- The bulge opened up by the Yankees is certainly not insurmountable. Even after last night’s loss they still have a five game lead in the loss column. You can’t write Boston off, but a playoff spot is looking very good at this point. Going into last night’s action there was a 93% probability the Yankees would make the playoffs. With that being said, are you as worried about the fifth starter as this time last week? The bulge over the Sox, and more importantly, the Wild Card, make me think that going out and overpaying for an Arroyo or Harang type of starting may be unnecessary.

- Howard Megdal wrote a great column over at SNY. He compared the UN-Mets (team of the injured players) to the current group.  I can’t help but think that it would have been better to lose David Wright for the year, but keep everyone else. As much as Wright’s bat would have left a hole in the lineup, the Un-Mets might fare better in this division. To quote a member of the media I spoke to yesterday “there is no excuse for this team to not be in this NL East race”.  I agree, it’s not like the Phils, Braves, and Marlins are lighting it up.

- Both Paul Catalano and I wrote a mea culpa on AJ Burnett. Have to give credit to Frank Russo who all along supported the Burnett signing. Frank and I talked yesterday and he has been told the time spent with Halladay has been one of the keys to his success. The “bulldog” mentality he playing with arguably the game’s best pitcher was on display Friday night. Obviously there is a lot more season, and potential postseason, left to go. Burnett elevating his game can only make the Yankees that much more dangerous.

- I am so happy that Omar Minaya promised the fans of Buffalo a winning team. Do you think you will have time to improve the big league club with that arduous task ahead of you?

- I don’t want to be the mush, but I had to say this. The next big debate in Yankee land will be who starts a playoff series Game 3. If it’s 1-1 in a first round best of five do you go with Pettitte or Chamberlain? You have to go with the veteran. He showed you again on Sunday that he can rise to the occasion for a big game. Joba, on the other hand, was the only pitcher during the Boston series to “spit the bit”. If not for John Smoltz forgetting he was playing baseball, not softball, things could have gone quite different over the weekend.

- Mike Pelfrey continues to disappoint me. It seems that all the progress he made last year has gone out the window. The biggest problem is that “one bad inning”. He seems to lack the composure to pitch through difficult patches of the ballgame and minimize the damage. You can’t even draw a decent conclusion. He pitches gutty in the Milwaukee game, then gets bomb by the Dodgers. Good against Colorado and then mediocre against the D-Backs. Right now I don’t believe you can count on him as a solid #2 or 3 going into 2010. Quite frankly, he has pitched this year more like a back of the rotation starter.

- Howard and I briefly brought up Scott Kazmir when talking about Tampa during last night’s show. Matt Pignataro of Seven Train to Shea outlines his day watching Kazmir pitch against the Mariners. Also included are his observations of the bullpen session. NYBD was told that Kazmir is indeed on rocky terms, as Pignataro speculates, with Jim Hickey the Rays pitching coach. At one point this season he was told not to shake off any signs. Matt told me that Kazmir was shaking off Dionar Navarro on Sunday so perhaps that was only a temporary situation. When you combine the alarming drop in strikeouts with reports of reduced velocity it would be wise (Omar are you listening?) to stay away. Earlier in the year I suggested the Mets trade Perez for Kazmir. Almost a headache for headache trade. Now it seems that Perez might be less of a risk going forward.

- Did you miss last night’s show? Download the replay and here Howard and I spend a majority of the evening talking about the Yankees and AL East. Howard spoke about his NYBD column regarding Citi Field homers, perspective from Jeff Francoeur, and we discussed the NYBD sabermetrics controversy. You can listen right now to the show or download it.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

Mike Silva

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Tags: Aaron Harang, AJ Burnett, Boston Red Sox, Bronson Arroyo, Buffalo Bisons, David Wright, Home Runs at Citi Field, Jim Hickey, Mike Pelfrey, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oliver Perez, Omar Minaya, Roy Halladay, Sabermetrics, Scott Kazmir, Sergio Mitre, SNY, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays