The Yankees are probably on their flight to Boston as I’m typing this. I hate flying, but I wish I could be on that plane to congratulate them for a great road trip. I mean, 5-2? Not exactly chopped liver.

(Apparently, this post will have a food thread.)

Tonight’s 3-2 victory over the A’s was a nice surprise. My expectations for Chad Gaudin weren’t very high, so I was impressed with his scoreless, one-hit performance over four-plus innings. He didn’t get the win but he got people out. Yes, he walked five batters. Maybe next time, he’ll be more aggressive and not look like a total chicken.

Speaking of how he looks, here’s Chad before he put on the pinstripes.

And here he is in his Yankees uni.

Raise your hand if you think he looks better without that piece of beef jerky stuck to his chin.

Jeter continued his torrid hitting with a leadoff single, scoring the first run of the game. He’s having an amazing season, and would be on my MVP list. Damon always seems to be on base and he was again when Tex went deep in the fourth, talk about an MVP.

Those two are turning out to be a natural pair, sort of like….well, guess.

(Don’t ask me which is which, although Tex is probably the smoother, more peanut buttery player.)

On the subject of jam, Aceves worked out of a big one in the fourth but came back for the sixth and seventh and gave up a couple of runs. Thanks to an efficient Coke, a rusty-but-nasty Hughes and a totally perfect Mo, the game had a very sweet ending.

Now, on to the Boston series. If I were on that plane right now, I would remind the Yankees of the following:

That said, I would be very forceful in telling them to show up at Fenway with the utmost intensity. Now is the time to put the Red Sox away, because leads can disappear very quickly and there is still plenty of baseball left. Anything can happen. The last thing they need is to play loosey goosey.

“Besides,” I would say to them, “do you really want to lose to Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis and the rest of them? No, of course you don’t. So stay hungry, Yankees.”