The kind folks at Gotham Publishing sent me a copy of John Sexton's Baseball as a Road to God. Yes, I'm shamelessly plugging the review I wrote. But I'm also thinking about having faith.

The Yankees are certainly prepared to test our faith this year, between penny pinching through the off-season to the string of injuries to the sluggers we were depending on to justify that penny pinching. There's been plenty of reason to grumble. I know I've done my share of it. A bad season, or even a run of bad seasons, won't shake my faith in the Yankees, or in baseball at its broadest levels. If the Yankees suck, it'll be because someone else is doing the impossible. And even that could be fun to watch.

But, I am at heart an optimist, and springtime was made for people like me.
And so I'm hoping you'll share what you're hopeful about for 2013.

I'm hopeful that Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova have injury free and effective seasons. I'm hopeful about David Phelps taking the next step. I'm hopeful Mo will be Mo and Jeter will be Jeter.

Bold prediction:

750 Runs Scored (swapping Arod for Youkilis and Swisher for Ichiro won't hurt as much as you think, replacing Ibanez and Jones with Gardner is a plus, but losing Granderson and Tex is rough)
640 Runs Allowed (the pitching staff that was among the best in the AL last year will improve, plus the defense will be better with Gardner in center)
95 wins (beating their Pythag by 2 games).
First place in the AL East.