Morning Strum

Our top story this morning: Brett Gardner rules.

Last night's game was simply awesome. It was a must-win game (as pretty much all of the games on the schedule will be from here on out) and we found a way to win.

The Captain with the standard clutch-hit/spectacular defensive plays combo, A-Rod tying Mantle, Farnsworth/Mo keeping up the great work, and finally Gardner putting up a great at-bat against Papelbitch, culminating in the Luis Sojoesque single up the middle to win the game. (Of course, since I was there before the gates opened, I take full credit for the win as my streak continues.)

Gardner becomes the 3rd Yankee rookie in the last 30 years to have a walk-off hit against Boston. The other 2? Mattingly and The Captain.

In other news: Sather continued to drive the stake in my heart, signing Naslund which led to Jagr signing with Russia. I guess Drury'll be the captain, probably Gomez and Naslund as alternates. I would still much rather have last year's team then the hell this offseason wreaked on us. Freaking Sather. It's turning into the same problem as before the lockout created a salary cap. When he has money to spend he spends it on all stars from 5 years ago.

Nadal won Wimbledon in what was possibly the greatest tennis match of all time. I only saw the 5th set, but that may have been the greatest set I've ever seen. I was just hoping if Federer lost it wouldn't be on him hitting the ball into the net, which of course happened. Nadal is now being almost universally recognized, as he should, as the top player in the world. It'll be interesting to see if these 2 make the final at the US Open, where Federer has been dominant, winning the last 4.

The All-Star teams were announced, and though hard to believe, the reserves were more ridiculous than usual. Varitek? Are you kidding me? No Lackey? No Moose? No Hamels? Decent closers like Brian Wilson should not be going ahead of Hamels, and Saunders over Moose is a bad call too. The only really nice thing to see about the reserves was no sack of crap Reyes.

And finally, in a story that I really haven't cared about at all, A-Rod and C-Rod are getting divorced. I really couldn't care less, but as a Daily News subscriber I've been seeing this story on the back cover for the last week. Considering I live on the UWS, where supposedly A-Rod and Madonna have been cavorting when the sun goes down, I may have to start staking some places out to get the real story.

Let's go Royals.