Friday Night, Bright Highlights

-The last three days, for the Yankees, have featured two games and an off day in dirty Cleveland. The two games were polar opposites, with the staff's ace getting shellacked by the Jays on Wednesday, followed by The Big Phil and Jah-bah shutting down the Tribe. There are tons of interesting newsworthy sprinkles garnishing the team's universe these last few days, so for this post I'll go for a brief rundown:

The suspensions that resulted from Tuesday's shenanigans were inevitable, but they still feel like an exercise in futility. The Jays' bloodthirst should have been quenched on Monday. If the Jays felt as though they still needed revenge because Luis Vizcaino plunked Matt Stairs in the 8th inning of Monday's game, they're a bigger bunch of mindless thugs than they already come across as. The pseudo-fisticuffs Tuesday and Clemens' plunking of Rios spurred a lot of interesting little sidenotes:
1. Josh Towers, of the sparkling career 4.95 ERA, is I'm sure exactly who the Jays want to represent their fine organization by drilling A-Rod after the fact, jawing at he and Tony Pena on the field, and then ripping Tony Pena in the papers for quitting on the Royals. It's like J.P. Ricciardi has scripts prepared during games so his players can carry out his shit-talking bravura act in the press.

2. Brian Butterfield being angry about Shelley Duncan and Johnny Damon's slides probably means there'll be more beanballs the next time these two teams meet, or perhaps this time they'll try to take out Cano or Jeter's legs around 2nd base. Undoubtedly the Jays will still be hovering around .500 and saying they're still in the race, so it will be chalked up to heated competition, instead of overall organizational incompetence combined with frustration due to the horribly volatile personalities of the team, its manager and General Manager.

-More importantly, though, the Yankees got out of the Great White North relatively intact save for Alex's "sore calf" that I'm sure was expertly tended to by a combination of Gene Monahan and the classy dancers at Toronto's finest gentleman's club. Chien-Ming getting spanked was due sooner or later due to his strike-throwing/lack of Ks tendencies.

-The big story, overall, on this Friday evening, is the performance turned in by the two rookies on the mound at Jacobs Field. Dr. Fausto has seen his shine dim slightly as the season has progressed, and despite the #3 and #5 hitters' insistence on trying to hit into double plays as much as possible, the offense gave Franchise Phil enough of a cushion.

-Both Phil and Joba experienced their first taste of important performances, and it would seem as though the flavors agreed with both their palettes. There will be bigger games and stickier situations to come for these guys, but the pressure has to begin building somewhere.

-The news that brightened my evening above all, though, is that there is an actual major league team interested in taking the plunge and acquiring Kei Igawa. The San Diego Padres, just dismissing Boomer Bad Back Big Gut Wells, have put a claim in on Kei Igawa, which apparently translates to "Eternally Hittable" from Japanese to English. The Times says the Yankees are trying to make sure they don't get nothing back in a potential deal since they've already lost the $26 million posting fee for Kei's dis-services. Honestly, Brian Cashman could get the proverbial pu-pu platter of the "player to be named later/cash considerations" variety, and it has to be scored as a monumental victory considering the signing was beginning to look like a total albatross around the GM's neck for the years to come.

-So to sum up, this Friday August 10th featured a dominant performance from the two brightest and youngest arms in the Yankees universe, an escape from The Kei Igawa Era before the year 2012, Joe Torre being able to enjoy his suspension accompanied by Mike Fratello and a nice Starbucks iced coffee from the friendly confines of a luxury box, and the offense continuing its steady performance against a pitcher not belittled by having the logo of the teams from K.C., T.B. or Toronto on the front of his jersey.

Plus, Boston lost, thanks to their much-revered bullpen imploding, leaving the AL East deficit at 5 games. And Detroit continues to scuffle. The playoff picture is still extremely cloudy in the Yanks' proverbial crystal ball, but the beginning of this pivotal stretch of the season makes it easier to prognosticate positively going forward.