Are the New York Yankees a real threat? Do they have the firepower to derail a sailing Tampa Bay Rays squad and a streaky Boston Red Sox club? Do they have the will and inner determination to focus on baseball? The answers to these questions are no, no and are you kidding me?

The 2008 New York Yankees are currently 55-45 and 3 ½ games out of first place. They are ranked seventh amongst big league squads in team batting average (.269) and 13th in runs scored (469). They sport a team ERA of 4.00, which ranks 12th amongst big league teams and boast a total of 704 strikeouts, which positions them 10th in all of baseball.

What I want to focus on though is if the Yankees are a real threat to either the Sox winning the American League East pennant or the Wild Card spot. Personally, I feel that the main flaw in New York’s game is the constant intoxicating focus on third baseman Alex Rodriguez, catcher Jorge Posada’s demise and their evident inability to keep their arms healthy.

Out of all these things, I feel that the team’s pitching staff is their biggest weakness, although the chemistry amongst the men held captive by the pinstripes on their shirts is also a problem. However, the fact that starting pitcher and ace Chien-Ming Wang (foot), starting pitcher Phil Hughes (rib), starting pitcher Humberto Sanchez (elbow) and starting pitcher Carl Pavano (elbow) are all seriously injured is a testament to the durability of a team built on pure greed and lust. That’s why they won’t catch us.

Thoughts from a week that taught us not to never, ever mess with Coco Crisp…

The "Almost Most Heartbreaking Moment of the Year" Moment of the Week: Down goes the Truth

Towards the end of the pre-game intros last night, just before they called Paul Pierce’s name, I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness for the Truth. In the five quick seconds that he was standing at the base of the awkwardly placed, massive golden trophy, I thought about all that he had been through in Boston: how he’d been so close to being traded 10 different times; how he was so close to being stabbed to death in 2000; how even though he didn’t know it, he’d been a pretty huge part of my life for the last 10 years.

Anyway, at that very moment, Paul looked, prouder, happier and more satisfied than I’d ever seen him, and I imagined all that must have been going through his own head, as he prepared to take the floor in the NBA Finals after 10 years relative ups and bottomless downs..

An hour later, and I watched as Pierce was carried into the lockerroom with the a look on his face that you’d expect from a guy who’d just had his leg bitten off by a shark.

I wasn’t even assuming the worse anymore. I’d already convinced myself that he was done for the season. It was a fact.