THEY BEAT HALLADAY AGAIN

***THE YANKS WIN***
That's twice they have beaten one of baseball's best pitchers. Actually, Since Doc had a minor injury about a month ago, he hasn't been pitching with the usual Halladay quality: very good but not outstanding. Johnny Damon used to have a reputation for being a very good fielder (with a lousy arm), but the the last few years, he's been very scary out there...and getting worse.
The Yanks are now 4-4 on the road trip. A 5-4 record would be great; that's a .555 percentage. Do that and play .600 ball at home (they're currently .673) and you have 93 wins.

I have never seen a catchers defensive skills erode as fast as Posada's. The Yanks better plan on him as next year's permanent DH.

***PUJOLS IS JUST FRIGHTENING***
You may have heard that in 10 at bats with the bases loaded this season, he has 7 hits and 1 walk with 5 homers and 24 RBI's. If teams had just walked him every time, they could have saved themselves 14 runs. Can you believe that?

***WHERE IS SCOTT BORAS WHEN YOU NEED HIM?***
From Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle: "The A's drafted Rickey Henderson and offered him $10,000 to sign. Rickey demanded $100,000. The two sides compromised at $10,000."

***LEFTCOASTSPORTSBABE.COM***
"North Korea has pardoned the two U.S. journalists. Proving once again, there is no one better than Bill Clinton if the objective is going after two women.
-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have been involved in the decision to send her husband to North Korea. Can you imagine that conversation. “So let me get this straight, you want me to go over there and see if I can pick up two girls?”

***MELKY HITS FOR THE CYCLE***
Which ruins one of Michael Kay's favorite trivia question: Who was the last Yankee to hit for the cycle? Yeah, Tony Fernandez, we know. But...what Yankee hit for the cycle TWICE in his career?

Sergio Mitre goes tonight. Let's everyone light a candle.