Locked and Loaded

Things lookin up? Ahhhh I wouldn't go that far, but it was nice to see the return of arguably the most heralded pitcher (Go ask his 7 Cy Youngs if you don't believe me) in this era take the mound in pinstripes. Are his midseason auction bids getting ridiculous from team to team? possibly...Is he getting old? yes...Is he still effective? definitely. At 44 obviously his fastball is not going to be what it used to be, but like they all say as long as he commands his secondary pitches (splitter) a high eighties fastball can be just as effective as a mid 90's. As far as the return he earned a quality start giving up 3 striking out 7, in 6 innings. He looked excited, antsy, a tad shaky in the early going...I think I even saw Jeter at the mound givin him a little balltap to cool him off and they shared a laugh. "it's just great to be back","it felt like old times" said Rocket, "this is a good ballclub". Hmmm u sure about that Roger? lets see 2 games below .500, and have you even seen how many errors your team makes game to game...Jeter alone already has 11 compared to his 15 ALL of last season. But Alas, it may be a turning point. They have been playing better lately, A Rod is no longer carrying the load seeing as Bobby Abreu finally decided to clock in for work this month, Matsui same goes for you. Is Clemens alone the piece that will take them there, hmmm no. I think he is a sparkplug tho, he gives a little fire every five nights he pitches and on a team full of robots emotion is bueno, muy bueno...right Cano? "si!!". They do need Giambi back soon, the bats are heated but besides Arod there really isn't that much of a long ball threat. This is the Yankees folks, it's not like were talking strategy here, or small ball like the Angels. Plug them in and pretty much hope they hit seems to be the mauntra (sp?...i should look it up). It's worked before and who knows with the year Arods having maybe he'll just put em on his back and take em to that coveted Wildcard spot, because Bostons runnin away with it, and this is the last year A Rod will be there for one last hoorah.

-db