Lest we get ahead of ourselves, let's not pretend like conquering the Oakland Athletics offense is any task…

CC Sabathia continued his dominance at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, tossing eight shutout innings of one-hit ball in a win over the A’s.

The win extended Sabathia’s streak of unbeaten starts in the Bronx to 21 games, as he’s 16-0 with a 2.05 ERA at home dating back to the 2009 All-Star break. The Yankees are 19-2 in those games.

Sabathia also tied his career high with 19 wins, giving him five starts this month to capture that elusive 20th victory.

“I think it would be cool,” Sabathia said when asked about the prospect of winning 20. “It’s in the middle of the season, so it’s really tough to think about personal accomplishments when we’re trying to win a division. I’ll go out five days from now and try to help the team win.”

Since the beginning of June, Sabathia…

One of the more annoying aspects of 21st century baseball fandom has come by way of the dreaded stat geek.

You probably think I’m going down the route of “The RBI is the only stat that matters”, “VORP is only for loners and dudes who really hate the Discovery Channel”, or some other get-off-my-lawn type rant, but you’d be mistaken.

I’m actually all in on much of the new statistical analysis that has taken baseball by storm in the past decade. Anything that helps you understand the game better has to be considered a good thing.

I just wish stat geeks weren’t so obnoxious about it all.

Having successfully tarnished the image of oldie-but-goodies like batting average, saves and runs batted in, the geeks are now on a crusade to diminish the significance of the win.

Seriously. The win.

You have to admire their gusto, going after the very thing that the idea of sport revolves around. It’s almost as if people have forgotten the wise nice man with really poor clock-management skills who taught us the one indisputable fact that drives the engine of competition…

“YOU PLAY. TO WIN. THE GAME.”

CC Sabathia took the A’s behind the woodshed—whatever the hell a woodshed is—on Thursday, allowing just one hit over eight innings to collect his 19th win of the season. Those 19 victories stand against just five losses, and his ERA sits at a tidy 3.02.

You would think numbers like that—all within the prism of being the unquestioned ace of the best team in baseball—would make Sabathia the hands down favorite in the American League Cy Young race.

But the stat geeks say otherwise, and they may even make fun of your educational background as they do.

The geek is convinced that Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez has been the AL’s best pitcher in 2010. They say his mediocre 10-10 record is purely the product of playing for a last-place team, and that if Hernandez and Sabathia switched places, it would be King Felix who would be knocking on the door of his first 2o-win season.

That these statements are 100 percent true is beside the point. It’s like me saying, “If I were a world-class tennis player with a bottomless bank account and astounding bone structure, it’d be me and not Andy Roddick watching Brooklyn Decker get out of the shower in the morning.”

Again, this would (probably) be true. And part of me wants to die after crystallizing the limitations of my life simply to prove a point on this stupid blog. But ultimately it’s just an example of how ridiculous it is to disparage what Sabathia has done this season just because he’s better setup for success than King Felix.

Now to get the geeks really fired up, I’m about to take it a step further. I’d like to make the case that in addition to the Cy Young award, Sabathia is the American League’s MVP in 2010.

Don’t scoff. Think about it. Even without Josh Hamilton putting up monster numbers, the Rangers are beating out the weak competition in the AL West. Miguel Cabrera is a bona fide stud, but his team will be lucky to break 80 wins. Robinson Cano has enjoyed a breakout season in the Bronx, but it’s safe to say the Yankees were still a playoff team even if he didn’t make the leap.

Sabathia, meanwhile, is the one constant on a Yankee rotation being held together by spit and the last shreds of Javier Vazquez’s dignity. Without their ace, are the Yankees even a 90-win team this season? Do they win 80?

He’s been the rock, the slump buster, the very definition of what an ace is supposed to be. He is, in so many ways, the most valuable player.

Don’t let the geeks tell you otherwise.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached via e-mail at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus .

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The Colorado Rockies hammered Philadelphia's pitchers for 20 hits. Chase Utley made sure the Phillies still won.

The 2010 MLB season has not disappointed, as competition is fierce but so is disappointment.

For playoff staples, like the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals things could not have gone any worse. As they say, ‘When it rains, it pours’ and both the above two ball clubs will be noticeably absent. The presence of the Red Sox and Cardinals will be deeply missed, a true heartbreak for all fans of baseball.

So, which American League teams are in contention?

Legitimately, no team has clinched anything just yet and that needs to remain the mindset.

Any baseball fan that witnessed the 2007 New York Mets lose 14 of 17 games, followed by losing the NL East and a spot in the playoffs. Say what you want about presumptions, but nothing is ever guaranteed and it only comes off as arrogant.

One team that looks sure to clinch is the Texas Rangers. Rangers have zero competition in the AL West. Unless a Mets-like implosion is on the horizon, it’s the Rangers’ division to lose.

The remaining two divisions are all off to the races, literally.

In the AL Central the Chicago White Sox picked up Manny Ramirez attempting to gain on the division-leading Minnesota Twins. The usually competitive Detroit Tigers have fallen out of the postseason talks, which gives the White Sox some breathing room to try.

Same old story in the AL East, except the Tampa Bay Rays are the new Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox have been hit with an injury bug that hasn’t let up all season. Considering the situation up in Bean-town, Skipper Terry Francona should be the manager of the year for keeping his team in the hunt for so long.

As for the Rays, the New York Yankees will fight them till the end for the division. This is by far the tightest battle in baseball, but the wild card looks to be coming out of the AL East so both teams will most likely be in October.

