New York Yankee News: Tuesday Schadenfreude

Check another successful game off the schedule; the game is over and no one got hurt. The Yankees are counting down until they open the playoffs in New York, and the only question is whether they'll face Texas or Detroit.

At the moment, Detroit trails Texas by a game, and each team has two to play.

The other drama, you may have heard, is happening in Baltimore, where the Red Sox have squandered what was at one point a 9 game Wild Card lead. Odds sites like Cool Standings now give the Red Sox a 66% chance of winning the WC, and 33% for the Rays. I supposed that would be true if the Rays were really facing the Yankees, but since Joe Girardi's strategy is to field most of the AAA team each night, I actually think the Rays have a slight advantage.

The Sox start Eric Bedard tonight, while the Yankees face Jeremy Hellickson. Then while Jon Lester starts on short rest to save the Sox's season, Rays ace David Price.

This is perfect, because neither team will be able to start their best pitcher in Game 1.

Arod and KLong are working out the kinks, trying to straighten up the superstar's timing by adjusting his leg kick.

Hazing is a wonderful thing:

That togetherness was shown after the game when the rookies dressed for 1980s success. The Yankees had a big team laugh with the annual rookie hazing, outfitting their rookies as 80s pop stars. My favorite was the giant pitching combination of Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman as Milli Vanilli.

The White Sox have released Ozzie Guillen from his contract, paving the way for the manager to move to the Florida Marlins.

Oh man, just when I think I can hate Russell Martin, he goes and makes me laugh:

"I asked if he had stretched before the game; then I asked him again," Martin said. "He looked at me kind of funny and I said, 'I feel like you're kind of tight right now.' He tossed me. He just threw me out of the game. I was like, what happened? I thought this was fun. I thought this was a game, you know?"