Wow.

         “I don’t know what else to say.”  That was my only reaction to yet another Yankee victory tonight.  Joe Torre is simply toying with the rest of the league right now.  It looks like rain.  Hmmm.   Maybe I’ll sit down Wang.  He might get wet, after all.  And while I’m at it, maybe I’ll rest the entire outfield.  Why not?

         This guy Shields actually pitched pretty well.  But he was a victim of the same old tonic.  He was tiring out from all of the bullets he had to empty from his arsenal.  And then the bullpen.  The forsaken.  It was almost too painful to watch.  But yet still pretty **** satisfying. 

         Allie Boy came through in the clutch again, and darn it if he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying himself out there.  And why not?  Everyone’s your best bud when things are clicking on all cylinders.  Guys are hamming it up in the dugout and in the clubhouse, smiles and laughter are everywhere.  They all look like kids on the last day of school. 

         Through it all, Jeter remains white-hot, riding a hitting streak and terrorizing AL pitching.  And he continues to demonstrate his integrity, as he continues to play on without taking large chunks of time off, so as not to bastardize his run at the batting title. 

         Speaking of Jeter, I’ll weigh in with my two cents on the AL MVP Race.  At least that one shouldn’t come with an asterisk, which is more than I can say for the NL races.  I’ll start with this.  I kind of laugh when everyone decides that they need to take the nomenclature so literally.  How many times have you heard somebody say – “It’s not the player with the best stats.  The award is for the most VALUABLE player.  That means the player who is most valuable to his team.”  They then follow this logic on to say that a guy with sick numbers can’t be an MVP if his team doesn’t make the playoffs, because he could not have been that valuable, now could he?  Me, I think that’s a load of nonsense.  Who told anybody that they have to take that literal of an interpretation?  It’s like when people tell you that the foul poles should really be called fair poles, because when the ball hits it it’s fair.  That’s great.  And that’s true.  But who says that has to have anything to do with what you call the pole?  It also serves as a demarcation of when a ball becomes foul.  So it works.  But people manage to convince themselves of crazy things.  So people have decided that “valuable” means greatest contribution to the team.  Well, you could even argue the meaning of the word “valuable.”  You could argue that “valuable” means the guy who gets paid the most, meaning the market has dictated that he has more value than any other player does to his respective team.  Allie boy would win every year.  If people are going to be so rigidly literal, they would have to consider this.

         You know what I think?  I think the powers-that-be in early twentieth century MLB simply called it “Most Valuable Player” because it was a sexier way of saying “best player.”  I don’t think they had any idea that it was going to be taken so literally.  Nor should it be, in my opinion.  It seems ridiculous to me that a player would be taken out of consideration because his team isn’t contending.  I think it could add some extra juice to your case if your team is contending, because it can make what you’re doing that much more impressive, with the added pressure, etc.  But that shouldn’t automatically preclude somebody from a non-contender winning it.  Not because of a few people’s recent forced literal interpretation of an award that has seen winners from last place teams, pitchers, and key contributors alike over the years.

         So with all of that said, who is the right choice for MVP?  My short answer is I don’t have a strong preference.  Last year I was in favor of Allie over Big HGH because I felt that Allie’s defense really set him apart, and it was a big fat hole in Big HGH’s game.  I still feel that way about Big HGH.  He would have to be putting up Ryan Howard-like numbers for me to get past his lack of glove.  Jeter, of course, deserves consideration, as his numbers are high in every category but HRs.  And he has more hits, runs and a higher OBP than the other candidates.  But the truth is I wouldn’t have an issue with Dye or Morneau winning it.  Any one of those guys would be okay with me.

         Here comes Boston.  And here comes a division title.  Joe is not going to stress things by trying to win it at home against Boston, though.  He’s going to rest people, he’s going to test young players, and he’s going to play smart.  The Yankee way.