Please Observe the No-Gloating Sign

I haven't written in since Monday's Week In Review. A couple of reasons: first, I wrote up Sunday's Yanks/Red Sox game for Baseball Prospectus, which came in at a hefty 3,500 words; second, the team's been on the West Coast. West Coast games almost feel like they shouldn't count--the weeknight matchups start just as people in New York are starting to get ready for sleep; it puts you in the position of staying up and regretting it the next morning, or petering out after a few innings, then waking up the next morning with no idea how things turned out.

Sometimes, the late starts mean you forget about baseball altogether. Since the West Coast scores don't make the early edition of the paper, you can go all the way until powering up the computer at work before seeing that, say, the Angels have beaten the Yanks, 6-5. And just like that, the Yanks have dropped three out of the four games since their five-game sweep of Boston.

This is why we have a no-gloating rule. The what, you say? The no-gloating rule. It's simple--you don't count a game as being won in the sixth inning, you don't call a no-hitter in the eighth inning, and you don't, under any circumstances, count a division rival as dead in August, when they're only single digits out of first place, and still pretty close for the Wild Card...

Locally, some people, have forgotten the no-gloating rule. They like big declarations, and fail to remember the big lesson that Yogi taught us: something about it not being over until it's over.

The Bostons haven't capitalized on the Yanks' stumble, taking two out of three from the Angels, but dropping their first of three against the Mariners. Still, if the Yanks don't get over the fatigue of playing nineteen games in eighteen days, they stand the very real risk of giving back as many as three of the games they gained on the Sox last weekend.

A few notes:

• There must be something in the water in Toronto, that drives the managers mad. A few years ago, Tim Johnson got the crazy idea that what would motivate the team was to fabricate stories about his time non-existent time in Viet Nam. Now, John Gibbons gets into a fight with former Yankee Ted Lilly, only a few weeks after challenging Shea Hillebrand to some good old fisticuffs. You have to be an insane genius-type manager to brawl with your players and think you'll continue to be employed. Gibbons is no Billy Martin.

• Carl Pavano got through six innings for the Clippers. Supposedly he's actually throwing 90 or 91 MPH. Be still my beating heart...

• I'm usually all for anything that puts it to Boston fans, but this article is just plain stupid (link courtesy of Baseball Primer). What's Ryan doing writing about baseball anyway? Shouldn't he be busy trying to smack Jason Kidd's wife, instead? Isn't that what being a fan is all about, for him?