Sure, Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod, Bernie and Melky had nice days at the plate this afternoon, but, the story of today was Randy Johnson.

Through eight, the Big Unit was the real deal – allowing only two Han Solos and an infield hit. But, after eight, he was bumping up against 100 pitches.

At that time, the Yankees had a 4-run lead heading into the 9th. This would have been the perfect time for someone like Dotel or Myers to pitch the last frame – where a grand slam would only tie you, at the worst (or best, depending on your position).

But, noooooooooo……..

Joe Torre tries to milk another inning from Johnson and it back-fires. Unit allows a walk and then a homer and now it’s a 2-run contest – and then there’s a need to bring in a sore-armed Mariano Rivera for the save.

Rivera never should have been used in this game – if Torre had gone to another, fresh, pitcher in the 9th. As bad as some of the “B-men” in the pen may be, I’m sure that one of them could have gotten three outs before allowing four runs. Or, at least try and use someone else, who is rested – and then if they allow two, then bring in Rivera.

“Joe Torre” is to “handling pitchers” as “Clark Griswold” is to “family vacations.”

But, really, rather than blame Proctor, or what may be a developing “he said, she said” situation between Torre and Farnsworth, the fact of the matter in this evening’s contest was that the Yankees had just 3 hits and 3 walks, on offense, in this game – and it’s real hard to win a ballgame when you put so few runners on base.

Speaking of Everyday Scottie Proctor, I noticed something this evening that could be a concern for the Yankees.

Proctor had a lot of pine-tar on the bill of his cap this evening – both on the top and the under-side. And, Scott was going to the bill of his cap just about before every pitch.

Now, this is nothing shocking – lots of pitchers use the stuff to get a better grip on their breaking pitches in very humid or cold conditions. I’m sure that Proctor is using it to help get that big twelve-to-six curveball of his to do its thing.

I’m fearful that some smart manager, say, in a post-season game against the Yankees this October, could point to the pine-tar cap and get Proctor ejected from a game – and maybe suspended. It’s happened before – just last year, with Brendan Donnelly.

Hey, if it happens, I warned you.

OK, let’s move to the bright side of things: Jaret Wright got an out in 7th inning! And, the Red Sox (and Curt Schilling!) got beat today.

Add the Yankees win this afternoon to these two items and it’s not such a bad day today, after all, even with this tough loss.

By the way, I suggested the “Worm Killer” handle back on July 17th of this season – and, it seems like Yankees fans on the ‘net are, pardon the pun, diggin’ it. Coooool…..

Seven and two-thirds.
Three hits, two walks.
No runs.
109 pitches – 67 for strikes.
And, 13 groundouts.

Worm Killer’s record is now 16-5 for the season. Since 1973, only four Yankees pitchers have had seasons with 16+ wins and 5 losses or less:

David Wells, 1998 (18-4).
Roger Clemens, 2001 (20-3).
Jimmy Key, 1994 (17-4).
Ron Guidry, 1978 (25-3).

I think that tells you how special Wang has been this season.

The study there was through August 19th. But, if you look at it, in terms of WPA, when the Yankees win, Giambi, A-Rod, and Bernie bat well. But, when the Yankees lose, Giambi and Bernie do very poorly in terms of helping with the bat.

Does this mean that Bernie Williams is the MVP for the Yankees this season?

No, it does not. What I think this all means is that it’s another confirmation of the theory that the Yankees are very capable of beating bad pitching – but, if they face someone who has the stuff to get you out (which is the kind of pitcher that Bernie dies against now) then New York will lose.

The next 9 games will be another test for this theory – since the Yanks will face good pitching for the next six games and then bad pitching for the three after those contests.

While I would love to see the Yankees go 6-3 over their next 9 games, I am also prepared to see them go 3-6 as well.

Boston still has 10 games to play in a row now. Hopefully, the Red Sox will go something like 4-6 and that will help offset what the Yankees really do in their next 9 games.

O.K., back to being serious, tomorrow is the end of the “21 games in 20 days Gauntlet.” Back when this journey started, I wrote:

Personally, I believe, if the Yankees go 13-8 in the next 21 games, that would be amazing. And, it would probably lock up the A.L. East.

Basically, the Yankees need to go, at least, 11-10 over the next three weeks – just to hold their ground.

And, how have the Yankees done, to date?

After this mess today, the Yankees are 10-10.

I guess it’s now up to young Mr. Jeff Karstens to try and get New York to that 11-10 “hold your own” mark.

The Yankees are very lucky that Boston stinks this season.

Lastly, here’s a little fun fact for you in closing. Coming into this game, A-Rod was batting .283 for the season.

But, he’s batting .165 (in 79 ABs) against the Devil Rays and Orioles, combined, this year. If you take out what Alex has done against Tampa and Baltimore this season, then Rodriguez is batting .307 coming into this game – with a slugging average of .565 (according to my rough math) against everyone else.

I wish someone could tell A-Rod that he’s only stunk against the D-Rays and the O’s this season – and that, otherwise, he has nothing to be stressed about now. Maybe that would help him relax?

Because, right now, Alex’s head is more messed up than Vlad Guerrero’s hair on game day. If Rodriguez doesn’t start to chill soon, he’s going to end up acting like Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys.

