Cheers

    I've been dreading the day that I actually get on here and talk about elimination, but I've had my couple days to bum around, and with Brian Cashman already dismissing pitching coach Dave Eiland, (just realized that we had a "Long-Eiland" pitching coach/hitting coach tandem) it's already time to look ahead. But before we do that, let's look at what just happened.
    When you're as big of a fan as I am, you start to classify good nights with how the Yankees faired as well, and already many memories come to mind when I think of it like that. A few games stand out in my mind. Specifically, Yanks/Dodgers, Sunday night, June 27th, an 8-6 win, and an even better weekend for the kid. Yanks rallied back from a 6-2 deficit in the 9th to tie things up after unlikely heroes such as Chad Huffman and Colin Curtis knocked in big runs. Huffman drove in 2 runs and Curtis tied the game with an rbi ground out off of Jonathan Broxton. While this is all going on, I'm at a party that I was just about to leave, so I'm standing, but as I'm standing the hits and runs start to tally up, so I'm there having people bring me beers as I stand in the same spot for the better of the Yanks, and sure enough, NY would tack on 2 more in the top of the 10th to win the game 8-6. Great win, great night, fantastic weekend.
    May 17th was the first game of a three game set against those Dread Sox where the Yanks won 11-9. I remember being drunk on a Monday night for some reason while watching Jonathan Papelbon blow a 2 run save, giving up a 2 run shot to Alex Rodriguez to tie it, and another 2 run homer that wrapped around the foul pole to Marcus Thames, the walk-off with 2 outs. There are few things I'd rather see happen, but we won't get into all that.
    September 8th, 14th, and 17th are all pretty magical dates in my eyes. On September the 8th, the Yanks had nothing going offensively all day, until Nick Swisher hit a walkoff 2 run homer off of Koji Uehara to win the game 3-2 against a tough Buck Showalter managed Baltimore Oriole team, right as I parked in front of my house after a long day. I sprinted to my backyard with my arms raised in triumph where my dad was watching Swisher take the pie in the face. It would stand as a big win because the Yanks played a very flat September, and needed some wins to stay in good playoff standing. The 14th was that back and forth game where Ivan Nova gave up 6 runs in the 5th inning to erase a 6-0 lead. Logan would come on to give up a 7th run, but the Yanks showed resiliance to tie it right back up in the next half inning. Jorge Posada would come through with a pitch-hit homerun to make it 8-7 in the top half of the 10th, followed by Greg Golson ending the game by making a pin-point throw to get Carl Crawford for the final out at third base. It was a big win on the road in the middle of a pennant race that put the Yanks back into first place. The 17th was awesome because it was the same night as a magical softball win for T&A, as well as in Baltimore for the Yanks. Down to his final strike with the Yanks down 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Alex Rodriguez hit a crushing 3-run-homerun off of Koji Uehara put the Yanks up 1, and Rivera would come in to shut it down. I actually traveled to Baltimore the next morning to see an 11-3 win during a night where a bottle of Captain Morgan was finished within 4 minutes between 3 people, faulty tickets may have been purchased, our section having a million sexy girls and most happened to be Yankee fans, but to top it all off, CC won his 20th for the first time in his career.
    This is a time where all those Yankee haters are out in full force saying the knew the Yanks just didn't have the pitching, didn't have clutch hitters, this guy is too old, so is that guy, blah, effing, blah. But it's also a time to celebrate another fun season, another time period during a lifespan. Many things happen throughout the course of a baseball season; good, bad, baseball-related, not even baseball related. I use baseball as a tool to reflect on certain things that happen. It makes every day, every game count, and that's the beauty of it for me. Yeah, we didn't get 28. We didn't get our first back to back championship since 2000. We aren't necessarily the dynasty we thought we were. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada are all acting their age finally. Mark Teixeira had another bad start that he never really recovered from, then destructed by injuries that eventually ended his season a couple days prematurely. However there are a lot of good things that we can look at; the emergence of Robinson Cano, the importance of Brett Gardner, a big-time pick-up for the bullpen in Kerry Wood, Mariano Rivera posted a 1.80 ERA at 40, and the prospects coming forth such as Ivan Nova, Jesus Montero, Brandon Laird, and Austin Romine. I'll be here all offseason and I'll disect any big news that happens so stick with me! I'll bring you Nets and Giants flavor as well until we get back to pitchers and catchers in late February, which feels like a long time from now.