PREDICTIONS:

AL EAST: New York Yankees

AL WEST: Texas Rangers

AL CENTRAL: Chicago White Sox

WILD CARD: Tampa Bay Rays

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Nothing infuriates a fan base more than watching a young player—formerly a prospect within their team’s system—blossom into stardom in another uniform.

One would tend to think that when rooting for a team like the New York Yankees, this mindset would apply much less frequently—as they often demand a prospect fire sale to bring in the latest available superstar on the market.

That may have been the case when the best prospects to establish themselves in the big leagues outside of New York were Eric Milton, Christian Guzman, Ted Lilly, Jake Westbrook, and Nick Johnson (welcome back).

The fans of the Yankees are now as prospect-conscious as ever, and have many times showed displeasure toward potential deals for former All-Stars because of a young player’s involvement in the deal.

It all started with the Johan Santana sweepstakes in 2007, when Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano, and Joba Chamberlain were all potential targets of the Minnesota Twins organization.

It has now reached the peak with the backlash of the Austin Jackson for Curtis Granderson swap, as well as the now unfair expectations for impressive prospect bat Jesus Montero in Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre.

Jackson, a 23-year-old rookie CF, has shown marvelous outfield range while on pace for 50 extra-base hits, 25+ steals, 100+ runs, and nearly 200 hits. He will now forever be compared to Granderson, who has had a poor inaugural season in pinstripes.

However, the trade most Yankees fans should be putting to task is the one going largely unnoticed. To prepare for the stretch run in 2008, New York gave away young OF prospect Jose Tabata to the Pirates in a deal for Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady.

The Yankees missed the postseason in 2008, Nady was lost for the 2009 season and ultimately not re-signed, and Marte (although a vital World Series contributor) has produced next to nothing over two and a half regular seasons.

Whatever happened to Tabata? He is starting every day as a 22-year-old rookie in Pittsburgh, and has hit .335 with 39 R, 80 H, and 12 SB over his last 60 games. These are on pace for 105 R, 216 H, and 32 SB over a 162-game season—all while displaying very solid outfield range defensively.

Tabata has displayed equal speed and run-scoring ability, better run-producing, and superior average and on-base percentage than Jackson—all while in a much less dangerous lineup at a younger age.

The Yankees may still yet get an All-Star season out of Granderson in the next few years, and the deal has plenty of time to shift momentum from one side to the other. The Tabata deal, however, can only get worse from here on out.

Much can be said for Marte’s ability to tame Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and others during his nearly perfect World Series display. It is impossible to ignore its importance, but Marte was only on that 2009 team because of a free agent signing after the 2008 season—one that likely would have occurred regardless of the trade.

All of the raw talent seen in Tabata when the Yankees signed him at 17 years old in 2005 is beginning to come to fruition, and New York fans are left wondering “what if.”

If trading Jackson for a power-hitting CF with speed was second-guessed so ferociously, then certainly the Tabata trade should be generating a tad more negative buzz from the “Yankees Universe.”

It remains to be seen if Tabata will be figured out by National League pitchers as time moves on, but his current progression is already leaps and bounds above the production seen from the players New York received in return for him in 2008.

The “Jackson vs. Granderson” debate will likely wage on in chat rooms, Twitter conversations, and blog posts all over the tri-state area for years to come. However, the true unrest over trading a young OF prospect for a veteran OF should instead be about Tabata vs. Nady.

Check us out on Twitter at @BR_MLB for all your MLB updates, breaking news, latest stories, trivia, and more.

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Alex Rodriguez has left the man who negotiated his 10-year, $275 million contract.

Rodriguez is not expected to replace Scott Boras with Pittsburgh attorney Jay Reisinger and Washington lawyer Jim Sharp, who helped him with his legal affairs.

Reisinger was the one who negotiated Rodriguez’s ordeal with Congress for performance-enhancing drugs. Reisinger also represented Sammy Sosa and Andy Pettitte in their trials.

Rodriguez was seen with Guy Oseary, a Hollywood agent, who has been seen with Rodriguez over the past week. When sources called the offices of Oseary, they were only willing to call him a “manager”, not an agent. Oseary was referred to A-Rod by Madonna.

Boras had been with A-Rod since the start of his career as a high-school student out of Miami. Boras has been responsible for the more than $500 million in contract deals. Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers with a $252 million dollar, 10 year contract. A-Rod has signed with the Rangers and Yankees for a total of 20-years.

It is not expected that Alex Rodriguez will need an agent while his 10-year deal comes to a close when Rodriguez is 42 (currently the age of 35).

Rodriguez is continuing a great season of work, compiling a .265 average, with 21 homers and 97 RBI. A-Rod also produced his 600th home run of his career, reaching a baseball milestone. Alex Rodriguez is currently on the disabled list with a calf strain. He is expected to come back on Sunday.

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It may be all over except for the crying.

With eight innings of one-hit ball on Thursday afternoon against the Oakland Athletics, C.C. Sabathia has become the front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award, and he may have even clinched it.

Why?

Well, I’ll tell ya.  C.C. Sabathia will be the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner because . . . 

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C.C. Sabathia is making a strong case for a second American League Cy Young Award.

Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher has made an early exit against Oakland because of stiffness in his left knee. Swisher grounded out in the first inning Thursday, then left the game. Curtis Granderson took Swisher's spot in the batting order, and the Yankees repositioned their outfield. The Yankees say Swisher is day to day.