Another loss, another postgame where the word frustrating was uttered about 749 times.
It's understandable, since the Yankees went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. I can't blame them for not being able to hit Roy Halladay.

If a Cy Young winner can be underrated, I think Halladay is. People don't realize how good this guy is.
Not to get to the bullpen, that's another story.

New York had its chances, but couldn't break though. Not a huge deal, but given what happened on Tuesday, it's something to watch.
Jaret Wright wasn't bad on Friday.

He gave up the early homer to Frank Catalanotto, but settled in to put up zeroes from the second through the fifth. Let's see what he can do in the next 2-3 starts when pitching on regular rotation. I think he might surprise some people.

People shouldn't overlook the Blue Jays. They're very good, and they're going to give the Yankees and Red Sox a run for the AL East this year. I don't think they'll fade away like the Orioles did in the second half last season.

A-Rod continues to struggle in RBI situations, but he's not alone. Matsui, Sheffield, Posada ..

. no one other than Jeter is really doing much. Still too early to worry.

Big weekend coming up with Johnson and Mussina taking on Toronto, with Wang and Chacon set to face Wakefield and Beckett in Boston. Should be interesting to see how the Yanks are playing heading into the road trip.
I'm off for the next two days, as Ryan's first birthday is Saturday.

I'll post again on Monday from Fenway.
On a separate matter, what the heck are the Houston Texans thinking? I know Mario Williams is a stud defensive end, but Reggie Bush is a once-in-a-generation talent.

I won't go as far as to compare this to Sam Bowie-Michael Jordan -- at least not yet. Come back to me in five years.
I'd love to see Bush land with the Jets, just so I could see him blossom into an NFL star less than 10 miles from my house.

If not, I'd love to see Matt Leinart end up with Gang Green. If the Redskins can't land one of my two favorite college players, they may as well play in my backyard.
I'm not the most technologically advanced guy in the world.

I pretty much stick to the basics when it comes to most things in the world of electronics, but over the past few years, I have received a few items that have changed my life.
1) TiVo. I can't say enough about this invention.

For somebody who enjoys as many shows as I do (though, with West Wing and Alias heading off the air, that number is dwindling fast), it's wonderful not to have to remember to set my VCR. Throw in the fact that I travel as much as I do, and it's almost as though they invented TiVo for me. Brilliant.

2) iPod. I spend what seems like half of my life on airplanes or in airports, so having 3,500 songs at my disposal at all times is a great pleasure. In the old days (read: the 90s), I would bring my bulky Discman around with me, as well as a case with several CDs.

Not anymore. Ever since my lovely wife bought me an iPod for my birthday (it should be noted that she bought me the TiVo the year before ..

. man, she's great with the gifts), I have been able to enjoy music I haven't listened to in years. Again, brilliant.

3) Bose noise-canceling headphones: For the same reason my iPod is great, these headphones are simply a must for anybody who travels on a regular basis. They drown out the engine noise on a flight, and you can't say enough about that. Props to Mackerel Daddy of the Daily News with the repeated recommendation of these.

Nice work, A-Mac.
Now, all of that said, my boy Bordo showed me a new gadget he just picked up, and it has the potential to be on the same level as the previous three.
It's called a Slingbox.

What this genius invention does is allows you to watch your home TV -- and that means your TiVo, as well -- from your computer, as long as you have a high speed connection.
So, in other words, instead of having to avoid all newspaper and radio contact for the four days after Survivor airs, so I can watch it after a road trip and not know who got kicked off, I could watch it in my hotel room after a night game. Or if I wanted to view one of the 357 reruns of Seinfeld, West Wing or The Practice on my TiVo instead of watching whatever is on the four channels in the hotel, I could.

I'll have to wait and see how Bordo likes the Slingbox, but it seems like a can't-miss item. There's also no monthly fee, which I find incredible.
Here's to technology.

What a wonderful world.
I've seen a lot of things in the comments section tonight, so I'm going to address three of them.
A-Rod: I can't argue with anybody who is killing him.

He's just not coming through when it counts, which is something that has followed him for much of his time in New York. Last year's criticism was not fair, as he did come through with several huge hits during the season (and before you start blasting me, I'm NOT including the playoffs, which is another subject entirely). But this year, he hasn't been carrying his share of the load with the exception of that three-game stretch he had on the road.

Wang: He looked very shaky early on Wednesday, and I can't blame you guys for worrying about his ability to throw from the stretch. But if you watched his final four innings, you have to be feeling a little better. Seven innings and two runs, you'll take that every time.

He'll be fine.
Boston and the AL East: Several of you claim that the Red Sox should be the obvious favorites to win the AL East, even going as far as to say the Yanks are in serious danger of missing the playoffs as one user wrote.
In case you haven't noticed, the Sox haven't exactly been lighting it up, and the Yanks are one game out in the loss column.

Oh yeah, there are also 143 games left to be played, so it's unlikely that the division race is over.
Schilling had a bad start, Beckett had a bad start, Wakefield looks shaky. As concerned as Yankees fans are about their staff right now, Red Sox Nation is having the same fits of panic up in Boston.

Like the Braves, I can't count the Yankees out until someone actually dethrones them. Had they gotten any one of those 16 men they left on base (there were 23 combined in the game, not 30) to score on Wednesday, they would be tied in the loss column. Take it easy, folks.

Stop being so dramatic.
Mike Mussina did it again, throwing another solid game. That's five in a row for those of you scoring at home.

So much for him being done.
The Yanks manhandled the Devil Rays tonight, but let's pause for a second and realize that Tampa Bay was without five -- yes, five -- of its regular starters. Crawford, Baldelli, Cantu, Huff and Lugo.

