Tabloid sez, without any evidence, that Steinbrenners could sell Yankees

Journalists whine that bloggers make something out of nothing, but that was my reaction after reading today's Michael O'Keeffe and Bill Madden piece for the New York Daily News saying that the Yankees could be up for sale soon. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think that sportswriters ought to have something more than hearsay and rumors and anonymous quotes before writing such an explosive story.

O'Keeffe and Madden write that:

Multiple baseball and finance sources told the Daily News they are hearing that the team the Steinbrenner family has led to seven World Series titles could be put on the block in the wake of the record sale price of $2.175 billion the Los Angeles Dodgers went for in April.

“There has been chatter all around the banking and financial industries in the city for a couple of weeks now,” one high-level baseball source told The News.

This is worthy of front-page and back-page covers in the New York Daily News? Because some anonymous Wall Street workers and baseball names are speculating about how much the Yankees could be worth, because the Dodgers were sold for so much? Spare me.

Look, it is always possible that the Steinbrenners could sell the team one day, or even sell it in the near future. But where is any evidence that this is going to happen? O'Keeffe and Madden do not have a single hard fact or on-the-record source showing that this could happen, yet they have written a news story, not an opinion column, saying that the Yanks could be for sale soon. There is only one named source in the article, Yankees president Randy Levine, who gave a flat denial to the News saying: "The Steinbrenners are not selling the team. Heck, there's not even an anonymous source saying that they will sell the team; just that they could sell the team. 

Full disclosure -- as long-time readers know, I used to work at the News, but my opinion would be exactly the same on this article whether I had worked there or not.

O'Keeffe and Madden not only make a whole lot out of supposition and rumors, they insinuate that Hal Steinbrenner may want to sell the team because he said this spring that he was a "finance geek" and that a good team didn't need a $220 million payroll in order to win. Then the article misrepresents Hal's position on the A-Rod re-signing in 2007, blaming Hank Steinbrenner for it.

They continue, "Hal Steinbrenner rarely attends games, and according to those who know him, abhors doling out the huge money long-term contracts such as the Rodriguez deal." Really? Then why did Hal sign off on that deal, as well as the CC Sabathia (seven years, and then an additional two years) and Mark Teixeira (eight years) contracts? Not to mention paying A.J. Burnett $82 million, and then paying nearly 2/3 of Burnett's last two years on the contract for him to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Buster Olney wrote the definitive version of what happened in the A-Rod contract -- I talked about it in Subway Squawkers last year. The gist of it is that Randy Levine, not bogeyman Hank Steinbrenner, did most of the negotiations with A-Rod and his people. And A-Rod had to go to Hal's house and apologize in person for the opting-out shenanigans before he would sign off on the contract, which he did. Contrary to this story, there is no evidence that Hal opposed the A-Rod deal, just that he was ticked off over the opting-out stuff.

But who needs actual facts when the News can have sources who say stuff like this:

“Hal’s a smart businessman,” the source said. “And I’m just not sure that he considers baseball to be a smart business. I think he looks at some of these other owners, throwing $200 million at players and thinks they’re idiots — idiots that unfortunately can affect the way he does business. You have to understand, it was in Hal’s formative years in the ’80s when he saw George at his worst in terms of throwing more and more good money at bad players like Pascual Perez, Dave LaPoint, Steve Kemp, Ed Whitson and Andy Hawkins.”

Let's review. By buying the Yankees in 1973, George Steinbrenner was able to take an under $10 million investment and build a team worth several billion. Tell me in what other legal business you can get that sort of rate of return.  Sounds pretty "smart" to me.

Again, Hal signed off on all of the modern big-spending Yankee deals. He also agreed to bring back Brian Cashman, the GM who has one tool in the toolbox -- the ability to spend money. Sure, Hal has made it clear he wants the payroll to go down, but that doesn't mean 1) that he doesn't bear his own share of responsibility for the Yankee payroll and 2) that he is going to sell the team anytime soon. Besides, there are four Steinbrenner children who would have to sign off on the sale.

O'Keeffe and Madden end their piece by quoting yet another anonymous source who says: “Hal hates the players and he hates the media.”

So there you have it. Michael O'Keeffe and Bill Madden have declared that the Yankees could be for sale soon, with the "evidence" for this based solely on rumors, speculation, and twisting around of the facts. I am eagerly waiting for the News' next report, about how Ferris Bueller passed out at 31 Flavors.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Andy Pettitte's Frankie Pentangeli moment

When I heard today about how Andy Pettitte indicated that he might have, um, misremembered what Roger Clemens said about HGH, my first thought was that it was something out of a movie. The Godfather, Part II, that is!

Specifically, I am referring to the infamous scene in which Frankie Pentangeli, who is set to testify as to what he knew about Michael Corleone's crimes, all of a sudden clams up. That's because Corleone has arranged for Frankie Five Fingers' brother to come in from Sicily. Seeing his brother keeps him from testifying -- he tells the Senate committee that he doesn't know anything:

The FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone. Because then, that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Everything. They said Michael Corleone did this, Michael Corleone did that. So I said, "Yeah, sure."

The final script of the movie movie doesn't really explain why just seeing his brother would compel him not to testify, other than it being about Sicily and omerta, although Michael tells his wife Kay that "it was between those brothers." (An aside -- Pentangeli's character wasn't in the first movie, and he serves as a replacement for Clemenza after Richard Castellano, the actor who portrayed Clemenza in the movie, couldn't come to terms with Francis Ford Coppola on a new contract. While The Godfather, Part II is a great movie, I think Pentangeli's role would have been much more powerful if he were still Clemenza, like in the first film. But I digress.)

Anyhow, back to Andy Pettitte. According to his Congressional testimony, he told Laura Pettitte of what Clemens said back in the day about using HGH. However, as Ken Davidoff, now of the New York Post, reminds us:

The government’s best weapon to fight back would be to reveal that Pettitte acquired HGH from Brian McNamee, who will say he injected Clemens with illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and that Pettitte shared the details of the conversation with his wife, Laura. District Judge Reggie Walton has closed both doors, however, saying the McNamee connection would be “guilt by association” and the Laura Pettitte testimony “hearsay.”

Oh, great. Thanks, Andy, for potentially helping to set Roger Clemens free, by saying this today in court:

“As you sit here today, you believe in your heart and mind that you very well might have misunderstood Mr. Clemens in 1999 or 2000?” asked one of Clemens’s defense lawyers, Michael Attanasio. “Could have,” Pettitte said. “It’s 50-50 that you might have heard it, might have misunderstood it?” “That’s fair,” Pettitte replied.

The thing of it is, being so ambiguous, and unsure, will not change anybody's minds who thinks that Pettitte was a rat. It will not repair his friendship with The Rocket. But what it could do is give a jury reasonable doubt on finding Clemens guilty. Lovely. Thanks for nothing, Andy!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why Brian Cashman is like Kim Kardashian, and other Yankee thoughts

Brian Cashman, the GM who brought us that wonderful Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda deal, took a cue from both "Undercover Boss" and Kim Kardashian with his appearance in the bleachers Sunday. By wearing that same stupid wig/visor than he did while rappelling a building, he had about as ridiculous -- and as obvioius -- a disguise as the bosses do on "Undercover Boss." (An aside -- is anybody on that show ever really fooled? You have some new low-level staffer wearing wigs out of the Harpo Marx Collection, and being followed by a camera crew, and nobody catches on? C'mon now.)

