RAYS OF HOPE

I HATE TO BE OPTIMISTIC, BECAUSE IT'S THE KISSING COUSIN OF DISAPPOINTMENT. (McGready wasn't his cousin too was she; I mean 15 years old is bad enough.)

But I do see a couple of trends I like. One is Farnsworth. I think he just might prove to be a decent 7th inning pitcher. He's more relaxed that far back, and so he gets his breaking pitch over more consistently, making the fastball much more effective. If the Big F turns out alright, the Yankees have perhaps the best bullpen in the league after the sixth inning. Now if the starters could just last that long.

I also am liking the way Matsui is swinging the bat. He's not pulling off the ball as much as he did late last season.

After that road marathon,, with AROD misssing for some games, Posada for others, Jeter for others, and with Kennedy and Hughes so hopeless, it really is amazing that they are only one game back. They have to get better than this, right?

The Red Sox are just not that good this year. their strting pitching is mediocre, their bullpen less than great before Papelbon, and with Ortiz sitting or sucking their offense is really kind of anemic, at least outside of Fenway. you can now walk Manny knowing that most of the other hitters are singles guys and will have to string them together and are also slow white guys (Varitek, Lowell, Youkilis, Drew) who are just as likely to hit into a DP. I don' think the Rays sweeping them was a fluke. It shows what a fast team can do to an over the hill Varitek and what a team with good pitching can do to their line-up, at least outside of Fenway. Last year the Sox were as good away form home as in Boston, reversing the trend of the year before when they could only win at home and finished third. They look to me like they're reverting.

On the down side, they should never have signed Posada to a long term deal, a point I made at the time repeatedly. He's just too old and the breakdown has now begun, 4 years before the end of the deal. Also, is it just me or does Shelly Duncan look totally overmatched this year? He seem to be guesssing fastball on every pitch and swinging entirely too hard.

Of the many things I thought and hoped Giardi would do is force Giambi to bunt, to hit the other way, to take advantage of the gaping left side. I don't get it, he's so willing to take a walk when offered; why won't he take a single. In Abreu and Jeter, you have two of the better inside-out slap hitters in the game. Can't they teach him how? It'll only be for a month or so, then teans will take the shift off and his average will go up pulling the ball. Is this too obvious a remedy for his mendoza line problems to be put into effect?

Proverb of the Day: It takes the Yankees to make an all time great a cheater, but it takes the Sox to make him a registered sex offender.