Taking it a step further, I would not include Jaret Wright on the post-season roster at this point. He just cannot be counted on – as you never know how he will pitch in a given appearance.

As to this game, for a Yankees perspective – let’s just say this: “Every Yankees fan in the world should cross their fingers that the Yankees do not have to face the Angels in the post-season – because the Angels play with a ton of confidence against the Yankees.”

Lastly, according to some “Golden Sombrero” stats that I’ve been able to locate, Alex Rodriguez is the first Yankees player to ever have two 4-strikeout games in the same season. And, only he and Bernie Williams have ever done it twice ever in a Yankees uniform. One more time and A-Rod will be the king.

The Yankees played this game like a team that was hung-over and suffering from jet-lag.

New York’s 3-4-5 hitters went 0-11 with 6 strikeouts in this contest.

Now, the first reaction to this outcome would be to say “They’ve been playing everyday for a while now. And, they’re just coming off the tough Boston series. And, the move to the West Coast always hits on the second or third day. It’s only natural for them to be playing like lead weights now.”

But, on the other hand, let’s not forget that, in the three series before the Red Sox series, the Yankees were playing poorly (against normal expectations). If you look at their last five series, it goes like this for New York:

@ the White Sox – lost 2 of 3
vs. the Angels – split 4 games
vs. the Orioles – lost 2 of 3
@ the Red Sox – swept 5 games
@ the Mariners – lost 2 of 3

As you can see, the only series that the Yankees have won, out of their last five, was the set up at Fenway.

It does make me (and others?) wonder, just a wee bit, now, if the result of the series in Boston was the Yankees being a great team, or, just the Red Sox being a poor team.

Now, it does seem silly to wonder this – even just a wee bit of a wonder – because the Yankees are playing .600-baseball this year, and, only one team has more wins than them in the A.L. right now.

The Yankees are 26 games over .500 at this moment. Is there something inside that number that we should be concerned about?

New York, this season to date, has a 26-10 (.722) record against three teams, combined – the Red Sox, Devil Rays and Rangers. This means that the Yankees are 50-40 (.556) against everyone else.

It should be noted that the Red Sox, Devil Rays and Rangers are 10th-11th-and-12th in the A.L. right now in team ERA. (Only the Orioles and Royals are worse than these three teams.)

Does this mean that the Yankees can only man-handle teams with very weak pitching, and, against other teams, New York is more like a barely-90-win team (in terms of pace) than a team that would win close to 100 games?

I’m starting to think that the answer here is “yes.”

This is not to say that the Yankees will not make the post-season – because they will, without question.

But, this does make me strongly consider the notion that, once the Yankees are in the post-season and start facing teams with better than average pitching, each series is going to be a challenge for them – and, I expect them to have to struggle and push the series to the max (in terms of the number of games) in order to win (and advance). Also, they’re going to need some breaks in the post-season to succeed.

Yes, I’m talking “Jeffrey Maier HR” and “Tim Welke Block” type breaks here. A “Mark Wohler’s Slider” would be helpful as well.

These things can happen – they did in 1996 – but, without them, when the Yankees hit the playoffs this year, it’s going to be just like 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 all over again (when they reach the teams with pitchers who can stop them).

Watching the Yankees man-handle “King Felix” last night (who, this time last year, was the best pitching prospect in baseball) and how the Yankees battered the Red Sox pitching prospect jewels Craig Hansen and Jon Lester this past series in Boston, is actually a good primer for Yankees fans to (again) level set their expectations on Philip Hughes.

It’s one thing to star in the minors and it’s another thing to get that to translate into big league success.

And, it also tells you how special it is to see Wang doing what he’s doing now – just in his second year.

If you had to lay blame on this one, I would not assign it to Villone. I give it to Torre. Close game, 7th inning, and you leave Jaret Wright in the game as a relief pitcher? Wright allows too many base runners to be trusted in a spot like that one – and, of course, he loaded the bases.

Not a bad first start for Jeff Karstens. I think he showed the Yankees something in this game. Sure, he might look a little like Steve-O, but, the kid did not melt out there. I’m looking forward to his next start.

Hey, look at the bright side – the Red Sox lost too. Yankees are still up by 7 in the loss column and there’s now just 38 games left to the season.

New York can just shake this game off and come back in the next one.

If there’s any concern from this game – let it be about Giambi’s hammy. The Yankees need him to be fine – if he’s not, that’s a hole in the line-up.

Los calcetines rojos son muertos!

It’s over in the A.L. East. What a story!

Forty-two games ago, on July 4th, the standings in the A.L. East were as follows:

And, now, today, with the Yankees taking 5 games in a row from the Red Sox, in dramatic fashion, at Fenway Park, the Yankees presently lead the Boston Red Sox by 6 1/2 games in the standings.

This is a swing of 10.5 games in the standings over a period of seven weeks.

From here, if the Yankees just play .500 baseball over the rest of the season, the Red Sox need to play nearly .700 baseball (.698 actually) to beat New York.

It’s over Boston. The New York Yankees will win the A.L. East for the 9th year in a row – thanks to the results of this 5-game series.

If the Yankees go on to win the World Series, I want to see a box-set of DVDs released covering the Yankees run this year – and every one of these 5 games should be included in the set, in their entirety.

What a great plane ride the Yankees are going to have – as they head out to Seattle. And, they earned it.