Theo, you're a genius. This whole defense thing really is important. It's nice to know that any ball hit anywhere near an infielder is now almost a guaranteed out. I used to say, "Defense? That's National League talk! Just aim for the Citgo sign." Now I see the light.

Tonight, we got Lowe out of a jam thanks to a double play, and Trup' and Castig' made it sound like there was a lot of fine leather flashin' goin' down. Next step is learning to bunt.

On a day when even yankee-lover Mike Francesa admitted that the yanks embarrassed themselves with their forfeit request, Michael Kay played the role of yankee-shill, saying that the Rays should've been there on time, despite the hurricane hitting their homes. He said the Rays are all rich, so they should have "simply" gathered up their families, booked charter flights, and flown them out of the hurricane's path. This coming from a dude who misses his own radio show half the time, because, well, I don't know, he's too tired. And he missed a lot of yankee broadcasts this year, I guess because he, the "voice of the yankees" didn't want to go to the west coast. He said that they were insensitive to the yankee fans who had to wait at the stadium. There's a lot I could say about all of this. But I'll narrow it down to this: I wonder if, on Osama bin Laden's talk show on September 12th, 2001, Osama said, "These rich players, they should be out on the field doing there jobs! A week off? What's with these wusses??". Nah, only Kay is that insensitive. Then to start the yankee tv broadcast tonight, he did this really sarcastic thing about checking inventory for the game: "We've got the bats, the balls, and wow, the other team is here." I can't believe this guy got a contract extension. Maybe when someone in his family dies in a hurricane, he'll apologize for this.

It was a split among yankee fan callers about the forfeit issue. Some said they should settle the division on the field. But one pro-forfeit lady said, "when my husband's got a business trip and there's bad weather, he leaves early, and I take care of the yard." Ma'am, your husband's soliciting prostitutes on these "extended" business trips. Good luck with that yard, though.

The yanks won by a lot, but it was still close enough, 5-2 in the seventh, for Torre to have to waste Gordon for an inning.

The Sox game just ended. 7-1 win. The yanks will be frustrated when they wake up and find that out. Trot got a nice ovation from the Sox fans in the Oak-town, as he pinch hit in the 9th. Tomorrow night we go for my first birthday win since '91. The magic number is 28, which is how old I am until 8:05 this morning. You don't need to remember that.