Chasen Shreve (gotta love some of these names) is becoming one in New York. A string bean-sized reliever, Shreve has gone from a nobody in the minors to Girardi’s go-to guy in the pen delivering time after time. Last night in Anaheim, he took care of a bases-loaded threat with relative ease and allowed the Yankees to go on to victory in the series finale against the Angels. Also remarkable is the fact that they had an awful road trip but still managed to come out of it in second place in the division. Teams are bunched together and it’ll be interesting to see which one breaks out of the pack at the end. One minute the Rays are on top, the O’s the next. I wouldn’t be surprised if Toronto, with their crazy-good hitters, also sees first place at some point. With all the jockeying for position, the Yanks have a real shot to end up on top.

If they do get into the playoffs, will fans embrace them then? What’s been startling about this team is how apathetic people are toward them, myself included. I’ve admitted it from the beginning of the season. The fact that none of the players was voted onto the All-Star team speaks volumes, along with the low ratings on YES and the lackluster attendance at the Stadium. No charisma on the part of the players, some say. No stars now that Jeter’s gone, others speculate. Too old, a lot of people are saying. They don’t play fun, someone wrote on Twitter the other day.

They don’t play fun. I thought about this one. Maybe when Ellsbury comes back and starts scampering around the bases, igniting Gardner along with him, they’ll play fun. Maybe when Andrew Miller comes back and starts firing fastballs at hitters again, they’ll play fun. And maybe if A-Rod goes on a tear and hits A-Bomb after A-Bomb, they’ll play fun. I don’t know. It just seems that no one is jumping up and down to see Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley, Didi Gregorious, Brian McCann and Stephen Drew. It’s a shame. I wonder what Hal is planning to do about it all. Some have suggested that Hank should get back into the mix because he says and does provocative, attention-getting things. What we need isn’t a clown though. We need a bright and shining young star (read: Mike Trout).