A Year. A Review.

I'm starting to see the disgruntled scribblings of Yankee fans on what they perceive as the disturbing inaction of the team to improve itself during this offseason. And it reminds me that there are times I truly question whether I belong among Yankee fans.

"Why didn't we get Gio Gonzalez?" they're asking. "How come we weren't (really) in on Yu Darvish?" (By the way, since when is "Darvish" a Japanese name? Are the Texas Rangers sure about what they're getting here?) "No Mark Buehrle. No C.J. Wilson. This team is deliberately trying to kill itself. I think I'll root for the Mets."

Oh, for crying out loud.

Maybe this is a generational thing. Maybe you had to live through Horace Clarke and Jerry Kenney and then through the geezer period of Danny Tartabull and Jesse Barfield to truly appreciate what's been going on here since 1995. That's a period of 17 years with only ONE failure to make the postseason. Five World Series rings. Seven World Series. Year after year after year of a winning record. Great moments, great victories, great players. What do you people want them to do better?

There was once an axiom that "rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel." Well, U.S. Steel isn't exactly tearing up the league the way it used to, but the Yankees are still winning their 90-100 games every single year, giving us six great months out of a possible seven, and sometimes the seventh one, as well.

All the team did in 2011 was win 97 games, have the best record in the American League, and come within one clutch hit of the League Championship Series. And that was with a starting rotation that included such luminaries as Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, the inconsistent Phil Hughes, the unproven Ivan Nova, and the infuriating A.J. Burnett. All at the same time.

But for the fans, that wasn't good enough. They believe Brian Cashman should have completely blown the budget--yes, there's a budget--on an uninspiring cast of free agents, or traded away the future prospects the fans have been salivating over for years for pitchers who might be an okay number two or three starter and might not be able to stand the scrutiny in New York.

Why didn't the Yankees get Gio Gonzalez? Maybe because it didn't seem like a good idea to send Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and/or Jesus Montero to get him. Why didn't they go nuts on Yu Darvish? Does the name Kei Igawa ring a bell?

When the team began this golden run in 1995, the fans were clamoring that the kids in the Yankees farm system weren't going to be good enough to win. The team hadn't been in a World Series since the early 80s, and it hadn't ended well then. Bringing up a skinny kid shortstop, a spacey outfielder who didn't seem to be concentrating on baseball all the time, an even skinnier starting pitcher and a catcher who couldn't catch seemed like desperation. Rebuilding? In the Bronx? What was wrong with the Yankees? We needed solid major leaguers, like Tony Fernandez, maybe Kenny Lofton. Roger Clemens. That was the guy to trade for. But no moves were made.

We had to settle for Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.

You want to talk about "true Yankees?" Want to silence those jerks who complain the Yankees "buy championships?" Let's see what Montero and the Killer Bs can do.

I say, nice work, Brian Cashman. Keep on doing what you're not doing. I'll take the 97 wins a year and worry about our chances later.

Well (Not) Done, Brian Cashman

Beside the enormous stories generated by the Angels and Marlins, one of the recurring storylines coming from the baseball winter meetings was the amazing (according to the pundits) lack of activity on the part of the Yankees. No free agent signings, no trades, only a couple of Rule 5 deals on the last day.

To which I say, bravo, Brian Cashman.

There was a time (say, before George Steinbrenner died) when the Yankees HAD to make a statement every winter. What happened in the past four days--or more to the point, didn't happen--would have been unthinkable.

But the thing was, a lot of those moves were counterproductive. They brought in stars past their prime, sent away players who would be productive elsewhere, and worst of all, led to no championships. Yes, there was the occasional Roberto-Kelly-for-Paul-O'Neill deal, and I'm not saying that all trades or free agent signings are bad, by any stretch. I was hoping for a shock wave out of Dallas, too, but the reasons it didn't come make perfect sense.

Yes, the Yankees could use another starting pitcher, but there wasn't a good one available reasonably. I can hear the anti-Yankee crowd shouting, "Reasonably? Since when does that enter into the Yankees' vocabulary?" Since Brian Cashman has had serious control over baseball operations.

The Yankees could have probably trumped Miami's offer to Mark Buehrle and gotten themselves a reliable starting pitcher would would immediately have become the #2 man in their rotation. But the money would have been exorbitant. That's not really a problem, but the number of years he wanted would have been. You'd have been dealing with a pitcher on his downside for two, maybe three years at the end. Does the name A.J. Burnett ring a bell?

