I know the Angels are a bad team, but it was no small thing that the Yankees won all four games against them at the Stadium, bringing them to .500. Which leads me to ask: What in the world would we do without Carlos Beltran?

Beltran has been such a consistent hitter since the season started, and he continued his hot hitting during the Angels series. He’s certainly making a case for the Hall of Fame as well as for not retiring. The Yankees aren’t likely to sign him – they already have a DH for next year: A-Rod – but someone will.

The series also marked the debut of Chris Parmelee, the latest minor leaguer brought up to play first base in place of the injured Teixeira/Bird/Ackley. Parmelee was an offensive star for a couple of nights, then fell victim to the first base curse and pulled a hamstring in tonight’s finale. Tough luck for him. I wonder if we could get Tino to come back and play first for us. Short of that, the job is Rob Refsnyder’s.

The good news is that the offense and pitching are coming together. Now I’d like to see wins against real contenders. Meanwhile, the Yanks are headed in the right direction, and I haven’t been able to say that in awhile.