Paul Katcher

In the Aug. 18 edition of ESPN.com's Daily Quickie, Dan Shanoff had two words for us: "YANKEES. DONE."

Filled with such dreadfully incorrect predictions as "Over their last 43 games, the Yankees will be lucky to win half," it was probably the stupidest thing he's posted since arguing, in 2003, that "In 10 years, Sammy Sosa will be more highly regarded than Mickey Mantle."

I say "probably," because I can't keep track of all the stupid things ESPN.com pays people to write about the Yankees.

Since Aug. 18, New York has gone 23-9, picked up six games in the loss column of the AL East, moved into first place and has prompted me to reply with two words of my own:

"SUCK. IT."

Other Yankees Thoughts:

— Heard any good Devil Rays jokes lately?

— Sweet Lou, always a Yankee at heart.

— My reaction to the Red Sux's implosion at the Trop: What a relief!

— Yankee playoff-chance calculation: Figure even odds to better the Indians, even odds to better the Red Sux, slight chance to better the White Sox, add 'em together. Amazingly, home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is a possibility, which is pretty good for a done team with a figured-out closer.

— Among the heroes the last three nights: Bubba Crosby, Aaron Small and Matt Lawton. So I figure Andy Phillips is due for a back cover this weekend.

— Tuesday night at the Stadium, I saw a fan change into a No. 27 BROWN t-shirt. Had to have found it in the $5 clearance bin. Everyone who saw it was cracking up.

— Thursday night I'll sport the No. 51 WILLIAMS jersey for what will likely be the last regular-season game I see Bernie play live. I was there for his two biggest hits: walk-off home runs in Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS and 1999 ALCS, which don't even make my list of top-10 playoff moments of the Joe Torre era. Thanks for everything, man.

Paul Katcher owns and operates the Upper West Side ’s most popular blog and periodically contributes its content to realhoboken.com. To see Paul’s photo gallery from the Giants-Saints game or to read his past work, visit www.paulkatcher.com.