White Sox 14, Yankees 7

Shot of the night: 10-6 Sox, the camera finds CC moping in the dugout. Lou Piniella: "He's sittin' there thinkin', Man, what I could do with six runs scored for me." Michael Kay: "Yeah, and tonight would be his start, right?" Thanks, guys.

White Sox 4, Yankees 3

And so the dark weeks commence.

Yankees 6, Indians 4

The game was a breeze, except for some thrills and chills in the ninth, so consider: 1. Time may tell if today was the day things went south for the Orioles. Entering today, not only did all five AL East teams have winning records, they were all, the in the aggregate, on the plus side in runs scored/runs against. Today, the Orioles fell back to zero--even Steven. Not a good harbinger. 2. Phil Hughes--ibid. 3. What the Indian anouncers on MLB danced around early on was this: Cleveland is ready to fall over a cliff. 4. Four games to the good, with--as always--Boston lurking somewhere back there. Youklis gone, the Sox can now rotate back to Gonzalez at first, Middlebury at third, Papi at DH.

Yankees 7, Indians 1

Cano! Seventeen homers. And is Kuroda becoming a Torrez-like innings-eater?

Yankees 6, Mets 5

Another beaut--just sorry CC wasn't dominant

Yankees 4, Mets 3

What a box score: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E NYY 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 5 2 NYM 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 7 0 W: C. Rapada (2-0) L: J. Rauch (3-7) S: R. Soriano (14) The sort of game that sets the tone for a season.

Three losses in a row!

Picked the wrong time to come back.

Ten wins in a row!

Picked the wrong time to go out of town.

Yankees 9, Mets 1

Wonderful strategy, that: keeping Johan Santana out two extra days to save him for the Yankees. Throw out CC's mystifying start against the Rays, and what we've seen has been the best baseball the Yankees have played all season the past week or so. Cano: two home runs, and--as Ron Darling said--he still hasn't really started. Jeter, playing like it's 1999. Martin, heating up at least. Swisher, playing well and annoying the hell out of the opposition (after Jones's home run last night, when Swish raised his arms and ran the length of the dugout, the Mets' play-by-play man harrumphed, "Well, he does love to celebrate.") Tex and Granderson--rounding into form and giving you a Gold-Glove performance in the field every night. A-Rod at least is fielding well. In place of Gardner, it is clear that Girardi appears satisfied with a bucket brigade of left fielders: Ibanez, Wise, Nix and perhaps even Jones, a little like the Yankees of '99 with Polonia, et al. Let is hope Kuroda isn't hurt.

Rays 7, Yankees 3

Gotta beat those Rays, CC. A sweep would have been nice.

Yankees 4, Rays 1

Nova's lone tonight (8+, 4 hits, one run) did not do him justice, where in economy and faith in his fastball he resembled a youngish Roy Oswalt. The Yankees may have a rotation after all. Five solid starts in a row, for a tidy 4-1 record, and CC going tomorrow. 31-24, a half-game back.

Yankees 7, Rays 0

A lovely win--will CC, Hughes, Pettitte, 2010 Redux? Do we dare to hope? It was good for Martin. He'll have to hit. 30-24.

Yankees 5, Tigers 1

All together now: Have we now seen the real Phil Hughes? 29-24.

Tigers 4, Yankees 3

Glad I missed it.

Yankees 9, Tigers 4

Except for Granderson's grand slam and Robbie Cano's nifty stab up the middle to start a rally-killing double play, this wasn't a great win--just a necessary one, with The Beast, Verlander, awaiting Sunday afternoon. 28-23, and The Five remain bunched, never more--never possibly more--than four games apart.