A little disappointing

Yanks win another series and it feels like a three-game slide.

Joba continues to underachieve. Another 5-inning performance, marred by hanging sliders, and then an inexplicably awful outing by Alfredo Aceves. Oh well, 74 wins and heading to Oakland.

And now two old timers have come out against the Joba rules. First, Tim McCarver in a Fox broadcast called them arbitrary and questioned what doctor decided 140 to 170 innings was all a 23-year-old's arm could handle. Now, Tom Seaver, who knows a little about pitching, says the limits will stunt Joba's growth.

I hate pitch counts and inning limits, but at the rate Joba's going, he'll reach his pitch limit before the innings limit. He threw 90 in his five innings Sunday.

Seaver said this in an mlb.com interview: "These people today don't understand what it means to walk off the mound after holding the other team down for nine innings, the feeling of triumph for your own team -- and the effect it has on the players in the other dugout."

I don't see Ichiro play often, but the more I see him, the more thankful I am to have Hideki Matsui, who can't run, is questionable at best in the outfield and who boasts an arm only slightly better than Johnny Damon's.

Ichiro seems to be fully aware of how good he is, playing flyballs like a combination of Willie Mays Hays, Rickey Henderson and Tony Manero. And it's one thing to think no one can catch you, but fully another to run your team out of an inning trying to steal third with two outs and two on. Does he always play like that? I wonder. Or was he trying to impress his countryman? Who knows.