Yankees 8, D-Rays 4

The game reminds me of the 1978 Mayor's Trophy Game, an exhibition between the Yankees and Mets, a game lost by the Mets, a terrible team that had, the year before, traded the greatest player in its history (Tom Seaver) for five sacks of garbage (including crooked-legged Bobby Valentine). The Yanks won, meaninglessly, after Graig Nettles attempted to lose on purpose by throwing a ground ball into the stands. What came out of the game was not the tanking, nor Brian Doyle's heroics in the Yankee win, but Nettles' summing up of the evening: "We might have played well. But the Mets are so bad you never can tell."

Now, of course, the Yankees play the Mets six times a season, for real stakes, and the Mets, having long ago discovered skill (and looking more and more like a potential World Series opponent), are to be properly respected. The memory of Nettles' quote stays, and is now properly applied to the Diamond Backs, who, having lost their best player (Aubrey Huff), now field a glorified AAAA team with a lot of promise and little else.

The Yankee hitting, I can now see, will be the key to its post-season success--that, and Mo. The starting rotation ranges from tolerably competent to superb; the bullpen should get its rest. Gotta keep hitting.