Hey, I forgot to mention it earlier, but just how digusting was the last pitch of the game last night? Joey Gathwright, a slap hitter was batting against Mariano Rivera, and he kept fouling pitches off. Rivera threw cutter after cutter. Then at 2-2, he tried to go away with a fastball. It was up and away and Gathwright took it for a ball before fouling off a few more pitches. I thought Rivera might try going away again, but no. He throws a cutter on the inside corner at the knees–the best pitch of the sequence. Gathwright didn’t offer at it–he didn’t have a chance. Wow.

In his latest mailbag column, Tom Verducci was asked about Carl Pavano:

Remember, teams such as the Tigers, Mariners and Red Sox also wanted Pavano badly, even indicating that they would have paid more than the $39.95 million over four years that New York did. There is no way to be delicate about this: The Yankees have come to question Pavano’s toughness. Now, injuries are always sensitive subjects, because only the player knows for sure about the severity. But this is two years running where Pavano seems to be doing nothing but playing catch in Tampa. Could all of those teams have been wrong about measuring his character? So far, and until he takes regular turns in the Yankees’ rotation, yes.

Though he’s only be out for a handful of games, how much do you guys miss watching Sheffield?

Lastly, fellow Yankee bloggers, Pete Abraham and Mike Plugh note how even when he does something well, Alex Rodriguez gets precious little love. Is it ridiculous to say that Rodriguez is to Winfield what Jeter is to Mattingly?