Well, first of all, there’s John Smoltz and Johan Santana. Smoltzie fanned 12 and passed Phil Niekro on the Braves’ all time strikeouts list, and Johan punched out 17– 17(!) to set a Twins record! Congrats!

And now… presenting your very own New York Yankees! Merely 4 games back in their division!

I promise next time I’ll write something with more substance.

Question for this post: Who has been the Yankees MVP thus far this season? My vote goes to A-Rod. Put in your two cents and… well, you won’t win anything, but put it in anyway!

First, congrats to Brandon Webb on your 3rd straight shutout, running your scoreless innings streak to 42. Whew! Watch out, Orel!

Now, on to the races!

AL EAST: Current Standings:

Red Sox 73-49 .598 –

Yankees 68-54 .557 5.0

Blue Jays 62-59 .512 10.5

Orioles 56-64 .467 16.0

Devil Rays 46-75 .380 26.5

The words "written off" have been worn out describing the Yankees on May 29th, when the Yanks hit rock bottom, trailing the Red Sox by 14 and 1/2 games. But since, the Yanks have gone historic, going 46-25 and gaining 9 and 1/2 games. Now we’re five back with the Red Sox doubleheader split (thank you, Eric Gagne) and a win for us. Most of the thanks goes to Melky Cabrera, the centerfielder, Robinson Cano, the second baseman, Jorge Posada, the catcher, Derek Jeter, the shortstop, Alex Rodriguez, the third baseman, Shelley Duncan, a backup outfielder, first baseman, and DH, Hideki Matsui, the leftfielder, Andy Pettitte, a starter, and two young guns, Phil Hughes, a starter who has allowed three runs in his last two starts, and Joba Chamberlain, who in 4 major league appearances spanning over six innings, has given up no runs and struck out nine, including two in his perfect Yankee Stadium debut, in which he left the mound yelling and pumping his fist to chants of "JO-BA, JO-BA!"

My pick: Yankees. Red Sox tie Mariners in wild card.

Biggest young stars of this division: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Red Sox starter Jon Lester (20 strikeouts in 28 innings since returning from cancer), Red Sox closer Jon Papelbon (1.87 ERA, 29 saves, 63 strikeouts in 43 innings), Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia (.324), Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan (8-7, 4.14, 90 K’s), Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill (.267, 12, 63), Orioles starter Erik Bedard (12-4, 2.98, ML-leading 207 K’s in 169 innings), Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (7-4, 3.50), Orioles rightfielder Nick Markakis (.298, 11, 74, 16 SB’s), Devil Rays starter Scott Kazmir (9-7, 3.44, 168 K’s in 157 innings), Devil Rays starter James Shields (9-8, 4.22, 148), Devil Rays outfielder B.J. Upton (.316, 16, 54, 13 SB’s), Devil Rays rightfielder Delmon Young (.294, 9, 64).

Division MVP: Alex Rodriguez: .304 AVG, 39 HR’s, 115 RBI’s, 15 SB’s

Coming next time, the AL Central!

Phil Rizzuto, beloved Yankee shortstop and broadcaster, is dead at 89. I did not recieve the great pleasure of seeing Scooter play his magnificent defense and contact hitting or hear him broadcast a game live, but it hits me just as hard nonetheless. Part of Yankee lore, a Hall of Famer, and reciever of a great privilege-having his number retired, to have no New York Yankee wear number 10 ever again, Phil was a true Yankee. Period. Goodbye to a beloved friend of the Yankee family.

Red Sox lose! Yankees win! 5 back! Hahaha! That-is-nothing! And today, the Moose is loose and ready to produce! Going for win no. 100 as a Yank! But, he has to face off with Paul Byrd, 10 game winner. Yankees, not to fear, A-Rod is here! And, they’re really living up to their "Bronx Bombers" moniker as a team. And, and…what are they in first-place for? The wild card? A playoff spot? Really? And the Red Sox are slipping?

LET’S BREAK THEIR HEARTS!!

Goosebumps. That’s what I got this morning seeing Barry hit 756. An amazing feat, truly. 756 home runs in the career of Barry Bonds, more than anybody else in the history of Major League Baseball. Barry stands over Hank, Babe, Willie, Mickey, Lou and everybody else who has ever played major league baseball. I thought I would never say it, but…….ugh……..congratulations Barry Bonds. Bashing 756 different baseballs off the playing field and into the stands in fair territory in his career. He doesn’t have my vote for the Hall of Fame, but not everyone who juices hits 756 home runs. Let’s get to something I feel comfortable talking about, like, say….the Yankees gaining a game on the Red Sox! There have been 5 beanings in the last 2 games against the Blue Jays, making for some bad blood between the teams as a great pitching matchup comes along; Roy Halladay vs. Chien-Ming Wang. Good luck to the Yanks and the Angels today, and let it be known this will be the last time I mention Barry Bonds in one of my posts until he retires.

