Andrew Eugene "Stopper" Pettitte.

OK, maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue, but Andy Pettitte put the brakes on a mini two game skid with a tremendous effort on Wednesday night as the Yanks avoided the sweep and dropped the Angels 8-2 in Anaheim.  The BoSox and Mariners both lost so the Yanks now stand five back in the AL East and 1.5 games behind in the wild card chase.

History was also made on Wednesday as Joe Torre moved into second place on the all-time Yankee win list, passing Yankee legend Casey Stengel.  Congrats, Joe.

I almost made it through this one (I drifted away in the eighth with the Yanks up comfortably 6-1) so I really could do a "good, bad and ugly" roundup, but gosh-darnit, I'm too tired.  Once again Brian was more man than me and had the good fortune of doing a winning update.

But, I do have some news from Yankee Land.  It looks like Brian and Vinny were on to something when they "suggested" Mike Mussina be pulled from the rotation.  Vinny e-mailed me this about The Moose's situation.  It's a good little article and the comparison between Mike Mussina and David Cone now seems incredibly obvious.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

The Yanks have the day off on Thursday and head to Detroit Rock City to take on the Tigers in an important wrap-around four-game set starting on Friday.  Roger Clemens will toe the rubber for the Yanks and takes on lefty Andrew Miller.  Miller will be making his first start since a stint on the 15-day DL.  Good news for the Yanks -- he made two rehab starts and finished with an ERA of 9.00.  Clemens will be making his second start in a row against the Tigers which always makes me a bit nervous.  Still, The Rocket has pitched well in August (2-0, 3.95 ERA in three starts) and struck out eight in his last start against Detroit.  Since the Bombers will back on normal hours, the good, bad and ugly will be back in full force.

Here's hoping it will be all good.