A beautiful summer night

Congratulations Yankees fans ... you officially have yourself a World Series contender.

Friday, July 25, was a glorious night to be a fan of the pinstripes. On the field, you had a masterful performance by Joba Chamberlain, a 22-year-old blowing away the Red Sox for seven innings before getting a little (lot of) help from the incomparable Mariano Rivera. In the end it was an exciting 1-0 win that pulled New York within one game in the loss column of Boston.

The Yanks have now won all seven of their games since the All-Star break.

But it gets better. General manager Brian Cashman proved his worth again, pulling the trigger on a deal that added a big bat to the lineup (Xavier Nady) and a big-time lefty in the bullpen (Damaso Marte). And he didn't need to give up any of his big-time pitching farmhands to do it.

So, in summary, this is what we learned about the New York Yankees last night. We have a young right-hander in Joba who had his official coming-out party as an ace in the league, shutting down the defending world champions on the road while turning eternally-annoying Kevin Youkilis into his own personal bitch in the process. Meanwhile, a Yankees offense that has had trouble scoring runs received a new everyday left fielder who hits for average (.330) and pop (13 homers, 57RBIs) annnnd you filled the only hole in your already excellent bullpen by bringing on a left-hander that half the league had been coveting.

These are better days. No wonder Manny's afraid to play us.