And Cashman was like Kim Kardashian in trying his best to make a spectacle of himself to get publicity. He's been GM since 1998, yet it took him until 2012, after he was finally on the hot seat a little bit, for him to go hang out with the proles in the bleachers? Spare me. It is about as shameless a publicity ploy as Kardashian's faux-mance with Kanye West, where they have hit up nearly every high-trafficked tourist spot in New York to show off their "love." How perfectly fake. Come to think of it, maybe we're going to see Kanye and Kim in the bleachers soon, too. Good grief.

* * *

When the best you can say about Phil Hughes' pitching is that he didn't stink as much as he has in his previous four starts, it is not a good night. Especially when he didn't even pitch as well as Hector Noesi (traded as part of the Jesus Montero/Michael Pineda deal) did last night for the Seattle Mariners.

Speaking of Montero, he went 4-for-4 last night for Seattle, and hit a home run the night before. His batting average is now up to .294 (better than every Yankee starter except for Derek Jeter) and he has hit 4 homers (as many as Jeter and A-Rod) and driven in 13 runs (which would put him at third on the Yankees). Not that the Yankees could use him or anything, especially with Nick Swisher out of the lineup.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that Pineda caught up on his reading, finishing "The Hunger Games" just in time so he could catch the movie in the theaters. Next up, to steal a joke from my friend Sully Baseball, a thrilling game of Sudoku. Good times!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why should Yankee players and fans have to keep Mickey Mantle's open?

There was a whole to-do in the media this weekend about how the Mickey Mantle's restaurant is in financial trouble, and may have to close. They haven't paid rent for four months, and may be evicted soon. (Imagine that!)

So Bill Liederman, the former owner of the place, is trying to raise one million dollars to keep the restaurant open. He has been trying to hit up retired Yankee players like Goose Gossage and David Cone for $10,000 each, and current players as well, and seemed annoyed that they weren't jumping to do so. "Their agents just laugh," he complained about the current team.

And this morning, I heard Liederman being interviewed on 1010 WINS asking for fans to donate $1,000 or more each and "band together" and save the restaurant, because "most Yankee fans have been there." To which I say, you have got to be kidding me in expecting fans -- or anybody -- to give money for this!

I guess I missed when a restaurant with an unusable website, serving overpriced, lousy food, with terrible service from wait staff and bartenders alike (check out the reviews online for the place -- they're brutal!), became a charity. Especially when the place's owners haven't bothered to pay their rent for this entire year.

Am I supposed to be outraged that the landlord is trying to evict them? Absolutely not. He's not running a charity, either. Of all the worthwhile things that people can spend their money on, and donate their money to, and Liederman is trying to keep a tourist trap open? No thanks, I'll pass. Especially given what a jerk Liederman is. Let me explain.

I can have a long memory on things. And I remember the stunt Liederman pulled when he owned the place. In 2004, when the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees in the ALCS, it was naturally one of the most horrible times ever for Yankee fans. So what did Liederman do? He announced that he was renaming the place from Mickey Mantle's Restaurant to Ted Williams' Restaurant through the end of the World Series. He also sold Red Sox hats in the store.

I was appalled over that, as were many, many Yankee fans, who called and showed up to complain. That was a terrible time, and to have the owner of Mickey Mantle's, whose restaurant's existence was based on Yankee fans, do such a thing was ridiculously tasteless. Way to kick your fan base in the stomach, dude.

Then Liederman had the gall to say that The Mick gave him the idea: "His spirit came to me when the game was over and said, 'Bill, let's do this for my favorite player. Let's put Ted's name up there for a week,'" Liederman told the press at the time. How ridiculous.

Since Liederman's "joke" didn't go over well with either the Yankee fan base or with the Mantle family, the sign was pulled down within a few days, and he ended up selling the place within the year.

Now he's back in the picture, trying to get Yankee fans and players to give their hard-earned money to keep it open. To which I say, why don't you hit up your beloved Red Sox Nation for donations, dude? Sell your scheme somewhere else. I ain't buying it.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Some Yankee fans think that with Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero trade, there must be a pony in here somewhere

I was in Whole Foods yesterday when Squawker Jon called to tell me that Michael Pineda had a torn labrum, and would be out for the year. Needless to say, my reaction didn't exactly fit the peace-and-love vibe of the store! And I am still positively irate, over 12 hours later.

Best case scenario is that Pineda comes back some time early next summer. Meanwhile, Jesus Montero is starting to heat up, and even getting enough time at catcher to qualify in that position in fantasy baseball. Not bad for somebody who we were told could never catch.

And Hector Noesi is a major league pitcher for the Mariners getting a start tonight. Given that Pineda is out for what could be a year and a half, and given that there is no guarantee he will be able to pitch the way he once did, this trade is a complete and utter disaster for the Yankees so far.

Yet there is a sizable contingent of sportswriters and Yankee fans who still say that it is "too soon" to evaluate the trade. Really? Frankly, they remind me of the naive boy in the story presented with a mound of animal excrement as a Christmas gift. In that anecdote, the little boy keeps on digging through the poop, saying, "There must be a pony in here somewhere."

Newsflash: there ain't no pony. It's not Jose Campos, who is now being touted as being a superstar to justify the trade, even though he is only in Single A. And it certainly isn't Michael Pineda, who may never live up to his promise, and could end up being more like Phil Hughes Part Deux than anything else (and Hughes was terrible again last night.)

There is no bright side for the Yankees to this trade, as much as some try to downplay this as being no big thing. And don't tell me it's simply bad luck. It should have occurred to Brian Cashman that the Mariners might have been selling him a bag of beans here. It's not just that the Mariners have a history of trying to hold up the Yankees -- remember how they demanded more in the Cliff Lee trade? It's that why would they want to trade Pineda in the first place, if he was supposed to be so great?

I was against this trade from the beginning -- it never added up to me, the way it did to the "experts." So I'm not the least bit surprised that this has ended so poorly. (Incidentally, at least trading Montero for Cliff Lee, as costly as it would have been, may have helped the Yankees win No. 28 in 2010. Instead, Cashman gave up the team's best prospect for what is turning out to be a whole heap of nothing.)

And let's review the fact that Pineda's 2011 second-half numbers were so terrible -- he went from 8-6 with a 3.03 ERA and a 1.035 WHIP to a 1-4 record in the second half, with a 5.12 ERA and a 1.224 WHIP, and a significantly diminished velocity. Gee, did it ever occur to Cashman that there could have been a physical reason for that decline?  How can he be so naive?

Then again, we're talking about a GM who actually thought that signing Everyday Pedro Feliciano to a two-year, $8 million deal was a good risk, and who seemed to be the only person in the world to be shocked that Feliciano got injured so quickly into his Yankee tenure!

Then there is what injury expert Will Carroll of Sports Illustrated wrote on February 29 of this year, before Pineda ever even threw a pitch in a spring training game, giving Pineda a "red light" as an injury risk:

The Pineda trade seems like a coup for the Yankees, even giving up a solid hitter in Jesus Montero, but Pineda is in a bad situation. He's young, coming off a season where he saw a massive innings increase and a hit-the-wall moment as bad as any we've seen in several seasons. He's a red flag risk on that alone, which is horrible. (DAN STAT). On top of that, the records of Joe Girardi and Larry Rothschild in dealing with precisely this type of situation is terrible. As much as I like Pineda the pitcher, I can't handle Pineda the risk.

Then Carroll wrote this on April 4 about Pineda:

The parallels between Pineda and Phil Hughes are too perfect. Well, not perfect, since we're talking about young pitchers and injuries. Hughes injured his leg, started overthrowing a bit, and ended up with a sore shoulder. It set back his career more than we realize, even now. Pineda came in out of condition, still showing signs of last year's workload, and finally admitted that his arm was hurting.

