In Brief: Too Close for Comfort

Not satisfied? Neither are these guys. George Steinbrenner's New York Yankees dropped two in a row to the hated Red Sox, and even though the boys in pinstripes held on to a game-and-a-half lead in the American League East, Mr. Steinbrenner went into a full-fledged mope. So the Yankees tried to acquire a bullpen in July. First to arrive: Armando Benitez (formerly the Mets closer) to work as a setup man for Mariano Rivera-then one-out left-handed specialist Jesse Orosco. Incidentally, Mr. Orosco tried to join his new team in Baltimore thinking the Yankees were on the road. They weren't. So he caught another plane to New York and arrived by taxi at Yankee Stadium in the sixth inning of the Yanks' July 23 game.

Then there's Lance Armstrong, the 31-year-old Texan who won his fifth-straight Tour de France. Unlike Mr. Armstrong's four blowout victories, this time he won by just 61 seconds. He said he and his team made too many tactical errors.