If it quacks like a Yankee fan....

Our dear friend Murray Chass, sports columnist for the New York Times, has come up with yet another scenario leading to the eventual defeat of the Boston Red Sox.

In this one, the New York Yankees, also known as the filthy swine, can catch up to and pass the Boston Red Sox, also known as the nexus of Red Sox Nation, before July 4.

Now, in this column, Mr. Chass (after all, New York Times people require honorifics) spends a lot of ink telling all and sundry that he is not, repeat not, a Yankee fan. In fact, he said, the New York Times owns 17 percent of the Boston Red Sox, so if anything, he should be a Red Sox fan.

OK, let's discuss this argument.

First of all, the New York Times probably got the interest in the Red Sox when it bought the Boston Globe. Makes sense, no? But not a word about that.

Secondly, Mr. Chass fails to bring up the fact that the Yankees have been playing the weak teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates are near the bottom of their division. In fact, their .419 is far below even the Yankees. At the same time, the Red Sox have been playing the cream of the crop, teams that are over .500 and Arizona is tied for the division lead, a few percentage points off the top spot.

Let's see what happens when the Yankees start playing teams that are at or near the top of their divisions.

Then we'll talk about who is catching up to whom.

And, Mr. Chass, about your denials of being a Yankee fan, as Hamlet said, Chass "doth protest too much, methinks."

If it looks like a Yankee fan and quacks like a Yankee fan....