That's a lot of their firepower. It was a great win for New York, but I have to imagine the next 18 (or at least the 16 after this week) will be a little tougher.
The best reason for optimism for Yankees fans should be the three straight pitching performances by Chacon, Johnson and Mussina.

One run in 21 combined innings, good work by the bullpen and plenty of run support. I know the Yanks are supposed to beat teams like Baltimore and Tampa Bay, but they had a lot of trouble doing so last year. A win is a win, especially this early in the season.

Jeter is killing the ball, Giambi is off to a great start and Cano (who sat tonight) may be the hottest hitter on the team. Just imagine what they'll look like when A-Rod, Sheff and Matsui start hitting, too. I feel bad for AL pitchers.

I wouldn't want to face this lineup when it's at its best.

In a blatant ripoff of my boy Bordo's blog, I am starting a Question of the Week here at Mark It Down.
This week's question comes courtesy of Sippy of Stewie's Pelican Factory, the most intense baseball fan I know.

What is the biggest home run for the Yankees in the Joe Torre era?
Feel free to leave your answer in the comments section, or e-mail it to me. I'll post the best answers later in the week.

Interesting two days for the Yankees. Everyone has said all spring that Wang and Chacon will need to get it done this year for the Yanks to succeed, and the last two games have seen mixed results.
Wang had what is becoming a typical game for him this season, looking unhittable in some innings and all-too-hittable in others.

The Yanks' offense didn't help him, stranding the bases loaded twice, as they lost a close one Friday night.
Chacon, on the other hand, gave the Yanks a great start on Saturday, allowing one run in seven innings. He looked more like the guy who helped carry them down the stretch last season, working his way out of the little trouble he found himself in.

My buddy Bordo has been giving me the business for the last week or two after I said Chacon would win 15 games this season. Only 13 more to go.
The best news from Saturday was that they got the game in at all.

Things didn't look so good driving in from New Jersey, and everybody seemed to think that this game would be rained out before noon.
But some late reports showed a window of decent weather, and it didn't start raining until the sixth. Of course, it was freezing all day, and I felt like I was sitting at a football game in December rather than a baseball game in April.

One more game against the O's before the dreaded Devil Rays come to town on Tuesday. Randy Johnson takes the mound Sunday looking to rebound from his awful outing in Toronto. Baltimore has a good lineup, but I think Randy sticks it to them.

He wants to show the world that he's not hurt, that he's not over the hill and that he should still be considered one of the best in the game. We'll see what happens.
At 8-8, the Yankees haven't set the world on fire, but they're only two out in the standings, so people shouldn't start their annual early-season panic (of course, reading some of the blog comments, it appears that warning may be too late already).

Look at Boston's last two days: Beckett blows a big lead in the eighth, then the Blue Jays hammer the Sox on Saturday. No one in this division is going to run away with anything for quite a while. I'm sure the fans in Boston are starting to shift into panic mode after Saturday's game, and a loss on Sunday will surely throw them over the edge.

It's April, folks. If I'm not panicking over my two terrible fantasy teams and my underachieving home run pool team, there's no reason for anybody else to panic just yet. Trust me on this one.

OK, I officially can't feel my fingers anymore. Time to leave the ice box ..

. I mean the press box.
Every year, when the baseball season is ready to kick off another 162-game campaign, experts from all around the world make their predictions to show everybody how smart they are.

I did it in my first blog entry, picking the Yankees to win their 27th World Series title.
There is no science to these picks, just a gut feeling based on what I saw the teams around the Majors do this winter to make themselves better, and what I think each team's ceiling may be.
I have rarely -- if ever -- gotten these predictions right.

To show you how silly predictions are, I had my 11-month-old son, Ryan, make his picks for the 2006 season. I wrote the names of the teams in each division down on paper, then had Ryan point to the teams he thought would win the division and then the wild card.
DJ, Ryan's buddy in Baltimore, also made his picks.

DJ (right, in the Ravens jersey) is three weeks younger than Ryan, so he probably won't be as good at this. DJ's dad, Danny, has been my archrival in rotisserie baseball and video games since 1987, so it's nice to see our sons competing against each other already.
Just got home from Toronto .

.. what a great feeling.

There's nothing like walking into your house after a road trip.
Good game for the Yankees on Wednesday. Mussina was outstanding, and more importantly, the Yanks managed to win a game without scoring nine or more runs.

Last season, it took until July 3 for them to win a game when scoring three or less runs. Teams have to be able to win those games if they want to go deep into October.
A-Rod certainly seems to have broken out of the funk he was in before the Twins series, homering in each of his last three games.

He's still down on himself, but I don't know if that's ever going to change. He's a perfectionist, and he's not going to hit 1.000 this season.

It's late, so I'm going to cut this a bit short. Not sure if I'll post on Thursday, but Ryan will be making his long-awaited picks. I'll post them by Friday, along with his buddy DJ's picks.

April 20, 2006 | Another tough loss for the Yankees on Tuesday, though this one had a different feel from the others.
A-Rod and Giambi homered in the first, giving them a 4-0 lead. With Randy Johnson coming out for the first, a member of the Toronto media turned to me and said, Damn Yankees.

We were in store for another blowout.
It turned out that we were, only it was the Blue Jays who administered the beating.
The Unit just didn't look like himself.

The swings the Jays were taking were just too good, and every ball -- even the outs -- was smoked. If it weren't for Johnny Damon making three incredible catches, the score would have been even more lopsided.
There was some speculation that Johnson may have been tipping his pitches, which wouldn't surprise me.

The last time I saw every hitter get that kind of swing on a guy was when the Diamondbacks killed Andy Pettitte in Game 6 of the 2001 World Series, and the word then was that he was tipping his pitches, too.
You also have to credit Gustavo Chacin for this win. He was hit hard in the first and did what he had to in order to adjust, holding the Yanks scoreless over the next five innings.