An MRI came back with "no structural damage" and the calming diagnosis of tendinitis. Don't be fooled. The biceps tendon is a structure, one that's important to a pitcher. One of the buzzwords in sports medicine is the "biceps-labrum complex." Essentially, the labrum and biceps tendon work in concert, in ways doctors are still figuring out. The classic "buckethandle" labrum tear might have a different mechanism than doctors long thought.

As for Pineda, he might be better served looking to another starter on his staff for a better comp. CC Sabathia had some shoulder issues early in his career. A trip to Glenn Fleisig's lab in Birmingham helped him change some things, and the results speak for themselves. Why Pineda isn't heading down there is beyond me. 

So why didn't the Yanks do what Carroll recommended? And why didn't they take Pineda's condition seriously?

All spring, we heard Cashman downplay Pineda's lack of velocity this spring and make excuses for him. Now he admits that this was a sign that he was hurt. Gee, ya think?

I have to wonder, what is it that Cashman is going to have to do to get some of his defenders to stop justifying his actions? He gave away the franchise's most highly touted prospect, somebody who he himself compared to Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols, for a player who may very well have been damaged goods in the first place. Boy, that Cash is sooooo smart, isn't he?

I have said it before and I will say it again. Brian Cashman has exactly one tool in the toolkit -- the ability to spend a lot of money. Yes, he got Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit -- this is the trade Cashman fans always bring up whenever the subject of  his record comes up. But he got to make that trade for two reasons. One was that Ozzie Guillen despised Swisher and wanted him out. The second was that it was a salary dump -- the White Sox still owed Swisher $20+ million, and the Yanks could afford that type of salary.

Even the Curtis Granderson trade involved the ability of the Yanks to pay for his salary. (And it's not like the Yanks got a steal on getting him in the first place -- they still had to give up Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke. Granderson is a superstar now, but he didn't come cheap.)

So tell me, what are the great Brian Cashman deals in recent years that he has made on his baseball savvy? Trading for Javier Vazquez again? Trying to get back Carl Pavano? Signing Kei Igawa?

And sorry, I don't buy Cashman's story that Pineda fully tore his labrum just this weekend. Some of his acolytes think it's cute, the way Cash constantly plays fast and loose with the truth. I don't. Why should I buy anything Cashman says, when it is clear he has a very long track record of saying what he needed to, regardless of whether it was accurate or not, in order to deflect criticism? When you do things like tell reporters about how A.J. Burnett really has great numbers, and that we all need to smoke the objectivity pipe to see it, then you pay the Pirates $20 million on Burnett's salary just to get rid of him, you don't exactly come across as a truthteller.

I think it's time that some folks wake up and drink the reality potion, to use a Cashmanism. And the reality is that Brian Cashman is a pretty crummy general manager. I said at the time of the trade that I had zero faith in his judgment. My faith in his judgment now? It's less than zero!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Is this Red Sox team unlikable not just to Yankees fans, but to Boston fans?

I just finished watching Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game on the MLB TV broadcast hooked up to my television. Well worth watching, even though I knew how it ended! What was really obvious was that Bobby Valentine is the designated Boston scapegoat for the team's woes this year -- he was getting booed way more than anybody else on the team.

Now, Bobby V certainly isn't perfect, but man, the Red Sox are an extraordinary unlikable team, and the lion's share of the blame ought to go on them, more than the manager. Boston is, what, 10-34 since September 2011? Those are 1962 Mets numbers. That speaks to a real dysfunction. Maybe the players are just mad that their little country club got busted up; maybe they are peeved they can no longer booze it up in the clubhouse or eat fried chicken during games. Boo bleeding hoo.

And what a bunch of jerks there are in the Boston clubhouse now -- even more than usual! I was struck by something Friday when watching an interview with Pedro Martinez Friday, after he spoke at Boston's 100-year celebration for Fenway Park -- how he was somebody Yankee fans loved to hate. He was a worthwhile opponent -- talented and intelligent, and a real warrior (although him pushing Don Zimmer to the ground was pretty ridiculous.) He was a real character, and fun to watch, no matter if you were rooting for him or against him.

Who do the Sox have now as their warrior, their ace? Josh Beckett, an ignorant clown who 1) has never apologized for being the ringleader of the fried chicken and beer brigade, 2) who is obsessed with finding the "snitch" who told the media about it, and 3) who reportedly blames Kevin Youkilis for the leak. Whatta guy.

Here's what Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston wrote the other day about Beckett. For all the media interest in Valentine calling out Youkilis, the more interesting story to me was this:

Josh Beckett complained bitterly about clubhouse "snitches," and it turns out he and other players made some effort to identify who the "snitch" was, the person or persons Beckett and others felt had leaked damning information about things that went on in what the players considered their inner sanctum.

There were reasons to believe Youkilis was one of the players called out by Beckett.

So, let me get this straight. You have arguably the worst September collapse ever, even with a record payroll, you think it's okay to get your drink on during games, and your biggest concern is finding the snitches? Good grief.

Then there's Dustin Pedroia, who is apparently bent out of shape that his buddy Francona is no longer in the team. Dustin, who some fans compare to Derek Jeter, had this to say the other day when it came to Bobby V calling out Youkilis:

“I know Youk plays as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen in my life and I have his back and his teammates have his back,’’ Pedroia said. “We know how hard he plays. I don’t really understand what Bobby’s trying to do, but that’s not the way we go about our stuff around here. I’m sure he’ll figure that out soon.’’...


When he was asked if Valentine’s was to try to motivate Youkilis, Pedroia replied: “Maybe in Japan or something, but over here in the US we’re on a three-game winning streak and we want to feel good and keep it rolling.

Calling out his own manager? And what is the "that’s not the way we go about our stuff around here"? No, the way the Red Sox go about their stuff around there is stinking up a storm in September, drinking in the clubhouse during games, and isolating good guys like Jacoby Ellsbury (remember how Youkilis called him out?) Take that quote that Pedroia said, and put in in the mouth of somebody that you may not like in baseball. It would be considered insubordinate by anybody else, that's for sure. Pedroia's only 28, but he already has that spoiled, entitled veteran thing down pat!

Bill Madden wrote this about how the inmates are running the asylum in Beantown, talking about the mess Valentine is in:

And this doesn’t include the near player revolt he had on his hands the very first week of spring training when, the Daily News has learned, he got all over shortstop Mike Aviles in what sources described as “a very ugly scene” during infield drills. After a group of Red Sox players confronted him with outrage, Valentine had to apologize to Aviles.

I wasn't there, but it sounds like most of the Red Sox team are all too happy to keep the place a country club, where they don't get challenged on anything. The thing is, though, I can't imagine that Red Sox fans are real happy to be rooting for these guys. Who wants to cheer for the clowns on this team? But man, is this delicious to watch for this Yankee fan!

Win an autographed poster and VIP tickets to "Knuckleball!"

The baseball documentary Knuckleball! will be premiering for free on Saturday, April 21st as a part of the Tribeca Drive-in at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Here's your chance to win a chance to sit in the VIP section, and get a movie poster autographed by four famous knuckleballers, including R.A. Dickey, Tim Wakefield, Jim Bouton and Charlie Hough.
Simply tell us what your favorite sports movie is -- you can email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com -- and you could be on your way to winning!

