I wanna be on there...

The Yankees are once again victors, as thanks to homers by my fellow Dominicans Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez, and one by the gringo Johnny Damon, too, we beat the Mariners 4-2. Andy Pettitte, the veteran lefty, pitched 7 strong innings, holdng the Mariners to only those two runs and picking up his 8th win of the year.

  Mo Rivera got another save.

But there's also a very startling statistic which I heard after the game. The Yankees have not trailed in a ballgame since the 6th inning of last Wednesday, in Atlanta. Then Joe G got ejected, Cervelli served one, and the rest be history, yo.

And we're only 2.5 games out of first place, though the chances of us catching up to them Red Sox are pretty slim. There Julia, does that satisfy you?

Jeez.

  My Song of the Day today is known for being Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays' entrance music. The song is called Down and Out by Tantric.

CC Sabathia, the ace of the Yanks, is up against Jason Vargas of the Seattle Mariners, who's having a pretty good season statistically. I wouldn't underestimate the abilities of Vargas, but clearly the matchup favors Sabathia, who, even though he's not been his usual overpowering self, is coming off a terrific performance in the Subway Series and has much, much more ability than Jason Vargas does. That's pretty clear.

And what a pleasure it is to have Sabathia out there pitching for you. You look at his last 10 ballgames, and aside from his start against the Marlins down in Miami where he got taken out for some minor(from what we know now) biceps injury in the 2nd inning, he hasn't pitched any less than 7 innings. He's a fantastic help to this ballclub and this bullpen that has been so good recently partially because of good performances by our starting pitchers.

It's looking to be a really nice year in the Bronx.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

-EJ the Kid From New York

We'll start with the Yankees-Mariners ballgame.

Last night, the Yankees won again, continuing their 6-game winning streak. Joba Chamberlain turned in a decent start and, needless to say, got a no decision. After Alex Rodriguez hit a towering homer to left to give the Yanks a lead, Brian Bruney once again looked off and had an awful outing. However, Brunester got himself the W when the Yankees came back to score 3 runs off the Mariners' Sean Green, headed by an RBI double by Mr. Clutch, Melky Cabrera, who had 3 RBI that day.

And how about Melky Cabrera this year? He's on pace to hit 13 or 14 homers, be in the 60s or 70s in RBI, and steal 10 or 11 bases. That's nowhere near what we've expected Lil' Leche to be after that severely disappointing year he had in 2008.

Now, while that win is all fine and dandy, something else happened in the AL East that is about 7 thousand times more awesome.

The Red Sox got pwn'd.

After facing a commanding Red Sox lead of 10-1, those beautiful beautiful Orioles down in Baltimore rallied for 10 runs over the next few innings, the last couple off of dominant closer Jonathan Papelbon.  How freaking unbelievable is that?! It's hard enough facing the Red Sox losing 2-1, but 10-1? What happened now, Boston?! I thought you could pitch?

So beautiful...

And guess what? As I speak, the Red Sox are losing to the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 1-0! These guys are incredible!

Nick Markakis is dreamy, too...

And once again, even though the Subway Series has been over for well over 48 hours now, I still find myself talking about the patheticness of the New York Mets.

Johan Santana was angry after a 4 run inning full of sloppiness(what else is new, it's the Mets!), he was shouting, he was just pissed. And you know what? It's good that he was pissed. Somebody's gotta be pissed!

I don't think Johan Santana should have been shouting and screaming like a madman, let's be clear on that. However, I also don't agree with Johan getting in the dugout, breathing for a couple seconds and telling F-Mart(you see his mistake above) "I'm sorry, I should've picked you up." Instead, I would have rather seen The Johan use his anger in a more calculated manner. When you shout and yell, you only scare the heck out of everybody. You only intimidate and that doesn't do anything but hurt your cause.

Instead, Johan Santana should have gotten into the dugout, dropped his glove and said "What's the point of me working my **** off every day and giving my all every five days when I know I'm going to lose anyway?"

And that gets to you. It sends the team a message. "Dude, you're letting me down. I'm frustrated here."

