And We're Back

Hello friends. I'm back from brief hiatus to Cooperstown for Induction Weekend. I got back Sunday night and needed a day to recuperate. It was a fun, yet tiring weekend. On average, I get about 5 hours of sleep per night and I sleep in the back of my ride as it's just easier that way.

I've been going down there for IW now for the last 4 years. I primarily go for the autograph opportunities, of which there are a lot. You can usually put quite a few freebies if you put your time in. My problem is I have most of the guys who sign for free already and I didn't bring anything to have them sign, so I passed up on a few that I could have gotten.

It's getting to the point where everyone I need I have to pay for since they usually aren't around to sign for free. They have paid signings in town so I dropped some coin on some guys I needed (Gibson, Brock, Williams, Carew, and Bench). I'm trying to get signed balls from all of the living HOFers. I think I need 9 now (MacPhail, Lasorda, Aaron, Koufax, Yastrzemski, Winfield, Murray, Sutter, and Henderson). I'm getting there. It's tough as I try to get them all in person.

I did manage one freebie while I was there and that was from Roger Clemens. He happened to be in town because one of his sons was playing in a Little League tournament. I picked his up one afternoon after one of their games. That was unexpected and not a bad way to cap off the trip.

I tried to follow the Yankees as best I could when I was down there. I caught the tail end of Friday's win. I heard about 3 minutes of Saturday's game and was getting most of my updates via a friend's Blackberry. I listened to the last half of Sunday's game on the drive home. And I was in front of the TV for last night's game. I was still a little exhausted and had plans to go to sleep before it was over, but tonight's game is on My9, which I still don't get, so rather than missing 5 straight games, I sucked it up and watched the whole thing. Anyway, I can't complain at all about how the team is playing as they went 3-1 over those 4 games. The pitching is still going strong. Burnett was awesome last night and is proving to be well worth the money. A.J. has been lights out in his last 11 starts, going 8-2 with a 2.08 ERA. He'll finish July with a 4-0 record and a 2.43 ERA. A.J. has been one of the league's best pitchers over the last 2 months. There's no debating that.

The offense hasn't been any kind of a slouch either. I just noticed that Melky has his average up to .290. He's been on a little tear over these last 5 games, going 8-13 with 5 walks. That came put of the blue. That's pretty clutch seeing that Brett Gardner is headed for the DL. The Melkman is going to be playing full-time while Gardner is out. If he can continue to play like he has been, that will be huge, and a little unexpected. I'm still a little taken aback about Melky's July numbers. In July, he's hitting .302 with an 817 OPS. I didn't see that coming. Wow. Get out the crayolas and color me impressed.

The trading deadline is a little over 3 days away and as nice as it would be to land a big fish, I'm not sure it'll happen. The Yanks have incentive to land a starter as it looks like Chien-Ming Wang's season might be done. Sergio Mitre isn't going to cut it. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring someone in. I don't think it'll be Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee. And I hope it's not Bronson Arroyo. I saw that rumor and saw that's been shot down but we've seen that before. Where's there smoke, there's fire. It looks like it's not a lot of smoke. At least i hope it's not. I'm not an Arroyo guy. I think he's average at best and a little overrated, which is bad for someone who I don't think is all that good to begin with. They'll get someone I'm sure. The Yanks have the best record in the AL and are 1 game behind the Dodgers for the best record in all of MLB. They're 2.5 up on the Red Sox for the division and 5 up on the the Rangers, who trail the Sox for the wild card. I don't think the Yankees need a lot to maintain their lead so I don't see them making a huge splash. It's possible though. A lot can change if the competition betters themselves. It'll be a fun few days.

Enjoy tonight's game. I really need My9.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie