Last night’s game was a marathon for no reason whatsoever. On several levels, it hurt my brain. And then the whole Michael Jackson thing added to the confusion. It’s so weird to see multiple generations have such vastly different memories of a performer.

So, all I can really muster this morning is a few random thoughts:

• Happy Birthday, Derek Sanderson Jeter.  Even though you have reached the golden milestone of 35 two months and ten days before I will, I get annoyed out of solidarity when people talk about your age. You look just as good to me now as you did in ’96. I wish I could say the same for myself.

• I don’t know why, but I can’t get all jazzed up about A-Rod tying Reggie Jackson in the home run department.  Part of it is that I could never get jazzed up about Reggie. I know I should be able to, and I know A-Rod passing him (and the other guys on the list) will be a big deal. But Reggie never really seemed like a particularly fun guy and, as you know, I’m forever ambivalent toward A-Rod.

• Is it wrong that I am simultaneously sad about Xavier Nady’s setback and somewhat relieved that it could possibly cut down on the chances that Swisher would be traded?

• In Non-Yankee News, it was reported yesterday that Cubs catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for pot during the World Baseball Classic. The following paragraph appeared in a blog post written by Nick Friedell of ESPNChicago.com:

“In all seriousness, though, this news is embarrassing for everyone
involved, most notably Soto. The Cubs’ catcher is hitting just .228 on
the year and looks like a shell of the player that was the NL Rookie of
the Year last season. He doesn’t look nearly as powerful, or as fit, as
he did when he clubbed 23 homers and 86 RBIs in 2008. In short, he’s
been a disappointment, and now with this news being public plenty of
fans will wonder if all the adulation got to his head.”

Everybody who thinks this was the first time Soto ever smoked pot, raise your hands. No one? Good. Because my feeling is that it wasn’t. Now, everybody who thinks all this hand wringing over pot use is ridiculous in light of what was happening with drugs in the 70s, 80s and 90s? Aren’t we all pretty sure that the entire Mets roster was high as a kite throughout that time. Sure the adulation may have gone to his head, and maybe he thought he didn’t have to work so hard anymore, but I would question blaming that all on the pot because you’re assuming he wasn’t doing it the whole time he was coming up through the ranks.

• Speaking of MLB players you might want to smoke pot with, when we were at Citizens Bank park for the Phillies game, my husband and I got a kick out of noting the batting music of each player. Shane Victorino was rockin’ the Bob Marley, forever endearing himself to me. (Disclaimer: this is not to say that I’m speculating about Victorino smoking pot. I have no idea what he does with his spare time. I’m just commenting on the mellow vibe Bob inspires.)  Tim decided that he would like to be pals with Chase Utley based on his choice of Led Zeppelin, specifically Kashmir. Good to know. I told him that now he can’t turn around and make fun of Utley if I say something about him being an aesthetically pleasing ballplayer in addition to being a very good one.