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BL

I'm glad to see your prediction hasn't changed from this morning ;-)

I would be surprised if Detroit scores only one run

we'll see, they looked out of it the other night, something tightened on them when they had a chance to close it out.

That sucked. At the end of the day, the Yankee bats simply didn't deliver. Amazing to lose a 5 game series where you outscore the other team by 11 runs. I'd complain that Montero wasn't used enough but without Cervelli on the roster and Posada hitting over .400, hard to see where to get him the AB. Clearly, Arod wasn't healthy and his 3 K's in game 5 will be talked about. I don't mind starting him but he was clearly stuggling. Couldn't he have been dropped behind Tex and/or Swish? A hat tip to the Yankee bullpen which all season was outstanding. Soriano, Robertson, Hughes, Rivera did everything asked of them this series. A sad farewell to Jorge Posada, a true Yankee great. It will be an interesting offseason. Does Sabathia opt out? Montero, where do you play him/trade him? Arod days at 3rd over, they should be, he's got 6yrs left, we're not paying him 29mio for 100 games of 3rd base defense. He needs to be DH if we don't want to be paying him 29mio for a .230/.340/.400 line in 2016. But, too disappointed to think about it.

My sincere wishes for 2012 (and some for 2013):

CC is back because he didn't opt-out or he's gone because he did.

Noesi gets traded for one hot pitching and an IFer prospect, both of whom we hear about - in a positive way - all year.

A-Rod is back and healthy and hitting well, while his playing time at 3B is somewhat diminshed by a much younger player. Problem is - who?

Tex modifies his cumbersome swing to use more of the field, thereby raising both his BA and OBP by 40 points.

Cano remains healthy and awesome and Granderson also stays healthy but strikes out half as often.

Gardner stays "pesky" and learns that it's OK to start swinging before he's got two strikes on him.

Swisher stays Swisher and learns to relax under pressure thus raising his BA with RISP.

Jeter either stays consistently good all year or he decides to retire early and joins the organization as a special consultant/ambasador. He lets us know early enough of his decision so that Cashman can sign Reyes, who joins us and stays healthy and awesome for the duration of his Yankee's contract.

Soriano opts out and departs.

Jorge retires and likes it.

Colon departs as does Garcia.

Hughes is back and wins 17 games - same for Nova.

AJ watches the movie Limitless thereby learning how to pitch smarter and more effectively - and wins 16 games with an ERA in the mid 3s. He begins the process of lasering off some of his tats.

Two of the Killer Bs join the rotation and win 14 and 16 games respectively. The third makes the team and excels in 2013.

Joba returns in August and becomes the 7th inning guy and excels. He joins the rotation, for good, in 2013 and becomes a consistent 18 game winner. He does so by changing speeds (+/- 15 mph) and by locating with pinpoint accuracy.

Martin is traded for a top fielding prospect. Montero develops into our starring and starting C for us, backed up by Romine. Cervelli is declared healthy enough to play after being symptom free and is traded to a team that will use him as their everyday C.

Marte makes a triumphant return to the bullpen.

Girardi stays Girardi but gets a bit less rigid about battting order.

Chavez returns and excels off the bench and stays healthy and strong all year.

Dickerson makes the team out of ST as the fourth OFer - deservedly so.

Bichette's kid makes it to the bigs as a bench player for us at September callups. He swings a big bat - very well.

Ryan Pope gets a bullpen callup after consistently dominating in AAA.

.. more later, maybe. Be well, everyone, it was a fun year.

Mitchell - great wish list, how many do you honestly believe will happen in 2012?

I count about 9 that I believe could likely happen next year.

BL - I can see about 11, maybe 12 being high probability events.

The rest were "pure wishes" assuming I was "Mitchell Almighty" when it came to all things Yankees. :-)

here are the 9 or so I think are real possibilities:

1) CC is back because he didn't opt-out or he's gone because he did.

2) A-Rod is back and healthy and hitting well, while his playing time at 3B is somewhat diminshed by a much younger player. Problem is - who?

3) Cano remains healthy and awesome and Granderson also stays healthy but strikes out half as often.

4) Jeter either stays consistently good all year

5) Soriano opts out and departs.

6)Jorge retires

7) Colon departs as does Garcia.

8) Joba returns in August and becomes the 7th inning guy and excels.

9) Martin is traded for a top fielding prospect. Montero develops into our starring and starting C for us, backed up by Romine.

I would add these.

Gardner stays "pesky" and learns that it's OK to start swinging before he's got two strikes on him. Long is going to grind him into this.

Girardi stays Girardi but gets a bit less rigid about battting order. His notebook will dictate it.

Hughes is back and wins 17 games. I think the guy has the talent.

Noesi gets traded. He'll be part of a package for some "big" trade.