But no, the Mets have no true leaders in their clubhouse. They don't seem to have a single player who knows how to get to his teammates and control his dugout. And when you don't have a leader like that who can motivate his team, all you have are a bunch of frustrated ballplayers. And guess what? That only compounds the problem.

It's sad what has happened to this Mets ballclub.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

-EJ the Kid From New York

Allow me to introduce the newest member of the New York Yankees.

Eric Hinske?

Now accepting nicknames.

I woke up at 12:15 or so and so my brother and I are still doing the morning sniffles, and of course, my brother looks quite angered like he always does in the morning. Energy wise, I'm about 70%, physcally, I'm 50%. Hopefully I'll be at 100 on both counts by 3 when MLB.com will have a live chat with Mark Teixeira.

This is somewhat of a strange move... not necessarily a bad move, but an odd one. This move gives the Yanks a left handed bat with some power off the bench, think kind of a poor man's Nick Swisher, but with a somewhat higher average. Hinske can also play the corners; left, right, third and first. so he is basically Nick Swisher with a lot less power and slightly more average.

The confusing part is that, who's going to have to be sent down to make room for Hinske? Why would we need Hinske when we have Swisher, who plays first, left and right, Gardner and Melky in the outfield, and Ransom, who can play all infield positions, including first and third? Did we really need to make this trade? From what we know now, it seems like a very unnecessary move, so I have the feeling that there's definitely something up. My guess is that the Yanks are going to put Matsui on the DL because he's not himself right now. Maybe something's up with his knees.

But this is all speculation. It could be for any reason, really. That's all for today, let's hope Joba turns in a good performance and we can continue this streak against the M's.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

Song of the Day is Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine...

Also, I forgot to mention. Gary from Nasty Nats, I'm sorry, but I am not J. Hova, I don't know who that is, but I hope that you do find him if you're looking for him. Lol, if you're looking for him...

-EJ the Kid From New York

What a great win, huh? After the first inning, it looked like we were never going to score again, as Livan Hernandez was, for some reason, shutting us down. But Chien-Ming Wang turned in a decent outing and the bullpen was lights out from there. It's nice when you can take your starter out in the 6th inning and still have 5 relievers(Coke, Hughes, Bruney, Aceves and Robertson are all very fine relief pitchers) whom you can use to set up Mariano Rivera. I'm sure Girardi feels very comfortable with his bullpen right now.

However, we could use a complete game soon, because you don't want to use your bullpen everyday. Those guys have really earned a rest out there in the 'pen. Now, Joba Chamberlain is starting next game against the Mariners, so it's quite unlikely that he's going to pitch a complete game. And hey, since we have an off day today, that should be enough for the 'pen for now. But I don't like that we use them every day. I'd like to see Joba pitch a complete game, obviously, since he is capable of doing so. Let's face it, though, the only way Chamberlain's going to pitch a full game is if it's a no hitter. And even then, there are doubts.

Mariano got the 500th save of his career in the most extraordinary way: with his first career RBI. I mean, if Mo was going to drive in a run, you would think it'd be of the home run or double variety. That dude can swing it! But, Francisco Rodriguez, clearly screwed up by Rivera fouling a ball off, attempted to blow a fastball by Mo, and missed with two balls to walk him. That's just pure embarrassment, right there.

So now it's time to have a little off topic fun: before this season, in the month of February, I gave predictions on the awards and league leaders of the American and National Leagues. Today, with a day off, I'm going to look back at those predictions and, with the information that we have thus far as we head towards the All Star break, realize how dumb and wrong I am.

Okay.

So...

Cy Youngs: Oswalt and Halladay

I wanted to get funky with the Roy and Roy thing, and I'll tell you what, one of those predictions was pretty good. Who'd have thought Zack Greinke would be as dominant as he is this year? Oswalt, on the other hand... quite past his prime, definitely, but again, who could've seen Matt Cain be this dominant? Dan Haren, arguably, is better this season, and you could've seen Haren coming, but even with that, Oswalt was a dumb prediction.

