THE STROKE IS BACK

***YANKS CLOBBER THE WHITE SOX***
The hitting returns as quickly as it left. When Swisher & Gardner start belting the ball, the Yankee lineup definitely becomes lethal. Still, the key to the Yanks offense remains their ability to work the opposing pitcher as evidenced by the four walks in a row in the third inning off Sox starter, Edwin Jackson.
2nd baseman Gordon Beckham and shortstop Alexei Ramirez hooked up for a weird double play when Beckham made a diving stop of a grounder and "rolled" the ball to Ramirez who completed the double play. I guess he didn't trust Alexei to catch an actual throw. Well, whatever works.
Sabathia never really seems over-powering, but you look up in the 7th inning, and there he is. The Yanks are going to need their pitching to be effective because Toronto can really hit and they are next in the Bronx.

***HERE AND THERE***
After a powerful start, the Texas Rangers are looking quite ordinary lately. Not only did they lose to the Blue Jays, but the winning rally started with a perfectly placed drag bunt, continued with a run-scoring error by Adrian Beltre, and ended with Jose Bautista getting caught off second base, but watching Darren Oliver throw the ball into centerfield for the final run.

The American league has only 5 teams with winning records out of 14. Doesn't seem like anyone is very consistent. The National league, on the other hand, has 9 out of 16 teams with a .500 or better record.

Attendance is down all across the majors. One writer, David Schoefeld, believes it's totally because of the economy, not the weather: "It was snowing Wednesday night in Minneapolis. It was snowing, and we’re supposed to lament that Target Field was only half-filled with hardy Minnesotans? We’re supposed to lament that Mariners fans are setting record-low attendance numbers for Safeco Field...and the weather has been unseasonably cool and cloudy -- even for Seattle -- with just one sunny day in April?"
Right, David, it couldn't be that. No, if people have money, they certainly wouldn't mind sitting in cold rainy weather to watch baseball. Next year, we face the possibility of starting the season even earlier and ending it later, if Bud Selig has his way. Hopefully, it will be Arizona and Tampa as the World Series competitors.

CP-