I had the distinct pleasure of watching tonight’s debacle from the Tier Reserve. To make matters worse, by the 8th inning, the only fans left were passive Yankee fans and four guys spoiling for a fight chanting, “Let’s go Red Sox.” To make matters even worse, the Red Sox scored two in the bottom of the 9th to beat a worthless baseball club.

In honor of this pleasant experience, let’s play Tear Apart Tonight’s Game in Bullet-Point Style:

• I’ve gone back and forth on the Roger Clemens issue. One part of me wants to lay the blame for this game squarely at his feet. He, during the middle of a very important run, got himself suspended for a game because of his tendencies to “stick up for his teammates.” I can’t help but think, as my sister put it, that “the dignity was worth the sacrifice of lost games.” Had Clemens not gone head-hunting to avoid a suspension, I think his teammates would have been quite understanding. They do, after all, need to win more than anything else.

  But at the same time, it wasn’t a 12-6 game where the starting pitcher made much difference. Even had Clemens gone 7 innings and given up 2 runs, the Yanks would have been down 2-0. Sure, Torre wouldn’t have taken out the starters in the 7th. But the way things were going, Daniel Cabrera was effectively wild, and the Yanks’ offense had a night off. As Peter Abraham notes, the Yanks are not going undefeated the rest of the season. I’ll take 9-2 over 11 games from here on out. And now Clemens can pitch with run support when he next takes the mound.

• No one around the Stadium is selling Joba Chamberlain shirts yet. I want one.
• Jeff Karstens has pretty much proved that he is, right now, worthless to the Yanks. He’s been ineffective in relief and terrible as a starter. The fact that he threw five pitches with a broken leg doesn’t give him a pass to stink up the joint. I don’t even know what Jim Brower’s excuse is, but he just became the Adrian Hernandez of the 2007 Yankees. He’ll get his 8 crappy innings in, and then everyone else will forget he was ever a Yankee. If he and Karstens aren’t replaced by Chris Britton and Edwar Ramirez tomorrow, I’ll be shocked and very disappointed.
• Speaking of which, I sent a text message to Joe when Ron Villone came into the game. I wrote, “So do all the inherited runners score here? I say two.” Well, Villone did not disappoint; he allowed all three inherited runners to score again. It’s really time to get rid of him and bring back Brian Bruney. There’s just no point in having him waste a roster spot.
• Booing Kyle Farnsworth will never get old.
• Luis Vizcaino in a 12-0 game? Really, Joe? Just stop. Use Farnsworth for two innings. But give the overworked set-up man a break now and then.
• Yankee Stadium should institute a rule that allows fans one free punch for every Masshole that insists on shouting out “Let’s go Red Sox” and “Remember 2004?” to a mostly empty Yankee Stadium during a blow-out loss. I hope someone mugged that guy in the subway after the game.
• We’re looking forward to the Bedard-Hughes match-up. While I wish the Yanks weren’t facing a potential Cy Young Award winner today, it has the potential to be one helluva game. More on that later.
• Have I mentioned that the Devil Rays really suck?

As the Scooter might have said about the game tonight, “Holy Cow! What a huckleberry.”