking about the fact that the Yankees didn't have a hit. It was the third inning. I goaded him into saying the words "no-hitter" and then after the immediately resulting base-knock ended that, I got him to say, "Well, he still has the shut-out." I'm not sure, but he and his three friends may have moved seats before the sixth run scored that inning. I never got a chance to thank him.

Having vowed to bike to game before season's end, yesterday was the day despite being kind of sick. Sunny day, good exercise, less germs than on the bus were my rationalizations, but biking to a baseball game is pretty great. Shame the season ends this week or I would do more than that.

Rooting for the White Sox to get their heads out of their asses and get back to taking the AL-Central. Yesterday's miserable walk-laded loss to the Tribe coupled with the Tigers come-back victory saw the Detroit club take over 1st place for the first time since July. Chisox have a tough schedule the rest of the way; the Tigers not so much. And with the duo of Verlander and Cabrera, Detroit is a team to worry about in a short series. If the season ended today (one more week if you're wondering) the Yankees would face Detroit, albeit with home field advantage.

Oakland is making the Rangers sweat bullets, pulling within three games with seven to play and a few more left head-to-head. Some Texas losses coupled with some more Yankee wins (seven games left vs. the Blue Jays and the awful bosox) could land the Bombers with the best record in the AL.

Okay, baseball before work is the motto for today...

Cheers

B.