When the Yanks are down to their last game then the final three outs of the season I always think, well at least they’ve got a shot, at least we can watch a few more pitches, a few more swings. It’s like when you are falling asleep and you hear things louder–everything is heightened. Well that’s the way I feel about the last three weeks of the season but in a less acute, anxious way. Every game is something to savor because soon enough it’ll be cold and all we’ll have is football and hot apple cider.

There will be no more Andy Pettitte, no more Mariano Rivera. We likely won’t see Curtis Granderson back, and who knows when we’ll see Alex Rodriguez again?

Okay, so the 2013 Yanks aren’t a great team. They could make the playoffs but nobody around here is holding their breath. Still, they’re play night and they keep us company.

Last night they made enough mistakes–an error by Eduardo Nunez, a bone-headed cutoff by Rodriguez–to lose. But then they knocked the crap out of the ball in the 8th inning–double for Rodriguez, who scored on a single by Cano (he was pulled from the game due to a tight hamstring but the injury isn’t reported to be serious), home run by Lil’ Sori (his second of the game), double by Granderson who scored on a double by Mark Reynolds. They went from trailing 4-3 to leading 7-4.

Mariano came on to get the final out in the 8th and put heads to bed–order restored!–in the 9th as the Yanks beat the Orioles, 7-5. If you can’t drink in every pitch from Rivera now, whether they are good or not, I feel for you.

And so for one night it was the Orioles who were left smarting while hope remained the thing with feathers for the Yankees. Course tonight could be different.

But that’s baseball, Suzyn…you can’t predict it.