you had to link to a pic of T jones; you had to

As a Cub fan and a Yankee hater there are few things more appealing than watching Kyle Farnsworth, his no-move fastball and frail ego in tow, trying to hold a game for the Pinstripes. I saw him 3 times this year on TV and he was 3 for 3 (all losses). When the game is on the line, he is a sure bet to go in the tank.

Which is why the Tigers dumped him.

Todd Jones is the Hugo Chavez of baseball; you, OJ, are his Castro

The fist pump is because he held got the requisite three warning-track outs grouped around three triples. Another dominating performance, God love him.

Vice versa--Fidel could hum that apple.

In fact, to root for Todd Jones is like rooting for that wonderful autistic kid who improbably sank all those baskets a few months back...only the whole freakin' season is on the line...and the ball is clanging off the rim...and they keep passing him the ball...the whole charming fairytale aspect is wearing thin.

The fist pump is because Jeter took it and liked it....

Ah, oj, still hoping against hope that the Yanks flame out.

Two points:

(1) It's a bit silly to talk about the bullpens of the Yanks, Tigers, Twins, and A's in vacuum. Right now the Yanks have more questions in their pen, especially with Mo having sat out for 3 weeks.

However, the key is that the Yanks pen will be facing the anemic offenses of the other 3 playoff teams, while those pens will be facing Jeter, Arod, Cano etal.

(2) The SI guy clearly hasn't seen the Yanks play in a while.

It's looking right now, for instance, like the Yanks have this year's Jenks in Brian Bruney, who Cashman stole off waivers from Arizona in July while the Boy Genius was now doubt slinking out of Fenway in a gorilla suit of somesuch.

The kids put up a 0.53 era in 15 apperances, can throw 2 innings per appearance, and throws gas. Will those numbers even out next year? Of course, see Jenks, Bobby. But right now the kid is hot hot hot. The Yanks could ride him a long way.

Jose Veras, another young arm up from the minors, has looked good too, and they have 2 young starters, in Rasner and Karstens who've done very well in Sept and could eat innings in middle relief if RJ comes up with a stinker.

Even Farnswacker ain't nec. a problem. The Yanks have figured out that they can't use him 2 days in a row. When he's pitching with a day of rest he's absolutely lights out. He loses almost 10 miles on his fastball if he pitches back to back, but with the playoff schedule, esp in the opening rounds, having off days, that shouldn't be a problem.

As long as Mo is ready in 2 weeks, and he said last night as the Yanks were celebrating (funny, no post on that here!) tht his arms feels great, the Yanks look good.

If all the bullpens were perfectly healthy the Yanks would still be the worst.

It's revealing that the godawful Brian Bruney is a savior.

The thing about the playoffs is you never know when someone is going to sneak up and have the series of their lives (see Doyle, Brian, 1978 World Series -- he was to the Dodgers about what Bucky Dent was to the Sox that October).

As I said before, there's a ton of questions about middle relief, but there are a lot of options to juggle, depending how the Game 1-2 starters do in the ALDS (and later, if they get that far).

No, what's revealing is that despite the awfulness of the Sawx pen, the Boy Wonder didn't see fit to pick up a guy who's been lights out for the past two months.

He got played by Cashman for the umpteenth time. Seth Mnookin should write a book about it!

You really gonna argue with a 1.09 whip, 23 ks in 16 ip, a .148 baa, and a 0.57 era?

You've been touting the awful Craig Hansen all year. Hansen can't pick up Bruney's jock on his best day.

Here's a hint -- it's not the reputation that counts, it's what one does on the field.

And Bruney has dominated. Dom-ee-nay-ted.

He's this year's Jenks. and it's hard to see the weak-*** lineups of the A's, Tigers, and Twins making a dent in the era.

But hey, you've got two weeks to dream up other reasons the Yans can't beat teams like Detroit.

Bruney had a nice ten days when no one in the AL knew who he was. To be effective he has to throw the slider but it hurts his arm and brings his fastball down into the 90s where it's eminently hittable. Bruney's are a dime a dozen for a reason.

Hansen's had a bad season.

Bruney only has to pitch well for another month. Next year he's free to tank. His only problem is his control anyway.

Hey, that wasn't Mirabelli catching Home-Run Josh tonight, was it? Looked a lot like Tek. Maybe the catching doesn't have much to do with his inconsistency after all!

He's already stopped.

Did you see that Beckett was calling the pitches when it mattered? That is though yet another win for Josh, whose ten losses are all with Varitek or Lopez catching. A fine season that could have been great with a better backstop, or in the NL, which he was 3-0 against.