Yanks Pound Greinke, Colon & Jeter Updates

Yankees 12, Brewers 2. I would have loved to have seen that final score a few times in the late 1970s and all through the 1980s -- and saw a few like it, back when the Yankees and Brewers were perennially battling the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers for the American League Eastern Division title.

Alas, now the Brewers are in the National League Central, albeit in 1st place in that Division. As are the Yankees in theirs. And while Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder represent a rather different threat than manager Harvey Kuenn's 1982 Pennant-winning "Harvey's Wallbangers," led by Hall-of-Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor and the heavy hitting of Ted Simmons, Ben Oglivie and Stormin' Gorman Thomas, the Yankees are much more up to the task now than when they seemed to be Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, and 23 guys named Bobby Meacham.

In 2009, the Yankees won the World Series, but did their best starting pitcher -- either CC Sabathia or Andy Pettitte -- get the AL's Cy Young Award? Nope, it went to Zack Greinke. Now, Greinke (7-3) is with the Brewers, and the Yanks made him pay dearly for that Cy theft last night. Normally a pitcher with control that's among the best in the game, he had nothing, allowing 7 runs in the 1st 2 innings, including Nick Swisher's 10th home run.

The Yanks cruised from there, capped by Mark Teixeira's 24th home run of the season, tying him again with Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays for the major league lead, and the 299th of his career. Teix and Swish each had 4 RBIs. Every Yankee starter had at least one hit, and Freddy Garcia (7-6) took that support and gave the Yanks 6 strong innings. Hector Noesi pitched the 7th and 8th, and Cory Wade the 9th, all scoreless. No need for Mariano Rivera last night.

The Red Sox played the Philadelphia Phillies, and Cliff Lee pitched a 2-hit shutout against The Scum. About time Lee did us a favor. The Yankees now lead The Scum by a game and a half, 2 in the loss column.

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Tonight, A.J. Burnett goes against Milwaukee's Shaun Marcum. Then comes a Thursday matinee. Then, it's off to Pity Field for 3 against The Other Team, who finally got about .500 last night, beating the Tigers 14-3 in Detroit. Between them, the New York teams outscored the opposition 26-5 last night.

Bartolo Colon may pitch in the weekend series, although it's not yet decided when. Derek Jeter, who was eligible to come off the Disabled List today, will not, and won't play in the intra-city series (not a "Subway Series"), either. He may return in next week's series in Cleveland against the Indians, and could be available in the following weekend's home series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Expect his 3,000th career hit to come against them. Either way, the All-Star Break will be next, so he either gets a little rest or a little more time to come back.

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Jeter hits 2994 6
Rivera saves 579 23
A-Rod homers 626 137
A-Rod hits 2754 246
Magic Number 83 (to eliminate Scum, 80 for Rays, 76 for O's, 74 for Jays)