Interesting to see the trend of how awards are given out for pitchers. I think voters finally understand that won-loss records are not always the barometer for judging a pitcher's success. Tim Lincecum winning the National League award this year is an example. Taking into consideration pitching effectiveness, i.e., base runners per nine innings pitched, strikeout-to-walk ratio, run support, durability and the pressure of pitching in a pennant race can all be more important factors than wins.
 
Forgive me for using a couple of my seasons to use as examples of how things have changed regarding Cy Young awards. In September of 1967 I had my best ever month of pitching and maybe one of the best ever of any time. Going into my last start of the season, September 30, I had started seven games in September. My record was 7-0 with six complete games including a 10-inning shutout, 63 IP, 52 hits, five walks and 61 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.55. In that September 30 start, I injured my elbow in the third inning.

No surprise as I look back on why. I pitched more than 300 innings in '66 and then over 65 innings in one month at the end of a tight pennant race. No wonder my elbow said, I've had enough! It was the tightest pennant race in history and fun to be a part of with four teams having a chance to win with five days left in the season. The Red Sox eventually won and Jim Lonborg deservedly won the Cy Young award for the American League.

Just as an aside, the battle Sandy Koufax and I had for the award in 1966 was one of the reasons the writers went to a Cy Young award for each league in 1967. Sandy and I each had 25 wins with a week to go in '66. My record was 25-11, his 25-7. He won his last two starts, I lost my last two, and Luis Tiant shut us out in one of them. Obviously, Sandy won the award.

Back to '67. My record was 16-13 after being 9-13 going into September. I was offered a $6,000 pay cut coming off the season of '66 when the record was 25-13. I eventually "negotiated" the same salary as the previous year and avoided a pay cut. In 1968, pitching with a damaged elbow, my record was only 14-12, with a 2.94 ERA, nine complete games and two shutouts in only 29 starts, about the same number of base runners per nine IP as Lincecum this year. Without free agency or arbitration I was forced to take a $5,000 slash in salary. From about $60,000 down to $55,000.

My point here is how the use of pitchers has changed, how they are graded in their effectiveness, and how they are compensated. I am not bitter or envious. I am glad writers and fans realize there is more to a pitcher's efficiency than the win-loss record.
 
It's always satisfying to hear a thank you from a player of today's era to those of us who stuck together and made it possible for them to make millions today instead of take pay cuts of thousands. Thank you Marvin Miller!
 

The Hot Stove season is already underway. For you younger fans that aren't familiar with that term "Hot Stove," it was the term used to refer to discussing baseball topics during the winter while sitting around a hot stove and speculating about the next season. That's when there actually was an offseason of some length.

Time to reflect and look ahead as people turn their attention to the holiday season and then with the Super Bowl on the horizon, there isn't much Hot Stove time. Spring Training will be upon us soon. It reminds me of a radio interview I did with the late Bill Veeck in the mid-1960s when I was beginning my announcing career. We needed offseason employment in those days to support our families and mine was as a sports reporter for a local radio station in Minneapolis. Thus, the opportunity to interview Mr. Veeck. Now this was in the mid 60s and this was the one quote he made that I remember distinctly when discussing the state of baseball. The sport's popularity had waned; football was gaining in fan interest. The designated hitter was soon to come to hopefully add interest. The National League was happy without it because they had added a lot a black stars that added a lot of excitement to the game. They didn't need the DH, good for them!

Back to Veeck's quote. "The problem with the baseball season is that it starts too early, ends too late, and there is too much in between." That was in the mid-60s!

With marketing, promotions and the power of television, baseball has gained in popularity from the mid-60s. Think about this. My first Major League win was in Yankee Stadium in late April of 1960 versus Whitey Ford. It was a beautiful spring day, an afternoon game. Attendance was less than 4,000 people!

My point is that baseball has regained some of their share of popularity. but is still second to football. I just continue to wish and hope that the people in power would show a little more respect for the quality of the game and be sensitive to how special postseason baseball could be to fans other than Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox fans. While traveling through the south this fall it was hard to find a sports bar that carried the games. All televisions were showing football or NASCAR. Please, I plead every year that we could have at least a few day games so I could stay awake for the whole game and lest you think it's my age, my grandchildren can't stay awake either. It's a school day tomorrow.

I know a lot of you that have followed my annoyance with this are probably saying, "Let it go." But I can't. I love the game too much. Not how many people watch it , just the game. What happens within the box score and the stat sheet. A few of those things that bear pointing out happened in this year's postseason. Is the device they use to track balls and strikes accurate? Who knows. Do the umpires know? Does the commissioner's office know? If it's accurate then they need to sit umpires down this winter and look at the video because they missed a lot of low strikes. A lot of pitches that crossed the knees were called balls and also some letter high pitches that are in the strike zone according to the rule book.

I did a show on XM radio with the Ripken brothers last week. Cal brought up umpire positioning. I am not using this forum to bash some of the inaccurate calls. I'm sure umpires during my playing days missed just as many and as a pitcher I made as many or more than players do today, but with improved camera technology every play is scrutinized more closely. The umpires get one look and make a split-second decision. We get several looks from different angles and then decide what was right. That brings me to umpire positioning. I have always wondered why they stand where they stand, particularly at second base where they often seem blocked out and not able to see the play clearly. I don't know this. I'm only asking. I think it might be a good idea for baseball to take a look at this and help the umpires make more accurate calls. I still like the human element and surely don't favor more instant replay which would further delay and lengthen games that are already too long.
 
A suggestion to glove manufacturers: Can you make a glove that doesn't need refastening after every pitch? Stepping out of the box and refastening gloves adds - I timed it one game - 35-40 minutes to a game! And how about baseball going to the lowest Minor Leagues and having batters required to keep one foot in the box after every pitch. Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ted Williams seemed to do okay with that routine.
 
Ryan Howard was hammered because he didn't hit in the World Series. One reason some hitters don't hit as well during postseason games is because they're facing the best pitchers during those games and in Howard's case: CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and tough lefties out of the bullpen like Phil Coke and Damaso Marte. I love discussing why it is more difficult to pitch in today's game and why hitters have it easier than pitchers.

For example, you have five starting pitchers and another six or seven in the bullpen. A hitter can go 0- for-whatever vs. Sabathia or A.J. Burnett (on one of his good days), Pettitte and never get a hit off Mariano Rivera. But, not being disrespectful here, because they're good pitchers or they wouldn't be in the big leagues; they are classified as No. 4 or 5 starters and the relievers are long or middle men that pitch when the game is not on the line. Hitters can fatten up on these pitchers and their overall stats look good.

Pitchers however; can't eliminate facing the heart of a batting order. Think how much easier it would be for them if they just faced the mediocre hitters in a lineup. Their record would look better. They have to face all the hitters. That's my take on Howard's dismal series. He faced tough lefties and they made good pitches. Chase Utley was in a perfect spot. Pitchers don't want to walk him and make a mistake to Howard that would cost them two runs so Chase Utley gets more fastballs to hit, and with his short, compact swing, he can hit good pitchers. Simple theory. Been around forever. That's why when lineups are discussed and it should be noted that it's not necessarily where you hit but who hits behind you.
 
For me it was a good World Series with a happy ending. I could never hide my love and affection for Charlie Manuel and the Phillies organization. I spent a little over three wonderful years there. Good city to play in. Passionate fans like most east coast fans. I'm happy they made it back to defend their title. I'm happy for Joe Girardi and the core of players like Derek Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera and Jorge Posada that I covered for the 12 years I was in the TV booth with MSG and YES. Quality people as well as players.
 
