The Yankees are 12-8 in the their last 20 games, a .600 winning percentage. For most teams, even for the Yankees, that would usually be considered a very successful record. Why, then, does it seem like they have been slacking? First, the Yankees have mostly played better than .600 this year. In every April, June and July, they were winning more often. Only in May did they slip, and just slightly, to .552. Last month, they went 19-7. If you go 19-7 often enough, folks will start comparing you to the 1927 or 1998 Yankees. In contrast to July’s dominance, in their last ten games, the Yankees are 4-6, which is not just winning less often, it’s also not winning. They haven’t won more than two games in a row since the third week of July. But for two games in Toronto (starts

IN PRAISE OF GIRARDI/HERE COME THE RED SOX
In our last entry, I went on at great length about the untimely manifestation of Coffee Joe earlier this week. I meant to provide perspective by also mentioning some praiseworthy things that Joe Girardi has done this year. In the heat of the moment, I lost track of that goal and didn’t go beyond my indictment of Coffee Joe. I want to correct that now. He has, within certain limitations, constructed an excellent batting order this year. The main innovation has been batting Nick Swisher second. This is an untraditional choice, since nine times out of ten managers will still bat a banjo-hitting middle infielder second instead of a power bat. Swisher has completely changed his approach this year. He’s walking less but hitting for a higher

THIS IS WHY I WORRY
Two small matters to discuss regarding Monday night’s game, and let’s not make too big a deal of this because the game was lost in the seven-run fifth, not because of anything Joe Girardi did later.

Coffee Joe made an unfortunate appearance yesterday. Those who have been reading since last year know that Coffee Joe, Joe Girardi’s over-managing alter ego, first manifested during last year’s playoffs, when Joe started making MOVES! BIG moves, running pitchers in and out of the game like he had a 43-man staff. Since then, Coffee Joe has largely been quiet, but every once in awhile he creeps out. It wasn’t when he yanked Curtis Granderson for Marcus Thames. That was a measured decision, even if it did distort the defense. No, the caffeinated action

Or as Cole Porter wrote, it was just one of those things. Normally, Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com would have a very good point: why would Joe Girardi rest his regulars against their top division rival?

No Alex Rodriguez? No Brett Gardner? Berkman at first in place of Mark Teixeira? Kearns starting in left? If it wasn't for the name "Jeter" appearing where it is just about every day, at the top of the list, it would have been difficult to determine at first glance that this was a Yankees lineup card at all.

Thus did the Yankees go down quietly in the rubber game of a key series. The problem with getting exercised about this is that it really wasn’t all that key. Sure, the Yankees are now at greater risk of swapping places in the standings with the Rays, but they are also still 6.5

Given my almost total absence from the ol’ pulpit the last ten days or so, I didn’t get to say anything about the promotion of outfielder Colin Curtis from Triple-A Scranton. By now you’ve seen Curtis and it is certain that he is not a wiener-dog. It’s less certain that he’s a ballplayer, but he may be able to fulfill the small and likely transient role the Yankees have in mind for him.

Colin was a fourth-round pick back in 2006. He is now one of just two players selected in that round to make the Majors, the other being Astros third baseman Chris Johnson, who just helped push Pedro Feliz into a overdue, well-deserved benching. The Arizona State product was experienced enough to hit well in his first Minor league stops, batting .311/.374/.437 in 47 games in

A brief entry for now, fellow seekers of wisdom and truth, as I take a few moments to myself between hospital visits. My father has had one surgery and got through, has another more minor procedure scheduled for this evening, but assuming all goes well he has received a stay of further surgery and will, I think-I hope-I wish, be released within a few days. He will not be entering the decathlon now or in the future, but he should be around to watch it, and at this stage that is something to be grateful for.

Speaking of gratitude, I am most appreciative of the Fates, or Bud Selig (who, after all, was one of the Fates during his youth in ancient Greece) for arranging a most compelling baseball season in this difficult season for my family. Every division has a compelling race, with the AL East

LIFE GOES ON
Sorry to have missed yesterday’s entry, fellow pilgrims. My father had a bit of a setback and was forced to make a return to the hospital. I spent much of the day sitting with him in the emergency room. The good news is that he’s expected to be okay once they tinker with him some. “Tinker,” that’s not a metaphor for anything.

A LEFT-HANDED SUGGESTION
I don’t mean to keep harping on this issue—well, I do mean to keep harping on it, because it’s important, especially with the Yankees now tied with the Rays and poised to go past them at some point in the near future (thank you, Houston Astros and your brilliant ownership/management). Their move to the top of the pack just underscores the fact that if all goes on in the present manner,

MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING: THE CULT OF THE VETERAN
Here’s a trivia question for you: Who was the Yankees’ opening day designated hitter in 1977? Here are some hints: It wasn’t Reggie Jackson; he played right field. It wasn’t Roy White; he played left. It wasn’t Lou Piniella; he didn’t play. Ready? It was Jimmy Wynn -- the Toy Cannon. He went 2-for-3 with a home run, too, the only run the Yankees would need in a 3-0 win over the Brewers.

Jimmy Wynn was 35 then. He was a heck of a player, though it’s sometimes hard to see that because he played in the 1960s and 70s, a time when offense was at a low ebb. In 1969, he hit .269/.436/.507 with 33 home runs and 148 walks. That’s roughly equivalent to hitting .305 with 40 home runs last year. He was

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?
I grew up listening to old radio shows, the entertainment precursor to television. No, I’m not so old that I heard the Jack Benny show, “Gangbusters,” or “Lights Out!” when they first aired, but recordings have always been available on record or cassette (and now MP3). One of my favorites was the Shadow, the story of a vigilante with the “power to cloud men’s minds” so as to be invisible, a handy talent for driving the guilty nuts (or just shooting them, as he was more apt to do in his pulp adventures). At the beginning of each show, the Shadow’s grim laugh (sometimes voiced by Orson Welles) would rise up from swirling organ music and he would intone, “Who knows ... what EVIL ... lurks