Contrary to popular belief (and even a theory espoused on this blog), Mariano Rivera is not an alien who comes from a planet of mutant perfect adorable people.  He’s just a person who happens to be a lot better at pitching a one inning ballgame than just about anyone.

That said, people are people.  And people aren’t perfect; even when they seem like maybe they are. So when Mo blows a two-run lead in Boston in our first game of the first Chowda Series of the year, I don’t get mad.  I mean, I am not a tenth as good at anything as Mo is at pitching, so when the guy has a bad night, how mad can I really get about it.

I can, however, get mad about no runs with bases loaded and one out in the ninth.  I remember when Robbie first came up, he was struggling early on and, once he had finally gotten it together, he made a comment like, “It’s not that I wasn’t hitting the ball hard before.  It’s just that I was hitting it right at people.”

It seemed so cute at the time.  Maybe because he was a rookie or maybe because things like that can sound cute in retrospect.  But, yesterday, hitting the ball hard and right at people seemed considerably less cute.

Bases loaded and one out in the ninth, you just can’t not score a run. Especially when you’re playing the Chowdas. Just to drive home how strongly I feel on this subject, we can go ahead and call it a principle.  The Principle of You Can’t Not Score a Run When The Bases Are Loaded And you Have Only One Out In The Ninth. 

I mean, I guess if I was really going to boil this down into one condense principle it would be the Principle of Don’t Hit Into Double Play Balls.  Ever.

But today’s a new day. Sure, Wang, Ransom and Bruney are all cause for anxiety at the moment on the health front. (Wang and Ransom on the DL, Bruney going in for an MRI.) But it’s early in the season — and the series.  We’ve got A.J. on the mound tonight, and he’s rapidly moving up my list of lovable Yankees — for reasons related to both the confidence he inspires on the mound and his leadership in the clubhouse.  (And, of course, his over-the-top man-crush on Bruce Lee.) Not to mention the fact that it’s like 80 degrees, so I can’t summon the annoyance to get that worked up about anything right now. 

If I go to bed tonight and we’re 0-2, maybe that’ll change.