Courtesy of The Daily News' Jesse Spector.

INDIANS: JAKE WESTBROOK (6-9, 4.32 ERA)
In his last six starts of the season, Westbrook was 1-2 with a 4.14 ERA, allowing opponents to post a whopping .309 average. The 30-year-old righthander will be pitching on seven days' rest, and as we saw with Chien-Ming Wang in Game 1, extra rest can be devastating to a sinkerballer. In 36 career games (25 starts) with six or more days' rest, Westbrook is 8-16 with a 4.92 ERA. He has faced the Yankees 10 times in his career, going 2-4 with a 5.29 ERA. The 11 Yankees who have faced Westbrook in their careers are a combined 49-for-152 (.322) with seven homers, including two apiece by Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada.

YANKEES: ROGER CLEMENS (6-6, 4.18 ERA)
For what seems to be about the 100th time, this could be the final start of the Rocket's career. The 45-year-old righthander is 12-8 with a 3.66 ERA in his 34 career postseason appearances, including 4-4 with a 4.36 mark in the division series. Clemens, who made his first career start against the Indians, is 27-8 with 3.13 ERA against them in 49 career starts. Of course, these aren't Brook Jacoby's Indians or even Albert Belle's Indians. Don't be surprised to see Trot Nixon in the game for Cleveland today -- he's 15-for-39 (.385) with four homers off Clemens.

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Did Joe Torre decide to conduct tryout sessions for the 13th spot on his postseason staff? Are we trying for the Wild Card on purpose to avoid facing those Hell's Angels? Are we trying to get into the playoffs through the backdoor? Was Wang sabotaged in the process? These and many other questions fester in the air as we go down the wire. At botton is an interesting take by Bill Madden of NY Daily News.

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Aggggggggghhh Thats ny gut feeling. I had vowed to stay away but this man is going to kill me.How in the world after Posada homers and Fansworth and Rivera pitch their guts out does he dare to pitch Henn. Henn? Why? What has he done ever? While Ramires and the great Joba rest. Why Why? The Angels own us and the reason is Joe Torre. With this kind of managing WE DONT DESERVE TO WIN.Agggggggggh.

Base stealing is an important characteristic of a particular style of baseball, sometimes called "small ball". A team playing with this style emphasizes doing little things (including risky running plays like base-stealing) to advance runners and score runs, often relying on pitching and defense to keep games close. The Los Angeles Dodgers of the 1960's, led by pitcher Sandy Koufax and speedy shortstop Maury Wills, were a successful example of this style. The antithesis of this would be a team that relies on power hitting. The Baltimore Orioles of the 1970's, led by manager Earl Weaver, were an example of such a "slugging" team that aspired to score most of its runs via home runs. Often the "small ball" model is associated with the National League, while power hitting is seen as more associated with the American League. However, some of the more successful American League teams of recent memory, including the 2002 Anaheim Angels,(remember them) the 2001 Seattle Mariners and the 2005 Chicago White Sox (taking our championships) have experienced their success in part as a result of playing "small ball" advancing runners through means such as the stolen base and the related hit and run play. Successful teams often combine both styles, with a speedy runner or two complementing hitters with power.
Now will the Yankees learn this lesson and forget trying to get players like Helton. We have enough bats. We need speed and pitching.

Damon catches some nightlife

Johnny Damon is finding out why they call this town the City that Never Sleeps.

The Yankees center fielder (along with his wife, Michelle Mangan) hobnobbed with Renee Zellweger and other celebs at the "Saturday Night Live" after-party into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

He was still at Rockefeller Center's Sea Grill when our spy retired around 4:30 a.m.

The rest of us might need a day off after such hours. But Damon connected for a two-run double Sunday night to help the Yankees beat the Mets 6-2.

I guess Damon is not so old after all.

Lets play Billy Ball!

(MAY 20): As the Yankees try to avoid being swept by the Mets in the Subway Series, 1050's Andrew Marchand reports George Steinbrenner is declining comment on the state of the Yankees and Joe Torre's job status. A person close to the Boss told Marchand that he doesn't expect Steinbrenner to say anything (if he says anything at all) until the conclusion of the Red Sox series on Wednesday.

Now, as the Yankees move back across town to more familiar territory, they welcome in a most familiar opponent -- the Red Sox, who took two of three games from New York in a Massachusetts setting last month.

"It's going to be important games over there," said Yankees right fielder Bobby Abreu, who went 2-for-4 with two walks in the final game of the Mets series, leading Yankees manager Joe Torre to proclaim that Abreu is "back."

"We're just going to try to win as many games as we can win," Abreu said. "They've played very good right now, so it'll be interesting. It's going to be a good series."

The Yankees' hopes of at least returning the favor begin on Monday behind the efforts of right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, a 19-game winner last season who kicks off yet another vital series for the Yankees.

"Very important," Wang said of the start. "Maybe it can help the team feel better."

With Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina also scheduled to see Boston, this will mark just the second time in this injury-ravaged Yankees series that they've been able to call upon their top three starting pitchers.

But it's better late than never for the Yankees, who would prefer to look at their circumstances as good timing -- after all, who better to head out in hopes of trimming their 10 1/2-game American League East deficit to the runaway Red Sox?

"We know they're tough and they're playing well," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "We have to go right back out there [on Monday]. Hopefully, it'll be a good game."

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Ok today we lost ugly 10 to 7 to the Flushing upstarts. This supports my argument for a new manager and the lack of running game of our Yanks. Did you see Reyes go steal twice running freely on those bases off Myers who by the way St. Joe let stay long enough to give not one but TWO homers to Wright. When is the Boss going to notice all this mistakes and lack of coaching of the Yanks. The commentator Tim Macarver said "the Mets speed is even better than their power." This is what generates runs. We left 10 on base and no Yankee stole a base,while Reyes (2) Wright and Beltran stole bases. Stealing puts runners in scoring position eliminates double plays and brings up team spirit. That was our game Billy Ball! Now they stole the blueprint and we lost our MOJO. Can we get it back?

Once again the Mets are a thorn on our side but really who is running this team. The Yanks obviouly are stuck in a slump, but what about our running game. Whenever Jeter, Cano, Abreu or ARod get on base they must become a threat. This is how Billy Martin used to manage aggresively. This can spark a rally and bring runs and wake up the offense. Those of us who remember Mickey Rivers know that a running game is part of the offense can someone PLEASE tell Torre that! When Phelps hit into a double play Cano on first should have stolen 2nd base and eliminate that possibility. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. We need a new manager who is as aggressive as Billy was. Maybe Larry Bowa. Lets play Billy Ball again!