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World Series Game 5

Another day, another lackluster Yankee performance in the aught-three World Series. David Wells was back at the team hotel bar just in time for happy hour, having thrown only eight pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning.

It's entirely possble that Mr. Conditioning Program has thrown his last pitch as a major leaguer. He's clearly neither a "gamer" nor a "team player", a far cry from the David Cone's that the late-90's Yanks used to run out there. Sadly, though, he seems to be somewhat representative of the general malaise that has befallen the Yankees this season. That's not to say that they won't squeeze two more W's out of this now-seemingly-emfeebled roster. Regardless, you can expect wholesale changes in Yankeeville this off-season.

Back to the game. Of late, the Evil's have at least been able to rely on Jose Contreras for one inning of lights-out pitching, followed by one or more innings of Jeff D'Amico-style batting practice. No such luck this time, as BP came early with the Marlins putting a three-spot on the board in the second inning.

I actually slept through the first 6+ innings of the game, saving my strength for the seemingly-inevitable Marlin late-inning collapse that never was. Oh, how they tried, though. I nearly crapped myself when Bernie Williams hit that 2-1 pitch off of U³. But alas, he only had warning track power, with the ball falling safely (safe for everyone but my undershorts) into the waiting glove of Juan Encarnacion. A beauty of a pick by Derrek Lee, and the Marlins are up three-games-to-two. So, despite their best efforts, the Marlins were unable to hand this one over to the Pinstripes; Unable to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Josh Beckett was just recently announced as the Marlins' Game 6 starter, in a move that will draw plenty of criticism, both now and if the Marlins lose both games at the Stadium. Anything is a better idea than carting Mark Redman's 6.50 postseason ERA out there. He of the 1.89 WHIP and 10/9 K/BB ratio.

I don't want to read too much into it, but Mr. Swing-at-Anything's inning of work in right field last night moved him that much closer to being out of the stadium altogether. If you believe everything you read in the papers (which I do), the writing is already on the wall concerning Soriano's future with the Yankees. Whether they will be willing to toss aside his considerable production the past two seasons in the face of incomparable free-swingingness, that's anybody's guess.

Signing off, I am Sheldon...