Before I could finish the sentence "Only the Devil Rays could have an eight run lead in a game and proceed to lose that game--and by MORE than eight runs at that," the yanks had already given back all the momentum with a loss to the Dr. DRays today.

Actually, as I listened to the game in the car on my way home from Cleveland a few hours ago, I got really pissed when Jon Sterling went into his usual "assume a win" routine. He was talking about how when Pavano gets out of the seventh, he'll turn it over to "Gordon, and of course Mariano for the ninth." How this arrogant asshole can ever just assume the yanks will win, especially with a one run lead in the seventh, after last season is beyond me. I imagine some of the better yankee fans listening would say, "Shut up, dude, this game is far from over!" So you can imagine my elation when Carl gave up a three-run homer, resulting in a yankee loss. I love when the yanks' plans for the eight and ninth go from Gordon/Rivera to Sturtze/Sturtze.

I switched over to Mike & the Mad Dog right after the game, to hear Doggy celebrating and talking about how this was the yanks' worst loss of the year. He could be right. (He also gives daily updates on the yank's magic numbers--one for AL East elimination, one for playoff elimination. I wonder if he saw my blog last season... He's also been doing "Doggy Look-alikes," like all of us bloggers seem to enjoy, so maybe he really has been reading.)

The recurring theme of this yankee season, as I've said before, is "If, if, if." Today it was, "Pavano was one batter away." Per Sterling, Kay, and Torre himself. I agree with Francesa, yankee fan, on this one: No excuses. Torre defends Randy Johnson's shitty performances every single time. Maybe you can do that two or three times with the guy considered the greatest lefty of his generation, but every time?

What kills me, though, is how everybody, Sterling, Waldman, Kay, fans who call the radio stations, they all act like IF the yanks had just gotten that one strike, or retired that one batter, or if Jeter's ball had been hit a LITTLE bit to the left, well, then, the yanks would have definitely gone on to win, and from there, gone on to win the World Series. No question about it. Another cool thing is how Jeter seems to be the last batter A LOT this year in yankee losses. So while it's not all his fault, it just appears that way to a lot of casual fans. Hey, that's why he's considered a superstar, because the casual actually thinks he is one. So with these memories of game-losing at bats fresh in their heads, maybe his status will come down to where it deserves to be.

I'll post my pics from Day 2 of my Cleveland adventure soon. Edgar just homered. 1-1 in the third.