Now we can settle back and enjoy what Hot Stove season we have left. Who's going to get John Lackey? They Phillies could use him. Matt Holliday? Can the Yankees repeat? What will the Red Sox do to try to get better? It has flaws but baseball is still the greatest game of all. The only thing that gives me a bigger thrill is watching a horse race like Sunday when the super mare, Zenyatta, electrified us race fans, and seeing the final nine on Sunday of the Masters golf tournament is right up there as well. But, for over six months, you can't beat the addiction of following baseball. It holds our interest for a longer period of time than any other sport.
 

The World Series struck me like a movie or play where I already knew the outcome. Not that there are any guarantees in life or sports, but my position all along has been that unless a team plays mistake free baseball and pitches close to perfect every game, the Yankees will be difficult to defeat. They are deeper in every phase of the game than any other team, so the best team won. They did all the right things at the right time and, with the exception of the big series that Hideki Matsui had didn't really play at a level higher than they were expected to play.

The Phillies are the best the National League has to offer and got the outstanding performances from Cliff Lee and Chase Utley, but were overmatched in depth overall. I was very happy for Andy Pettitte. I went on record last winter saying I would have been more willing to meet his contract request than A.J. Burnett. He had done it before and proved he still can. What a nice experience it has been for me to watch the "Four Horsemen," Derek Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, develop into the players they have become. My first year covering that group was 1995. It's been fun to have watched what they've accomplished. The enjoyment for me watching baseball games, having watched close to 10,000 of them over the past 50 years as a fan, player, coach and TV analyst, is what subtle things go on within each game that dictate who wins.

I thought Johnny Damon's at bat against Brad Lidge with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4 did as much to help the Yankees win as anything. Most hitters would have struck out and it would have given the Phillies a chance to win that game. I was sitting next to my friend, Carson, who owns and operates Carson's Tavern in Stuart Fla., during Game 6. With the sound down on the TV it's interesting for me to see a player's eyes and body language. I told Carson, "Pedro is very tentative tonight. He doesn't have that fiery confident look in his eyes and is missing Carlos Ruiz's target by a lot." I was in a win-win situation with this World Series. Charlie Manuel is a friend and was a former teammate. I hosted a party for Charlie and his staff at my home last spring to celebrate their 2008 championship.

I was glad the Phillies got back to defend their title. And I was happy for Joe Girardi that the Yankees won. A Yankee manager is under more pressure than any other manager because of the high expectations. I know the Yankees spend the most money and try to get the best players but if you recall the past several years, signing players like Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano and others did not bring a title to the Bronx. All of these guys were good players and most of them quality people, but it didn't equate to winning. This team had some charisma and some energy the past teams didn't possess. It paid off.

My favorite era in covering the Yankees will always be the late 1990s, especially 1998, but this year's team had character that the teams after Luis Gonzalez's bloop hit (2001 WS) didn't. I have a strange observation but I firmly believe it. The Phillies are a better possibility to return to the World Series in 2010 than the Yankees. Their competition is not as strong, they're younger, and we didn't see the performance they're capable of in this year's series. CC Sabathia, Pettitte and Damaso Marte shutting down Ryan Howard is a big reason.

I promised I'd give you my thoughts on some of the nitpicky negative stuff that is annoying like TV coverage, umpiring decisions and the way networks control baseball. I'll do that next week.

Finally! After how many days and nights of waiting? We're going to have a World Series. Soon we'll be calling it the Thanksgiving Classic instead of the Fall Classic, which is what longtime fans called it when it ended in early October just after fall began.

Now it ends closer to wintertime. Please forgive my cynical attitude but it annoys me that the 'suits' at MLB have allowed TV networks that carry baseball as a ratings tool and not a passion to control start times. I am thankful for the people that run the Augusta National Golf Club who tell the networks, we have a special event here. If you'd like to televise it, here are the guidelines. It's a treat for the sports fan to be able to watch an event with limited commercial time and intrusion with meaningless graphics and information that doesn't make sense. I am going to do a blog on just my thoughts on the TV coverage and spare you any more of my sarcasm.

