Yankees 7, A's 5

It sure wasn't pretty . . .

Not when the double-play grounder glanced off the mound and eluded Cano in the first . . .

Not when Mitre messed up a sure double-play grounder, which (ahem) echoed another easy double play ball oh, some eight years ago . . .

When Cano, after clearing the bases with a three-run triple, overslid third base by so much he finally ground to a halt, flat on his back, in the coach's box . . .

Hughes offered up some uncommon thrills and chills in the eighth, before Rivera trotted out to restore order . . .

And we ended the day told that Anaheim had leap-frogged the Dodgers and joined Philly as the front-runners in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes . . .

. . . because oh, boy, if A) Anaheim lands Halladay and B) these Yanks don't win their division, New York can look forward to two games (one and five in the ALDS) against the Yankee-Killer of this generation pitching for the Yankee Killers of this decade--all for the privilege, probably, of playing the Yankee Killers of this season, potentially four times at Fenway.

That is, if both the Rays and Sox don't both race past them . . .

In the ten really good games past the All-Star game, the Yankees did precisely what they needed, maybe one win more than necessary, against such dreadful competition. 8-2 we would have taken, 7-3 would have been barely tolerable. 9-1 helps, but here come the Rays.