Here are some details on the film:

This classic sports story recounts the 2011 journey of the last professional knuckleball pitchers: Tim Wakefield, a 17-year Red Sox veteran, and Mets up-and-comer R.A. Dickey. Together with just four other living knuckleballers, they shine a light on their remarkable brotherhood and the shared pursuit of honor and craftsmanship.

The Tribeca Drive-in will open at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, April 21st, and include live music, giveaways, baseball trivia contests and pitching clinics with pro knuckleballers R.A. Dickey; Tim Wakefield, formerly of the Boston Red Sox; Charlie Hough, formerly of the Dodgers and Rangers; and former New York Yankee Jim Bouton. The world premiere of Knuckleball! will follow at 8:15 p.m.

LOCATION:
Tribeca Drive-In® At the World Financial Center Plaza (West Street between Vesey & Liberty Streets)



For more info about the film, visit www.knuckleballmovie.com


Simply tell us what your favorite sports movie is -- you can email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com -- and you could be on your way to winning VIP admission, as well as an autographed movie poster signed by Dickey, Wakefield, Hough, and Bouton!! Please send in your entry by Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. Thanks!

Why I have very mixed emotions about Andy Pettitte coming back

Of all the dramatic things! Oh my goodness gracious! Andy Pettitte is coming back!

Even though Andy Pettitte is one of my all-time favorite Yankee players, I have to say I'm not so sure that him coming back in 2012 is such a great idea. For one thing, he's going to be 40 years old this summer. I know Pettitte says he's mentally ready, determined, will work as hard as physically possible, blah blah blah, but Father Time stops for nobody, not even Andy Pettitte. Not to mention how much injury time Pettitte missed over the past few years, and could miss again.

In addition, other than Jamie Moyer and Mariano Rivera, how many pitchers are successful into their forties? And the reason we remember them is because they are so rare.

Lots of Yankee fans were excited when Roger Clemens came back, but he ran out of gas in about three months. So did Pedro Martinez with his go-round with the Philadelphia Phillies. Could that happen with Andy?

At any rate, I'm kind of astonished that Brian Cashman would offer Pettitte in December $10-12 million for one year, according to various news reports. Paying a pitcher heading close to 40 that kind of money, when he hasn't pitched in a year, is a bit wacky. The current $2.5 million contract is much more sensible, though.

I also really liked the way Mike Mussina and Paul O'Neill retired, and I thought Pettitte would stick to that -- go through your last year, play well, and leave people wanting more. It will make me very sad if Pettitte embarrasses himself on the field this year.

Look, I'm not trying to be a hater here. I hope I am wrong. But I'm not sure if pulling a Brett Favre here was the best of ideas for Pettitte. If he ends up having a great year, I will be happy to eat my words. But right now, I'd hate to see him tamper with his great Yankee legacy by having a sub-par season.

What do you think about Andy Pettitte coming back? Tell us about it!

So Much for a Quiet Winter: Yankees Make Two Big Deals

So much for my saying just yesterday that "this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages." Brian Cashman has reportedly shaken up the hot stove league with two deals last night. In the smaller of the two transactions, he signed former Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda for a one-year, $10 million deal, which sounds like a good move.

The other move he made, which I am not sold on, is trading Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners for pitchers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. I was very upset when I heard about the deal. Seeing Montero come up last September was one of the highlights of the 2011 season. He not only has great hitting skills, but he already showed poise and grace under pressure that you cannot teach.

Remember, Montero was the player that Cashman had this to say about when Albert Pujols signed with the Anaheim Angels:

"He is obviously one of the greatest who has played," Cashman said of Pujols. "He makes everyone significantly better. If he played for anybody, he would make them all significantly better. I don't know him personally, but I see what he does with that and it is Montero-like." 

Or how about these comments to Ian O'Connor in September, when Montero was called up> I was appalled by what Cashman said at the time, because it seemed to be putting too much pressure on Montero:

"In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

So, let's review -- Montero is, according to Cashman, the next Albert Pujols/Manny Ramirez/Miguel Cabrera. Given all that, you'd think he'd at least be worth getting Felix Hernandez in return! I mean, really! (Yeah, yeah, I know that Pineda projects to be a very good young pitcher, but he's not King Felix.)

Lots of people are comparing this deal to the Josh Hamilton/Edinson Volquez deal a few years back. But that deal worked out better for the Rangers than for Reds.

I hope I am wrong, and maybe it's because I'm not exactly a big fan of Cashman at this point, but I would rather the Yanks had held onto Montero. But we shall see how this all turns out.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

On Jorge Posada and the Real Core Four

Sorry for not Squawking much as of late, but I have been busy with lots of real-life stuff. Anyhow, this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages, so I haven't missed all that much. The biggest news as of late is Jorge Posada retiring. I'm glad he's doing so, and that his last moments in pinstripes were when he was one of the few Yankees to hit well in the ALDS. (For another take, read my friend Jason Keidel's piece on Posada -- and people think I've been tough on Jorge!)

But can we please stop inflating his importance to the late-90s dynasty? Posada's best years were in the 2000s, not in the 90s. Joe Girardi, not Jorge Posada, was the No. 1 catcher for much of the Four Rings years. This Core Four stuff, which inflates Posada's importance to that team, is revisionist nonsense, especially given that Posada had nothing to do with the 1996 team. Yet there are worshipful knuckleheads like Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, who writes nonsense about how Posada had an "underappreciated career" (underappreciated by whom, exactly?) and talks about Posada and Jeter driving to Yankee Stadium together in 1995:

It was like the Beatles back in Liverpool before things went crazy, this friendship that grew among Jeter, Posada, Rivera and Andy Pettitte, the Core Four, the most famous, longest-running quartet of teammates in pro sports.

Yeah, other than when Andy Pettitte left the Yankees for three years to play for the Houston Astros.

Newsflash: there was another Core Four in Yankeeland in the late 90s. You may have heard of them, although the Tom Verduccis of the world seem to have forgotten about who they were, relegating them to a footnote. Their names were Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, David Cone, and Tino Martinez. All four of them had much more to do with the Four Rings than Posada ever did.

That's not a knock on Posada -- it wasn't his doing that he didn't get the playing time until late in the dynasty years. But it's a little annoying to notice how this other Core Four have been forgotten by sports journalists who should know better. Speaking of which, I never understood why Posada was so bitter and resentful at Girardi for slowing his chance as being the No.1 catcher, when it was Joe Torre, not Girardi, who made the decision to keep Girardi in that spot. Yet Posada considered Torre a father figure. Go figure.

Anyhow, my favorite Posada moment, as it is for many, was his big hit off Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. And Posada was a valuable part of the Yankees team in the 2000s -- if he hadn't been injured in 2008, the Yanks would have made the playoffs. The only Core Four he belongs in, though, is the Core Four of Yankee catchers, as Kevin Kernan suggested.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Did Derek Jeter's Booty Calls Get Gift Baskets With Autographed Swag?

There hasn't been much news in Yankeeland these days. But today, the New York Post has a gossipy piece about how Derek Jeter is "bedding a bevy of beauties in his Trump World Tower bachelor pad — and then coldly sending them home alone with gift baskets of autographed memorabila." Heh.

And according to the Post, the story came to light after he pulled the same stunt on the same girl twice:

“Derek has girls stay with him at his apartment in New York, and then he gets them a car to take them home the next day. Waiting in his car is a gift basket containing signed Jeter memorabilia, usually a signed baseball,” the friend dished.

“This summer, he ended up hooking up with a girl who he had hooked up with once before, but Jeter seemed to have forgotten about the first time and gave her the same identical parting gift, a gift basket with a signed Derek Jeter baseball,” the pal said. 