Now, to the baseball. The two best teams are there. Most feel it will be high scoring. It's East Coast passion. The most storied franchise in history versus a team that can be the first to repeat as World Champions since the Yankees from 1998-2000. There are of interesting storylines, so FOX would do well to contact Carl Willis, the former Indians pitching coach, for some insight into Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia. He coached them both for a few years. Carl was a pitcher I tutored in the mid 1980s and would provide some good commentary.

Pedro Martinez could be a factor. Think he'll knock A-Rod off the plate? I have told Charlie Manuel all along that his team would have the best chance to hold down the Yankees lineup because of their quality left-handers as well as Pedro. You have Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano and Hideki Matsui on the left side and then you switch Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera to the right side. They can all hit lefties, but if Lee and Cole Hamels pitch to their capabilities these are not just garden variety lefties. Pedro can handle all of them, right or left , he's sharp.

Then you have Sabathia versus Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez. Jayson Werth could be a big factor in Yankee Stadium because of his power to right center field. A.J. Burnett could throw a no-no or walk the ballpark. There hasn't been much consistency for the investment made in him, but there remains potential to dominate a game. Then here comes Andy Pettitte in Game 3 and he is solid in postseason games.

What's my point? I'm not ready to buy into the high-scoring predictions yet. Each team has the capable starters to hold down the other. It'll be the battle of the bullpens as usual, with the big edge to the Yankees. Phillies closer Brad Lidge has been better lately, but I still believe that if the Yankees play well in the field without any untimely errors and no glaring base running mistakes, they will be hard to beat. They have a deeper lineup, better bullpen and an ace pitcher who could dominate three games if needed You hope the weather doesn't snow any games out and it is good enough to not diminish the quality of play, and the umpires review the missed pitches around the knees that make it more difficult to pitch in today's game than ever before. Can anyone tell me if the machine they use tells us where the pitch is when it actually crosses the plate at the front knee of the hitter?

If I were pitching I would exploit the use of the backdoor breaking ball, the pitch from a lefty pitcher to a righty hitter that breaks over or near the outside corner. It seems the umpire will call it a strike because when catcher catches it, it appears to be a strike but if the fancy machine we're exposed to is accurate, it shows that the pitch is well outside and difficult for the hitter to reach when it passes through the hitting area. Even Vladimir Guerrero, who can reach anything, complained about one Sunday night. And yes, it wouldn't hurt if the pitches that crossed the plate at the letters, or to be a bit earthy, the nipples, were called strikes. Unless the rule book has been rewritten lately, those are supposed to be called strikes.

I am going to do my best to realize that umpires are more closely scrutinized than ever before and like us are not perfect nor are they machines.  Weather has become more of a factor; teams deal with long layoffs between series and are now playing more games later in the year than ever before. I hope we have a real Fall Classic to remember. My first one was the 1945 World Series between the Cubs and Tigers and I still remember it like it was yesterday (the Tigers won in seven). It was the last time the Cubs were in it. My dad bought me a 'run pool' token for a nickel. The Tigers scored five in the first inning of Game 7. I won over $7!

Nice to have a little break between series and reflect on how fragile the outcome of games and series can be. If it had not been for a couple of glaring mistakes, the Twins would have put a lot of pressure on the Yankees to win a Game 4 at the Metrodome. Who would have thought that it would be Brad Lidge to get big saves along with 'Mo and not Papelbon, Street and Nathan.

I still see the Yankees and Phillies in the World Series. In addition to all the talent the Yankees have with their expensive free agents and the solid veterans that have been there before, this Yankees team appears to have some good chemistry and camaraderie and character that the other teams in this decade haven't had. The Phillies have it too. My friend, Charlie Manuel, the Phillies manager told me a few years ago that this was as good a group of players as he's ever been around in terms of liking each other and doing the little things that you need to do to win.

If the Yankees and Phillies matchup comes to fruition, the challenge for the Yankees will be handling the Phillies' left-handed pitching: Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and now, Jamie Moyer could be an additional factor. He has frustrated Yankee hitters in the past. We haven't seen Pedro yet and he could be a factor as well.

