TWO MILESTONES AND THAT'S IT

Last night in Minnesota, Andy Pettitte struck out his 1958th batter as a New York Yankee. He has passed the Chairman of the Board, Whitey Ford to become #1 on the all time Yankees list. This same evening, Joe Girardi managed a baseball team to his 600th win. Congrats to both.

This season has seen four of five of the Yankees best hitters on the disabled list, Jeter, Granderson, Teixeira and A-Rod. This has caused the Yankees to become a stagnant offense. They have a team batting average of .239, which puts them at 14th place in the American League. Their slugging percentage is .379, also 14th place and they are 12th in runs scored.

These were not glaring issues at the start of the season because the Yankees pitching staff was holding up. The pitching carried them to a 30-18 record on May 25th. Since then, the pitching staff has been inconsistent. Phelps, Hughes, CC and Pettitte have been struggling. Hiroki Kuroda, has been their most dependable starter but in his last seven starts he has been 1-3 with a 3.86 ERA.

Things don't look great for the second half. Even if Jeter, Granderson and A-Rod come back, I don't think that it will be enough to save them.

Let's enjoy watching Mo's last year in pinstripes and not worry about where they are in the standings.

IT JUST MAKES THEM BETTER

The Brooklyn Nets have become a better team with the addition of Garnett and Pierce. The Nets have become older but they have gotten better. Garnett is great at setting picks, Pierce is good at the pick and roll and Lopez is a great scorer from the middle. Add Williams who will get 15 assists a game and one of the most clutch players in the league in Joe Johnson. On the defensive side of the ball, Garnett makes Lopez a better defender and also the team as a whole. Garnett brings an intangible to the team and that is a winning attitude. The downside of this line-up is that they will not be able to keep up with a running team during the season. This has become a grind it out team.

The starting line-up is going to be fun to watch, Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, KG, Paul Pierce and Brook Lopez. Right now the bench can become an issue. Their glaring whole is an athletic guard coming off the bench. Another spot that is a question mark is Jason Kidd. Question to ponder is, would the Nets have hired Jason Kidd if they already had KG and Pierce or would of they went for a proven coach? The one thing that they did do was hire Lawrence Frank as an assistant.

The summer is not over and word is that the Nets are looking to bring Jason Collins back. They definitely can use him coming off the bench. With this line-up, I'm looking forward to the start of the season.