Wow, Hardin fanned Sheffield, ARod and Giambi after a Damon walk and Jeter double gave the Yankees 2nd and 3rd and no outs. 99 MPH last pitch to Giambi.

Home plate ump gift walk to Jeter; two definite strikes called balls, then Sheffield knocked him in (talking to myself here).

1 - 1 on Swisher HR.

The first of many E-4's

2-1 A's on an RBI single by Kotsay.

3 - 3. Bottom eighth and Mike Myers in to face Kotsay and Chavez. Yankee gray, looks like confederate gray to me.

Myers: K to Kotsay , walks Chavez then Frank Thomas is up batting and Torre is not taking the chance with Myers on the Mound. Farnsworth in

Damon almost gave the Yankees the lead with a line drive double off the top of the RF wall. He was definitely pi**ed it didn't go out. Street gets out of it without allowing a run. Bottom nine.
Scutaro wins it getting it barely over Matsui's head on a line after they intentionally walked Swisher (A's have great names!). This all off Proctor. Why didn't they use Rivera?? I mean, tie game but the A's went to Street. Sox Yanks still tied.

Scutaro's sixth walkoff game winning hit.

Why take Farnsworth out to bring in Proctor who hasn't pitched in a week? Makes no sense to me.

Makes no sense unless Joe likes to stay with the setup man for the eighth and closer for the ninth, like when he had Gordon. But why Proctor instead of Rivera? I checked another (Yankee) message board and someone suggested it was too dangerous with the rain to bring in Rivera. That's why they have cleats and why they pay him an eight figure salary.

I too was shocked to see Proctor in the game. Reminded me of Joe's fascination with Felix Heredia 2 years ago.

My absolute favorite part of the game:

A-Rod, coming off of a grand slam in a complete blowout, comes up to the plate in the top of the ninth with two men on and two outs and hits a routine ground ball to end the inning. Game still tied.

Give him the MVP again (because you can't really measure "clutch" right?)

I don't have any gripes with not using Rivera in that situation. I doubt the rain had anything to do with it. Coming up in the tenth would have been Cairo, Posada, and Bernie... not exactly the three I'd want a game riding on. Not to be a doomsayer but there's a good chance those three don't score, then you've burned Mo, Myers, and Farnsworth. If it had been say Jeter, Shef, and A-Rod leading off the 10th I think Mo would have been in. I guess Joe could have left Rivera out there for 2 innings to get the heart of the order up in the 11th to hopefully take a lead. But it's the seasons second game, running Mo for 2 is dumb. Who closes out even if they score? Proctor and his troubles, Sturtz or Villone after pitching last night? Surely not Mo for 3? Should've just left Farnsworth in there.

My big gripe is that Proctor just got back to the team during yesterday's game. His infant just got out of surgery and he's been with her for a while. Go with someone who's been pitching lately and maybe Proctor would have been better served with a few extra days to get his mind focused and regain what little control he has!

That was a good game.

I see Torre not using Mo in that situation. It's the first game. I didn't expect to see him. Proctor needs the innings right now especially.

Huston Street is a bad**s. I think the A's are gonna be mean as hell this year. If Zito gets it together again. I was talking to a friend about this last season. He thinks Zito is tipping his pitches. Y'all's thoughts?

3-0 Is a blowout? That's all it was when A-Rod hit that. Funny how we see it differentlt. I saw it as the blow that killed the A's chances. I have a feeling if Ortiz did that in the exact same situation you'd see it as clutch with the bases loaded to put a game away. Really stretching the 'A-Rod can't hit when they need it' defination I think.

I don't think Zito was tipping his pitches, never heard that before. He flat out sucked last night and the Yanks were hitting everything. Couldn't locate at all and was getting his pitches right out over the plate..

LOL.. I hear ya... my post was mostly busting balls...

However, that spot in the ninth last night was a "tight" spot, whereas being up 3-0 when everyone and their mother is smacking the crap out of zito isn't really a pressure filled situation.

When you saw him ground out in that spot last night, you had to know this argument was coming

THUUUUUUUUU YANKEES LOSE!!!

Street has some great breaking stuff but he doesn't throw harder than 91 - 92 MPH on the fastball. He's listed at 6', 200, but looks smaller. I wonder if the better hitters might start figuring out his stuff after they've seen him a few times. Damon sure nailed him last night, would have been a homer if he got under it a tad more. Just a thought.

Street will be fine. In fact, he'll be way better than fine.

As for the A's/Yanks series, I have this to say:

You're welcome.

I have only this to say about last night's Yankees/A's game:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I would like to add:

Hohohohohohohohoho!!!

Seriously, win game one 15-2 and then drop two straight by way of the weaknesses everyone's been discussing: pitching and defense.

Eggzellent.

OK, thanks, but aren't the A's playing for themselves too?

Street looks great so far, but using my worst case thinking background from being an engineer by trade and (maybe more importantly) a Red Sox fan for more decades than I care to admit, he is relatively small and doesn't throw that hard. Not a Keith Foulke in that regard, but we'll see. I mean Mariano still gets it up there at 94 - 97 and on a cut fastball. Street will never be another Mo (but, OK, who will?). See you in July.