Yankees 9, Blue Jays 6

I may never watch a game again. Gave up when it was 5-1 or thereabout, switched over to about four football games I was watching. Call it a semi-miracle. Eight runs in the last three innings. Still tied. Bring on the Red Sox.

Blue Jays 3, Yankees 2

What can you say? Another in a long line of games they shyould have won. Tied.

Blue Jays 6, Yankees 0

What is up with Nova? One game.

Yankees 8, Twins 2

These ones always happen when I'm at work. 1 1/2 games.

Twins 5, Yankees 4

Hughes!

Yankees 6, Twins 3

Ah, the Twins. Pettitte takes the win, O's split, 1 1/2 games, two in the loss column.

A's 5, Yankees 4

One miracle comeback to a customer. Impossibly, the O's lose as well. One game.

Yankees 10, A's 9 (14)

So . . . tell you who was most responsible for today's victory. Me. When the A's went up 9-5 in the thirteenth, I turned off the TV and thought to myself, Okay. Now if they come back and win, I can hate myself for not having seen it. Sort of the reverse of tempting karma. Whaddya know, it worked. Did stay long enough to see Ibanez. If I had a ten year-old son, and brought hiom to the game, I'd point out that bullet-headed redass and say, "See that guy? That's how you need to play." I remember thinking CC, Swisher and Tex did the necessary work of making the Yankees meaner, giving them that chippy edge they needed and that Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, Pettitte, Granderson and Mo just couldn't supply. Ibanez adds to the effort. Flipped back and forth long enough to hear Remy and the NESN guys describe another pathetic Red Sox collapse. I forget who said it: last year, when the O's could spoil the Red Sox' season, they played like they, not Boston, were in the Wild Card hunt. And when Robert Mandino's blooper dropped in front of Carl Crawford, Baltimore celebrated as if they'd just won Game 7 of the World Series. So you think, given the opportunity for revenge, Boston would . . . . nah, never mind. One game up. And around the far turn . . .

Yankees 2, A's 1 (10)

Soriano, you kill me--another ninth-inning home run to blow a save. Russell Martin, you kill me. Walk-off in the tenth. Most important: CC was all that. O's win in Boston. One game up.

Yankees 10, Blue Jays 7

Like those kids in action-adventure movies: "Crude but effective." Ah that Swisher--a grand slam. Night off for Baltimore, the cushion goes back to 1.

Yanks 4, 2; Blue Jays 2, 1

As the newspapers used to have it. Pettitte's comeback, Phelps's solid pitching in Game 2, Soriano's seven-out pair o' saves . . . But. What made this the most important day of the season for the Yankees (at least until tomorrow) was Ichiro's 7-for-8, his four steals, and his Game 2-winning RBI, whence he dumped the ball over third and into left with all the aplomb of Jimmy Connors, circa 1974, cutting loose with a two-handed backhand lob against John Newcombe. But those Orioles. Missed much of my bedtime to see the Orioles finish off a twenty-nine inning pair of wins . . . The O's season is a statistical anomaly for the books. 28-7 in one-run games, 15-2 (including 15 straight) in extra-inning games, 7-0 in extra-inning walk-offs. Never happen again.

A San Francisco Interlude

Don't wanna talk about it.

Yankees 5, Red Sox 4

It would have been a nicer win (Granderson heating up; two home runs!, Phelps does the job!, Soriano gives up a homer, but shuts the door without his good stuff!), if it wasn't so necessary. O's win. Tie. Rays three back.

Boston 4, Yankees 3

The game was over when Nunez was thrown out stealing, and everyone knew it. Orioles win. Tie.

Yankees 13, Orioles 3

Another day on the elevator. Granderson's five RBI; Garcia good enough. One game up. There were a half-dozen reasons they should have won on Saturday, in which case the lead would be three with three weeks to go. Oh well.

Orioles 5, Yankees 4

Tex was safe, of course, but that hardly explains CC's problems--plus it renders all conversations about the post-seaon moot, since without a shut-down CC the post-season is meaningless. Tied.

Yankees 8, Orioles 5

The third time we've seen the biggest win of the season in--what--a week and a half? Five runs early and I thought, "Great. Now when Hughes melts down . . ." They hang on. One game up. Switched over just in time to watch the Rangers melt down against the Rays. Watch the Rays.

Orioles 10, Yankees 6

This was one loss that felt like three: 1) The early, comfy lead: 4-0, which makes the game feel like a boat race. 2) the middle, do-nothing lead, 6-1, which can drive you batty. 3) Stomach punch. After a 6-6 tie. And speaking of tied . . .

Yankees 6, Rays 4

the most important win of the season, part II? O's lose. One game up.

Rays 5, Yankees 2

Freddy Garcia, take a bow. Tied.

Rays 4, Yankees 3

CC to the rescue, right? One game.

Orioles 8, Yankees 3

Yes, a meltdown by The Exasperating Phil Hughes. Note, however: from the opening day lineup that Joe Girardi and Brian cashman envisioned this past January, how many of the starting eight were on the field, and at their primary positions? One. Catcher Russ Martin. And he's the guy batting .197.

Yankees 4, Orioles 3

If the Yankees manage to hold off Baltimore and Tampa, and not subject CC or Kuroda to a one-game playoff with another Wild Card team, this will almost certainly be the game everyone points to. For now, call it the most important game to this point. The fulcrum. How important? By about the bottom of the sixth inning, you could hear the dread in Michael Kay's voice. He was watching a season slip away, one at-bat at a time. (Ken Singleton, an Oriole at heartm was, if not exactly enjoying himself, at least unperturbed.) The game was the most important, the seventh inning the season's most important inning. And Swisher's at-bat, concluding with the laser that Hardy 1) could not handle, 2) picked up, 3) dropped, 4) picked up, 5) dropped, 6) then finally picked up--"Put it in your pocket, son,"--was the season's most important at-bat. The only distressed Yankee fan was my dog, who ran under the coffee table to get away from my screams of "HE'S SAFE! HE'S SAFE! HE'S SAFE!", when Nunez scored.