Cardinals vs. Yankees

So, Steinbrenner's boys are coming to town next week. Should be an interesting enough time, particularly with the ultra-streaky play that the Yanks have been having this year. How sweet would it be if they ended up in 3rd or 4th place toward the end of the year? Here are my random musings on the Yankees lineup: Thankfully, A-Rod hit his 400th HR yesterday, so at least the milestone curse won't be on us, as it often seems to be (Remember Clemens's 300th win?). Man, A-Rod is good, he has carried my fantasy team for a while. I'm glad that he's not a team that I cheer for, however. And since the good ol' Sheff can be tricked into putting stuff into his body, perhaps he can be tricked by good pitching and Yadi's pick-off moves? Isn't it interesting that ToWo has now played for the two teams whose playoff chances he ruined with bloop singles in 2001? I like that Tino is hitting well somewhere again. And is there any player in baseball more overrated than Derek Jeter and his career .846 OPS and his 20-30 steals a year?

The matchups are interesting as well--Marquis vs. Chien-Ming Wang will be the battle of the newbies that have never seen each other (the Yankees collectively have 25 ABs versus Marquis, including 1 by Randy Johnson, 2 by Kevin Brown and 1 by russ springer, and the rest look like they are from Marquis's brave days; Wang is a rookie).

Then we have the battle of the hot offseason league-switching trade acquisitions in Mulder vs. Johnson. I have fond memories of the Cardinals batting Johnson around, including in the playoffs and Rick Ankiel's last major league win. It seems that the yanks have hit Mulder relatively well in the past as well, however. And it seems that every easily hyped pitching matchup has ened up in a slugfest or a blowout, and if I had to put my money on this happening once more this year, this is my bet.

Finally, there's Morris vs. Pavano, who have reversed their fortunes significantly since last year. I thought that the Pavano signing was madness on the part of the yankees, but he has seemed to hold on somewhat. Morris, however, reigns as king of the facial hair, and has everyone who follows the cardinals up and excited about what he's going to do this year.

Should be interesting, nonetheless.