I trust stats and historical evidence about as much as I'd trust a drunk ventriloquist. So the fact that Accuscore projects the Yankees to have a 73% chance tonight of beating the Orioles means little. So does the fact that:
- CC Sabathia takes the mound and tries to become the first 16-win pitcher in the AL this year
- The Yankees have beat the O's in the last 9 meetings.
- The Yankees have won every single series against the O's since 1997.
- The Yankees have taken Baltimore pitchers deep 20 times in the last 9 games.
- The O's starter Jason Berken's record is 4-11.
It's these games that unnerve me. Even with the best pitcher in the league who Melvin Mora and Brian Roberts are a combined .170 against...even with Jorge Posada overcoming his inability to count to go yard twice last night...even with our fielders working as a defensively aggressive swat team against balls-in-play...even with Robinson Cano gorging on his newfound acquired taste for RBIs...and even with a lineup where each batter can butcher an opposing hurler, the game still needs to be played.
That said, any Yankee fan reading this knows this is just a resolute avoidance of jinxing anything. Because we also know that the fact of the matter remains: our boys are good and only getting better. Here's to keeping the M60-YankTank moving right along.
