Afternoon Baseball

This absolutely cracked me up. Denis Leary and the other guy from "Rescue Me" whose name I can't remember went on a Red Sox telecast for a half-inning, see Kevin Youkilis, who's Jewish, made a great play, and go off on Mel Gibson for the rest of the inning. The regular announcers can't even say a word because they're too busy laughing. Well worth watching, even if it's the Red Sox.

Other stuff:
Even Bill Simmons thinks the Yanks have the best team in the AL, the real league of the two. He's also backed Jeter as a legitimate MVP candidate and has woken up from the dream that anyone is equal to Rivera. Welcome back to reality, sir.

As far as fan attendance goes at Yankee Stadium, these are the glory days.

There's some excitement over the long-awaited arrival of Octavio Dotel.

Finally, it's so obvious that this five-game series with the Red Sox is a monumental deal. But as long as the Yanks take two of the five, it's a success -- as in survival. After all, the season doesn't end after this series. Plus, it's in Fenway and the Yanks don't have the pitching depth unless they go on short rest, which is a recipe for disaster with the aged men they have. EDIT: Especially with Cory Lidle on the bereavement list for his grandmother. At least he timed it so he probably won't miss a start. I'm terrible, but it's true. Grandmother or pennant race?

But anyways, what's almost as important as doing well in the five-game series is winning today's game, especially with a solid, if not great, Jaret Wright going.
Secondly, it might not be a bad time to give Bernie a couple of at-bats in this series. He's not playing at all, really, which despite his surprising production this year, is still a good thing -- he's worse than any outfielder currently with the team. But with 5 intense games, somebody will need a break, and if Bernie can rise to the occasion anywhere anymore, it'll be at Fenway.