Yankeetorial: Shadow of the Apocalypse? Nope. (Yawn) This weekend with Boston means nothing

We've gone from Hope Week to Shark Week, from Center Stage to Sports Center, from Cameron Diaz to a torn meniscus. It's clobberin time! It's crunch time! Oh, hell, it's Miller time. Yankees-Boston, three game set at Fenway! Yawn. What else is on TV? Isn't there some new live studio audience sitcom where Betty White cracks ribald sex jokes to young hotties? "The Gonads Girls." Something like that?

Sorry, folks. The mind-control sex merchants who run Fox Entertainment will treat these three games as if giant spiders have attacked from space. Not that they need facts, but here is one: There is no race. None. Nada. The Yanks and Socks are both safe and secure - and keep your family safe and secure... in the Wild Card sweepstakes.

We're playing for home field advantage, which means these games are as critical as the MLB All-Star Game, which puts it right up there with Cheers cast reunions and fundraisers for Chuck Schumer.

I don't say this to be a scoffing curmudgeon: At some point in 2011, it would be nice to bloody Boston's nose, rather than be their Hideki Irabu. But in the heart of every Sock fan's soul, they know their team cannot beat us forever. There is a yin to every Yank. What goes up, must come down. Remember 2009? They sure do.

Let's consider a worst case scenario: We get swept. Been there, done that. The Yankiverse will shriek. Alphonso will explode. Jimmie Reese will go to the Photoshop. SuperFrankenstein might even post. But we will still be about five games ahead of Tampa for the Wild Card... with Arod soon to return.

No matter what happens this weekend, we have cards to play.

At some point, unless he starts hitting, Jorge Posada gets replaced as DH. We will not go into the post-season with a DP-grounder machine who hits .220.

At some point, we will choose our fifth starter - either Ivan Nova or Phil Hughes. Not a bad situation, either way. And if Bartolo or Freddy falter, the sixth man might even improve on them. (Boston is currently pondering whether to move Alfredo Aceves into the rotation. And when Eric Ponson-Bedard falls apart, they will feel snake-bitten.)

At some point, we will find a LH reliever. It's not Boone Logan. It's not Randy Flores. Maybe it's JC Romero. Maybe it's Manny Banuelos. But we will find a guy, and nobody will be uttering the words "Herschel Walker deal" during the trade process.

Since April, I've been ranting about the need to approach this season as a rebuilding year, and to look long-term. Brian Cashman was thinking the same way. This is good. This weekend, we must continue that mentality. Who knows what the September call-ups will bring to our doorstep?

What is that show with Betty White again?