I give today's baseball action four--out of a possible four--Jhonny Peralta's Dgo's:



Everyone, from Pat in the form of a message on my machine, to BS Memorial, rightfully, is talking about the ri-goddamn-diculousness of today's yankee postgame on Yes.

It was a very special episode, I can assure you.

Everyone was there: Bob Lorenz was in studio with Bobby "My full first name is Bobby because there's no way in hell my parents knew Bobby was short for anything" Murcer and Dave "Insult the audience's intelligence on purpose" Justice. And the tri-cornered hat of buffoonery that is Kay, Kaat, and Singleton were live at the Stadium. And maybe Paul O'Neill, too. There were just too many to remember. Plus Kim Jones in the locker room asking Joe Torre if they would have been better off starting Sturtze.

I guess they felt a seven-person postgame crew was necessary in these troubling times.

They all sat around, brainstorming about what the yanks can do to get out of the rut they've been in, essentially since the moment Dave Roberts stole second base. Or, more accurately, since they signed A-Rod. (Trust me, I watched them all season in 2004.)

And what did they come up with? Dinner and drinks. Pool party at Joe Torre's. Get to know each other, and let the winning begin.

They might as well have all thrown towels at the camera in unison.

Hearing them talk about the yankees possibly "changing their attitude" reminds me of one of my posts that I'm proudest of, from last November. I really can't wait til the yanks start copying the Red Sox. Of course, they should start by building a strong farm system, and stop signing superstars that won't fit into the puzzle, no matter how hard they try to jam them in.

In fact, I can't wait to hear what yankee fans say when, next off-season, the yanks go courting the symbol of everything they despise, Johhny Damon. And then what they say when he turns them down.

Anyway, since last Monday, the yanks have gone 1-5, while the Sox have gone 5-0. That's 4 1/2 games they've lost in less than a week. Now, since Baltimore was in first at the beginning of that stretch, and the Sox have since taken over the top spot, now by two in the loss column, the standard line on the talk shows was that the yanks were very much in the race. What people failed to notice was how the yanks and Red Sox were headed in opposite directions--with the Sox now having won 11 of 12--because the Birds were barely hanging on to first, clouding, to most, the fact that the Red Sox were, and still are, pulling away from the yanks.

Even as late as last night, Chris Carlin on WFAN was saying that he can't count the yanks out because: They're 5 back (wrong, they were 5.5, 6 in the loss), and "I don't know if the Red Sox are gonna start playing well..." (They are. 11 out of 12. I'd actually call that a little better than "well.")

Less than 24 hours later, the yanks are 7 back of the first place, streaking Red Sox, and are one loss away from being swept at home by the Mets.

So today, people finally took note. Joe Buck said something about the Red Sox running away and hiding in the division race. And the Mets announcers also stated what's really going on in the A.L. East, while letting New York know that Manny is on fire. (Hey Gammons, I guess your assessment of Manny was about as accurate as when you told everyone, a while back, that Pedro was one pitch away from having his arm fall off his body.)

Talk about everything coming up Milhouse, the Red Sox are in first place as the World Champions for the first time in my life, and the yanks are falling apart at the seams, which were sewn together by a blindfolded Cashman in the first place. Our cuffs are bone dry!

Note: Lately I've been leaving my pics at full size, so that everyone can see them, because apparently some people (PC people?) can't see them when I reduce them. In the case of the dog pictures above, if you can't see them, you're not missing much, just four dog heads. Putting those at full size would completely ruin the effect. Sorry.