Quinientos/Cien

For any of those who don't know Spanish, the title is the two numbers of the day for the Yankees: 500 (or should I say, .500) and 100. After Chien Ming Wang and the Yanks beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Battle of the Wormkillers at Yankee Stadium tonight, the Yanks' record stands at 31-31, a .500 record. Wang gave the Yanks seven good innings, only allowing a solo homer to Chad Tracy. All the offense Wang needed came in the first inning, when Bobby Abreu's homer brought in Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter. Hideki Matsui scored an insurance run in the seventh to make the 4-1 final score.

Now, there are those out there that would mock mighty Yankee fans for celebrating reaching .500. But everyone has to start somewhere, and if we have to start in mid-June, that's what it has to be.

That's where our other number comes in. The Yankees have 100 games left in the 2007 season, which is a fair number for a team that is, effectively, starting from zero. A 60-40 record from here would mean 91 wins--good, but likely no cigar for the division or the Wild Card slot. Still, it doesn't seem hopeless. Now, that doesn't mean that it's likely--while the Yanks were reaching .500, Tim Wakefield was beating the Rockies to keep the Red Sox 9.5 games ahead of the Bombers in the AL East; Detroit's Justin Verlander was no-hitting the Brewers to keep the Wild Card lead (which they share with the Indians, along with 1st place in the AL Central) at 5.5 over the Yankees, with three teams in between the Bombers and the leaders. That's a lot of work to do.

Tomorrow's the first day of the rest of the season.