You mean, he's not Looouuuuuuu?

We are days -- mere days -- from the 2007 Major League Baseball season. Smell that? Smells like infield clay still damp from it's pregame hosing.

Anyway, Bronx Banter has just further polished the blog's gleaminess. Allen Berra has joined the list of illustrious guest bloggers on the site.

The Yankees...Wait, it just occurred to me, I'm not sure who's on the Yankees, Let me go check the roster and get back to you...

Okay, I'm back. Sorry, I forgot. Alex Rodriguez is on the Yankees. I just checked his stats. I'm telling you, this guy is very, very good. If you haven't paid much attention to him in the past, try focusing on him this season. This guy has averaged about 40 home runs, 120 RBIS, and about 20 stolen bases in each of his last three seasons – and yet, astonishingly, he gets almost no media overage at all. Hardly anybody knows who he is. I'm thinking that one day in a couple of years everyone is going to wake up collectively and say, "Hey, who is this Alex Rodriguez guy? Has he really been one of the best players in baseball over the last dozen seasons or so? And no one's noticed? Is this guy maybe a Hall of Famer? And we hardly paid him any attention?"

I think part of the problem is confusion – Yankees fans seem to think he's someone else. Every game I go to they react as if he's Lou Piniella. If I'm not mistaken, everyone yells out, "LOOOOOUUU! LOOOOOUUU!" Personally, I think Lou Piniella ought to clear up the situation by posing for a picture with A-Rod so everyone can see the difference.

What I wonder about Alex Rodriguez is this: Years from now, when Yankee fans think back on this time, will they remember that they had perhaps the greatest player in the game and didn't know how to appreciate him? Or will they think "I was at a game where he struck out in the ninth with two runners on base. And they pay him $20 million for that?"

And his insights on Philly and Sox fans are a pleasure (that is, if pain = pleasure is your thing).

But the best part of Bronx Banter is still the great reader comments.

Meanwhile, in Yankeeland, if you're not part of the family, you're not part of the family business.