Speaking of Burnett, there were actual news reports that the Yankees were trying to get someone interested in him in a trade. No kidding. Shockingly, there were no takers. $33-million left on a guy who can't get out of his own way and is stuck with two years left on his contract? With a 5 ERA? Astonishing that there were no takers. No, Yankee fans, A.J. will be ours for another two years, and we can logically expect that his best pitches will be with cream pies.

So what about a hitter? Surely we can use one of those! Okay--where would you like said monster to play? The two best hitters on the free agent market BY FAR were first basemen. We already have a pretty good one that everyone jumped up and down about when he was signed only two years ago. Yes, Teixiera has been a little sluggish in the postseason. But what he does to get the Yankees to those October games is really, really valuable. There was never any suggestion the Yankees would be even vaguely interested in the two big offensive players at first.

The other guy was a shortstop. We have one of those, too.

Let's look at the projected starting lineup for the Yankees in 2012, one which bears a striking resemblance to the one that took the field on the first day of the 2011 season:

Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Teixiera 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Montero DH
Swisher RF
Martin C
Gardner LF

Okay, which one of those guys would you like to replace, and with whom, exactly?

The bullpen? The Yankees will have David Robertson, Luis Ayala, Boone Logan, Cory Wade, Rafael Soriano and eventually Joba Chamberlain out there. Oh yeah, and the closer is pretty good, too.

Where's the desperate need?

Again, another starter would be fine. But the willingness to trust some of the younger people on the roster is encouraging. Let's see whether Hector Noesi can be this year's Ivan Nova. Let's see if IVAN NOVA can be this year's Ivan Nova. It's not going to be long before Dellin Betances and/or Manny Banuelos is pitching for the major league club. So the starting pitching can be at least as good as it was last year for a team that won 97 games, and lost almost the entire first half of the season every time they played the Red Sox.

I say, kudos, Brian Cashman. You succeeded in getting CC Sabathia back. You brought back Freddy Garcia,who isn't sexy but eats up innings. And you managed, at the winter meetings this year, not to do anything that would make the Yankees worse.

Job well done.

Dear Jorge Posada:

Please retire.

Believe me, this is written with great respect and the best intentions. No one is more of a fan than I am, except possibly my daughter. We think you've been a terrific Yankee, often under-appreciated, and not well treated in 2011 especially.

But you don't have anything else to prove. 

Jorge (if I may call you that), you're over 40 years old. You will at best be a backup catcher and part-time DH to a new team for one year. You'll essentially have to start from scratch. You'll probably be limited to American League teams because you won't be in the field much. You want to play for a contender, and that limits you some more. Are you really going to answer the phone if the Red Sox or the Rays call?

Let's face it: You don't want to give up the legacy you have now. The raucous standing ovations when you decide to attend Old Timer's Day. The possibility of Jorge Posada Day at Yankee Stadium. Maybe the ability to be a coach or eventually a manager in the Yankee system. Maybe you could still get some of that stuff after playing for a year with the California Angels, but will it be worth the upheaval for your family and yourself?

I know what it's like to be 40 years old. Okay, I can remember it reasonably well. You're in the prime of life, you're feeling good. In some ways, you feel like you're just beginning.

But the fact is, you're an athlete, and your body is starting to betray you. Do you think you're going to hit .300 again? Get 30 home runs next season? Think your knees and your back can take another year of squatting behind the plate?

You're a proud man, Jorge, and you have every right to be. You have excelled to a degree that only a very few catchers ever have. You have carved out a place for yourself in Yankee history, and you can be in the argument for the Hall of Fame.

Mickey Mantle regretted playing that last year in 1968. It brought his lifetime batting average down below .300, and that bothered him for the rest of his life. Okay, you don't have a single statistic that's going to suffer that pointedly, but do you want your lifetime numbers even slightly eroded by playing a year longer than you should have?

Think of the fans. We've been behind you every step of the way. We cheered your return after the Red Sox incident this past season. We went nuts when you delivered, reliably, the hit that clinched the division championship this year. We know you're starting to fade, but we don't care. We love seeing you in the pinstripes.

We really, REALLY don't want to see you in another uniform. I don't think, in your heart of hearts, that you do, either.

