Yankees.5.6

I don’t want these Y.x.6 posts to be just straight-up jeter lovefests, but given he’s still batting over .350 and he just got his 2000th hit, you’ve got to give him special props. He has a good chance to become the all-time Yankees hit leader: The other players to get 2,000 hits for the Yankees are Lou Gehrig (2,721), Babe Ruth (2,518), Mickey Mantle (2,415), Bernie Williams (2,255 entering Friday night), Joe DiMaggio (2,214), Don Mattingly (2,153) and Yogi Berra (2,148). You’d have to say that he has a legit shot at 3000 hits, which has only been done by 25 players in baseball history. Clear a spot in that Monument Park for #2.

As for the rest of the team, we’re definitely in one of those put your head down and hold your breath stages of the season. A couple of freak accidents knocked out two of our biggest sluggers (Sheff’s collision - though Sheff’s back at DH, Matsui’s nasty wrist break), a few of nagging injuries to three others (Damon, Giambi, Posada), a couple injuries to pitchers (Chacon, RJ’s shoulder?), Dotel still on the DL, and of course, Glass Carl Pavano. I don’t even want to get started on Glass Carl. Obviously, Matsui is the huge injury here. Short term injuries to the other players are not that unusual in the major leagues, but it’s a bitch to have them all happening at once. Even that detestable credibility void, Curt Schilling, noted how it wasn’t like facing the real Yankees last week.

But despite all these injuries, we took 2 out of 3 in Fenway, are only 2 games out of first in the brutal AL East, and have the 4th best record in the AL. Jaret Wright has been a pleasant surprise, Wang has been good recently with the exception of his drubbing in Boston, and the Moose’s era is still under 2.75. So, I’m optimistic.