My Internet hasn’t been working lately, so I’ve missed blogging about monumentous occasions. Barry hit 755, Glavine won 300, but, most importantly, the Yankees are staying in the playoff race, and A-Rod’s 500th homer of his already illustrious career helped the Yankees win. I heard it on the radio: " The pitch, swung on and high in the air, deep down the left field line, it is gonna be………………….gone! He’s done it! A long high drive down the left field line, just fair, for a three run home run! Alex Rodriguez has made Major League Baseball history, the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs! An A-bomb, from A-Rod, his 500th home run, his 36th home run of the year, a three-run home run, in the first inning on Saturday, August 4th, 2007 against Kansas City, and the Yankees take a three nothing lead!" And since then, the Yanks have had win after win. Actually, before that, the Yanks had been winning. We’re currently a half game back of Detroit in the wild card, and 6 back of the Red Sox. They finally lost yesterday. Another subject is Shelley Duncan- do you believe? I just hope the Yanks don’t designate him when Giambi comes back. Big mistake. Well, thanks for listening. I’ll try and be back tommorow.

It’s good to be back. I didn’t have Internet access for quite a while there, but I’ll be back to regular posting soon. Anyway, it’s good to see the Yankees go on a tear. And it’s better to know that I was at the game that started them on the tear, 7-3 over the Devil Rays in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. They won 17-5 and 21-something in the next two games. I got to witness Shelley Duncan hit his first Major League home run, and helped call him out for a curtain call. Living in New Mexico, it was almost surreal to go to Yankee Stadium, where I bought a Robinson Cano jersey. But I would say the most amazing thing about my trip to The House That Ruth Built was seeing Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, in the pinstripes, jog out in the ninth to Enter Sandman. That was really great. Of course, the guy we sat beside lived four minutes away, and had seen A-Rod’s walkoff grand slam and Wang’s near-perfect game, so he realized how much he took it for granted when he heard me and my dad lived in New Mexico. Game I saw aside, the Yanks may have lost yesterday, but they are still making a great run at the division right now. A-Rod’s 500th should come soon (or already has, if he homers in the completion of the suspended game today. It’ll probably be the first and last time a guy hits home run number 493, and two days before, he hit number 500.). Today, they only have to keep the Orioles scoreless over one and a half innings, and they win! It’s like a doubleheader, without 18 innings! So, if the Red Sox lose to Cleveland, the Yanks climb 1 1/2 games in the division. Speaking of Cleveland, they added Kenny Lofton today to be their new leftfielder. I hope he goes 7 for 7 with three home runs and 8 stolen bases (7 runs scored, of course). And what the Rangers got was minimal: a minor league catcher. In other trade news, Tad Iguchi is going to Philadelphia. That is fast recovery from an injury. The Phillies lost Chase Utley to a broken hand yesterday. Good luck to the Yanks and Mike Myers and Andy Pettitte (A-Rod too) and Kenny and the Clevelanders.

GO YANKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for going AWOL there for about a month, but it just hasn’t been easy to get my blog in anywhere. I need my own computer. On the subject of the Yankees, I’m not very happy for explainable reasons. I’m going to take a wild guess and say you can probably figure them out. But the Yankees are leading right now in the 8th, so perhaps we’ll take the third game of the 4 game set vs. the Devil Rays. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m going to see the Yankees vs. the Rays in the House that Ruth built in one week!!!! First time going to The Stadium!!!!! I’ve seen the Yanks in person at least once for 10 years running, but never in New York. Aaaaaaaaaand then we could see them six days later in Baltimore! Aaaaaaaaand I’ve been contemplating the possibility of seeing A-Rod’s 500th, aaaaaaaaand realized that I just could! That would be fantastic. So yeah. We’re going into the 9th and Carlos Pena homered for the Rays, but it’s still 5-4 Yanks. Mo’ll be coming in. Good situation…..

Q: What do you think the Yankees should do during the next couple of weeks, besides win? Trade, stay put? Promote, demote? Put in your 2 cents. It’s your call. Now if only I could find a way to send suggestions to Brian Cashman….

I’ll say it so you don’t get put off by this post: 9-1 is a great last 10 games. GREAT. But a loss while the Red Sox pound the Giants is not cool. Not cool at all. I exclude Miguel Cairo and Roger Clemens from my disgust. But here’s a short list of wasted opportunities by the Yanks:

1st inning: Jeter on 2nd, one out. Abreu and A-Rod strike out.

2nd inning: bases loaded, two out. Melky strikes out.

3rd inning: Abreu on 2nd, two out. Posada strikes out.

4th inning: Cano on 1st, Matsui on 2nd, none out. Josh Phelps flies out and Cairo grounds into a DP.

8th inning: Jeter on 2nd, one out. Abreu flies out, giving Jeter third, then A-Rod grounds out.

5 wasted opportunities? The "best offense in baseball" can’t get a run off OLIVER PEREZ? Granted, Cairo got robbed of a 3-run shot, but surely you can get more runs than ZERO against OLIVER PEREZ! Watch out for that Esteban Loaiza, Yanks.

The Yanks are shooting up, not down (a nice change) in the division! A-Rod! Bobby’s back to bashing! Moose is dominant! What do you have to say about Andy Pettitte? Jorge is spectacular! New Yankee nickname: Joltin’ Jeter! Mo is on track (finally)! Honestly, how many people thought it would be a good thing if the Yankees were 8 1/2 games back on the Red Sox. In one week-I repeat- one week what seemed like a lost season is now looking like a great turnaround in Yankee history! We are less than 10 games back and it’s two weeks to the All-Star game! WE’RE WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Speaking of the All-Star Game, Jorge Posada is being cheated out of the start by voters who vote for people they like (i.e. Pudge Rodriguez) instead of people who are doing the best job for their teams. All who agree say "Aye".