Not many young pitchers hang around after a four-run first, but he did just that. This Blue Jays team should be interesting to watch this season. Solid lineup, good defense .

.. if the pitching can hold up, they'll challenge for a playoff spot.

Torre and Johnson both insist that he has no physical problems, and that he'll be fine for his next start. It will be a big one, especially after he threw just 8 1/3 innings combined in his last two outings.
At least Johnson still has his sense of humor.

After the game, I went up to Randy to ask him if he had a few minutes to chat on Wednesday for a story I'm working on. After telling me he would sit down with me, he smiled and asked, You still want to talk to me after tonight?
One more game in Toronto before we go home for a nice, long homestand.

Like those guys in the Guinness commercials would say, A long homestand? Brilliant!
We're two weeks into the season, and the Yankees are 6-6, two games behind the Red Sox.

It's hard to get excited about much that I've seen thus far, especially when you consider how long the baseball season is.
Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson have done their jobs, Chien-Ming Wang and Shawn Chacon have been inconsistent ..

. though not as inconsistent as the offense. I don't foresee the offense being a problem, though.

This team just has too many weapons to be held down very often.
Sunday's game was a huge one for the Yanks. A loss on Sunday would have meant a sweep at the hands of the Twins, which would have been pretty deflating for the team, especially after the way they lost on Saturday night.

Instead, the Yanks came out and blew the Twins away, .
We're in Toronto now, where we'll get to see the new-look Blue Jays up close. I like what Toronto did this winter, acquiring Troy Glaus and Lyle Overbay to help the offense.

The pitching moves, we'll have to wait and see. I'm not a big believer in A.J.

Burnett's ability to make a successful move to the AL, but I did like the B.J. Ryan signing -- even if he got more money than anyone thought.

I'll tell you this much ...

I can't wait to get home. I've slept in my own bed about 10 times since mid-February. A nine-game homestand is just what the doctor ordered.

On a separate note, I would like to welcome another one of my colleagues to the land of blogdom. Steve Gilbert, who does a brilliant job covering the Diamondbacks for MLB.com, will be sharing his thoughts with .

Check it out.
(Steve, that will be $20 for the shameless plug. Cash or check, please.

No credit cards.)
Very bad loss for the Yankees tonight. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw Joe Torre this upset about a game.

He had a right to be, since the umps gave the Twins a pretty obvious call for a second straight night.
Friday, it was calling Jorge Posada out at home when he appeared to easily avoid Joe Mauer's tag. Saturday, it was a strikeout of Luis Castillo -- called a check swing -- in the ninth that ended up costing the Yankees the game.

I can't get on umps for a call like the Posada play on Friday. Those things happen. Castillo's check swing looked like an easy strike, but then again, I'm not the one on the field.

What will get lost in this game was the shaky performance of Jaret Wright and the tremendous outing by Scott Proctor. I'm willing to give Wright the benefit of the doubt, as he had pitched just once in relief this season and hasn't been able to get any regular work. Let's see what he can do when he gets the ball every five days -- if that happens at all.

As for Proctor, he threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Wright, giving the Yanks the chance to mount their comeback. Proctor was in line for his second win of the season before Mariano blew the save, and if he keeps pitching the way he has this season, he's going to make it very tough for the Yankees to send him back down to the Minors when Aaron Small, Octavio Dotel and Carl Pavano return from the disabled list.
Regardless, what would have been a great win for the Yankees turned into a crushing loss, and how they bounce back Sunday will say a lot about this team.

Last year, losses like this seemed to send the Yanks into a funk, and avoiding another bad start will be crucial for the 2006 team.
On a personal note, I will remember this game for an encounter with T.C, the Twins' mascot.

For those of you who may not be familiar with T.C., he is a giant bear.

That photo (courtesy of Pete Abe's camera phone) is me and T.C. in the press box tonight, just moments after he nearly spilled a drink on me and almost crushed my laptop.

He apologized, marking the first time a bear has ever told me he was sorry. I forgive you, T.C.

You're all right with me.
Johnny Damon was sitting in the clubhouse before Saturday's game, eating a cheeseburger for lunch while watching the Red Sox game on TV.
Wily Mo Pena came to the plate, prompting one reporter to point out that Bronson Arroyo, who was traded to the Reds this spring, had more home runs than Pena -- the outfielder for whom he was traded.

Damon acknowledged that fact, then realized that Pena wasn't the only hitter trailing Arroyo and his two homers.
He has more than me, too, Damon said.
We're only 10 games into the season, yet an alarming trend is starting to become all too familiar.

The Yankees are 5-5. In their five wins, they have scored 55 runs, averaging 11 per game. In their five losses, they have scored 11 runs -- total.

Not good.
This offense has the ability to do great things this season, but if they continue this feast-or-famine thing they have going right now, it's not going to translate into as many wins as it should.
That they lost to some kid named Scott Baker shouldn't surprise many of you.

Over the past few years, the Yankees have had their share of trouble against a pitcher they are seeing for the first time. Gustavo Chacin, Zack Greinke, Billy Traber -- we've seen it time and time again. For Baker to go out and allow one run on three hits in seven innings, it happens.

This guy did beat out Francisco Liriano for the fifth starter spot, and many people consider Liriano to be one of the top pitching prospects in the game.
Hard to say what to expect on Saturday. Johan Santana never presents an easy challenge for the Yanks, but they have handed beatings to the two former Cy Young winners they have faced on the road this year.

Santana is a better pitcher at this point than either of the others, at least against the Yankees. New York throws Jaret Wright, another one that's hard to predict.

You can relax, Yankees fans .

.. Randy Johnson is fine.

