Boston at New York, ppd. (rain)

As we continue to consider Melky's catch.

In today's Daily News, Mike Lupica writes what I've been thinking: this 2006 Yankee team reminds me of a similar team, 10 years ago, the 1996 team that returned the Yankees to glory. This was not a team of stars, it was an admixture of nutured youngsters (Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera), second-chance journeymen (Jimmy Key, Charlie Hayes, Cecil Fielder, David Weathers) and nasty veterans (David Cone, Tim Raines, John Wetteland, Paul O'Neill, Darryl Strawberry, Joe Girardi). There was one player on the team already assured of a Hall of Fame plaque, Wade Boggs, and subsequent years have added only Jeter and Mo to the for-sure list. On that team, maybe only O'Neill, Wetteland and Tino Martinez were at the peaks of their respective careers. And yet they got it done.

This team? Four first-ballot certainties (Jeter, A-Rod, Unit, Mo), and three on the HOF watch list (Moose, Sheff, Giambi). Some nasty veterans: Kardiac Kyle, Ron Villone, Jorge Posada, Miguel Cairo. And finally, the kids: Melky, Cano, Andy Phillips, Wang, Proctor. Will they match up to their predecessors? Hard to say.

But--and I guess this is my point--the Yankees are fun to watch again. Melky's leap into Monument Park could stand for the whole season.