That's all for Smoltz. Glad my worst fears were not realized.

And as Billy Traber warms up to pitch to Hideki Matsui, I'd like to take a moment to rocognize Matsui as a worthy teammate to the Big Four (Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera and Posada), and a worthy recipient of the O'Neill-Brosius-Tino torch. This guy hit a grand slam in his first game as a Yankee, then absolutely ripped the Red Sox in the 2003 ALCS. I'll never forget the image of him sliding across the plate with the tying run in the eighth against Pedro, then popping up and going into a mad celebration. I'm really sorry to see the way he's broken down these last three years.

Obviously I'd want the Yankees to win the World Series if they had 25 Alex Rodriguezes, but if there's one guy I really want to see win one, it's Matsui.

And there he is, as if on cue, hustling his ass off to beat the throw from second by the tiniest of steps to get the Yankees their sixth run.

And now, by extension, their seventh, eighth and ninth, because the inning stayed alive and Jorge just crushed one. 9-3 Yanks. Joba, you'd better come out throwing strikes. I don't want to hear any crap about how the long layoff stiffens you up.