The advantage I think the Yankees have is that they don't need to step up or play above their ability to win it all. Just avoid glaring mistakes like foolish baserunning or costly errors and they'll be hard to beat. The Phillies and especially the Dodgers and Angels will have to play mistake-free and pitch like they've never pitched before to beat them. They're so deep in their lineup, in the bullpen and in top quality starters.

Predictions -- like saying a particular team will win in a certain number of games -- always cause me to ask, "When you say a team will win in six games, how do you determine which two they'll lose?" I never could figure that out. But I do think the Phillies and Yankees have the best chance to win the Championship series and the Yankees the best chance to win it all.

Here's something that will never change and annoys me every October: I wish for a lot of reasons that night games would start at 7:00 p.m., West Coast games at 1:00 p.m., and that they would mix in a couple of day games in the East for the "real" baseball fans, not the ones that just pay attention to postseason games. If only the Major league "suits" in past years had the backbone to make a stand similar to the one that Augusta National makes for televising the Masters and making it a real "must see" TV event. When fans during my travels say to me, "You should be the Commissioner" -- even though I'm far from qualified to be -- that is one area I would have loved to have had some input. To let TV executives who neither know nor care about the "best interest of the game" and focus solely on appealling to the average fan run it is unforgivable to those of us that really do care. I hate having to get my morning paper or boot up my computer to see who won last night's game.

Let's just hope we have some exciting series in good weather with a lot of heroes and no glaring blunders by players or umpires.

Wow! Am I glad there were no "Joba Rules" when I was Joba Chamberlain's age. There were no 'Kitty Rules," only just keep sending the kid out there and see if he learns to pitch on the big-league level. Bases loaded, sixth inning. No idea of how many pitches he's thrown Jack McKeon would come out to the mound, (he was my playing manager and catcher in 1958) and say "Okay kid, see if you can pitch your way out of this mess."

Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. But I did learn how to pitch out of jams, do some damage control and limit what could be big innings to a couple runs, and learned how to use different pitches and different speeds to get out of the inning and still keep my team in the game. That was the way I learned my trade when I was Joba's age.
 
Now, let me clear about this, Joba didn't have the backlog of innings as an amateur pitcher that I did. I remember pitching a seven-inning game at 11:00 a.m. in a tournament and when we won I pitched another game at four that afternoon. I was 15 years old. I never had serious arm issue in my career until September of 1967 when my elbow gave way after pitching 305 innings in 1966 and then in the heat of the best pennant race ever, September 1967, I was pitching my 65th inning of the month, seven starts averaging nine innings a start and trying to go 8-0 and pitch the Twins into the World Series.

Not to be. It may have been smart to give my arm a little breather at that time but that wasn't even a thought then. I don't say this to boast, only to point out the difference n the training of pitchers then and now. A nice blend of the two would be nice. It is more difficult to pitch today than at any time during my baseball lifetime for a number of reasons that you are all familiar with: strike zone, size of parks, and size of hitters, size and weight of bats, no brushing hitters back off the plate, body armor and on and on. It's a hitter's game today and a pitcher is at a huge disadvantage. That really accentuates how great Zack Greinke has been!
 
But Chamberlain or any other young pitcher is never going to learn how to pitch going to the mound every nine days and having a pitch counter looking over his shoulder like playing the old quiz show game "Beat the Clock." I feel sorry for him. I have great respect for Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the Yankee staff that has this plan in place. I'm sure they've thought it out thoroughly. I just wonder if they've asked for input from anyone who has pitched 250-300 innings a year several times, how they trained and what they might do differently.

This seems like a tremendous disservice to Chamberlain. If he does well in October the people behind this plan will say, "See, we knew it would work." But are they helping him long term? Are they teaching him how to pitch? Or are they just interested in arm strength, miles per hour and power instead of pitching.