Please. Retire. 

It's Time

Since we're looking ahead now to the 2012 season, I think I need to say what a lot of us have been thinking for a long time now. I realize it's going to be controversial, that some Yankee fans will believe me to be a bad person for saying so, but it's something I can't avoid saying any longer.

It's time to put "God Bless America" and Kate Smith in the rear view mirror during the seventh-inning stretch.

Yes, I realize it is meant to focus our attention on the horrors of the 9/11 attacks, and to remember those who serve the country at home and abroad. I get that, and I appreciate the sentiment. I was here in 2001, and I knew people whose lives were affected horribly. I lost at least one friend, depending on how you view the scope of the attacks. It is an awful thing, and like the horrors of the Holocaust, something that must never be forgotten. I'm with you on all of that.

What it has to do with going to a baseball game completely eludes me.

The seventh-inning stretch used to be a fun time. The proper song sung was "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which was only strange because we were already AT the ballgame, but it was a celebration of the event and the game and our love for it. Later on, the Yankee Stadium people added nonsense like "Cotton Eyed Joe," but at least the idea was to have fun and be happy we were at the ballpark.

Kate Smith, who died 15 years BEFORE the 9/11 attacks, and "God Bless America" are just a plain downer. They remind us of sad things and scary things and evil things when we were hoping to escape that for just a few hours by taking in our National Pastime. It's like someone decided to halt Star Wars just after Luke, Han, and Leia escape the Death Star to remind us that someday we're all going to die.

And the reaction of the Yankees, the players, the management, the whole Stadium staff, is beyond over-the-top. When a guy decided to go to the men's room during Kate's belting a couple of years ago, a Stadium cop decided he was being sacrilegious or unAmerican or something and threw him out of the ballpark. The idea of taking off your hat and standing for a moment of silence during an Irving Berlin song is just bizarre.

It's been 10 years, guys. Enough is enough. Let us have our fun seventh-inning stretch again, and trot out Kate and the eagle and all that stuff on September 11, if you must. The other 181 games of the year, let's just play baseball, okay?

How is it the World Series if no one from Thailand is Playing?

Okay, we're Yankee fans. So we're not bothering with this trivial clash between teams from the middle of the country. Let's move on.

So it's time to look ahead to 2012. And the first order of business--which everyone on the planet expects will be taken care of quickly and easily--is retaining General Manager Brian Cashman, possibly on another three-year deal. That's the easy part.

After that, things get a little tricky. CC Sabathia is universally expected to exercise (CC? Exercise? Do those words work together?) his contract's opt-out clause, which was supposedly inserted into his mega-bazillion-dollar pact in case the West Coast native didn't care for New York. By his own admissions and the observations of everyone who has observed him for the past three years, Sabathia loves it here, has put down roots, built a tremendous home and has no reservations about staying a Yankee for the rest of his career. 

So this is clearly about money. A lot of money. When a guy has a $92-million deal for the next four years and chooses to forego that, he's looking at a lot of years or a lot of money, or more likely both. The question is whether that's the best idea for the Yankees and Sabathia.

Don't get me wrong--I shudder at the very thought of a 2012 Yankee rotation headed up by Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, or lord help us, A.J. Burnett. While there's been talk of C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers, bringing his 8.04 postseason ERA into the World Series tonight, coming to the Bronx next year, somehow that wouldn't make up for the loss of a guy who can be as dominant as any pitcher in the game for long stretches of time.

The Yankees need to talk long and hard to Sabathia before the end of the World Series, when his opt-out would be looming and other teams could get involved. They need to find a way perhaps to increase the take-home and add a year or two, but no more. You don't want a 300-lb. pitcher in his late thirties on your team no matter what he looks like at 31.

Beyond that, there's little that can happen. The Yankees are tied to a lot of major contracts that aren't going anywhere. The only positions that could see some play are DH (where Jesus Montero appears to have proven he can hit lefties, at least, and members of the aging infield can fill in at other times) and possibly right field, where Nick Swisher has been a nice fit, but a dud in the postseason for three straight years.