Johnson laughed when reporters asked him how he felt on Friday, saying he wasn't stiff during his start on Thursday, but rather tired. He said he hit a wall in the fifth inning, so he decided to hand the ball over to the bullpen to put away the lowly Royals.
The Big Unit will start on Tuesday in Toronto.

Hopefully he'll get a good night's sleep on Monday.
The other news pregame came when the Yanks announced they had called up lefty Matt Smith from Columbus, designating catcher Koyie Hill for assignment (we hardly knew ya, Koyie).
Smith, a 26-year-old southpaw, was genuinely excited to walk into the visitor's clubhouse at the Metrodome.

Covering the Yankees, you don't get to see too many rookies walk into a big-league clubhouse for the first time, so this was kind of cool.
Smith grew up in Las Vegas rooting for West Coast teams, but his dad, David, has been a Yankees fan since the Mantle Maris days, when he would listen to games on the radio in Texas.
When Smith found out that he was getting the call to the Majors on Thursday night, he called his father right away.

For a few minutes, he thought that he had made a big mistake.
He was a mess, Smith said. I told him not to have a heart attack.

He was having a hard time breathing, and I'm thinking, 'I don't want to kill my dad!'
David and Sydnee (Smith's mom) won't make it to Minnesota for Smith's first game as a big-leaguer, but I'm sure they'll be tuned in somehow. At least Smith talked his father out of his original plan.

He always threatened that if I got to the big-leagues, he would buy an RV and follow me wherever I went, Smith said. I kind of shut down that plan.
The other mistake Smith made was not listening to his Triple-A manager, Dave Miley, when it came to packing for road trips.

Miley told his players to always bring a suit on the road with them, because you never know when you may get that call to report to the Yankees.
Figuring it was still just the second week of the season, Smith left his suit at Columbus. Now he'll have to go shopping on Saturday for a new one, because he'll be on the team charter to Toronto on Sunday night.

I should have packed it, Smith said. I'll be more than happy to go to the mall tomorrow.
Hello again, everybody.

Haven't checked in for the past two days, as I've been handling things at home in between Passover seders. No bread for the next six days. Not an easy task in ballpark press boxes.

Watched a little of the Yankees' last two games, and they went as expected. This offense is just too much for a pitching staff like Kansas City's to handle. As for the Yanks' pitching, I still think it will be just fine.

Chacon gave up more than he should have against the Royals, but let's not forget that Reggie Sanders is a legitimate big-league hitter. Giving up a home run to him is hardly an embarrassment. He did sit down 11 of 12 after the homer, which was a good sign.

I still say he wins 15 games.
Randy Johnson hasn't walked a batter in three starts this year. As long as his shoulder is OK, he's going to be hard to beat if his command continues to be as sharp as it has been.

Arrived in Minnesota this morning. A weekend at the Dome ..

. at least there won't be rain.
Anybody that watched Tuesday's home opener knows this about the Yankees: You can add all the superstars you want, from A-Rod to Giambi to Sheffield to Matsui to Damon.

You can bring in Randy Johnson, sign Mike Mussina ...

heck, you can bring Roger Clemens back. This is Derek Jeter's team.
Jeter came through with another big moment on Tuesday, crushing a three-run homer in the eighth inning to lift the Yanks to a win over the Royals.

Several players had a chance to be the hero for New York, but, as always, it was Jeter who came through with the big moment.
Jeter will never post the gaudy numbers that A-Rod, Sheff or Giambi will. He'll never be the middle-of-the-lineup force that makes pitchers shake in their pants.

But he will always be the guy that Yankees fans want up with the game on the line. And I can't blame them.
As excited as I've been about Mike Mussina's first two outings, I'm a little perplexed by Chien-Ming Wang's start.

He looks lethal at times, inducing one ground ball after another (eight of the first nine outs on Tuesday were groundouts), but then he seems to lose it for an inning and gets hit around. He's going to have to be more consistent and limit the damage if he's going to be a winning pitcher in this league.
I am off the next two days (yes, even baseball writers get days off .

.. we don't all work 162, you know), but I'll check in here with some thoughts.

After seven weeks of Spring Training and a week on the left coast, I'm finally home ...

for four whole days.
Spent a nice day at home with Ryan on Monday, did some things around the house and caught up on some stuff on my TiVo (West Wing's two-episode Election Day was tremendous). Stayed as far away from my laptop as possible, though I did file a quick mailbag.

Speaking of mailbags, I'll be doing them every other Monday during the season. Feel free to leave comments here at Mark It Down, but you can also send mailbag questions to me at if you want to see them in future mailbags.
It's Opening Day in the Bronx today, and the weather is perfect.

Hopefully the game can live up to it.
Bob Sheppard will miss his first home opener since he started working for the team in 1951, as he threw out his left hip last night at his home. He'll be back for the next homestand, with his backup, Jim Hall, taking over during his absence.

Take a listen to him if you can. He sounds eerily like Sheppard. It's a little creepy.

The pregame festivities included the same standards that have been part of the home opener for the past few years. A flyover, Yogi throwing out the first pitch, etc. At some places, doing the same thing every year could grow tiresome, but the fans here never seem to get tired of seeing Yogi trot out there.

I'll check back later. Thank you and enjoy the game.
Just as Randy Johnson predicted, the sun came up on Sunday.

And with it, the Yankees' offense exploded against the Angels, battering Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon for eight runs in two-plus innings of a 10-1 win.
All is right in Yankeeland again. Right?

The team returns to the Bronx now, where they'll host the Royals for three games this week before heading back on the road. Sunday's game was certainly a nice way for them to head into the off-day, as they can think of the offensive explosion.
But like I said last week, the best news for the Yankees from today's game has to be the performance of Mike Mussina.

