Last night, Chris Dickerson enacted revenge, and he might just be the first in a future wave

My first childhood PTSD from an ex-Yankee was the 1963 World Series, which the world recalls for Koufax and Drysdale. Through drugs and surgery, I've blotted their images from my head. Nevertheless, in nightmares, I still see Moose Skowron in a Dodger jersey, hammering nails over my coffin. "Wake up," my wife says. "You were dreaming, you were booing someone." No, I tell her. I wasn't saying boo...  

Over the last 50 years, it's become a cliche to say that whenever the Yankees trade or dump a guy - be it Reggie Jackson or DeWayne Wise - he'll rise from the grave, lerch after us and eventually eat our intestine. Last night was just another whupping at the hands of an obscure ex-Yankee zombie - the 31-year-old Chris Dickerson.

For the last two years, Dickerson excelled for our Triple A team. (Trivia question: Who did we trade to get him? Answer: Sergio Mitre, to Milwaukee.) This included a hellish season touring Ramadas along the Thomas A. Dewey New York State Thruway, where the club spent a few Twilight Zone episodes in Batavia. Dickerson hit .316 last year at "Scranton." That garnered him 14 ABs in a September call up: He hit 2 HRs and stole 3 bases.

Last year, with Gardner out and a flow-through tea bag of retreads trying to replace him, the Yankees never gave Dickerson a chance. Over the winter, when the team signed Ichiro to a two-year, a part of me went down to the basement and screamed, "WHAT ABOUT CHRIS DICKERSON? WHAT DOES CHRIS DICKERSON HAVE TO TO TO GET A SHOT? HOW MUCH BETTER WILL ICHIRO BE - FOR $20 MILLION - THAN CHRIS DICKERSON?"

(Let me note something here: I make no claims to be a baseball scout or expert. I only speak with the gravitas of being an irrational Yankee fan. OK? I don't want to make it sound as though I claim to always be right, because I certainly was wrong in my assessments of Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells. I am simply a Yankee id, yelling in the basement.)

Last winter, we pitched Dickerson into the sea. Twenty-eight days later (Cueing Danny Boyle) the O's signed him. Last night, well - he killed us - two HRs.

Like I said, Dickerson is just the latest in a long tradition. But here's the rub: The way we're churning through players, some very good ones could soon become ex-Yanks with scores to settle. We've got a slew of "all-stars" coming back, and our 25-man roster is going to pop like a helium balloon.  Come August and September - and maybe October - there will be several new Moose Skowrons out there. Beware.