I thought Yankee fans were supposed to be worried about the Tigers.

I don't think the Twins are serious about bringing a World Series to their fancy new ballpark.

I was just thinking about baseball teams in the American League, and my conclusion was that the Minnesota Twins are not serious about winning.

That's why they play baseball games in clown uniforms with big red shoes and shoot cans of silly string at each other. They're kind of like the baseball version of the Harlem Globetrotters:

"If you didn't think the Twins were serious about bringing a World Series to their fancy new ballpark before, maybe them going for as a set-up man the other day will convince you that they want this year to be different from all the others when they couldn't make it out of the first round."

Oh, Brian Fuentes is the difference-maker in the playoffs.

You mean the guy the Yankees beat last year in the playoffs? The guy with the 9.82 World Series ERA? The guy with as many Championship rings as me?


"The Yankees were 13-14 over a month of baseball that ended with Friday night's sparkling performance against the White Sox, and when you play that kind of dreary baseball over this long a period, you get people wondering if you're still the $200 million odds-on favorite to repeat."

Hmmm ... the Twins haven't had a slump this year? Has there been a team in the history of major league baseball who hasn't had a slump?

Dismissing the Yankees demonstrates a lack of understanding of baseball.


"The Red Sox have lost one-third of the starting team they had at the start of the season - Youkilis, Pedroia, Ellsbury - and should have gone away a long time ago.

And sort of haven't.

Have they?"

On August 7th, the Yankees beat the Red Sox and pulled 7 games ahead on the loss side.

Three weeks of dreary baseball later, the Yankees are 6 games ahead on the loss side.

The Red Sox sort of have gone away, those scrappy li'l $160 million underdogs. I think losing Youkilis, Pedroia, and Ellsbury brings their on-field payroll down to 2x the Rays'. The same Rays who've got 6 fewer losses.


Doesn't matter, Yankee fans. Once the Sox are thoroughly dismissed, Lupica will write an article hyping the Rays.

Worry about Price and the Rays.

Worry about Lee and the Rangers, Verlander and the Tigers, Fuentes and the Angels/Twins, any team with John Lackey.

Lupica wants you to be afraid.

It wouldn't matter if the Red Sox were 1.5 games back or 12.5 games back. Lupica is going to write the same article. I'm surprised he didn't bring up Babe Ruth and Aaron Boone.


Now ... this is key ... the entire reason a team builds a big lead is so they can withstand a 13-14 slump. The Yankees have room for error. The Red Sox do not have room for error. A few Papelbon blown saves, an ill-timed error by Mike Lowell, a couple of "tough losses," a bad month for Beckett, and their season if over.


I mean, I know it's coming, and it's still ridiculous.

Lupica is rooting against the Yankees so hard that he can't interpret baseball reality.