Yeah, he had a huge lead, but he pitched well, allowing one run over six innings. He could have pitched deeper into the game, but why would he? With a huge lead, Torre had an opportunity to get Farnsworth, Proctor and Rivera -- yes, Mariano Rivera still pitches for the Yankees -- into the game to get some work.

Does anybody else find it strange that the two games this week in which the Yankees broke out for 25 total runs were against former Cy Young winners? It amazes me how some pitchers in this league just can't pitch well against the Yankees, and Zito and Colon are two of the primary culprits.
Time to head to the airport for an overnight red-eye flight home.

The day off means I get to hang out with Ryan all day, and he'll be making his picks for the season. Check back for his predictions, along with those of his buddy, D.J.

The sun will come out...

They can't hit.

It's amazing to write those three words, but since their 15-run outburst on Opening Day, the Yankees have managed just 10 runs in four losses.
I know, I know. The sky is falling.

Spare me. I've heard this too many times from Yankees fans, including close friends and family members. No, 1-4 isn't the record that any team wants to have at this point, but it's April 9.

They had the same record in 1998, and people were calling for Torre's head. How did that work out?
The White Sox (1-4) have lost four straight games and the Phillies (0-4) are winless for the season.

Do you think fans in Chicago are panicking just yet? No. Do you think fans in Philly believe that their beloved Phils will go winless in 2006?

Well, maybe that's a bad example.
The Tigers (5-0) and Brewers (5-0) are the only undefeated teams in the Majors. Anybody out there honestly believe that either of these teams will finish with better records than the Yankees and White Sox?

I don't, either. And I picked Jim Leyland to win Manager of the Year, so obviously I believe Detroit will have a good year.
I'll equate the Yankees right now to my team in the beat writers' home run pool.

I know my team has plenty of talent (Big Papi, Aramis Ramirez, Soriano, Bonds, Justin Morneau and Grady Sizemore), but it's off to a slow start. I'm not ready to throw in the towel, and neither are the Yankees.
Mussina vs.

Colon on Sunday. It's going to be a tough day for the Yankees again, but they have a history of hitting Colon well. I have no idea what to expect, but one of these days, they're going to explode again.

The best line I heard all night came from Randy Johnson, who put this four-game skid in perspective.
To say our offense isn't going to come around is like saying that the sun's not going to come up tomorrow.
We're in Southern California.

I'm pretty sure the sun will be out on Sunday.

Pretty tame pregame tonight, as most people in the clubhouse were watching Tiger, Mickelson, Campbell and Els at . I know it's cliche to root for Tiger, but I always do.

I just love watching him play when he's on his game.
During his pregame media session, Joe Torre shared his experience of playing at Augusta National in December 1992, when he was still managing the Cardinals. Torre, who played two rounds at Augusta, said he also once attended the practice round of The Masters, which is one of the toughest tickets in sports to get your hands on.

It's like being in a museum, Torre said. That's what it felt like. We spent the night in one of the cabins, then played again the next day.

According to Torre, he parred the first hole and did the same at Amen Corner, shooting about a 94 on the day.
Had a nice lunch with Jeremy at . They need to open one of those in New York.

Actually, for my cholesterol's sake, it's probably better that they don't. Jeremy told me that comes out April 28, so you all have to go see it. It's not very often I have friends in movies with John Malkovich and Anjelica Huston, so I have to hype it up.

It's also directed by , who directed Bad Santa.
Nothing much to report Yankee-wise tonight. At least not yet.

Bernie's out of the lineup, Posada is the DH and Stinnett is starting behind the plate for the first time. Randy's on the mound, so it should be an entertaining game as always.
OK, so that didn't go quite as well for Chacon as I thought it would, but he didn't pitch badly.

Orlando Cabrera hit a low, inside sinker which he said after the game he thought was going to hit him, but instead, he hit it out of the park. Go figure. Chacon seemed just as surprised that Cabrera would be able to take that ball deep.

Vlad, maybe, but not Cabrera.
This game wasn't as bad as the last two for the Yankees, because, quite frankly, the Angels are a very good team. Kelvim Escobar looks like he's better than ever, and could be primed for a big year.

The Halos play good defense, and their bullpen is awesome. I know I picked the A's to win the AL West, and I'm not about to change that, but I may have made a mistake there.
The Yanks basically had one shot tonight, and that was Sheff's at-bat with the bases loaded in the seventh.

On most nights, Sheff comes through with some kind of hit there, but the way things were going tonight, you could see he was thinking about the grand slam that would have put them ahead, 5-4. He almost corkscrewed himself into the ground. That's how hard he swung.

I know that many of you Yankees fans out there are panicking, fuming and thinking, Here we go again after the last three games. It's 1-3, not 1-30. Wait a little longer before you're ready to revamp the entire roster.

If there was any good news tonight for the Bombers, it was the bullpen. Villone, Sturtze and Myers pitched very well, tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings behind Chacon. Like I said the other day, this bullpen isn't as bad as it was in the first two losses.

They just have to get in some games, find a rhythm and throw strikes. It will happen.
Another night game at Angel Stadium on Saturday.

Having lunch with my old friend, , who has done what many dream of -- he's made a career as a working actor in L.A.
He's in a movie that comes out later this year called , and he has appeared on shows such as King of Queens, ER and NYPD Blue.

We go back to 1980, so it will be nice to see him. He just shot an episode of Alias, which is one of my favorite shows. Hopefully he'll have some good stories for me.

Drove down to West Hollywood this morning to meet my step-brother, Steven, for breakfast. Went to a little hole in the wall called , which was excellent. Everybody in there looked like an aspiring actor, producer or director, with industry talk buzzing from every table.

I felt like I was in a deleted scene from . Then again, I'm sure we could have gone anywhere in the area and that would have been the case.
One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the opportunity for celebrity sightings.