Time will tell. I'm just glad I was never subjected to it. I may have been a part of the people following the game and not playing it long before my 25-year career ended.
 

It's that time of the year when the teams that are close to clinching a postseason berth tend to look a little flat. It happened to the Yankees in 1996 when Joe Torre had to use some harsh words after a dismal showing against Tampa Bay. The Rays were the Devil Rays then and not very good.

The Red Sox are getting back to the way they looked in the early part of the season when they beat the Yankees eight straight times. Until last night, when Tim Wakefield had a little meltdown, their starting pitching had been very consistent in going six-seven innings and holding the opposition to two or three runs. That gives their bullpen a little rest and with Billy Wagner down there seemingly durable and injury free they appear to be a solid team again, one combining pitching, defense with Alex Gonzalez at shortstop and hitting with Jason Bay coming alive again.

I did a Red Sox-White Sox game a month ago and the White Sox backers were still confident their team could overtake the Tigers. My thinking was the Twins had a better chance. I got some raised eyebrows and skeptical looks. The Twins have always fielded a team that pitches well enough, plays in the field well enough and seem to score just enough runs to hang around and give themselves a chance. They're doing it again. It's a credit to their former manager, Tom Kelly, who made the whole organization learn to play the game the right way, and look like baseball players and not models for pajamas or jogging suits.

Ron Gardenhire has maintained that approach. The Twins are a team every fan can appreciate and root for. They have a small payroll compared to most teams, but employ players who demonstrate sound fundamentals and play hard for nine innings game after game. If they don't, they won't be in the lineup. You will never see a Twins player wear their uniform like Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez or the other (Manny) Ramirez. Does it help you become a better player? No. It shows a respect for the game, and instills a discipline and pride that help you get the most out of what you have and shows fans and opposing teams that you care about the game and don't just flaunt your supposed star ability.

The three aforementioned players could never play on a team that I managed no matter how good they are or how desperate I was for talent. My dad would come down out of the sky and kick my fanny if I allowed that. That is one of the areas I have difficulty understanding about the game today, how managers and general managers can tolerate that kind of disrespect for the game.

Joe Mauer will probably be the MVP in the American League. Too bad for Mark Teixeira. He deserves it just as much but with Derek Jeter having close to an MVP season and the added attention he got becoming the all-time Yankee hit leader will divide the vote and help Mauer, especially now that his teammate, Justin Morneau, is out and the Twins keep winning.

Yankees-Tigers/Twins and Red Sox-Angels. Same old story. Who can win in L.A.? That will be a big key for Boston in the ALDS and whoever in the ALCS if the Red Sox can't continue their dominance. I still like Yankees-Red Sox in the ALCS. The Yankees have CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett, the latter who if the stars are lined up right you never know what kind of game he'll bring with him, either no-hit possibility or no-strikes syndrome. In Boston, Jon Lester has quietly been as good as anyone, Josh Beckett is back on track and Clay Buchholz could be a surprise star in October.

This is always an exciting time to be a baseball fan.

I know Joe Girardi can't feel as sure as I do because he can't afford to feel the race is over, but I think along with many others that it is just a matter of time before the Yankees celebrate the American League East Division title again. Too much pitching, too much hitting, too much depth in every department.

I am spending time up here in Red Sox territory and even the most ardent Sox fans are hoping the Yankees polish off Tampa Bay and make it easier for the Red Sox to win the Wild Card. Texas is slowly slipping away. Minnesota could end up being more of a factor.

September is always an interesting month. Some young kid gets called up and does something memorable. In 1976 I was a member of the Phillies, and we were trying to hold off the Pirates for the NL East title. We had a comfortable lead, but as a former Yankee great has been quoted so often, "it's not over 'til it's over." The clinching blow came from a rookie Mets outfielder named Lee Mazzilli. He homered in the 10th inning to beat the Pirates and we could begin to celebrate.