MVPs: Miguel Cabrera and David Wright

Miguel Cabrera was a strong prediction, you have to admit, but Joe Mauer has been out of his mind since he made his season debut in May. He's just been off the charts. Now, Miguel Cabrera's had a very good season, too, and he does have a shot at making me right if he continues his Miggy Cabrera season and Mauer cools off, but the Wright prediction was not all too sound. Sure, Wright is leading the NL in hitting, but how could I have possibly picked someone other than Pujols?

You guys look at the rest and tell me how good my predictions were.

Thanks to Vanessa for hosting the game last night, it was real fun.

Stay positive, Yankee fans...

-EJ the Kid From New York

Jesus man, these Mets find such hilarous ways to lose. It's really quite astounding. Congrats on not making an error, now all you have to do is figure out how to hit a ball and how to pitch one and then you can start actually playing competitive games! Gasp!

I know it sounds like a bit of a stretch, Metsies, but with a little determination and a little more hope, one day you can actually have a chance at beating us.

Haha, I'm really mikin' this, huh?

Nice to see that Posada homer, that's the Jorge we know and love...

Song of the Day is The River - Good Charlotte feat. M Shadows and Synyster Gates of Avengd Sevenfold... be sure to leave comments.... I'll be at Vanessa's blog, Flair For the Dramatic tonight, she's hosting the Mets-Yankees game on ESPN, it'll definitely be an interesting game.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

-EJ the Kid From New York

I love it!

We always win!

Save for a few games, of course, like the Nieve ballgame earlier this year, the Yankees just constantly prove that they Mets will never be able to beat us. Why? Well, I'll tell you why.

Because the Mets are cursed. What kind of curse, you ask? Who brings the curse upon the Mets? Some could argue Minaya curses the Mets, and I hear that argument, but I wouldn't say a specific entity haunts the Mets. It's really just this pressure that the Mets have on them. They have so much pressure to defeat us, the big brother Yankees, that they rush and they overdo everything and end up losing the fundamentals. Think about it!

When you go and acquire Johan Santana and K-Rod and JJ Putz, you now have so much responsibility to succeed. You cannot fail with those guys, especially after losing the NLCS in 2006 in game 7, losing on the last game of the year two years in a row, you have sooo much pressure to get every out and hit the big home run and make the great play that you rush and overdo it.

So that's the plague that the Mets have. Plus, they get injured so often. Maybe that has something to do with it too? I dunno, I just know y'all Mets are cursed.

By the way, we also played pretty well, too. Unfortunately, Frankie went 0 for 5, but Gardner had 5 hits including his 3rd big league homer, which was sooo great for him. I love Brett Gardner.

I love Francisco Cervelli more, but Brett Gardner's definitely up there.

Also, congrats to A-Rod for bombing a homer to right center, passing Reggie Jackson on the all-time homer list and showing Citi Field ain't small, you Mets just suck.

Haha, I'm just teasing. 

The Song of the Day is one y'all might know, called Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz.

Stay positive, Yankee fans. AND COMMENT THIS TIME

-EJ the Kid From New York

A-Rod is back.

Andy struggled.

Damon's starting to hit.

Jeter kicks butt.

Aceves is amazing.

Song of the Day is The Feel Good Drag by Anberlin.

Any questions?

Didn't think so.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

-EJ the Kid From New York

Thank you, New York Yankees, for giving me a really nice win to talk about. Finally, the Yankees scored a bunch of runs again, as their offense was looking really flat of late. After the controversial(and completely blown) call that Brett Gardner was picked off from first base, Joe Girardi stormed out there and argued and argued that call. He was sooo trying to get ejected, I have no doubts about that. The umpire wasn't even really arguing with him, and plus, once he got tossed, he just walked away instead of continuing to argue. But hey, he got the job done, because the next batter is my new man crush, Frankie Cervelli.

And all he does is hit his first MLB homer to left center to tie it at 1. We just took off from there.

Later, Alex Rodriguez hits a sharp two run single to center field, and I'm shouting "I don't believe what I just saw!" (In a year so improbable... the impossible has happened!)

