Monkey see, monkey do

Stretching to play the first seven innings, guys?

With Alex Rodriguez out of action for another week or so, somebody had to step up when the game didn't matter as much and choke on the big stage. That's where the Yankees' $180 million man comes in.

After blasting two solo home runs to cut Yankee deficits to the Boston Red Sox tonight, Tex came up with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth with New York trailing the Sox 6-4. His third home run of the game would have given the Bronx Bombers a dramatic 7-6 walkoff win. Instead, like his injured third baseman, he came up empty in the clutch, striking out against Jonathan Papelbon, who ended the game two hitters later in Boston's 6-4 win.

If New York wants, I know plenty of places where they can find guys who can hit a few homers and do nothing when it matters (like Staten Island and Trenton), but I guess they'd rather shell out hundreds of millions for big names. At least Teixeira and Rodriguez can put people in the seats in the new Yankee Stadium.

Just kidding. That place held more Sox fans than Yanks fans tonight.