The baseball history books are full of September heroes that got called upon when the rosters are allowed to expand to 40 from the normal 25. If I had my way, the rosters would be frozen after May 31, and other than replacing a legitimately injured player or calling up a player from your own Minor League system, teams would have to go with what they had on June 1. I feel it would keep the teams with no budget constraint from adding players to strengthen their team. It would place a premium on developing homegrown talent and also give jobs to some veterans who might be paid enough to entice them to play in the Minors until they were needed.
 
You can begin to see how teams look ahead to potential post-season matchups and try to set their roster accordingly. The Billy Wagner acquisition is an example. He could be a big factor against the Yankees with all their left-handed and switch hitters if the two titans of the East meet again. Some teams claim players off waivers to keep another team from acquiring him. Setting the trade deadline at May 31 would eliminate all that movement and keep teams like the White Sox from throwing in the towel. It's so demoralizing to the rest of the players and the fans when teams do that.
 
We could really see some attractive pitching matchups in post-season play this year. Use your imagination: Lincecum, Lee, Cain, Hamels, [if he gets it together soon] Sabathia, Beckett, Lester, Burnett, Wainwright. I probably missed a few. Notice I didn't mention any Dodgers. As good a year as they have had they don't have the experienced, dominant starter you usually need in October. Should be fun to watch. I just wish they could all go nine innings.

It's never over 'til it's over, as a former great Yankee said years ago, but following the paths of the Big 3 in the AL East for the past month it's apparent that barring devastating injuries to a few key players, the Yankees have achieved what they set out to do when they shelled out the money to CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira in the offseason.

All three have found their rhythm and stride at the appropriate time. It takes a little time to adjust to the urgency of winning in the Bronx and it took a lot of successful Yankees in the past some time to feel comfortable (Tino Martinez, Jason Giambi and Paul O'Neill are examples who all reached their level of excellence over time).

Combine the pace the Yankees are on with the uncertainty in Boston, where I am residing for the summer and follow the fortunes of Red Sox Nation daily, and the inconsistency of the Tampa Bay Rays, and you have a formula for another AL East title and favorites to go on and get to the World Series.

I know postseason play is unpredictable, but there's more happening with the Yankees than the quality of their starting pitching.

• Alex Rodriguez's return made Teixeira a more relaxed hitter and it appears from a distance that he gets more hittable pitches with all the weapons in the Yankee lineup.

• The emergence of Phil Hughes as a solid seventh- and eighth-inning stopper to set up Mariano Rivera.

• A better-than-expected season from Derek Jeter and unexpected power from Johnny Damon.

The Yankees have too much in a lot of areas for any team to defeat them in a seven-game series.

If this was an election and I was a political analyst, I'd declare the Yankees the winner in the East and go so far as to say the ALCS and the favorites to win it all. I didn't feel that way in April or May. The Red Sox were getting great pitching and making a few runs stand up. Not anymore. The Angels are always troublesome and the Tigers can win with Justin Verlander on the mound, but the Yankees have defeated him and other top level pitchers as well (Roy Halladay and Mark Buerhle to name a couple).

The way the Bombers are the Bombers in the new Yankee Stadium, one which Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris would probably hit 80 home runs in, with that home field advantage and all their left-hand hitters, the Yankees seem to be unstoppable.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Hey everyone, it's been a busy summer for me so far. I got married and my wife Margie and I have gone on a road tour through middle America. It's been quite interesting. We went through a lot of small towns. I've coached pitchers in Hannibal, Missouri; I've spoken in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; I've appeared at the Bob Feller museum; I did the Futures Game on XM radio in St. Louis, and then I had a very unusual experience which I don't know how many Yankee or YES fans are aware of, but I filled in for Jerry Remy doing Red Sox games on NESN last weekend in Toronto.

What's kind of interesting is that each side, of course, calls the other side "The Dark Side" and I got some really nice feedback from Yankees fans who live in New England that had heard the games and were perfectly OK with me filling in for Jerry.

