Because I Refuse to Use the Word "Fugly"

Okay, I went to the thesaurus. This was another unattractive, unsightly, hideous, unprepossessing, nasty, horrid, dreadful, unpleasant -- well, some of those seem a little harsh. Let’s go with another unsightly Yankee loss, thanks to another… unprepossessing start, this time from Darrell Rasner, who apparently developed a blister in the process. Get well soon, Chien-Ming!

River Ave. Blues points out that the Yankee starters have actually performed slightly worse thus far than the Washington Nationals rotation. Fantastic.

If you're one of those irritating optimist types, note that A-Rod continues to destroy the ball, Cano's picking up where he left off, Andy Pettitte graciously pitched a scoreless inning on his throw day to ease the bullpen's burden -- and said bullpen, despite massive overuse, has been mostly lights-out.

Meanwhile, Hideki Matsui’s hamstring has landed him on the DL. This is, obviously, bad, but with him and Damon both shaky, they need the roster spot for another outfielder. Kevin Thompson has been called up from AAA, and I’m actually kind of optimistic about him: he had a solid spring training, plays the outfield well, and has some patience at the plate. I’m not suggesting he’ll ever come anywhere remotely near Matsui’s offensive value, but I can see him filling in decently (read: better than Miguel Cairo!) for a few weeks. Plus, from what I saw in Tampa this spring, he seemed like an incredibly nice, friendly, outgoing guy -- and while sadly these qualities are unrelated to baseball talent, he's fun to root for. If he somehow manages to get himself on a few YES post-game interviews, I bet he’ll be a hit with fans.

Speaking of lovable outfielders, where’s Bernie? Why, jamming with the Allman Brothers, of course. (Link via LoHud).

Meanwhile, the weather continues to mock Al Gore. I actually get a kick out of watching it snow during a baseball game – it’s charmingly incongruous. However, I expect to find it less charming in person tomorrow at Shea Stadium, where I will contract hypothermia and frostbite as the Mets take on the Phillies. They lost to the Braves today (El Duque pitched another gorgeous game; the usually reliable Aaron Heilman lost the lead in the 8th), but a couple of wins against Philly and they're right back on track, and I bet they’ll get a boost from the home opener crowd. Should be a fun game. And hey, it’s not like I was using ALL my fingers, anyway...