It was the best of games, it was the worst of games.

"If you needed proof of why it's silly to overblow the significance of Monday night's 15-run outburst, here it was one night later for the Yankees. After all the offensive sound and fury of their season opener, they came up empty in the clutch last night."

Both games are equally significant. They both count one.

I don't think anybody overblew the significance of a 15-run outburst on April 3rd, but it's certainly equally silly to overblow the significance of a bad night on April 4th.

How about the Yankees play 160 more regular season games first and we'll see if they make the playoffs? If they do, I don't think the Spectre of their performance on April 4 will haunt them.


"Blowouts happen. They don't mean a lot."

Blowouts don't cure cancer or definitively decide what to do with stem cell research, but blowouts certainly help win baseball games. Winning baseball games is nice when you're a fan of baseball.

Is John Harper a fan of baseball? I'm not sure:

"Just as powerhouse lineups, such as the one the Yankees have assembled for 2006, don't necessarily dictate success, at least not come playoff time, which is all that matters in the Bronx."

Again, this is a common tack of NY sportswriters. "Yankee victories don't mean anything until October. Baseball doesn't matter until October."

If that's the case, why wouuld anybody read your column in the first place? Why are you writing a column during the regular season?

"Indeed, I have a funny feeling that for Yankee fans, angst has fast replaced giddiness after Alex Rodriguez resorted to his old ways last night, twice failing to deliver the go-ahead run in the late innings, setting up a 4-3 loss to the A's."

The Yankees were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position last night.

Do I really have to tell you who had that hit?


I'm also baffled by the obsession with late innings. Use the first two games of the Yankee 2006 season as examples.

The Yankees essentially won game one with a 7-run second inning. I'm quite sure Harper doesn't consider ARod's 1-out bases-loaded homerun to be a "big hit," but this hit essentially won the whole game.

The Yankees essentially lost game two in the first inning. With runners on second and third with no outs, the next three Yankees batters struck out. As every Japanese and Cuban player knows, the Yankees could have scored two runs simply by hitting two ground balls to the second baseman. I'm sure Sheffield and ARod also know this, but Harden just got the better of them this time.

Not to overblow the significance of those two at-bats, but now the Yankees won't win the World Series.