Gom

The Mariners will not lose. Therefore, technically, they are still the wild card leader. I will not abandon this thread until we have finally taken the wild card spot as our own. The standings as of now, end of day 8/11/2007: AL WILD CARD Team GB Yankees - Mariners - Tigers 1 Blue Jays 5 ½ Twins 6 Athletics 8 ½ White Sox 10 Orioles 11 Royals 13 ½ Rangers 14 Devil Rays 20

I would say at least one will be a Yankee. I'm hoping Santana, of course. Can you imagine a 2009 rotation of Santana, Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy? Roger Clemens rounds out the five, of course. He will pitch until 2037 at least.

I love Posada, but Molina is a better catcher. Why the hell did the Angels let this guy go? I haven't seen someone frame pitches better than this guy in years. Is it any wonder that Moose's best outing came with this guy behind the plate?

You are not going to pay an outfielder with a .796 OPS 10+ million a year. He is 33 years old, I would like to see him back for one more season, but there are plenty of free agents with a ton more upside than Abreu. The Yankees are going to make a huge splash in the 08/09 offseason. Mussina, Giambi, Pettitte come off the books in two years. After this season, Clemens [although he was just an expensive rental] and Abreu come off. I figure [hope] that this money saved this offseason can be used to keep Arod. However, after next season, the Yankees will have approximately $50 million to spend on free agents. I love it.

No way the Yankees will pick up that option. No way the Sox pick him up either. Where do you put him? Ortiz is a DH period. Drew is stuck there, so is Crisp. Maybe left field, but I doubt it. He will sign somewhere for 7-9 mil a year.

Don't you think comparing war to baseball is wrong?

Actually, I will be utterly shocked if this guy does anything when it counts. Look, being on the receiving end of two different seasons of post-season excellence, I know how good Schilling is, or can be, when it counts. There is one thing he can't get past. He is old. His fastball doesn't have the same pop as it used to. He doesn't have the same break on his pitches. It happens to all of them. What makes baseball so hard is the repetition needed for excellence. As players age, they also lose that ability. Some lose it gradually, some suddenly. They all lose it though. These aren't cream puffs in the playoffs he will face. He will most likely face an Guardians, Tigers, or Angels lineup. He has no chance of dominance anymore. Neither does Mussina, or Clemens. You hope for a good game, but in your gut, do you really expect one? From our two teams, the only pitchers who can throw a lights out game are Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wang, and Hughes. Pettitte will keep you in the game, and so will Wakefield if his knuckler is fluttering. You hope that Schilling, Clemens and Mussina's bodies go back in time for a few hours. Don't hold your breath though. This isn't a rip on Schilling per se. Any pitcher that starts pushing 40 and even higher, you keep your fingers crossed.

Schilling is finished. So is Mussina. There will be no one happier than me if you sign Schilling after the season is over.

Jacko, if we make the playoffs, we will waltz through the AL. Watch, we will win the series against the Angels this year, and if we face them, we will beat them too. It's still a big if if we win the wild card, but if we do, I have no doubt we will be seeing a National League team. Take away the Sox's first six weeks, and they are a .500 team. Am I saying the Sox are a bad team, won't make the playoffs, etc. No, not by a long shot. However, if they don't right their ship soon, they are in trouble.

How funny..as improbable as it may be....the Sox swoon could keep them home in October.

I love it... The Sox are definitely starting to hear footsteps. I only wish we were playing the Sox now instead of the end of the month. Regardless of what happens in this series, the key series of this month [until we square off against each other at the end of the month] is going to be the D-rays in Fenway coming up. If you lose that series, which you shouldn't by any stretch, it get ugly for RSN. Very quickly.... Time for the Red Sox yearly August swoon...right about now...

Finally....we have caught the others. As of now, the Yankees are in a virtual tie for the wild card. Knocking off the Guardians ace Carmona, and with Hughes rebounding nicely from his poor performance against the Royals, the gauntlet has been thrown. Can our pinstriped heroes continue, or will they wilt under the pressure? What a season....what a race....stay tuned.

Thanks for the memories, Miguel, but it's time to say goodbye.

The race stays the same. However, the Sox are stumbling....fumbling...and maybe even bumbling. The Sox are only 5.5 games out of sitting it out in October. Stay tuned.

Farnsworth should be drawn and quartered.

The reality of it is that the Yankees have the best run differential in baseball. Right now, no one can argue that they are the hottest team in baseball. They are finally getting healthy and playing to their ability. With Hughes, even if he bombed, taking Igawa's spot and Giambi coming back, it's better than what they would have found at the deadline anyways. The pen is a mess though, and needs to shore up. Vizcaino has been steady, Rivera is Rivera, and they need to find that third pitcher in the pen. Now, asking a minor leaguerer to be lights out in Joba Chamberlain, but if they catch lightning in a bottle with this kid, it's lights out for the other teams in the wild card hunt. Big if...very big if, though.

Can't be worse than Proctor and Myers...

Almost there...only one game separates four teams, with Cleveland only half a game ahead of Detroit. With a surging Twins team pushing the Guardians and Tigers, the Yankees look to capitalize on them playing each other to surge ahead. If we can go into the tough stretch surging, and the teams we play struggling, is it too optimistic to look forward to the Red Sox in the ALCS? Stay tuned...

Hughes was garbage, plain and simple. The tough stretch is coming, but at the same time, those teams are scuffling badly. We just have to win every series. So far, we have won 8 of the last 9. If the stretch continues, we'll be fine.

A bad day for the boys from the Bronx. However, with the goal being to win every series, that has been accomplished. With the White Sox and Buerhle in Detroit, the Twins throwing Santana at the Tribe, and Seattle squaring off against the Boston, it may be a good day for us with Wang starting the series off against the Royals at home.

Do you guys doubt at this point that they will be in the playoffs?