Afternoon Baseball

On the anniversary of the day when New Yorkers had to rally as never before, the Yanks pulled off a rally of millions of orders of magnitude less to defeat the O's.
Randy continued his up-and-down year, but remained unbeatable in September (something like 35-3 in the last decade or so). Robinson Cano, who had been a great hit, no RBI man before his hamstring, has answered the challenge since his return, getting a bases-clearing double tonight.

On a night when David Ortiz acknowledged that he was a me-first, award-greedy loudmouth, Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 21 games in his usual classy way, shrugging off the MVP talk. Maybe he won't win MVP, but Ortiz isn't it either. The most dangerous hitter in baseball, I'd say yes. But Manny and Josh Beckett -- one through success and the other through mediocrity -- were more important to the Sox's chances this year, and Jermaine Dye has made more of an impact with nearly the same numbers.
Speaking of clutch, Jeter's at .391 with RISP. That's Sheffield-like.