It’s nice to have a night off as a Yankee fan, isn’t it? A night off from your friends from Boston reminding you about double digit deficits in the standings and the last blown save by Mariano Rivera. A night off from the nightmare of this 2007 season that has made the Yankees a laughing stock from Carl Pavano’s arm to Jason Giambi’s feet to A-Rod and his blondes to the Roger Clemens and his setbacks to injuries to three young pitchers…And how about that Gary Sheffield for Humberto Sanchez deal? The pitching prospect now needs Tommy John surgery after a well-documented history of arm trouble before the trade.

We have seen mud splatted across the Yankee pinstripes in 2007 while old heroes at shortstop and catcher have quietly carried the torch. Joe Torre and Brian Cashman were fired in the press weeks ago. Former heir apparent to the Yankee kingdom, Steve Swindal, was arrested for a DUI in spring training and was shortly thereafter dumped by his wife Jennifer Steinbrenner. And once he was out of the Steinbrenner family, the future Boss was dumped from the Yankee family.

Hell of a year, eh?

Well, last night A-Rod went deep off Jonathan Papelbon and the Yankees took two of three off the Boston Red Sox while Mariano Rivera closed the game against Manny and Papi. It doesn’t change much by itself, but it buys you a few hours of silence…

And it has been quite loud out there. These days I’m convinced that there are more hard core Yankee haters than actual hard core fans of any one team. Need an example? While covering a Mets game recently, I was wading through a crowd of rowdy fans on the way to the home locker room. The Mets had just defeated Barry Bonds and the Giants, but only one thing was on the minds of the Shea faithful: “Yankees suck, Yankees suck” — the mating call of second-rate franchises.

Yes, the whole world is loving this. Which why last night was a sweet jab to the nose of every Yankee-hater out there. A-Rod went deep, Mo closed and all was right for just one night.