A Sweep, a Return and a Star Is Born

If you asked me to pick Garrett Jones out of a police lineup, I couldn’t do it. He’s a nice-looking guy for sure. He just didn’t register on my Yankee radar until the Mariners series when he was inserted into the lineup and hit some pretty big homers. Will he get more playing time and be a force to be reckoned with? No idea, but for now he’s had the beat writers gathered around his locker, which must feel good after being a minor character this season.

Tanaka returned to the rotation today and picked right up where he left off. He’s something else. If he has doubts about himself and his ability to pitch with his questionable arm, you’d never know it. He’s fearless – and so very talented.

Mark Teixeira and his homers have been such a pleasant surprise. He’s turned back the clock and played like the guy we were all so happy to acquire.

And Pineda’s first trip back to Seattle was dazzling. He outpitched his mentor, King Felix. Very, very impressive.

Of course the series wasn’t without more casualties. Beltran, who had finally started to hit, fouled that ball off his toe and is now gimpy. McCann, too, is gimpy but potentially more seriously if the soreness in his foot turns out to be the dreaded Lisfranc injury that felled poor Chin-Ming Wang. Let’s just hope it’s garden-variety soreness. The MRI will reveal all.

One last thought about Seattle….Cano who? He was a great Yankee, but he should have made a deal to stay in the Bronx. He’s not exactly tearing it up out west.