Today is September 25, another way too hot day for the first few days of fall.

A year ago, the Yankees were two days away from re-claiming the AL East title that was theirs from 1998-2006.

Now, the defense of that is questionable despite the one-half game difference between them and the Rays. As we begin this, the Yankees are taking batting practice to Pearl Jam’s Corduroy, a song whose chorus is “The Waiting Drove Me Mad”.

Based on some of the phone calls from Yankee fans to ESPN Radio and WFAN, that feeling is emerging with some as the Yankees have not looked very good in losing three straight and 12 of 18 following an eight-game winning streak.

So how do you solve that problem?

The Yankees have eight games remaining so maybe doing something like winning five or more of those games might ease some of the frantic feelings.

Before today’s game, former Colts coach Tony Dungy briefly met with the Yankees and that was after made the rounds with the Jets. Dungy told the Yankees things about preparing for what lies ahead.

For starters, here is today’s lineup against lefty Jon Lester, who the last time was here ended his role in a three and a half hour game by striking out Curtis Granderson, who had hit rock bottom in terms of facing lefties.

Yankee history, especially in the last three seasons is not good against Lester. Since the start of the 2008 season, he is 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA in 10 starts and of pitchers with at least 45 innings against the Yankees, his earned run average is the best and the first time he faced the Yankees in the Bronx on July 3, 2008 might have been one of the lowest moments of that year.

Lester is on the mound for the Red Sox and the Yankee history against him is not the greatest. He is 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA in his last 10 starts

One mechanical change later, Granderson is among the hottest Yankee hitters of late. Since August 12, he is batting .304 (14-for-46) off lefties and overall is nine for his last 27 and 6-for-17 on this homestand.

Granderson again gets to hit eighth and man center field.

Batting ahead of Granderson will be Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Marcus Thames, and Austin Kearns. And batting behind Granderson will be Francisco Cervelli, whose primary job is to catch Ivan Nova.

Nova has pitched 35 innings in eight appearances (six starts). He has been removed with a lead in four of those starts and is one of two Yankees since 1980 to go undefeated in his first six career starts. The other was Joba Chamberlain, who did in his first seven starts during the 2008 transition.

As for the Red Sox, here are the items of interest from NESN’s Tony Lee.

If you watched last night’s game, you might have seen Mike Lowell get hit in the face by a Granderson ground ball. Lowell was removed but fortunately does not have any concussion-like symptoms.

The Red Sox will also have a new player in Felipe Lopez. Lopez has played with Toronto, Cincinnati, Washington, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Arizona. He played 109 games with St. Louis and had a chance to join the Padres but turned that down.

Lopez vetoed a waiver claim because he would have felt awkward getting doused with champagne in a postseason celebration. However, what if he was in a position to get the game-winning hit or score the game-winning run in a postseason clincher.

There are two potential reasons for this move. One is that Marco Scutaro has been dealing with an inflamed rotator cuff in his shoulder and secondly is that Lopez might be a Type B free agent, giving the Red Sox a chance to get a draft pick if he departs.

Also worth noting is that David Ortiz needs six RBI to become the second DH with a 1,000. The leader in that is Yankee-killer Edgar Martinez, who drove in 1,003 RBI.