Personally, I think the Yankees should keep Swisher for another year. You have to play the first 162 to get to the last 11-to-19, and Swisher is a good clubhouse presence, a nice on-base guy, and a steady if somewhat adventuresome fielder. Pick up the option on him and worry about this again before the 2013 season. Carlos Beltran? Yeah, I'm sure Scott Boras would love to add a long-term, big-money contract for him, if Beltran's even willing to set foot back in the five boroughs. Pass.

Among the free agents available after the next week's formalities are concluded will be Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder. No, the Yankees aren't going to be interested enough to dive in. They have a pretty good first baseman, and he's tied up for a number of years for a lot of money. Sorry, fellas.

Everywhere else, from the infield to the outfield, the Yankees are pretty set. The bullpen (which expects to see Joba Chamberlain back around June or so) should continue to be a strength. Hell yes, a boost to the rotation would be nice, but that means someone has to be willing to trade, because this year's free agent class is uninspiring. Or one of the Killer B's (or two) might make a huge leap and a big impression in Tampa next February and March. Stranger things have happened.

Do not expect sweeping changes. We'll spend the winter watching those in Boston.

Post(season) Mordem

All right, so some teams are still playing baseball and the Yankees are not. That's the bad news.

The good news is that for 166 games, this was an entertaining, enjoyable season to watch. That's not a bad thing. We've seen the emergence of Curtis Granderson as a legitimate 4-tool player (he still can't throw that much); we saw Brett Gardner become a terrific left fielder who can hit some, although he's streaky; we saw Ivan Nova become a major league pitcher.

And we saw Derek Jeter return from the dead not only to record his 3,000th hit (which frankly I'm already tired of watching; thanks, YES Network) in dramatic fashion, but to regain his form in the field and at the plate, the latter in the second half of the season. Maybe the grizzled old veteran (who was a fresh-faced kid about a half hour ago) isn't all washed up just yet.

Then there was Mariano Rivera, who is a force of nature and a great artist. Age? Who cares, says Mo. Lost a couple MPH on the fastball? No big deal. Call me when you have a lead, he says. I'll take care of it for you. How we will miss that man when he really does reach the end of the line. Assuming it ever happens. Rivera defies all logic, and a few laws of nature.

Baseball is a game of long story lines, so the continued maturation of Robinson Cano into a truly scary hitter and a fielder who only LOOKS like he's not that good because he's so good he doesn't have to look like he's trying was a treat. It's the payoff to a story we've seen develop for years now, and it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. We thought Alfonso Soriano was going to be a big deal? Meet Mr. Cano. And get used to him--he'll be around quite some time.

Yes, there is the frightening thought that this is the Alex Rodriguez we're going to have for the next--gasp!--six years. True, Mark Teixiera's batting average the past couple of seasons has not been encouraging, but his production is steady. I know, Nick Swisher is still waiting to have a good postseason, and he looks like he's squeezing sawdust out of the bat handle in every October game.

And yes, it's very likely CC Sabathia will opt out of his contract in search of another one, which could but probably won't come from a team other than the Yankees. With or without him, there are holes a mile wide in the starting rotation for next year. Without him, though, the holes are a mile and a half wide. But I bet it won't happen.

All that is true. But before the hot stove lunacy ("Do you think the Yankees will try for Albert Pujols?") begins, let's take a moment and say, nice job in 2011, boys. No, you didn't get as far as we'd hoped you would, but you gave us some very good times. In the final analysis, there are worse epitaphs one could write.

Okay, That Pretty Much Sucked

Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers, who for the second time in six years bounced the Yankees out of the playoffs when they were favored not to. They played well, pitched well, and got timely hits the Yankees did not. It's going to be a longer offseason than any of us hoped for, but that's the way it goes.

There will be time to evaluate this whole season, but let's take a quick look, while the wound is still fresh, at this Division Series. Let's face it--once the rain started falling Friday night, you could see this scenario unfold: The Yankees get only one start out of Sabathia. He's not sharp because he's starting on essentially 2 days rest. He's up against Verlander. 

The real surprise this series was that it didn't end Tuesday night with A.J. Burnett pitching. You had to figure he'd give up about 17 runs and we'd never have had the agita-producing game 5 that we just witnessed tonight.

The Yankees left about 106 men on base, kept loading the bases and then not doing anything about it, getting close but not close enough. Jeter's warning track shot with Gardner on in the 8th pretty much sums up this game--they should have won, but didn't.

Everybody will jump up and down about A-Rod striking out in the 9th again. Like the 26 outs that came before that didn't matter. 

