Jon celebrates the Yankees and Phillies losses, and I agree with Wally Matthews on something

Squawker Jon must be exhausted from doing the Snoopy Dance this weekend. First, he got to see the Yankees get humiliated by the Rangers. Then, the Giants beat the Phillies, thanks in no small part to Bruce Bochy's great work. He was a manager who was unafraid to pull out all the stops, taking out his starter in the second, and using his best bullpen arms, including Tim Lincecum, in the game.

To top it all off, Ryan Howard pulled a Carlos Beltran, leaving his bat on his shoulder with the bases loaded, striking out to end the game, and the series. (Yeah, yeah, I know the same thing happened with A-Rod Friday, but he had nobody on base, and a 6-1 deficit to overcome -- what was he going to do, hit a six run homer)?

At any rate, two of the Mets biggest rivals ended their season this year, while the Braves' season ended in the NLDS. Jon as I were arguing on the phone last night over what team was the Mets' biggest rival these days -- the Yankees or the Phillies? He said Yankees, I said Phillies, telling him that right now, the rivalry between the Yankees and Mets is like the rivalry between the hammer and the nail. For some strange reason, Jon hung up on me over that. Touchy!

As for myself, a strange thing happened yesterday. I was reading Wally Matthews' analysis of Joe Girardi's bullpen mistakes in the Yankees' loss, and instead of muttering and cursing to myself, as I often do when reading his work, I found myself agreeing with nearly much everything he wrote. I hate it when that happens!

It gets better -- or worse, depending on how you look at it. I wrote words to that effect to him, and he wrote me a funny, self-deprecating response. Matthews came across as a likeable guy. I hate it when that happens, too!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Did the Phillies get their binoculars - um, I mean groove - back against the Yankees?

Oh great. The Philadelphia Phillies - who had been floundering since getting caught using binoculars in the bullpen last month - looked like worldbeaters against the Yankees this week.

I had a lot going on in my personal life this week, so I didn't get to watch as much of these games as I had hoped, although I did enjoy watching the Yankees knock around Roy Halladay Tuesday!

Squawker Jon and I had a great night seeing "The Winter's Tale" in Shakespeare in the Park on Wednesday, and I was flipping back and forth between the Yankees and Game 7 of the NBA Finals last night. (My pro-Kobe Bryant Pilgrim's Progress campaign worked, with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the hated Boston Celtics!)

An aside on the play we saw - I recognized the shepherd's voice right away as being a character actor I knew on TV. It was Max Wright, the dad on "Alf"! I may not know classical theater very well, but I do know my silly sitcoms!

Anyhow, maybe it was fortunate I didn't get to see much of these games, given that the Phillies won two of three. Or hey, maybe Philly got to see better - did they get their binoculars back or something?

At least I did get to see Ron Artest thank his psychiatrist after the Lakers'
victory last night. And promote his new single!

What do you think? Tell us about it!