This morning was no different, as I spotted , aka Steve Sanders, from . That show's heyday was during my last two years of high school and first few years of college, yet that guy still looks EXACTLY the same. Good for him.

One of my least favorite things about L.A. is the traffic, which is insane.

I drove back from Hollywood to Anaheim at 11:15 am, and the freeway was jammed. Don't these people work? They all can't be covering the game tonight.

I don't get it.
Chacon takes the mound tonight against the Angels, and I'm excited to see him pitch. I think he's going to have a great year, winning at least 15 games.

He really impressed me last year, and I think he has both the stuff and the guts to succeed in New York.
Arrived in Anaheim, the sun is shining, yet here I am in my hotel room, obsessing over the just-released .
Let's get it out in the open.

I'm a football junkie. Baseball is my livelihood and I don't think there's a greater game in the world, but football is the one sport left that I can watch like an idiot fan. And anybody who has watched a Redskins game with me knows that I play the role of idiot fan to perfection.

Yes, I'm a fan. I grew up in New York, but some of my family was from the DC area. My Grandpa Danny was a big Skins fan, and he turned me on to Theismann, Riggo and the Hogs at a very young age.

Fast forward about 25 years, and I'm now a season-ticket holder at FedEx Field. I even bought my son, Ryan, his first Skins jersey last fall. He was seven-months-old at the time.

Can't start them too young. I'm guessing this year may bring a Moss jersey his way, but that won't be determined for about five more months.
So, I'm sitting in the Oakland airport this morning around 11:15, when I realize that the schedule was released 15 minutes ago.

I immediately call my boy Goldstein back in Boston, and tell (not ask, tell) him to go online and read me the Skins schedule.
Week 1: Vikings
-- Monday night home game to start the season. Awesome.

That it comes against the Vikes makes it even better, since my buddy Ben out in L.A. is a native Minnesotan who will be so mad when my team beats his.

Week 2: at Cowboys
-- Wow. The second week of the season and we have Washington-Dallas on national TV, part of NBC's new Sunday night package. Let me tell you how I feel about the Cowboys.

Over the past decade, the NFC East has seen teams take their turns as the dominant team in the division. I have plenty of friends who are Giants fans, and several who are Eagles fans. As strong as my dislike for those two teams are, they simply can't match the feelings I have for Dallas, which, with the addition of , is now easily the most hatable team in sports.

I know a few Cowboys fans, including MLB.com's own Jesse Sanchez and John Schlegel, who had to hear me talk a lot of smack last season after the Skins swept the Boys for the first time in what seemed like 78 years.
On a side note, the Yankees play the Red Sox that day as well, so Sept.

17 will now be known as Rivalry Day.
Week 3: at Texans
-- Last year, the Skins went 0-4 against the AFC, losing to the Chiefs, Broncos, Chargers and Raiders. If that happens again this year, I may not be watching by Week 4.

I am excited to see Reggie Bush against my team, but hopefully he won't mistake the Skins for Stanford. My boy Berman thinks the Texans will be nasty with Moulds, Johnson, Bush and Dom Davis ..

. but until they get an O-Line to protect Carr, it's going to be the same old story.
Week 4: Jaguars
-- Another winnable game against an AFC team, and Mark Brunell (assuming he's still the QB) will have a shot to take on his former team.

This is the final day of baseball's regular season, so I'm guessing I won't be seeing much of this one.
Week 5: at Giants
-- This game will take place about 10 miles from my house, but chances are I'll be somewhere covering a playoff game. This has NFL Gametracker written all over it.

My boy Sadofsky will probably talk a lot of trash before this game. That much I know.
My biggest fear about this game is that it will be LaVar Arrington's first game against the Skins.

LaVar, who has been my favorite player since the moment he was drafted, hasn't signed anywhere yet, but the Giants' name keeps popping up. If the football gods like me at all, this won't happen.
Week 6: Titans
-- This could be my chance to see Matt Leinart up close, though I still think another team will trade up to get him at No.

2 in the draft. The Titans don't excite me this year, so the Skins should be able to win this one.
Week 7: at Colts
-- Oh boy.

Edgerrin James is gone, but this will be the Redskins' biggest test of the season. Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne ..

. yikes. This is the fourth and final AFC game for Washington, so I'll take a 3-1 mark.

Carolina also plays Cincinnati this week, so Steve Smith and Chad Johnson can try to out-celebrate each other.
Week 8: Bye
-- Would be the day of Game 7 of the World Series. Thanks, NFL.

Week 9: Cowboys
-- The Skins didn't get a look at T.O. last year, as he was already suspended by the Eagles before the two teams met.

Hopefully he makes it to this game, because I want to see him in person. If I get lucky, this will be the day that he and Parcells have their inevitable explosion and all of the Eagles and 49ers fans in the world can sit back and laugh hysterically.
Week 10: at Eagles
-- Last year was fun, watching the Eagles collapse and go through a disastrous season.

My dear friends Fink and Matty B. both passed it off as nothing more than the T.O.

situation combined with McNabb's injury, which certainly played into it. To me, I think they were just due for a clunker. McNabb is overrated, Westbrook isn't a big-time RB and they still haven't replaced T.

O. I'm seeing 7-9, which would be a lot of fun.
T-Cup of the Times should also be happy with the scheduling, as baseball season will be over and he won't have to see my smiling face when the Skins beat the Birds.

Then again, how much of an Eagles fan can he be if he has Portis on his fantasy team? You wouldn't catch me dead with a dirty Bird on my roster.
Week 11: at Buccaneers
-- My feelings for the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys is just part of what it means to be a Skins fan.

My feelings for the Bucs, now that's purely personal. My boy Stern has been a Bucs fan since we were kids, and watching them win the Super Bowl a few years back, I felt good for him. But our teams have had some really memorable games against each other, two of which were among the more heartbreaking losses I've seen in recent years.

