The magic number is... 9 days

Well the first time I wrote this post, the Yankees hadn't finished off the Orioles - but in the time it has taken me to re-write the post (the first Blogger failure of my blogging career) the Yanks have finished off the Birds, if in rather unconvincing fashion. If I hadn't been doing my second night of Indians / White Sox watching, I might have understood why Joe didn't trust Embree to continue in the 9th - still four runs ahead, and you bring in the closer? There must have been something that I missed.

The Sox showed tonight that good things can happen if your starter goes more than 3 innings - well ok, the 21 hit attack didn't do much harm either, unless you are a Tampa Bay Devil Ray's pitcher that is.

If one of the positive's last night was Craig Hansen's debut, then an additional positive tonight was Hanley Ramirez's first appearance in the field, and his first AB in the majors. Sadly that first trip counted for nothing with home plate umpire Bruce Froemming, who rang up Hanley on a ball 4 that he had clearly checked his swing on - it was a definite "c'mon guys, you are 15-2 up, and he ain't winning the batting title" call. At least it saved Ramirez from the Youkilis treatment - which, despite all that was to follow, still remains one of my 2004 regular season highlights.