Wild night deep in the heart of ...

This is turning into a very stressful week for me.

First, Joba goes down, followed by the interminable wait to find out the extent of the injury. Then, the Yanks lay down in their first two games against the Rangers, leading to the horrific prospect of asking Sidney Ponson to keep their season from going down the toilet. Then, I fly to Texas to meet my girlfriend's family for the first time, which is horrifying in its own right. THEN, while drunk at a bar on 4th Street in downtown Austin, I get 11 consecutive text messages telling me that the Jets have traded for Brett Favre.

Being a New York sports fan is going to kill me, if Texas barbeque and Shiner Boch beer doesn't get me first.

It's stupid to call yesterday's game against the Rangers a must-win, because as much as the sky is falling, there are still about 50 games left in the season. But Wednesday's 5-3 win over Texas was certainly important. I called out the Yankees offense in this space yesterday, saying they needed to show up in a big way on Wednesday night. It made sense, Ponson has ugly history with the Rangers and is not very good and you figured he'd be out of the game by the third inning or so.

But something weird happened on the way to the slugfest. Ponson actually got the job done. Mr. Greenstreet allowed three runs over 6 1/3 quality innings, and the bullpen did the rest as the Yanks kept pace with the Rays and Sox. The offense did just enough, no thanks to the great A-Rod, who went 0-for-4.

The news on Joba Chamberlain was neither exceedingly good or alarmingly bad. As expected, hoss was placed on the disabled list, with the diagnosis being tendinitis in his rotator cuff. As PeteAbe pointed out, tendinitis is a nice way of saying Joba has a small tear in his rotator cuff, and that's scary stuff. After a week of rest, he's supposed to pick up the ball again. My gut feeling is that he's thrown his final pitch for the Yanks this year. But who knows, I'm not doctor, I only played one on Halloween once.

It's better to look at the positives on a day like today. Your latest No. 1 pitcher, Mike Mussina, gets the start tonight looking for his 15th win. The Yankees need this split, and I expect the Moose to get the job done.

I also expect Brett Favre to get the job done, but that's a story for another blog altogether ...