Yankees 2, White Sox 1

A good way to finisha road trip, some ups and some downs:

1. The kid Nova--can we think he may be the real thing, now with two starts that should have been two wins?

2. Nice effort by essentially half the JV on the field. Nova and Nunez were in for injured veterans. Cervelli caught for what I assume was a scheduled Posada rest. Thames was in for Swisher, and Swisher is essentially Behind Tex and Puma) the third-string (read emergency) first baseman.

3. Jeter is officially mired in The Worst Season of His Career, and at contract time no less. That will be one interesting negotiation.

4. What Kat and Singleton said about Joba is true: not only was he partying like it was 2007, he seemed possessed of his old confidence.

Now--right now--I am having to, in every sense of the phrase, remind myself to root for the Red Sox.

5. Oh,was watching The Joe Girardi Show after the game when the manager went down the list of his injured players. Everybody wants to know about Lefty, of course--what would the Yankees post-season rotation look like starting tomorrow? CC, okay. Hughes was just routed, but he'd go second, I guess. Pettitte is hurt. Moseley and Nova are in diapers. Vazquez is up and down. The last time Burnett won, no one had heard of the "Ground Zero Mosque."

CC and Hughes and two days of . . . what rhymes with "Hughes"?

But what was truly hysterical was watching Girardi talk about Berkman, about how Berkman's about to come off the DL August 31st, and they might activate him then or "wait until September first, when the rosters expand." Two years ago, Lance Berkman was on serious Hall-of-Fame watch. In 2003 Jimy Williams bunched Berkman, Jeff Kent and Jeff Bagwell together in the Astros' batting order in what her termed the "MVP Core" of the line-up--the reason being that Bagwell and Kent already had their trophies, and Berkman's was just a matter of time. Now Berkman and some 23 year-old lighting it up in Scranton will serve as September roster additions.

AAAAnnnnnnd . . . the Red Sox lose. Back to tied, though the season is becoming more and more about hosting Minnesota vs. traveling to Arlington.