Now I'm wondering if Steiner Sports is going to have a new category for "date-used memorabilia."

Personally, I think giving a one-night stand an autographed baseball in exchange for the evening is kind of tacky, and if it were Alex Rodriguez doing such a thing, he would be pilloried from coast to coast.

But this is Derek Jeter we're talking about, so almost all the comments on the New York Post article are about how cool Jeter is, and how this is great. I swear, Jeter could start a dogfighting ring, and there would be fans talking about how those dogs had it coming to them. He really is Teflon.

Squawker Jon and I were arguing over whether giving the one-night stand a gift basket was tacky. Jon sez it depends what else was in it!

So that got me wondering what other treats were in the gift basket. Is there an "I slept with Derek Jeter and all I got is this lousy t-shirt" in there? Is there one of those Christian Lopez autographed baseballs in there as well? Or how about a box of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat, the way they always used to have that as a parting gift on game shows back in the day.

Come to think of it, I wonder if the driver plays this music when presenting the one-night stand with her farewell gift:

Oh, Great. Brian Cashman Is Back for More

Now that Brian Cashman has been re-signed as Yankees GM, shortly after making a deal with CC Sabatahia, I have one request for him: To shut up about how oh-so-tough it is to be general manager of the New York Yankees. Boo bleeding hoo. Enough already. If the job is sooooo much for poor Brian to handle, then he should have taken his talents to St. Louis, or to Anaheim, or to Boston, or to Chicago. Oh, wait, he was never actually in the running for the Cubs job, now held by Theo Epstein. The talk that he was in the running there, like the talk that the Red Sox were considering him, was just media-driven fluff to make him see like he was in demand. Sheesh.

At any rate, I don't think I can bear to hear another three years of Cashman talk about how stressful and difficult his job is. So I really hope he quits his whining.

You know what's really stressful? Being unemployed. Trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you have too much month left at the end of your money. Being outsourced. There are millions of Americans suffering right now in this country's poor economic state. I have empathy for them. For Brian Cashman, who is the 1% when it comes to MLB management, not so much.

And by the way, can we please, please get rid of the myth that working for the Yankees is infinitely tougher than any other team, because every season is supposedly considered a failure if the Yankees don't win it all? Our enemies in Boston actually stick to that more than the Yankees do -- Terry Francona was essentially shown the door, and Theo Epstein was given a strong hint to take his own talents to Chi-Town, only after they brought two World Series titles to a team waiting since 1918 for another World Series championship. The team's September collapse this year made heads roll, the way heads should have rolled in the Bronx after the 2004 collapse.

Meanwhile, back in the Bronx, the franchise that claims that any season without a title is a failure just re-signed a GM who has brought the team exactly one ring since 2000.

The email I got from Yankees.com regardng bringing Cashman back emphasizes how the Yankees "have earned a postseason berth in 13 of his 14 seasons as GM," and notes that Cashman's "feat of reaching the playoffs in each of his first 10 seasons (1998-2007) remains unmatched in Baseball history." But, but, aren't those seasons all failures if there's not a ring involved?

Look, as I noted after the Yankees lost in the postseason this year, I thought it was ridiculous for fans to flip out over it, given that the Yanks won the World Series just two years ago, and I also thought Randy Levine's "failure" rhetoric was obnoxious. But at the same time, I really want to see this franchise stop with that myth that anything short of a title is a failure. Because it's inconsistent, given that Levine still has a job, and Lonn Trost, and, yes, Brian Cashman. And you can't have it both ways -- bragging about making it to the postseason each year, at the same time you're calling those years failures. Which one is it?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Who Is Promoting Brian Cashman as Red Sox GM -- Brian Cashman?

I should be used to Yankee GM Brian Cashman's constant need for whining, puffery and self-promotion by now -- after all, just last month, he complained to ESPN New York's about how his current job required "a price of time, effort, expectations, pressure, stress levels, all that different stuff." You know, kind of like how every other job in the universe does, but at a close to $3 million a year salary. Boo bleeding hoo.

Anyhow, I was still taken aback by the "rumor" that Cashman could be in the running for taking over Theo Epstein's GM position in Boston. Who fed the media the rumor -- Cashman himself? (Incidentally, remember this summer, how Cashman's name was included as a possibility to be the new Cubs' GM? Yet it looks like Chicago only talked to Theo Epstein for the job? Funny how that works.)

It wouldn't be the first time Cashman threw his hat in the ring to be Boston's GM. Remember that New York Magazine profile of him from the summer of 2004, where his wife Mary said, “Brian would like to go to Boston and win the World Series as general manager of the Red Sox. That would be any man’s dream, to go up there and become the god of Boston." That was the same profile which had Brian talking about how smart he was in getting Javier Vazquez over Curt Schilling, and had some anonymous agent praising his trade of Jeff Weaver for the immortal Kevin Brown. At any rate, the fact that Cashman never even got called on the carpet in Yankeeland for that interview showed that the days of the Big Bad Boss were long over. But I digress.

Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's very likely, given how much he has been included in postseason postmortems, that Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington is going to be the next GM of the Boston Red Sox, what, exactly, would convince Boston ownership that Brian Cashman would be the right man for the job? What would make their fan base accept somebody who has spent his entire career in the Yankees organization?That at least the Yanks' overpriced free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett stays in the dugout and watches his team during games, unlike fried-chicken eating, beer-drinking, video-game playing John Lackey? (Incidentally, if you haven't read the Boston Globe's investigation of what went wrong, please do so. It is absolutely delicious reading for Red Sox haters!)

I also had to laugh of the ridiculousness of Yankee president Randy Levine's own puffery in declaring that the 2011 Yankees season was a failure, then talking in the same interview about bringing back Cashman. Remember, Levine said: "We are the Yankees. That is the way The Boss set it up. When you don't win the World Series, it is a bitter disappointment and not a successful year." So, when is Levine handing in his own resignation? Or looking for a new GM? Gee, you'd think that all this talk of "World Series or bust" is just a sop to the rubes, since nobody ever actually loses his job or anything! Not even a general manager who once looked longingly at being Boston's GM!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Note to (Some) Yankee Fans: Grow Up Already

I was in a bad mood after the Yankees lost Game 5 of the ALDS, and I'm still peeved this morning. But frankly, most of the my peckishness is directed at some of the Yankees fan base than at the team. The way some of these fans carried on last night, both online and at the Stadium, you would think that the team hadn't won a playoff series in 50 years. 
 
Please understand that I'm not talking about all Yankee fans. But some of the team's fans need to hear this: Get over yourselves already. Acting like spoiled, entitled jerks doesn't make you good Yankee fans. It just makes you spoiled, entitled jerks. Newsflash: The Yankees won the World Series TWO YEARS AGO. It really wasn't that long ago, folks. Show a little gratitude for once in your miserable lives.

You think you have it bad? Imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, who hasn't seen their team even sniff .500 in nearly 20 years. Or a Chicago Cubs fan, rooting for a franchise that hasn't won in 103 years. Or a New York Mets fan, being in the same town as the Yankees, but having dumb owners who lost their money in a Ponzi scheme and are now making it clear that they're going to run a big-market team with a very small-market budget. I could go on and on, but you get the point. How many teams' fan bases would love to make the playoffs every year but one since 1995?

