And We're Back

What a difference a sweep of the Boston Red Sox makes. Whole new perspective. The big problem coming out of the series with Detroit seemed to be starting pitching; Mussina's ongoing futility in particular. Joba Chamberlain being inserted into the rotation amongst the potential remedies? Probably not. They won't use him on back to back nights, let alone throw him into the starting rotation during a playoff run.

A few days ago I actually wrote the following email:

"While their pitching looks like it will be great in the future, it's the same old story (since their last trip to the World Series) for the Yanks here in late August heading into the home stretch. Even if they make the postseason, do they have enough starting pitching to be competitive once there? I don't know. After a night like last night," Mussina's last start, "I'm inclined to say 'probably not'.

It's going to come down to Clemens' and Hughes' performances here down the stretch. Makes for an interesting dichotomy actually. On one hand we have a star in the twilight of his career trying to make one last run while raking in an obscene amount of cash. On the other hand we have a 21 year old phenom. Pettite and Wang have been dependable but we all know what's what with Mussina. There's no hiding it. You can pencil him in for a loss every time he starts from here on out. As such, margin of error for the rest of the staff: nil. Kind of like his margin of error when he steps to the rubber with an 88 mph fastball (92 mph if he's overthrowing). They got themselves into this mess, it'll be interesting to see if Torre can rally the troops enough to get them out of it and into the postseason. And what better test than the Red Sox?"

Well well well. Here we are. Three days later and I'm holding a broom. No, seriously.

We had a company wide meeting today. Everyone meets in this big room, sits around in a circle and someone from each department fills everyone else in on recent market developments and some procedural stuff. Blah blah blah. We eat donuts and bagels and then go about our slightly abbreviated days.

So I came in this morning and went to the meeting room to prop up a broom against a chair right in the middle of everything. Yeah, I know. This was premature but it was just a fucking joke. I figured people would come in and sit down one by one and have a little chuckle. The people who actually saw this did think it was funny. Everyone's always giving me a hard time so I figured it was only fair that I reciprocate. This was really my first opportunity to do so this season.

So this sales guy comes into the room, en route to the kitchen to get some coffee, and completely flips his lid when he sees the broom. Immediately, he takes the broom and puts it back in the closet and moves the chair back to the circle. Naturally, when he leaves the room moments later, I put the broom back on display. Then I leave the room once more to use the little boys room. When I come back, the broom's gone again. Co-workers who had already arrived for the meeting eagerly tell me how pissed this guy was to have to remove the broom for a second time.

Well, it's after-hours now. I'm sitting here in my cube writing this alongside the broom and a ratty old Yankee hat I coincidentally had in my desk drawer. They're going to be propped up against the Sox' biggest fan's chair, right in front of his computer when he arrives tomorrow morning.