Ladies and gentlemen

[DaveinMD]

Your first place NY Yankees.

I loved typing that.

[JohnKleeb]

1. Meh

But the AL east has return to a competiveness
the second place team is a half game out
the third is a game out
So tommorow night, it could be either of those three back in first place. I am just glad Erik Bedard is back and pitching well.

[DaveinMD]

2. I know

but its been a long climb back. And we are mashing. And Wang isn't out for the year just yet.

[JohnKleeb]

5. I have to give them credit, I thought they were dead

I wanted it too, but I am more happy with the fact that the Orioles are on the right track again, hopefully this offseason the Orioles will work on pitching, I dont want them to make the John Hart Texas mistake and get just offense, offense is great but its pitching ultimately that saves the day.

[Telly Savalas]

9. And the 4th place team is only 5 and half out.

That's as close or closer than the 2nd place team in 4 of the other 5 divisions. A division title may be unlikely, but they're not out of the hunt yet either.

[JohnKleeb]

10. Oh yeah the Jays too,

amazing isnt it, hey maybe the Jays can be a spoiler against the Sox and Yanks, that would be sweet so while you guys ruin them, we can sneak in to first place.

[Telly Savalas]

11. We're 8-3 against the Bosox.

So some spoiling is already being done.

[JohnKleeb]

12. nice

how about the yanks, we're 13-9 combined against both of them, I think you guys are the ones who have given us the most trouble in the division.

[Telly Savalas]

14. I believe it's 5-5, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

If memory serves correct, the O's hammered the Jays early in the season, but in their last meeting, the Jays took the 4 game series 3-1.

[Badger1]

3. Just shovel in more money

and just mabey they could stay on top. What a bunch of crap.

[DaveinMD]

4. their turnaround

isn't driven by money. Cano makes league minimum. The Sox have the second highest payroll. What crap right back at you.

[Badger1]

6. Second highest behind who?

[DaveinMD]

8. money does not guarantee success

plenty high payroll teams fall on their face. And plenty of low payroll teams win. Just sour grapes from you.

[JohnKleeb]

7. To be fair to the Bronx Bastards

I hate their fucking guts but theyve been doing well with players like Cano who arent big name free agents, theyve won since they didnt give up at the end of mid May which is right when we began our struggle here in B-more, now I attribute hte O's struggle to losing Bedard who pitched a great game tonight on his first game since May whatever.

[OneBlueSky]

13. if you want to talk about winning despite injuries . . .

the Yankees are the case in point . . . four starters (Wright, Pavano, Brown, and Wang) have been on the DL, and the patching they've done has not been with money (i.e. Cano, Wang, and now Al Leiter, who cost them all of four hundred grand) . . . fortunately, they have the bats to carry them (or at least tread water) until they can get a couple more consistent starters, either from the DL or in trade . . . hate 'em if you will, but what they've done thusfar in spite of injuries is pretty remarkable . . .

oh, yeah . . . one more thing . . . the fact that the Sox and the O's didn't take the opportunity to bury the Yanks when they had the chance will come back to haunt them in the second half . . .