I mean, honestly, yesterday was one of the best things that ever happened to Alex. He hit a few balls well, caught a popup, and hopefully that game will begin his massive tear of Major League Baseball pitching this season. I doubt that's actually true, but a boy can dream, can't he?

But easily-- easily-- the best moment of the game was Mariano Rivera's at bat. From the minutes leading up to it, when Melky Cabrera was giving him batting gloves, a helmet, and a good talk. Then, when he was on the on-deck circle, just chillin', leaning against the backstop like nothing was gonna happen. It all ended sooo climactically, with this:

A line drive to center field. Sadly, Nate McClouth was right friggin' there, but it was actually a very good swing and a very well-hit ball. If only he had just pulled it more, it would be the best moment of the year. But alas, it'll have to settle for the top 10.

Actually, that's a pretty good idea. What have been the top 10 moments of the 2009 Yankees season? Trust me, I came up with this just spontaneously. This was not planned. Dead serious.

10. Jorge Posada lines a walk-off single to left center off Brian Fuentes of the Halos

I believe this was our first walk-off of the year. We came back against the Angels, who always kill us, and win it on a walk-off single by the then-not-useless Jorge Posada.

9. More Posada - Jorge hits the first home run at Yankee Stadium, to dead center

Into Monument Park. This'll be a trivia question for the ages.

8. Mo Rivera gets to hit - line out to center

A hilariously beautiful moment. If only it were a hit.

7. Melky Cabrera walks it off with a two out, two run single

Facing Joe Nathan down by two runs in the ninth inning, Melky Cabrera hits an improbable two run single to left center. 

6. Nick Swisher pitches a scoreless inning of relief

Swishalicious brings a lot of humor and fun to the game, and this is a great example. His first MLB outing ensued hilarity at the end of a ballgame that is otherwise terrible and disgusting.

5. A-Rod comes back from the DL and crushes the first pitch

A-Rod comes back in the most storybook way possible. Yet, we all most definitely saw it coming.

4. Damon's big fly makes it 3 straight walk-off wins for the Yanks

First it was Melky Cabrera's two run single. Then it was Alex Rodriguez's walk-off, two run bomb. Finally, Damon capped off the clutch streak with a walk-off shot in extras.

3. Melky ends a ninth inning rally against the Phillies with his third walkoff

Down by two runs in the inning, A-Rod tied it with a homer into right field off Brad Lidge, and again off Lidge, Melky Cabrera drives in fellow Dominican and buddy Robinson Cano for his third walk-off of the year. If that's not enough, it was on FOX.

2. Gardner starts a comeback and fulfills a promise to an ailing fan with an inside the parker

Before the game, Brett Gardner made a bold promise to an 18-year old fan who was in the hospital. After hitting a blooper than got by Denard Span in left, Brett Gardner went balls-to-the-wall on the basepaths and came all the way home, for an inside-the-park homer, the second of Gardy's career and probably the wake-up call for the Yankees to comeback in that game against Minnesota.

1. Luis Castillo drops a pop up to win the game for the Yankees

Against a team who's fans, every year, think their team will be so much better than the Yankees even though they were severely disappointed the year before, the Yanks once again prove that, no matter what we do, whether we fail embarrassingly or succeed tremendously, you guys will always, always, always find some way to embarrass yourselves worse. Enjoy that.

So, thanks for reading, I think this blog is a lot better than my other blogs have been recently. Be sure to leave comments.

Almost forgot -- Song of the Day is I'm Not Jesus - Apocalyptica ft. Corey Taylor.

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

-EJ the Kid From New York

That was a really tough, nauseating game to watch. no offense, bad pitch calls... but thanks to Tobz and Anthony for coming over.

Sorry for the late blog, just wanted to get a quicky in. I want to focus on the game.

Ooo, nice play by Tex!

Song of the Day: Down and Out - Kid Cudi

Stay positive, Yankee fans.

Damn, this was a really short one! Haha, sorry to disappoint...

-EJ the Kid From New York