There was the 14-13 playoff loss back in 2000, when the Skins botched a snap on a potential game-winning field goal. Then there was the 36-35 loss last season, when Jon Gruden decided to go for two at the end of the game rather than kick the extra point for the tie, forcing OT. Mike Alstott didn't cross the goal line, but the officials said he did.

Stern was standing in my living room and I've never wanted someone out of my house that badly.
If someone told me that the Skins were going to go 1-15 this year, this would be the game I wanted to be the lone victory. That it will simply be one of 11 or 12 wins makes it even better.

Week 12: Panthers
-- This game kicks off a three-game stretch at home. The Panthers should be good again, though it will depend on DeShaun Foster staying healthy. They don't have Stephen Davis anymore (another one of my favorites .

.. his #48 jersey is on the pile with Arrington's #56 and Terry Allen's #21), but with Steve Smith, Jake Delhomme and Foster, this game scares me in the same kind of way the Colts game scares me.

Week 13: Falcons
-- People will continue to make a big deal about the Falcons because of Michael Vick. I don't get it. He's an incredible athlete, but will never be a big-time winning NFL QB.

Same goes with Vince Young, who single-handedly destroyed my Trojans in the Rose Bowl. People forget that college defenses just aren't nearly as good as NFL defenses.
Week 14: Eagles
-- I don't know how many games I'll get to this year, but this will be one of them.

My boy Fink is moving to DC, and we have already made plans to attend the Skins-Eagles game on an annual basis. This is probably the only game I would even consider close to having the personal meaning that the Bucs game has. My Skins won't disappoint me.

Week 15: at Saints
-- I assume that by this time, the Skins will have clinched their playoff spot, but it's nice to have a favorable game scheduled this late in the year. Last year, the Skins closed out their season with three straight division games, and whether teams are good or bad in the NFC East, the games are always crazy.
Week 16: at Rams
-- Celebrate Christmas Eve with another game against a below-average NFC team.

The schedule makers were very kind this year. Merry Christmas to you, schedule makers. Expect a fruitcake if things pan out as I think they will.

Week 17: Giants
-- Now, this is the way to end the season. Saturday night, national television, the only game of the day. Redskins vs.

Giants, hopefully with Washington looking to tune up before its bye week and the Giants trying to save face after a 5-10 start. I know a lot of you Yankees fans out there are also Giants fans, so I expect some colorful e-mails and comments. What can I say?

It's who I am.
More baseball tomorrow. Yanks-Angels is always an entertaining weekend, and I expect nothing less over the next three days.

The first series of the season is over, and it didn't turn out quite as well as the Yankees had hoped it would.
The first game went as well as it possibly could have, as the offense exploded for 15 runs and Randy Johnson pitched seven solid innings. Things looked bright for the Yanks, but the next two days revealed some of the same flaws the 2005 team battled throughout the season.

Too many runners left in scoring position, untimely walks by relievers, shaky defense ...

it was all there. New York left Oakland on Wednesday night with a 1-2 record, but let's remember that the '98 team was 1-4 before winning 114 games, and last year's team was a dreadful 11-19 before winning another division title.
-- Mike Mussina looked good on Tuesday night, which may be the best news for the Yankees this week.

He mixed his pitches up in classic Mussina fashion, and as the season goes on, his fastball will gain a couple mph. Mussina still has the stuff to be successful in this league, he just needs to stay healthy.
-- Joe Torre can't be afraid to use his bullpen.

I'm not going to sit here and say he should have had Mariano Rivera in either of the tie games on Tuesday or Wednesday, because that would have meant using him for two innings on either day. No game in the first week of the season is worth the risk of blowing out Rivera's arm, so saving the rare two-inning games for the ones against Boston or the games in September is fine with me. You have to look at the big picture when it comes to this stuff, which is exactly what Joe did.

However, the idea that you can't use the other relievers on back-to-back days isn't going to work. When you have off-days on Thursday and Monday, there shouldn't be an issue when it comes to throwing Farnsworth, Villone or Myers in consecutive games. Sturtze is a different situation, since he was worn out by the second half of 2005, but the other guys don't have the same problems.

I didn't have as much of a problem with Proctor being put into the game on Tuesday, especially after the great spring he had. I know he's gone through a lot this week, but he was prepared to pitch. He walked a guy, and it cost him.

It happens. Personally, I would have let Farnsworth go back out for the ninth on Tuesday, since he had only thrown 10 pitches.
The bullpen situation will shake out eventually, it may just take some time.

Octavio Dotel will also be back in about six weeks, which should help immeasurably.
-- Oakland's pitching is really, really good. Throw out Zito's eyesore of a pitching line, he's still a solid starter.

Harden is one of the best young pitchers in the game and he's only getting better, while Haren impressed me by keeping his cool after Sheff hit that bomb.
Their bullpen is solid, with former Devil Rays/Rockies punching bag Joe Kennedy, Justin Duchscherer (a nightmare of a name to spell) and Huston Street providing a nice 1-2-3 punch.
If the A's offense can carry its share of the load, Oakland will go far this season.

The Yankees should be happy they don't come back to the Coliseum this year.
-- Some Yankees fans can be really insane, overreact to the strangest things and start to panic at the slightest sign of trouble.
Bradley's triple wasn't even over Damon's head yet when my e-mail box chimed with a note from Arizona's biggest Yankees fan, Joe G.

He wanted to know why Wright was in the game instead of Farnsworth (though I bet he wanted to know why Farnsworth was in the game just a little while later instead of someone else), and he blamed Torre for everything, which seems to be the standard line for many fans these days.
Relax, people. It's three games.

If they were 2-1, you'd all be in a much better mood. Is 1-2 and 2-1 really a big deal? I don't see it.

