A deep breath

I mean, thank God the Yankees won on Sunday; otherwise Mike Lupica would be in full meltcwn mode about how the Yankees were "one Luis Castillo pop-up away from losing seven games in a row to their most hated rivals."

Lupica probably did write that. Until Sunday afternoon.

People need to calm down. The Yankees historically have always lost to the Sawx in May and June. Back in the days of NBC's Game of the Week, Yankee-Red Sox games were an event in my house: Ball Park Franks my father would cook on the grill, potato chips, TV trays and, in May and June, gloom. It was during one of the Games of the Week that Billy Martin attempted to start a fistfight with Reggie Jackson; only the intervention of two former catchers--Yogi Berra, and, more so, and to his everlasting credit, Elston Howard--kept the situation from becoming worse.

First, the Wild Card is coming from the East. That is a given. So after a terrible series against the Red Sox, the Yankees are in prime position.

Second, the free-agent signings are looking better every day. Everyone lambasts the Yankees for their spending. No one focuses on the fact that when they go shopping, then Yankees go to Tiffany's. Three of the first four players they ever signed (Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Rich Gossage) are in the Hall of Fame. Now we have Tex, who we love more every day; and CC, who Girardi should have taken out after seven innings, and AJ, who pitched those shutout innings against a Mets team that does know how to hit.

Okay. Go get 'em.