Back in March, the Yanks weren't expected to win anything this year, not with CC and the Has-Beens and Never Weres in the starting rotation, let alone win the AL East with 97 games. I certainly didn't think so this spring. No Cliff Lee, no Andy Pettitte, and no hope. The joke was that Brian Cashman had assembled a team that would have been great for 2005; not so great for 2011. It was supposed to be the Sox's year, not the Yanks.

And the Bombers had a ton of injuries throughout the year, including to Derek Jeter, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alex Rodriguez, Bartolo Colon, and Rafael Soriano. Not to mention A.J. Burnett pitching horribly for the second year in a row. Yet the team overachieved, got key contributions from the Class of 2005, and made it to the postseason with the best record in the league.

Sure, I'm disappointed and ticked off that the Yanks lost the series. And I can point to a lot of things that went wrong -- like Joe Girardi refusing to pinch-hit for anybody last night, and the Yankee hitters' inability to get much done in runners in scoring position (and frankly, when you only score two runs against the Tigers at a home game, and one of them was driven in by a bases-loaded walk, you don't deserve to win.)

But it's one thing to be upset over the series loss (although for me, it doesn't even make my top five worst losses, and nothing will ever match the pain of 2004.) It's another thing to act like some unruly, hateful mob, scapegoating one player (you know who, of course!) Some of the very same "fans" who couldn't open their mouths to cheer on their team in the ninth inning -- the Yanks were behind by just one run, but the place sounded like a morgue -- found their voice outside the Stadium after the game, chanting "A-Rod sucks." Sure, Alex had a bad series, but this was a collective loss, and shouldn't be pinned on one person. Ross Sheingold of NYYStadiumInsider.com was at the game, and described the scene this way on Facebook:

Never been more embarrassed to be an New York Yankees fan. Hundreds (if not more) were chanting "A-Rod Sucks" in unison as they exited the stadium and headed down River Ave. In the past, chanting as a crowd down River Avenue was reserved for joyous moments. Now, the fans are entitled and only enjoy the game of baseball if the team marches to a World Series victory. It is sickening, and not enjoyable to be a part of.

Do those Yankee fans think this makes them look good? As Sully Baseball, a Red Sox fan friend of mine, put it last night on Facebook, "THIS is why people hate Yankee fans. Most fan bases would salivate to have a 2 time MVP who led their team to a World Series title. You cry that he hasn't given you more. Next time you wonder why the rest of the planet Earth cheers when the Yankees lose, look in the mirror. (That is if they allow mirrors in Bellevue.)" Exactly!

I just hope A-Rod has bodyguards with him anywhere he goes in this town. The unbridled hatred for him out there is out of control, and more than a little frightening.


Not only have too many Yankee fans forgotten 2009, they have forgotten who led them to that title. When I pointed out online to some Yankee fans last night that A-Rod carried the team on their shoulders that postseason, they either denied that he was the reason they won, or said "that was two years ago," like it's ancient history, or said that he only did it once, and implied that it somehow didn't count (tell that to Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Jim Leyritz, etc....) When I then pointed out that the Flip Play was ten years ago, but people still talk about it incessantly, I was chastised for daring to put Rodriguez in the same category as Derek Jeter. Good grief. What a bunch of ungrateful clowns.

Sure, it stinks that the Yanks lost, but they did do much more this year than I expected them to. Besides, things could be worse -- the Red Sox humiliated themselves way more this season than the Bombers did!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Where's Suzyn? The New York Times' Very Strange Profile on John Sterling

The New York Times has a 3000+ word profile this weekend on the Yankees' radio broadcaster John Sterling. I found the article, written by Bill Pennington, interesting, but I also found it a little infuriating and head-scratching as well.

First of all, Pennington doesn't seem to understand the Internet. He writes that Sterling "has spawned more than 100 Web sites dedicated to denigrating his emblematic calls and his anomalous broadcasting style." Nonsense. There may have been more than 100 sites that have criticized Sterling at times (including Subway Squawkers!) but writing that there are that many sites devoted just to mocking him is completely untrue -- and it's also a scurrilous accusation to make. It's the type of so-called "fact" that people will quote, because they read it in the Times, even though it's inaccurate.

The truth is that there is exactly one site -- It is High, It Is Far, It Is Caught -- that is solely dedicated to mocking Sterling, albeit in a good-natured way. And the article described Hart Seely, creator of the site, as calling himself "a Sterling fan." Seely says that "Sometimes, John is like a caricature of a baseball announcer who would be on a TV sitcom." However, he also says this:

"But for the serious Yankees fan, he has a lot of appeal. Some people, most of them not Yankees fans, think that because the Yankees are a flagship franchise, they should have a network-level announcer who is never a homer. But the truth is, when the Yankees do something wrong, John rips them, like any psychotic Yankees fan. At the same time, like a true Yankees fan, when they win, John cannot control himself. The joy bursts from his breast."

Look, I'm not saying that Sterling doesn't get criticism on the web -- of course he does -- but the idea that there are over 100 web sites owing their very existence to mocking his every move is overstating the case by about a hundred! I mean, really. Casey Anthony may be the most hated woman in America, but there aren't even 100 web sites devoted just to her!

Anyhow, the author of the Times piece also writes:

He is the regular whipping boy of two New York tabloid sports media columnists. Radio talk-show hosts play tapes of his radio calls almost daily, frequently mocking his shtick and picking apart his missteps, whether they are misidentified players or a hasty, over-amped home run call on what ultimately became a long flyout.

That is true, but sometimes some of the Sterling clips played, like the home run calls and his WinWarble at the end of the game, are done in a good-natured, funny way. And Evan Roberts of WFAN, to name one example, is as obsessed as I am with coming up with possible home run calls for new players for Sterling to use.

But this topic brings me to the most jarring thing about the article -- the almost complete absence of Sterling's companera, as he calls co-host Suzyn Waldman, from the article. The sole mention of her is this: "He has worked with Suzyn Waldman since 2005." What? No interview with her? No discussion of the complete lack of chemistry the two have (one of my own complaints about the broadcasts?) Writing about Sterling without talking about Waldman is writing about Laverne without mentioning Shirley!

Besides, as we talked about yesterday with the Squawkers' radio show host friend Larry Milian, Suzyn Waldman clips are staples of sports radio, too. Suzyn's "goodness gracious" Roger Clemens remarks, and her crying over what turned out to be Joe Torre's last game as also rebroadcast incessantly on sports radio shows around the country. (The other day, I just heard WEEI hosts play Suzyn's tears as if she were crying over Terry Francona's last game!)

The article also gets into complaints that Sterling is too much of a homer. But I want my broadcasters to be homers! Frank Messer wasn't a homer, and he was pretty dull to listen to. My issues with Sterling is more than it's sometimes hard to follow what's going on in the games, between the schtick and the incessant on-air shilling for advertisers.

The other thing about leaving Suzyn out of the story is that if you're going to talk, as the article does, about whether Sterling will be back, the future of Waldman should also be discussed. Will they both be gone, or one of them, or will they stay? It doesn't make much sense to speculate on his future without including her in the mix.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

It's Ivan Nova and Robbie Cano, Don'tcha Know? Thoughts on ALDS Game 1

So much for all the media hand-wringing about the unproven rookie Ivan Nova starting Game 2 (which turned into pitching in what was left of Game 1.) He was awesome! Watching Nova grow as a pitcher into a budding young star this year was one of the great stories of the Yankee season. (Although I'm still a little ticked he got sent down to the minors for three weeks this year when Phil Hughes came back.)

