The moment, the image, defines Jorge Posada for so many who have followed his career. Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium. Yankees versus Red Sox, door to the World Series wide open for both teams. Victorious team steps through, loser hears it shut with sudden slam.

Win or go home.

The Yankees are in a deep ditch early, down four runs with Pedro Martinez pitching flawlessly on the mound for the Sox, and the Yanks’ Roger Clemens out of the game by the fourth inning. Clemens followed by an all-hands, ad hoc relief corps of starters and relievers -- Mike Mussina leading the way -- that would shut the Red Sox down for several innings.

Bottom of the eighth, the Yanks had scored a couple of runs on a pair of Jason Giambi solo homers,

This column was supposed to be the second part of my attempt at identifying the problems of the Yankee lineup -- and offering suggestions on how to improve its efficiency. The first part appeared yesterday, and the reason I’d chosen to break it up in two was because I wanted to separately discuss Jorge Posada’s struggles and the conundrum of how the team’s manager and general manager might address them. Given Posada’s unique status, it seemed a tough, exceedingly delicate problem, and I felt the subject warranted a thousand words or so to itself.

Well, when you least expect it, you’re elected, to cop a line from the old Candid Camera theme song. How could I have had a clue that just a few hours after planning out the column, I’d be live-tweeting

New York-- I’m at the computer trying to make some headway on my latest book—this is last Friday at 6:30 PM—when the cellphone jumps and vibrates on my desk. My pal Judi’s text reads:  We r bringin sandwiches I made my infamous meatloaf.

She doesn’t mention where she’s bringing the sandwiches, but thirty years into our conversation I can fill in an easy blank, especially since I know she and Anthony are going to be at Saturday’s big game at Yankee Stadium. I wrote about those two earlier in the season, but what I was uncomfortable sharing at the time is that just under a year ago, not long after they’d celebrated the Yanks winning the World Series, Judi got one of those medical diagnoses you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy,

The New York Yankees have the best record in baseball and sit atop the American League East by half a game, but the inconsistent baseball they’ve been playing lately is troublesome. As losers of five out of their last seven games, the Yanks have lost ground to their chief division rivals. Just a few weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were trailing them by three games, the injury-riddled Red Sox by eight in the loss column. Tampa is now just a half-game back, and the Sox six in the loss column.

The Yanks’ current four-game series versus the Red Sox is a big one for both teams. For the Sox, it is a chance to make themselves relevant; sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx would bring them to within two games of their archrivals in the overall standings, three in the loss column.