45 year old Roger Clemens is off for an MRI on his elbow. Mike Mussina looks like he couldn't get the Saudi Arabian Little League team out. Andy Phillips has a broken wrist and is gone for the season. The Yankees are dinged-up, patched-up and struggling.

Most importantly, even after sweeping the Red Sox last week, the Yankees find themselves seven games back of their hated rivals in the AL East. It seems the Yankees can own the Sawks, but can't beat anyone else. Very odd.

But the Yanks are still clinging to a scant one game lead in the wild card race. The Mariners won a huge game from the Yankees last night to stay in the hunt. It's funny. Almost everyone at the top of the wild card race is going backwards: the Yankees, the Mariners, the Tigers....allowing other AL teams, who just a few short weeks ago looked out of it, to have hope again.

The three divisional races in the American League look like done deals. Do the Yankees have enough left to get to the post-season via the wild card? At this point, it's a crap shoot. With a little over 20 games left, probably whichever team can put together a little run will get there.

Any casual fans have any casual ideas on this?