Leaving Boston: Thoughts on Matsui, CC and Mariano

What a series. Three crazy games. Some thoughts:

• The Yankees will miss Hideki Matsui next year. They're not going to bring him back but he's been really great for them. With 4 HR in this series, he now has 23 for the year. He could possibly hit 30 this year. The only other time he did that was in 2004. He also hasn't slugged over .500 other than 2004 and he's at .510 this year
  

• CC Sabathia now leads the league in wins. I think he had a really good game tonight and has been very good against Boston in his last few starts this season. He won his 5th straight start. He's 20-2 in August since 2005. CC may have played himself in the Cy Young discussion.
  

• Another person in the Cy Young discussion? Mariano Rivera. He's been great. I know names like Grienke, Halladay and Verlander will also be involved in the discussion, but can you really count out Mariano? He's simply been great this season. 32 consecutive saves, highest K/9 rate since he's become a closer, only 9 walks and 1.87 ERA
  

• Jeter has also simply been great. MVP? Maybe

• The Yankees improved to 16-4 in their last 20 games and won their 10th series out of 11 since the All-Star break