John Henry Can Suck It As Yanks Sweep Boston To Clinch Division And Home Field

Start spreading the news. The New York Yankees are the 2009 AL East champions. The New York Yankees clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The New York Yankees will be the only team this year to reach 100 wins. The New York Yankees are the best team in baseball. Deal with it.

Today's victory versus the Red Sox was great on so many levels. Division clinched. HFA clinched. 100 wins. Red Sox swept. Celebrating in from of the Red Sox. After losing the first 8 games to Boston the Yanks came back to split the season series. Get the picture? It was a great day for the Yankees. It was a great day for Yankee fans.

I'm actually watching the replay of the game right now on ESPN. Phil Coke is about to whiff David Ortiz to finish off the 8th inning. I should be getting ready for bed but I think I'm going to stay up and relive today's highs all over again. The game today was great, wasn't it? Andy Pettitte had a rough start but settled down and pitched a pretty good game. Andy has been awesome this year. I'll admit it. I wasn't a big fan of Andy returning to the Yankees this year. (Teixeira just hit a Yankee Stadium special on the replay. Suck on it John Henry). Those feelings about Andy had more to do with how much money he wanted over anything else. I'm so glad he came back though. He's been great this year. He's always been a better pitcher in the 2nd half and this year, unlike last, isn't an exception. In his last 11 starts, Andy is 6-1 and the team is 8-3 in his starts. I think we can all forget about Andy have arm/shoulder issues. His last 2 starts were really no different than his first 29. He'll be primed and ready to pitch this postseason. There was a lot of talk on the ESPN broadcast today about how the Yankees should set up their rotation in the ALDS. They liked Burnett starting game 2. I like Andy. If the ALDS happens to go 5 games, the Yankees would likely bring back their game 2 starter to start the game. I want the 2nd best pitcher the team has starting that ball game. Right now, that pitcher is Andy Pettitte. CC in game 1. Andy in game 2. A.J. in game 3. That's how I do it. What say you?

Another great job by the bullpen again. Brian Bruney really surprised me. He took on the meat of the Red Sox lineup and sent them down in order. he looked a lot like the Brian Bruney from earlier in the season. Bruney lost his way for a while. I hope he's back on the right path. Phil Coke also looks to be his old self. Coke has not given up a hit in his last 9 outings, a span of 5 innings. His ERA has dropped from 5.13 to 4.68 in that time frame. The Yankee bullpen is awesome. 'Nuff said. And the man at the back end of that bullpen is the most awesome of all. I wouldn't be worried about his last 2 outings. Mo's outings were a little shaky but were they really? I don't think so. The tying run would have never reached base today had Robbie Cano not tried to make some impossible play at 2nd. That was an easy out at first. Robbie should have been smart enough to know that. He got Kotchman on a weak grounder and Ellsbury on a comebacker. Ironically enough, that comebacker just happened on the replay. The division is ours baby. I'm smiling from ear-to-ear. Awesome. Totally awesome. Way to go guys. Back to Rivera, if you're worried about him, don't be. He's the GOAT. October is Mo-time!

Congrats to Robbie Cano for picking up his 200th hit. Cano, in my opinion is a special player. I can't believe some Yankee fans were giving up on him after last season. Last season was a rough one for Robbie. The big difference this year is that his head seems to be in the right place. He doesn't come off as lazy anymore. Not to me anyway. I'm a big Cano fan. I think he's going to have a great career. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a run at the HOF. I know it's early but the talent is there. As long as Robbie stays focused, he'll do great things.

Mark Teixeira's 8th inning HR, a cheapie in my opinion, gives him 38 on the season, 1 shy of league leader Carlos Pena. If Teixeira can connect for 1 more HR, he might finish the year with the most HRs and the most RBI, better known as 2/3 of the triple crown. Mark has been bringing it lately. He's got the average up to .294, which is 15 points higher than it was 3 weeks ago (.279 on 9/6). Teix could make a run at .300. I don't think he'll make it but he could pull it off. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. Guess what guys? Texieira is a Yankee for another 7 years. I know. Awesome, right? And I didn't even mention his Gold Glove defense. Suck it John Henry. For those who forgot or didn't know, after the Red Sox won their 8th straight game against the Yankees, John Henry, owner of the Red Sox, tweeted, "The MT curse?" The MT stood for Mark Teixeira. Since that tweet, the Yankees won 9 of 10 from the Red Sox. This bears repeating: Suck it John Henry. What a douche.

A common thing I heard on the postgame show was there is still more business to attend to. The rest of the regular season may be meaningless but there is a lot of important baseball ahead. The team needs to stay focused over the next 7 days. They need to remember that all of this means nothing if they punk out in the postseason. I'm sure Joe Girardi is going to be resting a lot of the regulars over the next week and I don't have a problem with that. These guys should be very well rested when the ALDS starts. I love October. It is without question my most favorite time of the year. I can't wait for the postseason to start.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie