Yankees' links

A few noteworthy links for an off day in the schedule:

• Intrepid beat reporter and matchmaker Peter Abraham delivers a list of prospective soul mates for the soon to be single Cynthia Rodriquez. He throws the new guy right into the fire: "Brett Gardner: He needs a place to stay in the city. Plus he delivers in the clutch. That’ll be a nice change for her." Upon further review, intrepid is an understatement.


• MLB's new order: "Tampa Bay has the best record in baseball. Ten teams have a better winning percentage than the Yankees, who are four games out of a playoff spot. The Red Sox and Cubs spent decades fighting over the "lovable loser" label; now they are sending more players to the All-Star Game than any other teams.
  Of the 30 teams, 23 either have a winning record now, or had one in 2007.
  And then there is the Sunday news that Sabathia is a Brewer." I guess I'm old school but I prefer the dynasty days when the Yanks' spent their money on improving themselves, not dishing out corporate welfare.


• Speaking of old school, here's a glimpse of the glory days: "The big deal is that Yankee Stadium I was special; that's what. For people coming of age in the '40s, '50s, and '60s it was baseball. The Yankees were the Yankees, participating in the World Series 18 times between 1941 and 1964. Every true baseball fan in America had the contours of the ballpark firmly fixed in his or her mind."


• Let the comeback begin: "The Yankees are not yet out of magic, or of smoke and mirrors. For them to work a series split after the way they had been browbeaten in the first two games was tantamount to a guy going through rigor mortis one minute and break-dancing the next."


• Remembering Sweet Lou: "Here is the burning question: Would the 2008 Rays be doing the same damage this season under Piniella?
  ''If Lou was here right now, I guess pretty much the same,'' left fielder Carl Crawford told Sun-Times colleague Gordon Wittenmyer. ''Probably be fighting every game, though. He put a little attitude in you.
  ''Instead of two team brawls, we'd probably have five or six already. But [things would be] the same because we got the players, and I think that's what he was kind of upset about -- that he didn't have that when he was here.''