Minnesota Twins 8, Boston Red Sox 2

. . . and so, the New York Yankees, your 2006 AL Eastern Division Champions.

ESPN just showed the Yankee clubhouse. It was too bad they missed the running-on-to-the-field pigpile, but the moment seemed joyous enough. One wonders how Melky is taking it all in.

Time to move away from game-by-game summaries and tackle how the next week-and-a-half shapes up. Right now, one's concern is the Chicago White Sox, who might have won enough games to stretch the race (and thus make the race a three-way struggle) and exhaust the Central Division enough for the Yankees, who are due to play one of the three Central Division teams.

But Chicago might bomb. Detroit and Minnesota might hang back, let who wins win and then shout, "We don't have to play the Yankees! We don't have to play the Yankees!"

Meanwhile, what is up with the A-Rod article in SI?

Some questions:

Q: Did Giambi have Torre's blessing to speak as he did?

A: Probably not. Giambi was always a bit of a loose cannon in Oakland; one wonders if he actualy considered his words as he said them.

Q: Does the messenger destroy the message?

A: Close call. Jim Rome played the SI story hard today--it occupied his first two segments, an event usually reserved for Super Bowl and World Series Champions--and the phone lines went hot with people screaming, "Anyone but Giambi! Anyone but Giambi!" To be specific, Giambi called A-Rod out for his five weak-ass singles during Boston Massacre II. To which the response is begged: Christ, let A-Rod jam horse steroids up his ass and let Giambi rely on spinach and clean living, and let's see who hits 900 home runs and who is looking for a job.

Ultimately, the answer to the above question is No; this clearly is the worst season of A-Rod's career, he hasd become harder and harder to defend, and quite simply, he has been at sea out there. Criticizing Giambi is simply an exercise in the tu quoque fallacy: you did bad things too, therefore your word has no merit.

Q: How does this affect the team?

A: Ah, the big question. And the answer is, Nobody knows. I was weaned into baseball on the Bronx Zoo Yankees, that 1970s team with the various cliques: the red-asses (led by Graig Nettles, Thurman Munson, and Sparky Lyle), the guys who just wanted to play ball (Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Chris Chambliss, Catfish Hunter), the horse players (Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers), and the tortured souls (Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson). As Tom Boswell wrote, the team was as charming as a bucket of snakes, but when they took the field, look out.

Is this team of the same ilk? The joy in the champagne celebration assuredly did not seem faked. The mix of youth (Melky, Cano), grateful veterans (Fasano, Abreu, Lidle, Wilson), hungry veterans (A-Rod, Giambi, Moose, Unit, Wright, Sheff, Godzilla), needing-a-rest relievers (Proctor, Kardiac Kyle, Villone, Myers), and been-there superstars (Jeter, Mo, Jorge, Bernie) actually bodes well. Send out the Guiels of the world for a week and a half, set up your rotation, and kick ass.