The NFL schedule will be released on Thursday afternoon. With no Yankees game to blog about, I have a feeling we'll be addressing some pigskin.
Anaheim is up next.

Flight leaves in about 10 hours. Better get some sleep.
As I stated in my initial posting on this blog, this space won't be dedicated solely to the Yankees and the world of baseball.

Life on a baseball beat means spending plenty of time traveling, with much of that time coming in airports and on planes.
With that in mind, my portable DVD player has become one of my best friends. Movies are a great way to pass the time in the air, especially on these cross-country flights.

A good movie can also provide memorable quotes, and those come in handy to help pass the time during those long hours at the ballpark.
Last year was a Wedding Crashers year. I went to see a matinee in Anaheim on a 100-degree day, since I had no interest in being outside if I didn't have to be.

Bordo (of the Daily News), T-Cup (of the New York Times), Glinda (of the YES Network) and I went to see this instant classic, and it didn't disappoint.
We spent about two hours laughing until it hurt, then spent the rest of the day (and several of the next weeks) recounting some of our favorite lines:
* It's very difficult trying to read the situation and all the while you're just really wondering, 'Are we gonna get hopped enough to make some bad decisions?'
* It's the first quarter of the big game and you want to toss up a Hail Mary!

I'd like to be pimps from Oakland or cowboys from Arizona, but it's not Halloween!
* I was first team, all-state. I can put the ball wherever I want to.

I'll make it rain out here.
* Let's put all the cards on the table. She's fit for a straitjacket.

This broad's f****d three ways towards the weekend. And you wanna know what? I dig it!

It turns me on!
Those are just a few of our favorites. Feel free to chime in with your own personal highlights.

On the flight out from Newark on Sunday, I watched The 40-Year-Old Virgin for the first time. Tremendous flick, very funny, and Steve Carrell gives a hilarious performance.
I'll rank it up there with Old School (our 2003 staple), Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball (2004) and Anchorman (2004) in terms of pure comedy.

My pal Stern used to tell me I was the target audience for all things in pop culture, and in this case, he's right. When you put a combination of Vince Vaughn, Owen and Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller together, you're going to get me to fork over the $10 to check it out.
I have to add Paul Rudd to that list now, too, as his performances in Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin have been tremendous.

We'll go through some quotes from these other movies in future blog postings. I can't get enough of them, and everybody has their own favorite. I look forward to hearing some of yours.

OK, so my promise to not mention the Rivera-Wagner thing is now being broken. Sue me.
This story has really made people -- Mets fans, in particular -- angry.

The two pitchers have both been using the song since 1999, though some people date it back to 1997 for Wagner.
Here's my official stance: I don't really care.
I like the song.

I like hearing it when Rivera comes out of the bullpen, and when I'm at Shea for three games this year, I'll like hearing it when Wagner comes out to pitch. It's on my iPod. Good song.

Silly story.
My best friend in elementary school was Evan Sandman. Maybe he uses it when he walks into work.

That would be funny.
If Wagner wants to use it, terrific. Maybe all 30 closers in baseball can use it.

Then I could hear it every day. So there you have it. NOW, I will make an attempt to never mention this story again.

Oct. 13, 2001. AP Photo / Ben Margot

Watching Mike Mussina pitch against the A's at Oakland Coliseum, I can't help but to think back to of the and the show he put on that night.

That was the night that Mussina, faced with the prospect of the Yankees being swept out of the playoffs in his first season in New York, went out and battled toe-to-toe with Barry Zito.
Mussina allowed four hits over seven shutout innings, while Zito allowed just two hits on the night. Unfortunately for the lefty, one of them was Jorge Posada's solo homer, which was enough to give the Yankees a 1-0 win.

I think Jeter made some kind of important flip play that night, too.
That game has to rank among the best -- if not THE best -- that I have ever witnessed in person. Everything about it was memorable, and it set up one of the wildest postseasons I've ever seen.

I remember thinking on the cross-country flight before Game 3 that I would probably be turning around and heading back home the very next day. The Yankees just seemed like a beaten team. And remember, this was just weeks after 9/11, so flying across the country wasn't very high on my list of things I wanted to do.

Of course, the Yankees went on to win the series in five games, then they dismantled the 116-win Mariners in the before losing to the D-Backs in seven of the craziest games ever (that's another topic for another time). For those of you counting at home, that was 8 cross-country flights in the span of 3 weeks. Fun stuff.

As for Mussina, I know he may not be the same pitcher he was in 2001 or even in 2004. But I still think he's got something left in the tank. Many fans I have spoken with are very concerned about his ability to make it through the season, but for some reason, I'm not.

I see 14-16 wins with an ERA under 4.00. He's pitched pretty well tonight in his first outing of the season.

Of all the free agent acquisitions the Yankees have made since I've covered the team, I think has been the best. Yes, he has had some elbow problems the past two years, but he has been pretty consistent for them through good times and bad. I think Yankee fans will miss him when he's finally gone.

Well, the Rivera-Wagner controversy worked its way into the clubhouse today, resulting in one of the sillier interview sessions of all-time.
Rivera was asked about Wagner's use of as his entrance music, and Mo couldn't help but laugh out loud. As it turns out, both players started using the music in 1999, so neither really has a leg up on the other.

Rivera just had the chance to use it in several postseasons, so more people know about it. According to my colleague Alyson Footer, there isn't a person in Houston who doesn't think of Wagner when they hear the Metallica song.
Rivera certainly didn't care that Wagner used the song, and he doesn't think he'll get confused if he hears the song at Shea during the Subway Series.

I don't mind it at all, said Mo. If the guy feels comfortable using the song, let him be.
This is the last you will hear of this controversy on this blog.

I promise.