Stop, Just Stop.

For the moment, allow me a deviation into football...

As I write, I'm sitting here on my couch awaiting the first NFL game of the season. My mouth is agape, because I expected some kind of inane pre-game show. Instead I'm being subjected to the "musical" stylings of the Black-Eyed Peas and an inoffensive but boring performance by Tim McGraw. Do they know something I don't? Should I have drafted Will.i.am to my fantasy team?

This is where the NFL completely loses me. I still like the games, but I'm over the ostentation, the endless commercials, the know-it-all analysts, the product tie-ins, and the hype. I really need to get DVR, like my friend, Dennis, so I can watch each game in about 30 minutes.

Basically, show the games, and shut the hell up!

Wait a second. Now I've seen everything. Al Michaels got hair plugs during the offseason. Oh, well. At least Madden and his tightly packed nostrils are gone. I love the choice of Chris Collinsworth to replace him. In the balance, I guess no matter what they do, I'm going to watch the games. You win, oh mighty and omnipotent NFL!

Jeter Ties Gehrig, Yanks Continue to Roll

So after struggling for three straight games against the best and worse the Rays had to offer, Derek Jeter finally broke through against Jeff Neimann with three hits, tying the franchise record for hits held by Lou Gehrig since 1939.

It is remarkable when you think about the long line of great Yankee players; Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, that they have never had a player collect 3,000 hits with the team. They all had their reasons for falling short. Ruth didn't play his entire career as a hitter or Yankee. Gehrig contracted ALS. DiMaggio fought injuries and a World War. Mantle walked a lot and never took care of his body.

Now, though, it seems inevitable that Jeter will total 3,000 hits and possibly even many more on top of that.

I'm glad Jeter took care of all three hits in one night to tie the record and hopefully he breaks the record in AB number one on Friday night.

I'm happy for the Captain and everything, and his accomplishments are second to none for any Yankee in this century or the second half of the 20th century, but this stuff weighs on me as a fan. The constant asking of the same questions that know they will get the same answers from the taciturn Captain.

After Jeter tied the record the Yankees seemed to remember that there was indeed a game to be won. A-Rod and Hideki Matsui led off the eighth with singles before an error scored a run. After a Robinson Cano strike out Jorge Posada deposited a 3-2 pitch into the right field seats.

This team has a lot of the late '90s Yanks in them. Very rarely do you get the impression the will lose a game. If it is a pitchers duel late you expect them to win in walk-off fashion. They can win one-run games and slugfests. Hell, they even have a winning record when Sergio Mitre starts a game.

This team is on an incredible roll in the second half of the season. Every part of the team is clicking (except Joba who had yet another clunker another post on him will come soon). Right now they seem unstoppable.

This Just in: Derek Jeter is Great

If you're a Yankee fan then you'll enjoy reading Jerry Crasnick's most recent article.

If you're a Sox fan or any other kind of fan then it might give you a little more respect and perspective for Jeter and his place in history.

Red Sox Continue to Flaunt Rules

Watching baseball through the steroid-era I have seen some pretty low stuff, but Jonathan Papelbon takes the cake with this newest infraction. Apparently the Sox pitcher has been skirting the rules and taking to long to commence pitching when he comes into from the bullpen.

Frankly I'm shocked he hasn't been suspended.

Seriously, the MLB needs to get their heads on straight. I understand the need for games to move in an efficeint manner. Hell, as Yankee and Red Sox fans, we here at Brothers at Arms know better than anyone else the pain of a four and a half hour 9-8 baseball game. The reality is that games tend to slow down due to advertisement inbetween innings and during pitching changes, especially when games are nationally televised.

So continues the vexing rule of Bud Selig.

The Tale of Two Leagues

If ever there was a case of the AL being a superior league to the NL Brad Penny and John Smoltz would be witnesses #1 and #2. These two clowns couldn't seem to pitch their way out of a paper bag in Boston, but send them to San Francisco or St. Louis and they look like Bob Gibson. Just look at their splits. Smoltz had an ERA north of 8 when he left Boston with his tail between his legs. Now, it is south of 3.00?!?!? Similarly, Penny had an ERA approaching his weight of 5.61 and in his first start with an inferior offensive team he goes 8 shutout innings? REALLY? I can only hope one or both of these two-faced pitchers can help their teams into the playoffs to give the Sox a meatball dinner during Game 3 or 4 of the World Series.

The Sox were not asking either of these guys to be lights out, only be a back-end starter who could eat some innings, save the bullpen, and keep the Sox in the game. I think Terry would have been appreciative of 6 innings 4 runs from either of these guys. The part that is most frustrating is almost everyone thought that this would happen.

On a positive note, Clay Buchholz is starting to make me eat my words in which I said they should have traded him for Roy Halladay. Buchholz stuff is nasty, it's that 1 square foot of real estate above his shoulders that has given him the most trouble. Hopefully, the Sox will continue to play well into the playoffs and it seems inevitable, meet the Yankees in the ALCS, for 6 or 7 long drawn out games that will make every Sox and Yankee age about 10 years in two weeks.

Yankees Continue to Roll O's

It's always nice when the Yankees get to ease out of a homestand by going to their secondary digs just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. It is a perpetual joke among Yankees and Sox fans that Baltimore is either Yankee Stadium South or Fenway South when each team roles into town.

Now it is becoming downright sad. Now I despise competitive balance, but with certain teams I always feel bad because at one point they used to be good and due to incompetent leadership they have continued to falter.

The Yankees can have little sympathy for the O's right now and they were unrelenting against an awful bullpen. After A-Rod's clutch single in the seventh to give Sabathia the lead, the bats went to task on the Baltimore bullpen, scoring seven in the ninth.

Speaking of Sabathia, the big man continued his unmitigated dominance of opposing bats. Over his past six starts Sabathia has an ERA of 1.83 and has struck out 53 batters in 44 innings of work. Opponents are hitting a minuscule .206 off him. It is the performance Yankee fans have been hoping for since the big man signed his name on the dotted line last off-season.

With Sabathia on point and Andy Pettitte looking like the Andy Pettitte of 10 years ago the Yankees appear to have their top two lined up for the playoffs. Now they just need A.J. Burnett to come around, and while things might not look good right now, everyone knows that he can be streaky. Personally I would rather he suck right now than a month from now. He still has at least four starts to straighten things out.

It is off to Toronto now and a series of unfortunate pitching match ups. The Yankees may just be hoping for a split as they toss out Chad Gaudin, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte and Mitre against the Jays.

Beckett Forgets How To Pitch

The struggles continued for Josh Beckett last night. I knew it was going to be a long night when Carl Crawford took Beckett yard in the first inning. Beckett's last handful of starts have been abysmal. A potential 20-win season is quickly coming unglued. The homeruns he's allowing are unbelievable; 12, I think, in his last five starts. He had 10 total on the season previous to that.

Where does that leave the Sox? The fans consolation to this point was that at least we had Beckett and Lester. If we don't have the two of them, it will be an early exit in the playoffs or maybe even no playoffs at all. Josh needs to get himself right and quick.