As the Mets slide to .500, we're forced to avert our gaze away from the Mets and towards the Yankees.

Yankees are good, Rangers are good, Tigers are good. Though these observations may seem obvious, Mike Lupica explores the situation more deeply and concludes the Yankees might not win the World Series:

"But even the way the Yankees have scored and even the way they have hit home runs so far, you wonder if they really are thinking about adding another outfielder, if they do want some version — maybe even a better one — than Brett Gardner, gone for the year, but a guy who could get on base and scratch out the kind of run that doesn’t require 'high, far, gone.'

A Shane Victorino, you hear that name a lot these days. Or maybe a grinder like David DeJesus of Cubs."

David Dejesus of Cubs hits throws fields ball. Shane Victorino name hear lot.

For what it's worth, those guys are not better than Brett Gardner.


"Or maybe, in this season when they keep hitting balls out of sight, wouldn’t it be ironic that what they really do need is a guy who just sprays the ball around?"

Right. The Sac Fly from the Imaginary Player.

Nick Swisher is going to strike out with two on and two out in the late innings of a tight playoff game. Shane Victorino totally would have hit a sac fly.


Speaking of Imaginary Land:

"You can talk about 20 different things that have happened to the Red Sox this year, but if Josh Beckett and Jon Lester don’t pitch like scrubs, the Red Sox are fighting it out with the Yankees for the division."

Get Pulitzer on the telephone.

If I understand correctly, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica has finally cracked the code.

If you take a bad baseball team with bad players, but exchange those bad players for good players, the end result is a better baseball team.

Eureka!