I hope the Yankees appreciate me. I sat starting pitcher Al Leiter down this morning before his scheduled start against the Toronto Blue Jays and explained that I had faith in him, but that he needed to dig deep and come up with a good game.

You can ask Rudi. I did. I looked right at his name on my fantasy baseball lineup and spoke aloud to him through the computer screen.

(Maybe it’s good that I don’t live in the town that houses Connecticut’s mental asylum anymore…)

Al must have heard me, though (or read the pre-game reports that said this would be his last shot). But I think it was me.

You see, I explained to him that I had once had the Toronto pitcher on my team but that his performance hadn’t been up to snuff and I had been forced to drop him. I added that my fondness for Al had kept him on my team all through the troubles in Florida and New York and even during that time when he was in limbo on waivers and was absolutely no good to my lineup. Because, you see, we have a history together. All those years together with the Mets. And while the Mets management (and Florida’s) may have forsaken him, I hadn’t. So, please, for all those games we’d had together, would he please pitch his best ball today? I had faith, you see. I just knew he could do it.

And all that faith and loyalty paid off today:

Al scattered four hits over the 5.2 shut-out innings he pitched. The Yankees went on to win the game 6-2.

And I couldn’t be prouder.