Afternoon Baseball

And no, I'm not talking about Paramount dumping Tom Cruise, or Cruise's medical expertise on "Today."

Rather, it's the New York Yankees not battling it out for a playoff spot. The magic number is in single digits, Derek Jeter is on a 22-game hitting streak and still within range of starlet Joe Mauer for the batting title, and Hideki Matsui is back. The hitting is without parallel. It's easy to have fun with all that going for you.

On the other hand, Jaret Wright is still the #3, Corey Lidle having pitched worse somehow. Randy is a hit-or-miss oldster as is Mussina, although Chien-Ming Wang has displayed ace material (8-1, 2.92 since the break) despite his 65 strikeouts in 200 innings. It wouldn't be so terrible if it were say, 1906. But he works in other ways, mostly being a singles pitcher, as the .272 BAA only translates to a .681 OPS. The main concern with Wang is keeping him at Yankee Stadium during the playoffs if possible (4.58 ERA on the road).

With Mariano not rushing back, Torre needs to somehow manage his pitchers well. We'll see.

Meanwhile, David Ortiz is prepping for the play...um, bitching when he doesn't win the MVP. It's been common knowledge for years that Jason Varitek was the real glue of that team, and his intangibles combined with solid play at his position were invaluable. His injury unraveled the Red Sox.

By the way, the hopefully recovering Peter Gammons should be proud of himself. For years and years, he played up the future of Joe Mauer, the value of Varitek, and how Eric Chavez (even in a weak '06) was better for the A's than Miguel Tejada. Sure, he thought Casey Fossum was the next Cy Young, but cut him some slack. Besides, for a Boston guy, he loves Jeter.

On a completely unrelated note, boxed wine doesn't have to be terrible. Later.