I guess I hadn’t thought of that. I guess that makes sense since we’ll need bullpen help tomorrow (possibly) and Tuesday (almost definitely). Good call, Jeremy.

Great game today, and a great start. Wright is pitching to break up the 4 and 5 starters to save the bullpen since Wright doesn’t go deep, and the 5 starter is a mystery.

Moving onto today’s game thread:

Buehrle may have made the All-Star team over Moose but it’s pretty clear who’s having the better season so far. Tomorrow is house-money day as the guy over on the other Yankee blog always says. It’ll be Wright vs. Freddy Garcia going for the sweep. I’m not sure why Wang isn’t getting the start tomorrow but right now I’m not in a complaining mood. I’m just happy that we’ve started the 2nd half out on the right foot and inched our way closer in the division and wild card races…

I wish the outfielders would move in when Rivera pitches to have a better chance at the bloops that often seem to drop in. Hitters don’t seem to hit many shots off him and the dunks are so exasperating.

A little off-topic, but…

Everyone talks about the Home Run Derby fouling up your swing. What about relievers appearing in the All-Star Game?

Hoffman and Turnbow blew saves. Mo gave up two runs in the ninth (though two of the three hits were bloops). We’ll have to wait and see what Ryan and Gordon do.

I don’t see the Yankees making that Pirates deal. I think that we have to take into account that the Yankees should be linked with any OF out there now. By making it look like they have a lot of potential deals, they have leverage against the team with whom they really want to deal.

All I know is that I got home from dinner and watched Mo nail it down with the bases loaded, nobody out, and the defending champs going for the kill. It was a bit nerve-wracking to watch but we came through it on a night when Melky got the big hit and Beckett, yet again, got bombed. We gained ground on Boston in the division and the White Sox in the Wild Card and Farnsworth even pitched an effective inning in relief between RJ and Mo. That’s the way to do it!

As for this Melky trade talk, I really hope Cashman keeps it in his pants and doesn’t do something stupid. Whether or not scouts are right about Milk-man only being a fourth outfielder type, I don’t really care. I’ll take him on my team over Jeromy Burnitz. Is Burnitz the guy that stank up the joint in New York not once but twice already? Do we really want to see him in New York again?

The Daily News said this was a deal proposed by the Pirates last week that the Yankees refused.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/435277p-366774c.html

***A little over a week ago, the Pirates approached the Yankees with a deal that would have sent Melky Cabrera and a prospect to Pittsburgh in exchange for Jeromy Burnitz, Craig Wilson and Salomon Torres, according to sources.

The Yankees flatly rejected the proposal, mostly because they believe in Cabrera. Last night, the rookie outfielder showed why.***

I read the article you linked to.

1. I’m not sure why you label it as news but, whatever.

2. The article reads as “discussed”. It doesn’t say if an offer was made by either side. Could be kind of like how I “discussed” with my granddaughter it’s time for her to take a nap.

3. The article DOES say that Cashman would be very comfortable turning down everything in front of him so far.

I don’t know the author (at least it’s not George King) so I don’t know his track record. Nor is there any time specified when these discussions took place.

If the writer is accurate there’s been a discussion (though maybe not an offer by one team or the other), we don’t know when these discussions took place, and the only attributed quote is that Cashman doesn’t have an offer of anything he’s comfortable with accepting at the deadline let alone two weeks before.

If Cashman made the offer to the Bucs then maybe there’s more for the Cabrera fans to be concerned about.

This is the time of year people throw lots of things against the wall to see what sticks.

ESPN had a round-table discussion the other night and all the ‘experts’ picked the Yankees as odd-team out for the 2006 post season. So yes, they are predicting the Yankees demise.