I was the 23rd different partner that Don Orsillo has had. It was kind of fun. I'm good friends with Terry Francona and a lot of the Red Sox people, so even though there's a deep-seeded hatred between the fans, it's hard for me to share that hatred because I know some of the people there and they're good people. A lot of the Red Sox feel the same towards the Yankees as individuals.

That was kind of an unusual experience and now my tour through middle America is coming to an end, where I'll be anchored in one place, and actually my next two assignments with MLB are Yankees games. I'll be doing the White Sox-Yankees next Thursday here in Chicago, and in two weeks I'll do the Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium.

I had made a lot of these commitments this summer that I wanted to honor. We've been on kind of a whirlwind trip, and for example I had promised Roland Hemond, who was my general manager on the White Sox when I played for them, that I would go to Hannibal and take a look at the college pitchers there in what's called "the prospect league," a summer wood-bat league. I also agreed to appear in a school in Sioux Falls just to speak and sign autographs, and then went to the Feller museum. I'm going from here up to my hometown in Michigan where they have a little league ballpark named for me. I started a fund to erect lights there in my late wife MaryAnn's name, to whom I'm dedicating a plaque next Monday. Then my commitments are kind of over and I will get back to I guess what we call our normal lifestyle.

Through all of my travels I've been specifically following both the Yankees and Red Sox. It's kind of interesting how they've kind of gone in different directions. Even though the Yankees have yet to beat the Red Sox in a regular-season game (0-8), they've got a two-and-a half game lead in the AL East. The Red Sox have many concerns. They have a couple of their pitchers, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield, on the DL. They called up Clay Buchholz, and he had one good start and then he didn't do well in his last start. Their bullpen has had a couple of hiccups since they were so effective early in the year.

Then you compare that to the Yankees, who just seem like they were sputtering along and then all of a sudden they have gelled. It looks like Phil Hughes has been slotted in to the eighth-inning role nicely. The Yankees offense has picked up. Their starters have been consistent, so right now, despite their winless record against their rivals, they have the upper hand, looking at the last 60-65 games of the year.

The percentages say that they're probably going to win at least half of these upcoming games, especially when you consider the fact that right now the Red Sox are in a little bit of disarray. There's only two weeks to go before the big Yankees-Red Sox series and things can change a lot until then, but the Red Sox have not hit well consistently. That's the difference between the 2008 and 2009 Red Sox. Guys like Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis had many big hits last season. This season a major problem has been not hitting in the clutch and they readily admit that themselves.

This division is going to be a race till the end. This could be an AL East that has three teams with 90-plus wins. The Rays are still in this race. I think it's by far the best division and the AL is the strongest league. If you took the Angels, who are a good solid team and out them in the AL East playing those East teams on a regular basis, I don't know if their record would be that good. I think if you took the Yankees, Red Sox, or Rays and put them in the Central or the West, they would be pretty hard to beat them. Anyone of those three would end up winning that division. I know the Yankees have struggled against the Angels, but again, if the Angels had to play Tampa, New York and Boston on a consistent basis it might be a different story.

Let's focus in on the Yankees now and last year. At this time we were blogging about the flaws that the Yankees had and subsequently they didn't make the playoffs. This team is deep now and I think you start with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. With those two guys at the top of the rotation the team is much better right there. Also, having Andy Pettitte around helps. He hasn't had the greatest year, but still has that experience where he can crank up a good game or two for them at the right time. It looks like they have the bullpen organized now with Hughes into that eighth-inning role, along with Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves.

From an offensive standpoint, Nick Swisher's added a lot of energy and has done a lot of good things for them, like what Mark Teixeira has done to the middle of the order. Last year psychologically they were almost in a state of shock to think that they might not make the playoffs and they didn't, whereas this year there's some added motivation. I don't think they're taking anything for granted, nor has anybody else taken for granted that the Yankees will be in the playoffs, but I think because of the reasons I just mentioned, they will be playing baseball in October.