WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS

Computer problems have kept me from posting anything for a couple of days. Thanks to our computer-genius son, I'm ready to roll again. And Matt gave us a great discount - but only because his mother hugged him.

YANKS SQUEAK ONE OUT
The whole game came down to one position - shortstop. The Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter, calmly waited out a walk after being down in the count 0-2 with the bases loaded and two outs, driving in the tying run. When Nick Swisher then hit a hard one-hopper right at the Oriole shortstop, he didn't make the play and that, as they say, was that.

One scary moment occurred when Granderson had to leave the game with a tight hamstring. that would leave the Yankees without their nos 3-4-5 hitters, but the injury is reportedly not severe and Grandy may be in the lineup on Sunday.

Eduardo Nunez, just returned from the minors today, got a big hit, bringing the Yanks to within one run. The kid could always hit, his problems are in the field. After the game, Nunez was awarded the game ball - which he promptly dropped.

We all know that Joe Girardi likes to "mix-n-match" his pitchers in the late innings, but with the increase in the rosters, he's now doing it with the fielders. consider these moves:
Nick Swisher - 1B to RF back to 1B
Andruw Jones - RF to LF  back to RF
Ichiro Suzuki - LF to CF
Steve Pearce appeared briefly at 1B
Somebody else may have been in the game, but nobody was too sure. The home plate umpire was seen ripping up his lineup card in disgust in the eighth inning. 

AROUND THE HORN
 The Cardinals beat the Washington Nats 10-9, in game that had 19 runs, 24 hits and 35 players, 11 of whom were pitchers. Joe Girardi would have been proud.

Friday night, the Oakland A's clobbered the Red Sox 20-2. The Sox used 7 pitchers and the A's scored against 6 of them.

Tampa Bay beat Toronto 5-4 today, when BJ Upton threw out a runner with two outs in the ninth that would have tied the score. In the highlights of the game, ESPN showed the three home runs that were hit but never even mentioned the game-saving throw. Whoever edits these highlights has no clue.

Can't-Be Dept.: Felix Hernandez lost 5-2 today. That's his first loss in over 11 weeks.
Down in Houston,  the Astro's defeated Cincinnati 2-1.  It was their 41st victory against 92 losses).
The Dodgers have lost 7 of their last 10 games. I guess they're still missing a few pieces. I repeat, Alex Rodriguez is available.

WE'RE SO PROUD
The USA Women's Olympic soccer team played an exhibition game against the Costa Rican  National team last night. The USA team featured home-grown star, Abby Wambach, and she didn't disappoint. Abby scored 2 goals in an 8-0 drubbing of the visiting team.  "There's nothing quite like the scream, the pitch and the volume that goes on in your hometown when you get one in the net," she said. The sellout crowd of over 13,000 agreed. 

Correction: I mentioned on Thursday that Melky Cabrera was ineligible to win the batting title, I'd forgotten an addendum to the rule whereby they can arbitrarily add the number of at-bats to make him eligible. This would lower Melky's average from .3464 to .3457. Thanks to Dwight Perry for reminding me.

THEY SAID IT
" Andy Roddick, 30, surprised everyone by announcing he will retire after the U.S. Open. This means spending more time with Brooklyn Decker. What took him so long?"  -- RJ Currie
"Ex-Notre Dame football player Allen Pinkett said the team needs a few more "criminals" on the roster:  I'm guessing Pinkett wants to change the name of 'Touchdown Jesus' to 'Hands Up, Jesus.'"  -- Mike Bianchi
"Those of you had R.A. Dickey, Johnny Cueto and Gio Gonzalez being tied for the major-league lead in pitching wins entering the season's final month, please step forward and claim your prize."  -- Dwight Perry
" 84 year-old Vin Scully, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past 63 years, has signed up for 2013. “That said, the Dodgers have listed him as day-to-day.”  -- TC Chong
"Not saying that #21 Stanford looked underwhelming in beating San Jose State 20-17.  But the chair looked better against Clint Eastwood."  -- Janice Hough
"It's been called the biggest baseball trade since Babe Ruth went to the Yankees. The surprise is that the Dodgers didn't get the Bambino in the deal. Sure, he's been dead for 64 years. As far as we can tell, so has Carl Crawford. And the Dodgers will pay him $102.5 million for imitating a corpse."  -- David Whitley, FanHouse.com
"We're hours away from the first Husker football game of 2012. Look for some changes this year, the biggest being that due to severe Lincoln, NE, water restrictions, the traditional postgame shower will be replaced by a sponge bath."  -- Brad Dickson
"I read an article about a man in Kansas whose glass eye bears the logo of the Kansas City Chiefs. The article goes on to describe him as a devout Chiefs fan. You know, when I read the words “glass eye" and "Chiefs logo,” I sort of guessed that."  -- Brad Dickson

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