All Things Bubba

Sunday's Yankees-Mets game featured this hilarious moment, where one of the grounds crew finds a kitten inside a tarp. (The poor kitty was startled, but unharmed.)

Maybe that little black cat was a reverse jinx, because the Yanks' luck seems to have changed, and for the better. Young Tyler Clippard looked great in his big league debut, aside from one rough inning. Even better, he didn't break or strain anything. The Yanks beat the Mets on Sunday, then did the same to the nigh-unbeatable Red Sox last night. Many of the Yanks' slumping hitters seem to be waking up, including Robby Cano, Jason Giambi, and Bobby Abreu. It's about time.

Boston's lead is now only 9-1/2 games, and it's starting to look possible to win the division again. Hey, the Bombers came back from something like 6 games back in only a month a couple of years ago. It'll be a lot harder without Bubba, of course, but they could do it.

Yesterday was also a good day for the Reds. It was not a good day for Bronson Arroyo, who gave up 6 runs in two innings, and was pulled in the 2nd. (He threw 50 pitches in one inning. Oy.) With the Reds down 0-6, it looked pretty hopeless. But they clawed their way back for the win. Hallelujah! I know, the Nats are a bad team. A really, really bad team. But still, it was a good win.

The Bats also played well on Dime-A-Dog night in the Coop - though Kershner made it a little closer than it should have been.

There was also some good news about Bubba. The Bats trainer is very pleased with his progress. He did some long-tossing yesterday, and it apparently went well.