Captain, My Captain

Captain Derek Jeter, sounding a bit annoyed, said that while Pavano will be welcome when he returns, he's not being counted on."I can't worry about guys who are not here," Jeter said. "It's not a letdown if you're not counting on it."

Ouch. The Captain doesn't burn people often but Pavano is extra crispy. He better turn into something great. He's got to win over the team. The only question is when?

Comment on this or the Terrorists win

GET WELLS

ESPN says the Sox are shopping him. He's pitched well over his last four starts. He's way ahead of Lidle and Wright for our fourth spot. The Red Sox are out of it and they know it.

I say we do what we have to (which won't be much) to get David Wells.

Thoughts?

Stuff of Legends

Seems that Carl Pavano has two broken ribs he failed to tell the team about for two weeks. He got in a car accident in mid-August.

Incredible. You couldn't write this stuff.

Back to the 90s?

There has been some talk recently by most of us about this team resembling the great Yankees squads of the late 90s. But it only takes a glance at this pitching staff to see it isn't so, not even close:

Randy Johnson
Chien Ming Wang
Jeff Karstens
Jaret Wright
Corey Lidle

Mussina will hopefully come back strong and perhaps Pavano will have something to offer over the last month (because Wright has been really bad of late), but this staff is nothing like that of the championship teams. So we've got a lot of work to do.

Wildcard Poll

Who do you want to win the Wildcard?
	Boston
	Minnesota
	Chicago

Looking Ahead

Who do we like in the Wildcard? The scenarios are this:

1. If Chicago or Minnesota win the wildcard, we get that team in the first round.
2. If Boston wins the wildcard, we get Oakland in the first round.

A quirky rule makes this so: The team with the best record always get the wildcard, unless the wildcard is from the same division as that team. So, we're caught playing the central even if we don't have the best record (and we probably will), unless Boston wins the wildcard.

Thoughts?

Good math

Check out this calculation from Tom Verducci on espn.com:

"Six-and-a-half games back with 38 games to play (New York has 39) is a brutally tough mathematical problem. Say the Yankees go 20-19 (hard to believe it won't be better; they have 20 games left against the Mariners, Royals, Orioles and Devil Rays). Boston would need to play .684 baseball (26-12) just to force a one-game playoff with New York."

HEIL STEINER!

Let's goose-step our way to another pennant!

New Poll

When Will Steiner return my phone call from last week? By week's end By Monday When he finishes unpacking from his Paris vacation When he finally figures out how to use his cellphone Free polls from Pollhost.com

Wow.

These guys are good.

3 Down 2 2 Go

After Friday's Marathon and yesterday's game the series at the minimum is won. 1 Game up at the worst from this series. Is anyone else feeling this team is finally coming together? It seemed the lose of Matsui and Sheffield took a lot out of the team, but now everyone's on the same page.

I'm not saying the Red Sox are done. The Yankees have more contributions throughout the team.

If anyone disagrees, the terrorists win.

Update and Chastisement

Friends, I'm back but don't have internet at my house yet, so posting to the blog is slow going since I can only check at work. But that doesn't mean the group of you should just up and lie down like a bunch of flea invested rabid jackals. Dodort, I know for a fact you're not working, yet we hear nothing but the sound of your sneezes. Joe, I know that your girl limits the amount of words you can type in a day, but perhaps you can spare 50 or 75 for Steiner's Warriors? Mark, where art thee? You go to KC and forget all about the game you gave 17 years of your life to. You're bums, all of you. You're flea-bitten louses. Danny--aka Scooter Phil Rizutto--you rose like a rocket but since have crashed like a flea-bitten rabid cat from granny's chestnut tree. What the frig gives? How about a little noise? You are all grave disappointments to me, to this blog, and, most importantly, to our beloved Yankees.

-Steiner

Bad News....

Sheffield target date moved back

"Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield, who had been targeting September 1 as a date to return from his wrist injury, has been told by medical people that September 15 is a target date for his return, according to the New York Post. Yankee manager Joe Torre also acknowledged that there is a possibility that Sheffield might not be back in 2006."

Matsui might not be back

"Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was not cleared to take batting practice earlier this week and now his manager, Joe Torre, admits he might not be back this season from his wrist injury. "If it's next year, it's next year," Torre told the New York Daily News."

ARod is Garbage

This guy has turned into a liability for this team on both ends of the ball. He continues to fail at the plate in important RBI situations. He then turns a double play into a run-scoring play. That throw was nowhere near Cano at second base last night. He has officialy turned into a mental case and needs to get out of New York for the good of the Yankees and for his career. Despite his incredible talent and gaudy numbers up to this point he has proven he cannot thrive in pressure situations. I have simply had enough of this jerk. I know Mr. Cohen (aka Mayor) will agree with me on this point. We could have conceivably increased our lead to 5 games while Boston was getting swept by the Royals.

First Place.... Again

Gentlemen, let's take a step back and smile. We lead the division and the wild card. But, as the title of this post suggests, it's going to be a roller coaster ride for the rest of the season.

Abreu has been with us for about a week. He's batting .400 or so, a few doubles, and a single RBI. He's also scored four runs. During that span, the Yankees are 5-1. Do we think there's a correlation between the two. I haven't seen the last few games, so I'm not in a position to determine the synergistic value of Bobby. What say you fellas?

1 Hit Is Not A Good Game

How does anyone get 1 Hit by the Orioles? Are the Yankees suddenly blind? Why even show up with an effort like that? What was the deal with that game? This will not be tolerated.

Bubba Crosby gets sent down and see what happens - 1 hit.

Miguel Cairo got hurt - probably DL'd.

Robinson Cano, where are you?

Brooms Are Out

Bronx Bombers were bringing heat today as the Yanks sweep the Blue Jays. Keeping some breathing room in case of a late season surge. Next up are the Orioles. Now is the time to distance themselves from the Red Sox and White Sox for that matter.

With Varitek out indefinately the time to strike is now. Time to run off a few 8-2 or 7-3 game stints and there's no turning back. Now if only Big Melon, I mean Big Papi (can't stand that nickname), would somehow forget to swing there would be no looking back.

Does Ortiz even own a glove? I'm heading to rant territory big time so I'll end with this:

Yankees are going in the right direction. Can we all agree on that?

Now batting, the first baseman, number eleven...

Gary Sheffield, a true-blue Steiner's Warrior for the past three years, has proven his worth yet again. When Bobby Abreu was acquired by the Yankees a few days ago, all signs pointed to Sheffield becoming obsolete. He's old, he's injured and he's an expensive solution for our outfield. And then something brilliant came to light. Gary Sheffield and the Yankees agree that he should be prepared to play first base. I want this to work out. I want Sheff's bat in the lineup not only this year, but next year as well. We can afford the guy and he's still one of the most dangerous bats in the game, even approaching 40 (which he will become in 2008). And platooning him at first makes him less a liability on defense because he's not going to play the field everyday. The American League allows for designated hitters, so let us use that allowance to our advantage. And if, by some sad twist of fate, someone gets injured, Sheff is more than capable of filling in if need be. What's even more encouraging is Sheff's attitude here. All the non-Harold Reynolds prognosticators on Baseball Tonight predicted a firestorm from Sheffield once the Abreu deal was announced. What happened instead? Sheff went out and bought a first-baseman's glove and hugged Abreu when he walked through the clubhouse door.

Keep Sheffield a Yankee-- he's earned our trust and respect.