Long Live Frank Fixaris!

Well the Sox are in this thing now. With them playing KC and the Yanks playing LA before their weekend series things could be awefully close. UGHHH!

Or they could get shut out. I think CC has the best chance of the three. The more we go on, the more convinced I am that Mauer will win the MVP. As for Girardi, he'll be a hard sell given that the team spent half a billion dollars on free agents in the off season.

I have to think Ron Washington has the inside track on the MOY award, since generally it gets awarded to the manager doing "more with less" and exceeding expectations. Even with the Rangers fading in the wildcard, the Rangers were more or less the Rays of this season, they just couldn't sustain it quite as long.

Gardenhire is another "more with less" guy who's got his team in contention late into the year. The unfortunate strike against him might just be the fact the team did the exact same thing last year pushing the AL Central race to 163rd game before bowing out.

May not be fair, but Girardi and Francona, and to a lesser extent Scoiscia and Leyland, are handicapped by past success and the payrolls of their respective teams in the MOY race and probably won't be serious contenders even if they end up being the four AL playoff managers this year.

20 guys with 20 HR's ? Since it's only a 25 man roster, I guess that means some of the Yankee pitchers really teed off during interleague....

oops...typo...i meant 7 obviously.

that's true but i still think girardi has a shot because after the slow start the yankees have been so consistent and there has been so much talk about team chemistry all year. i also think that after the early issues, he's done an incredible job with the bullpen.

yankees lose in anaheim again. pettitte, at least, said his shoulder felt fine. with boston's loss the magic number did go down to 8. chad gaudin goes tonight. the yankees have lost the last three series, but at least they haven't been swept. let's hope they don't get swept in anaheim again.

I dont like their chances tonight with Gaudin.

santana has been very shaky too, though.

and sure enough the yankees jump off to a 4-0 lead. of course, early leads didn't do them much good the last time they were in anaheim. let's just say its nice to know that that brief little flirtation with hopefullness of winning the division that got tossed around by sox fans for a couple of days, appears to have been short-lived. the magic number could be down to six in a couple of hours. the yankees will probably take care of that on their own.

i've heard a lot of chatter that damon will be brought back but matsui will be gone. both of them are having tremendous seasons. matsui's now got 28 hr and 88 rbi in 427 ab. with production like that, why not keep him as your dh?

gaudin begins to implode with two out in the fifth and girardi gets him the hell out of there. hopefullu, aceves'll get another one of his cheapie wins when the starter couldn't last five with a lead.

yankees clinch a post-season berth. jeter gets his 200th hit. the ynakees win a game in anaheim. all good things. magic number is down to six.

looks like the yankees can win in anaheim after all. and burnett now has a couple of good starts in a row to build on.

clinch!

Nice weekend series against the Sox.

First time ever that a team lost the first eight games of a season series and did not lose the season series.

Cool Mariano Rivera article from this week's SI. He is the cover story.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

girardi has announced (no surprise) that the yankees will take the A schedule and play tomorrow. also, burnett will get the start in game 2 which is a mild surprise, more for the game 5 implications.

I bet Girardi isn't concerned about Game 5, and I can't say I blame him. Burnett has pitched better at the Stadium than on the road this year, so that probably factors in. If Burnett is the starter you're least confident in right now, why not match him with Verlander (I'm assuming the Tigers win today) and let CC and Pettitte win the series in games 1, 3, and 4.

the thing with burnett is he tends to either be really good or really bad. pettitte would most likely give you a little more consistency. pettitte struggled at home earlier in the season but did better down the stretch. i just see it as a bit of a gamble. as for detroit winning it, its looking the other way now thanks to orlando.