We’re all familiar with the old “two steps forward, one step back” adage, but the 2007 Yankees have introduced us to a whole new level of the unfortunate cliché. With the constant barrage of injuries and their roller coaster style of falling behind and then attempting to make come-backs, I believe the phrase should be modified to something more along the lines of “one player healed, 9213 more important team members down” or “three games won, 2 lost against crappier teams” to better suit the state of affairs. At this point in the season one might think I’d be getting used to all the setbacks and become more cautious about assuming the team is finally running into a stroke or two of good luck, but apparently I have learned nothing from the past 5 months, as I continue to be amazed by the ridiculous maladies affecting the team time after time. After sweeping the Sox last week the Yankees quickly followed that positive step with injuries to not one but two key components of the team with the Injury Gods striking Dandy Andy P. down with a broken hand (thanks, Jason Hammel) that will require surgery and over a month of recovery time and sidelining Old Man Rocket with elbow problems (which he somehow tried to blame on a blister in his foot) for at least one start.

This is not good news, my friends, not good at all. The glory of the September extended rosters is supposed to bring the teams more options, and yet here it is September 4th and the Yankees have already lost 2 players. Furthermore, the replacements available for these dudes are not exactly primo - Moose will likely take the Rocket’s spot for at least the immediate future, and I have a bad feeling we’ll be seeing more of Jason “Lungemaster” Giambi busting his lunges out over at first base this month. The fact that Ian Kennedy did so well on Saturday in Moose’s spot is a huge relief, because had he been a bust the Cash Man probably would have had to resort to horrible sinking lows like allowing Kei Igawa back into a Yankees uniform at some point. Similarly lucky timing is the return of my boyfriend* and defensive first baseman extraordinaire Dougie Mienticantspellhisname, who has rejoined the roster and can relieve Giambi of some of the defensive duties, but his numbers are nowhere near Phillips’s. As for Kennedy, he obviously has talent and looked great on Saturday, but he does not have the experience (especially if we get to the post-season) of an older pitcher, so who knows how he’ll handle the pressure of these last few weeks?

The one good element I can extract from all of this is a hope that these are our “steps back” and therefore we are due for another step forward… preferably in the form of gaining a sizable lead in the wildcard race this week or maybe a perfect game from Hughes. Whichever.

*that's a lie.