On the Yankees beat

Hello from the Metrodome. Made it to Minnesota with usual travel dramas, though none actually related to the flight. I'm telling you, I attract this stuff like honey attracts bees. We'll leave it at a police situation at LAX which involved a deportation and shutdown of security, and an undesirable seatmate. Oh the stories ...

Anyway, in more important news, the Yankees are playing the Twins tonight in the first game of a three-game series. The teams are very evenly matched in the standings. The Yankees are 63-55 and the Twins are 65-52.
Interestingly, the Yankees have done all right against good teams this year. It's against the mediocre teams that they haven't done as well as a playoff team should. They are one of three AL teams with a winning record (32-31) against teams currently above .500. The Angels are 37-20 and the Rays 42-27.

Johnny Damon is not in the lineup. He was surprised to learn that and not thrilled about it. Joe Girardi said he just wanted to give Damon a day off so he doesn't break down. It could be Damon's last day off of the season, Girardi said.

Joba Chamberlain will begin throwing on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Hideki Matsui could get into rehab games by the end of the week.

Twins closer Joe Nathan is donating $500,000 to his alma mater, Long Island's Stony Brook University. The donation is to help with construction of a new baseball field.

Finally, sad news -- Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manager Dave Miley's son, Cody, was killed in a car accident yesterday in Tampa. He was only 17 years old.

Yankees
Christian LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Nady DH
Cano 2B
Sexson 1B
I. Rodriguez C
Cabrera CF

Ponson RHP

Twins
Span RF
Punto 2B
Mauer C
Morneau 1Bb
Kubel DH
Young LF
Buscher 3B
Everett SS
Gomez CF

Perkins LHP