Chris Stewart definitely isn’t CC’s personal catcher though…

R.A. Dickey may be the biggest individual story in New York sports right now (deservedly so), but the Yankees are the team to beat. This is Yankee baseball. This is what fans expect. That bland, lifeless team we saw in May is dead and buried- the Yankees have their swagger back and are running train on some of baseball’s “serious contenders.” Num Num Num Num Num. 10 in a row, 20 out of the 24, and outside of Oakland, they’re doing it against legitimate ball clubs. Two times through the rotation, and they’re the hottest team in baseball. They jumped from a stale, middle-of-the-pack club to number 1 on almost everybody’s power rankings in the last week, and it’s because of the pitching. Granted, the lineup has picked it up a bit, but the stats are still below the standard set by this franchise over the last couple decades. Fortunately, consistent starting pitching and this makeshift bullpen locking shit down have almost completely overshadowed the offensive woes.

This is exactly why I was thrilled about the controversial Pineda for Montero deal in the offseason. Not that he’s gonna contribute this season at all, but sustaining a winning streak is all about starting pitching. Your offense is gonna stumble every once in a while, but when the 5 guys on your staff get into that mindset where they strive to match the pitching performance from the night before, a team can put together a nice string of wins. After hovering over the Publish button on my “Phil Hughes GTFO my team” post, he’s starting to look like that confident starter that we all envisioned. Nova’s back to being a thug, Kuroda’s adjusting to the AL, Pettitte is making guys look foolish (see Bryce Harper), and CC is a rock. So let Mets fan rejoice in Dickey’s freakish, Cy Young worthy stats of late. The guy was diddled by his babysitter as a kid; he needs this. I’ll take a win-streak halfway to a Brad Pitt/Jonah Hill movie any day. With all that being said, I need Kuroda to not fuck me tonight. I can live with the stigma of being a Jew and a pizza bitch, but you can’t come back from being a jinx. That’s written in pen.