Yankees 4, Rays 0

Not a great game, just an immensely satisfying one. Nice, going back to last night, to see the Yankees remembered to hit homers; it suddenly appears that worrying about an over-reliance on the home run is a luxury the Yankees suddenly don't have, not with not a single regular payer hitting .300, and with their team's "batting champion" just past the half-mile pole (A-Rod, at .295) on the shelf until this time in August.

So, the spirit of Earl Weaver lives, with Tex, Granderson, Swisher, Martin, Posada and Cano suddenly looking like a whole lot of Lowenstein, Crowley, Ayala, Roenicke, Singleton, Ripken and Murray--only with less versatility and more speed.

And where would they be right now, had not Colon and Garcia dropped out of the sky? Last November first, the 2011 Yankee rotation had every indication of looking like this:

CC Sabathia
Cliff Lee
AJ Burnett
Andy Pettitte
Phil Hughes

Instead, in the aggregate, what they have had is:

Sabathia
Burnett
Bartolo Colon
Freddy Garcia
Ivan Nova

If Colon and Garcia had flamed out in Tampa--and why not?--what we would have is . . .

Sabathia
Burnett
Nova
Boone Logan
Hughes, coming off the long-term DL

With Nova hurt at the moment, and so many team in contention that there are two buyers for every seller (Brett Myers no longer looks like the answer for anyone)--what would Brian Cashman be doing? Phoning a certain lefthander down in Deer Park, Texas, and offering him a month to get in shape?

Scary stuff.