The Yankees in August

The Yankees are in the midst of a return to playing +.500 teams after an enjoyable July best exemplified by the 100 some odd runs they scored in 10 games against Baltimore, ChiSox, and KC. They now play Toronto (winning a 5-4 nail biter yesterday), followed by Cleveland, a surprisingly tough Baltimore, Detroit, arch-nemesis Angels, more Detroit, finally finishing up the month against Boston.

This is the month that will test whether the resurgent Yankees are for real. If they can win the majority of those series, they should be poised to lead the Wild Card standings going into September. And, lately, there have been very few negatives coming from Yankeeland.

After striking out in his first two at-bats, Canó doubled to left-center on a curveball from the left-handed reliever Scott Downs. The Yankees had been trailing by a run, but Canó ’s hit gave them a 4-3 lead. When Cabrera singled him home, it was his third hit of the game.

Jason Giambi is about to rejoin the Yankees, which could nudge an outfielder like Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui out of the designated hitter role. But Cabrera is not losing his starting job in center. He has a 12-game hitting streak, with a .412 average in those games.

“I’m not saying we won’t give him a day off here and there,” Manager Joe Torre said, “but it would really be tough to replace what he does for us.”

Part of what makes Cabrera tough to replace is that he gives the Yankees a switch-hitter with pop at the bottom of the order and a strong arm on defense that runners rarely challenge. Another part is intangible, but possibly as important.

“You’ll see guys sort of dragging, and they see them bouncing around and say, ‘Shoot, I can do that, too,’ ” said the third-base coach Larry Bowa, referring to Canó and Cabrera.

“There’s no question it helps. They’re still going to make some mistakes, but what they bring to the table outnumbers what they do wrong.”

Canó said he and Cabrera only talked baseball after losses, so they can find ways to improve. After a game in Chicago in June, when the Yankees were well under .500, Canó and Cabrera resolved to get on base more often. Canó said they decided to be realistic about what the team needed.

“We’re not here to hit home runs,” Canó said. “We’re not going to prove that we’re Babe Ruth or anything. Just go out there, get on base for A-Rod and Posada and Matsui, let them hit the home runs. Just swing at pitches we can drive, not like we were at the beginning, when we were swinging at everything and trying to hit the ball out of the park.”

Canó is batting .456 (41 for 90) in his last 23 games, coming on strong in the second half the way he did last season. He and Cabrera are playing with the boundless energy of teenagers, Alex Rodriguez said, as they compete against each other and the opposition.

The good news even extends to manager Joe Torre. A man not known for shaking up the establishment in seasons' past, he's begun to think different.

Fortunately, the solution just may be on his way. Peter Abraham reports that Joba Chamberlain has been sent to Toronto and will likely be activated for today's game. Word is that Jeff Karstens will be demoted to make room for him. That supports what Joe Torre said prior to yesterdays game about no longer trying to force lefty-on-lefty matchups now that Myers is gone. Karstens continued presence would have suggested that Torre intended to rely on him as a long man while using Villone as a matchup lefty, but without Karstens, Villone remains the long man, and Chamberlain and Vizcaino become the final pieces of this team's long awaited Big Three without a lefty in the picture to muck things up. I like it. Now if they'd only swap out Brower and Farnsworth for Ramirez and Britton (and dump Miguel Cairo when activating Jason Giambi, who is due to arrive in Toronto today as well).

And guess what, the Drama Queen lost last night.

This fellow is looking for advice in all the wrong places.

And the Pinstriped guy bids farewell to the Loogy, then goes off.

AND IN THE REAL WORLD...
This latest capitulation by the so-called opposition in Congress is spectacularly frustrating. If the loyal opposition cannot defy a president who is arguably the least-popular in history, what is their purpose? One can comfort one's self with the fact that the key presidential candidates voted against the provision, but it's cold comfort when the Constitution is being shredded. There is no putting the genie back in that bottle. Our system has become so debauched as to become unfixable. In any case, the opposition has demonstrated that the fear of defending itself that has afflicted it ever since it was charged with "losing" China in the 1940s still holds sway. We went into Vietnam because of that fear, and we invaded Iraq because of it as well. Could we please turn the page already? Joe McCarthy is dead, and so is Owen Lattimore, and LBJ. I eagerly await the politician brave enough to face down the propagandists and say, "I'm smart enough and brave enough to fight the bad guys without eviscerating the Bill of Rights or plowing under our own sons and daughters. In my administration, in my party, we'll keep America safe, but we'll respect those things that make us Americans in the first place-our open society with its respect for individual freedoms -- and we'll do it while purchasing far fewer body bags."

I don't really care what party that guy comes from, so long as he arrives. Is there a rock somewhere with a sword sticking out of it? It seems like it might take that level of miracle for it to happen.

Had to get that off my chest.

Glad you did.