Yankees 5, Red Sox 0

You know, when I earlier mentioned the recent recruiting class of Cano, Melky, Hughes, Joba, and Duncan, I completely forgot Wang. And really. Does an Asian import count as . . . hmm, do we throw in El Duque with Stick Michaels' crowd, Jeter, et al?

Anyway.

One might hope that this game puts Wang into the Cy Young conversation, especially with Beckett losing to the Rocket the previous night.

What I've been meaning to mention is Graig Nettles.

I was thinking about The Chute, a status that confers upon the player a sense of inevitability. In my lifetime, Hack Wilson, Joe Sewell, Phil Rizzuto, Pudge Fisk, and Bill Mazeroski have entered the Hall of Fame for no other reason than they were the most deserving player not in.

What causes someone to vote "No" one year and "Yes" the next about a player whose career numbers haven't budged is a mystery. Odds are, Goose Gossage will get in, just because there won't be a Gwynn or a Ripken hogging all the votes.

Makes no sense.

Which brings me to Graig Nettles.

Graig Nettles is a Hall of Fame player. Yes, yes, a .248 batting average (around what many HOF power hitters reside), but 390 homers. Plus a glove that would make you faint with its artistry.

This is a crazy nook of the Hall of Fame: it doesn't reward duplication. It's like the Oscars, who couldn't possibly nominate both The Age of Innocence and The Remains of the Day for Best Picture the same year.

It was Nettles' bad luck that his career was bookended by the greatest influx of third basemen the game has ever seen. It was as if the baseball gods decreed, "Enough third basemen, but not too many." To wit:

Right before Netlles' career was Eddie Matthews and Kenny Boyer. One Hall of Famer.

At the beginning of Nettles' career (1967), and toward the middle, there was a great number of third basemen: Brooks Robinson, Ron Santo, Sal Bando. That's another Hall of Famer (Robinson), another eventual Hall of Famer (Santo), and the captain of a team that won three straight World Series.

In the heart of Nettles' career, there were (minus the gambling) three Hall-of-Famers--Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Pete Rose--who swept up all the awards. Plus two others--Buddy Bell and Bill Madlock--who were the bedrocks of their teams.

So? Absent time and Pete Rose's problems, six third basemen in the Hall of Fame, those whose career touched Nettles'.

And too many duplicates diminish the whole.

So: Graig Nettles, with 390 homers, six first-place finishes, and a defense separated from a half-dozen Golden Gloves by the sainted Brooks, is not even mentioned. That is all.