A Clean Slate. I could bitch about a lot of things right now. Like Malaska should have started the 8th, Burks shouldn't be hitting third, Kapler should get more time in RF than Millar, and Tito should resist the impulse to overmanage (he may be nervous, which is understandable). ... But I'm going to write off yesterday's loss as an ugly by-product of no sleep and turn the page tonight.

There is a lot of bad news, though. Damon fouled a ball off his left knee yesterday and left the game with a golf-ball size bruise. "I can't move. I'm probably slower than Millar right now." Damon will likely miss two games, but hopes to rise on the third day. ... Mendoza was put on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder tendinitis and Malaska was called up from Pawtucket. It turns out Malaska last threw in a simulated game on Tuesday (he didn't pitch in the PawSox opener Thursday). He damn well could have thrown more than 10 pitches on Friday.

Arroyo on his start: "I was definitely disappointed, especially knowing those guys got back so early. I wished I had kept the score a little bit lower. If we would have squeaked it out it would have been a little bit better. ... I didn't feel as well as I would have liked ... I didn't have my best stuff out there, but that's going to happen a lot, especially if you go out there 35 times."

It's nice to see the Yankees losing. Brown and Vazquez have been magnificent, but Mussina has struggled, Contreras has never shown he can be consistent and DePaula stumbled out of the gate today. New York managed only four hits and lost their second in a row to Chicago (9-3 and 7-3). They are 3-4.

High praise for the right field roof seats. ... Pedro and Halladay at 7:05 pm.