And seeing Robinson Cano become a superstar was one of the better stories of the last few years. Last night was a little bit of the "changing of the guard," seeing him be The Man on the Yanks, and driving in six runs (including hitting a grand slam.) To paraphrase Jack Curry from the post-game, Cano ought to be hitting third in the lineup for the next game, and the next game, and the next game....

Anyhow, what struck me today about both of their great games was that these players were not really heavily hyped in the farm system, or as rookies. There were no equivalents of the "Joba Rules" or slogans for either of them. And I think that helped them be able to make mistakes and learn without all the hype. Is it coincidental that the least promoted "Generation Tre" member, Ian Kennedy, is the first to win twenty games in a season?

Anyhow, it was a great win last night. Here's to the Yankees winning Game 2.

* * *

These are the conversations that Squawker Jon and I have -- noting that Al Alburquerque, the pitcher who gave up the grand slam to Cano, has a name that is not spelled like the city!

Speaking of Jon, we got together in Manhattan to meet up with our South Florida sports radio show host friends Larry Milian and Phil (Dizz) Domanic. It was great to see Larry again and to meet Dizz. Glad it stopped raining so they were able to see more than an inning and a half on their trip to NYC!

While we were killing time before seeing them, I dragged Jon into the Yankees Cluhbouse store. Jon got so freaked out over all the Yankee stuff he fled the store after two minutes. The thing that triggered the flee? A "Don'tcha Ya Know, Robbie Cano" t-shirt!
What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yankees vs. Detroit, 2006 and Now

I really hope the Yankees win the ALDS this week, not just because I want to see them win the World Series, but because I'd also like to see them avenge what went down in the 2006 ALDS against th TIgers. There's some real unfinished business there, with the cruelest cuts self-inflicted. I rank it second to the 2004 ALCS as the playoff series in this era that angered me the most. Here's why.

Squawker Jon and I starting writing Subway Squawker in March 2006, with the idea of capturing the Yanks and the Mets when both of them were expected to make a run for it in the playoffs. Imagine my chagrin when the Mets actually made it to within a Yadier Molina home run of the World Series (more on that in a sec!), surpassing the Yankees in the postseason.

Arguably the biggest issue for the Yanks that year was that A-Rod, coming off an MVP season, was 1) having an "off year" for him: .290, 35 homers, 121 RBI and a .914 OPS, 2) getting thrown under the bus again and again by his manager and his captain. I think Torre was trying to get him to force his way off the team by making his life miserable. He certainly wasn't trying to get the most or best out of him. (An aside -- compare and contrast with the truly classy way Terry Francona stepped away from the Sox today, acknowledging that he failed with getting players to listen to him, and being genuinely broken up about the way the season ended. But I digress.)

Anyhow, that situation was brewing all summer, and it was obvious to me at the time what was going on, from the way Torre refused to tell the fans to stop booing Rodriguez to the way he blew up, instead of tamping down, every story brewing on Rodriguez, that Joe had a nasty agenda. But every time I pointed out how much Rodriguez was being undermined and gaslighted by Joe Torre, I would hear critical responses from readers, telling me I didn't know what was going on in the clubhouse. True, but I do know a little about human nature, and a lot about passive-aggressive phonies!

And the mainstream media wouldn't acknowledge the undermining, not even when Torre hooked up with his past and future ghostwriter Tom Verducci to orchestrate "The Loneliest Yankee" hit piece, set to run on the eve of the playoffs, just when Rodriguez was in the midst of a great September. Funny thing is, though, that years after the fact, Torre finally acknowledged in "The Yankee Years" that the clubhouse was divided. Duh!

Anyhow, I think that year that Torre wanted to make sure that Rodriguez would fail in the playoffs again, so A-Rod would be off the team, even if it meant sacrificing his team's October chances. First, he batted Rodriguez sixth in Game 1, even though A-Rod hadn't been in that role all year, just to make sure to give him more scrutiny.

Also, Torre's lack of preparation for that series was breathtaking. The team never took Kenny Rogers seriously, which haunted them in Game 3, and Torre let Jim Leyland flatter him with that "Murderers Row and Cano" nonsense, playing St. Joe like a fiddle. He also never asked for the umpire to check if Rogers was doctoring the ball, something Tony LaRussa did in the World Series.And don't forget the sight of Gary Sheffield at first base.

The Yanks did win Game 1 at home,  but they never won again in that series, although they did lead in Game 2 before Mike Mussina blew that lead. Remember Mussina blaming the fact that the game was a day game, with a quieter atmosphere than it would have been if it hadn't been rained out the night before? Good grief.

Game 4 was the infamous day where Torre decided to hang the entire series on A-Rod's shoulders, scapegoating him by batting him eighth, and never telling him beforehand. Then, when the media hordes inevitably descended on Torre, he chastised them for not asking them about why he had also benched Jason Giambi. I thought what Torre did was one of the nastiest, most cowardly things I've ever seen in my life. He wasn't trying to win the game. He was trying to put the goat horns on A-Rod. And I wished that the Yankees would have fired him then and there for what he did.

Anyhow, Game 4 was the day of my cousin's wedding, so I fortunately missed seeing much of the carnage live, although I knew it was hopeless. I spent most of my cousin's wedding reception in a rage about the Yankees, capped off seeing the Mets' chanting about "Party in Queens, Funeral in the Bronx" on the TV at the banquet's room bar when the Mets clinched the NLDS.

I really hoped that Torre would be gone after that year, but the Yankees were stuck with that gold-plated phony another year. There was talk that the Yanks might get rid of him, but Steve Swindal didn't want to pay him without him managing. I said when the team brought Torre back that they would never win another playoff series until he was gone, and I was proven to be right.

Anyhow, I'd like to see the Yankees beat Detroit this year, and for A-Rod to have a huge series in October, as a little cosmic payback for the 2006 ALDS. In fact, that's my prediction -- A-Rod will have a big series, and the Yanks will win in four games.

The Choke's on Them: Red Sox Lose, Squawker Lisa Does the Snoopy Dance

This is the happiest I've ever been after a Yankee loss. I'm exhausted from screaming and clapping and doing the Snoopy Dance to celebrate the Red Sox losing and Tampa Bay winning.

I still can't quite believe it all happened the way it did. Remember, the Yankees had a 7-0 lead against Tampa (what was up with Mark Teixeira hitting two homers?) and even though their bullpen ending up giving up six runs against the Yanks, the Bombers were still within one strike away from winning the game when Tampa tied it. And Boston was also one strike away from winning the game when Baltimore roared back to win.

There was also Atlanta's historic collapse, with the Cardinals making it into the playoffs. All in all, my TV's remote control and picture-in-picture function got quite the workout last night. That was the most action-packed, exciting night of baseball all year.

The funny thing, though,  is that if Bud Selig gets his way with adding another wild card, none of this would have happened -- both Boston and Atlana would have made the playoffs, being rewarded even though they blew their wild card leads.



It was so good, so good, as they say in Red Sox Nation, to see Boston back where they belong, choking away their playoff chances and bringing much angst to Beantown. Remember, I witnessed the carnage of the 2004 ALCS in person for Games 6 and 7. I literally cried after Game 7. And the next day, when I went into work at New York's hometown newspaper, I saw how my employer mocked the Yankees with the infamous "The Choke's On Them" Daily News cover.  Those were horrible, horrible times.

Well, now the choke is on the Red Sox again. And you'd better believe I am enjoying every single minute of it. It's not just that Boston blew a nine-game wild card lead in a month. They were also in first place as late as September 1 this year, and were in that spot for 60 days this summer. The Yanks knocked them out of first for good at the begining of September, and helped send them on this downward spiral.

BTW, I've already seen some revisionist history by a few Sox fans that this debacle isn't that bad because the team only missed a wild card spot. Puh-lease. This team was being touted as the best Red Sox squad ever. They seemed totally stacked, from top to bottom, and had a great winter of acquisitions. At the beginning of the year, most people, including myself, figured the Sox would win the division, with the Yanks winning the wild card (and who would have expected the Rays to be in the playoff picture at all?) To do what they did ranks right up there with 1978. Only thing is, the '78 Sox actually made it competitive towards the end, forcing a one-game playoff.

I feel some empathy for my Red Sox fan friends -- they deserved better for their loyalty -- but I'm still loving seeing the Red Sox franchise I remember return to its old ways. (I've been listening to WEEI on my phone all week. Great stuff hearing Red Sox Nation lose their minds!) Since 2004, the Red Sox have had their own mystique and aura, of seeming that they could come back against impossible odds. Now that's all gone.

Come to thing of it, a lot of what I see the Red Sox this year reminds me of the Yankees in 2004. And if the ownership is smart, they will fire Terry Francona, the way the Yanks should have gotten rid of Joe Torre after that year. I think that in most cases, the first five years a manager has a team are the most effective (Torre had four rings in that time, Francona two.)

One of the things Joe Girardi did, after some initial resistance, was successfully meld the four rings guys and the rest of the Yanks together as a real team, with a different identity from the late '90s dynasty. That's what the Sox need right now. From what I see, they don't have the all-for-one, one-for-all look that they did in 2004. They also don't seem to have the Kevin Millar-type joker to keep things loose, the way the Yanks have now with Nick Swisher, and didn't have in 2004.

I already see a lot of scapegoating in Red Sox Nation of Jonathan Papelbon, Carl Crawford, etc., the way A-Rod was scapegoated in 2004. But in both cases,  this was a team-wide meltdown, with nearly everybody playing a part in the suckitude.

And I don't want to hear any whining about losing pitchers due to injury. The Yankees won the AL East with CC Sabathia, the rookie Ivan Nova, and a bunch of retreads. They won with A.J.. Burnett having an even worse season than last year, and Phil Hughes being terrible and/or injured for much of the year. The two worst pitchers down the stretch for Boston were Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, both of whom are arguably better than any Yankee starter who does not have the CC initials.

Anyhow, I'm going to bask in the fact that the Red Sox of old, the ones who broke hearts all over New England, are back, baby! Good times!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

On Rooting for the Orioles and the Rays, Disliking John Lackey, and Rookie Hazing

Yes, along with cheering for the Baltimore Orioles to beat the Boston Red Sox last night, I rooted for the Tampa Bay Rays to beat my beloved New York Yankees. And what of it? As Squawker reader Uncle Mike wrote yesterday, "Tibialia Rufus delenda est. The Red Sox must be destroyed." My brother says I should close every column with that phrase!

I want to see Red Sox fans wailing and gnashing their teeth over their team going down the tubes. I had great fun listening to bridge-jumping fans on WEEI last night. And I've been loving reading Boston fans killing Jacoby Ellsbury, only their team's MVP this year, because he dropped the ball and let in an inside-the-park homer last night.

And my Sox fan friends would feel the exact same way if the shoe were on the other foot, as my BoSox fan friend Sully Baseball and I discussed on his podcast last night (click here to listen.)

This Rays/Yankees series means zero to the Bombers, so why not cheer for Tampa to win, since it would help keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs. I don't want to see Boston rise from the dead, the way I feared they would after winning Sunday's game. I want them to go down in history as the worst September collapse ever. This isn't a matter of which team would be better for the Yanks in the postseason; this is a matter of extracting maximum humiliation. And if the Sox make the playoffs at all, the humiliation factor is not there.

Boston could still wake up over the last two games -- after 2004, I NEVER count them out. But here's hoping they continue their September swoon.

One other note on the Sox. Whenever I have pointed out that John Lackey, who I think is a colossal jerk, is actually having a worse season than A.J. Burnett, I've heard back from fans to not be so hard on Lackey, because his wife has breast cancer, and that's part of the reason for his terrible numbers. There's also been some holding back in the press on slamming Lackey due to that issue. And apparently, even the Sox's Bill James asked people to give Lackey a break because of this wife.

Now comes the news, courtesy of TMZ, that Lackey has filed for divorce from his cancer-stricken wife. Then he tried to make himself the victim here, being all outraged with the media Sunday, because some reporter dared to text him over the issue. Good grief.

I've seen a lot of outrage online over TMZ somehow invading Lackey's privacy by reporting a public filing. I wonder where all these Lackey lackeys were when the media ran story after story putting Alex Rodriguez's personal life on the front page, with zero newsworthiness other than it being a way to sell papers. When the press ran stories which were based on unsubstantiated rumors, like the centaur thing, his alleged behavior at strip joints, his tipping habits, and the supposed meltdown over being filmed at the Super Bowl, a meltdown that never actually happened. Not to mention the fact that MLB did a gambling investigation on A-Rod, based on a story from a scandal sheet, even though he could not possibly have been at one of the games in question because he was playing in the World Series.

At any rate, given the intense media attention that the Boston Red Sox's collapse has gotten, how Lackey thought that nobody in the media would write about him divorcing his wife when she has cancer is pretty astonishing. He ought to ask Newt Gingrich and John Edwards about the issue!

* * *

I was wondering when the Yankees were going to do the rookie hazing thing. They did it last night, having the kids dress up as 80s music stars -- Prince, Madonna, George Michael, Milli Vanilli, Slash, and MC Hammer. Aside from the fact that it made me feel old to see some of the big names of my younger days being a nostalgia thing, I noticed a few other things:

* Other than the Madonna costume, and maybe the George Michael one, the "hazing" was nonexistent, particularly in the Slash costume, which actually looked really cool. And the Hammer pants didn't really look like Hammer Time. Plus, most of the players wore sunglasses with their outfits, which helped hide whatever "embarrassment" there was even more. It made the event fun, not a humiliation. I'm sure that's intentional, giving all the issues these days with bullying. Keeping this good-natured was a good thing.

* As a teenager in the 80s, I was completely obsessed with music, and know that decade's music better than any others. So I think there were some really glaring omissions there in this group. Where is Michael Jackson, only the biggest star of the decade? Or Bruce Springsteen? Or Bono? And there are also no alternative rock representatives. Wouldn't it be funny to see a Yankee rookie dressed as Robert Smith of the Cure or as Morrissey? Or the Flock of Seagulls guy?

Rain, Rain, Go Away, But the Yankees Still Have to Play!

I got stuck in yesterday's near-monsoon driving home last night, and heard the rain pounding against the windows when I got home, so I assumed that the Yankees would not play Tuesday night. Silly me. They did play the Orioles Tuesday night -- and Wednesday morning -- with a game that started past my bedtime (after 11 p.m.) and went on past 2 a.m. And according to the clips I saw, it rained pretty much the entire time. Good grief.

It was MLB, not the Yankees, who insisted that the game be played last night. Bud Selig reportedly ordered that the game be played, no matter what. Ridiculous. At least the Yanks are giving those with ticket stubs the opportunity to attend another game. But geez, that game never should have been played in the first place.

Since I was snoozing when the game started, I missed seeing the Francisco Cervelli home run controversy (it involves hands, but not his hands this time!) Big League Stew has the details.

Anyhow, hopefully the Yanks will be able to get today's game in without another huge rain delay. Rain, rain, go away!