Here's what the offseason is going to look like: There will be a scramble for a yet-to-be-named free agent starter. It won't be somebody great; it'll be somebody good. Cashman, who will come back with a new contract, will be distracted by his negotiations with Sabathia, who will opt out of his contract and want an extension to set his children up for another 48 lifetimes, because apparently he doesn't have enough money yet. Cashman will then do one of two things: 1. Overpay for a 3rd or 4th starter and give him too many years; 2. Not close a deal for any pitching and overpay for Sabathia. Or both.

Jorge Posada will not be back. Whether or not he has the sense of history to hang them up remains to be seen. It would be a real shame to see him come back as a DH with the Seattle Mariners or somebody. Start your managerial career now, Jorge. Talk to the front office. They'll find a place for you.

Who will be back next year: Essentially the whole lineup. Jeter, Granderson, Teixiera, Mr. Rod, Cano, Swisher, Martin, Gardner. DH: Maybe Montero. Bench: Who knows? 

Starting pitching: Sabatha. Nova. Burnett (heaven help us). Hughes. Maybe one of the Killer B's. Maybe not. Maybe that overpaid #3 starter suggested above.

Bullpen: Soriano, if he doesn't opt out, which he won't, for that money. Robertson. Mo, possibly for the last time (and possibly not). Joba's supposed to be back. Feliciano's not. The bullpen is not the problem.

2012? Without some better starting pitching, it's very possible we won't get far enough next year to complain about how quickly the Yankees were bounced out of the playoffs in October.

In a few days, we'll discuss the past season. It was, actually, a pretty good one.

To Those Who Say...

"I had confidence in A.J. Burnett all along..." No, you didn't. I sure didn't. Nobody did. A.J. Burnett didn't have confidence in A.J. Burnett. And if Curtis Granderson didn't make a really quick course correction, today you'd have no confidence in A.J. Burnett. But he did, and the Yankees won, and that's what matters. Today.

Hopefully, Thursday night Ivan Nova pitches the way he's capable of pitching on regular rest, and the Texas Rangers, no slouches they, will be in Yankee Stadium trying for a repeat of last year's ALCS. But that's for another day.

The real question is: What about 2012 (and I don't mean the election, although I'll give you my prediction if you ask)? Assuming the Yankees and CC make a deal after he opts out--and he will-- we'll have Sabathia, Nova, Phil Hughes (and everybody hold your breath that he can come back), and then... who? It's unrealistic to expect Bartolo Colon to have even a first half like he had this year again, and Freddy Garcia was serviceable, but not really impressive. We got by on luck and surprises this year, and to expect that again would be considerably more optimistic than I can muster.

Dellin Betances? Manny Banuelos? Best guess is they're another year away yet, but you never know. Who's on the free agent market? Nobody who's going to knock your socks off, starting-pitching-wise. Mark Buerhle? Rich Harden? Edwin Jackson? Not really inspiring, and unlikely.

That leaves us with A.J. Burnett and his $13-billion contract for another two years. So somebody has to figure that guy out. And that's something we said last winter, and the winter before that.

Larry Rothschild has tried. Maybe he can help again, given the time. Maybe a sport psychologist can be enlisted, if one hasn't already been consulted. Because the problem is between Burnett's ears, and not in his incredibly tattooed arm.

Maybe not the right day for this argument, but the question is coming, and it's coming soon. Stay tuned.

This is No Time To... Nah, Go Ahead: Panic!

The Yankees' season is in the hands of A.J. Burnett.

Oddly, when Burnett was signed to a Yankee contract before the 2009 season, that would have seemed like a good scenario. Don't let us forget that we were happy when Burnett joined CC Sabathia in the Yankee rotation. He was going to solidify things for years to come.

That worked for the better part of one season.

Burnett's failings are well documented, so I won't reiterate it all here. Let's look at the current situation: Because MLB was taken by surprise when rain fell in the Bronx (What? Rain? Who would have seen THAT coming???), the start where Sabathia looked like he really had it all going was limited to two innings, which Ivan Nova picked up on the next night. Nova ran with them, the Yankees won, and this was going to be easy, right?

Not so much. Freddy Garcia had a Freddy Garcia start--he was okay, he kept them in the game, but he didn't really look like he was going to win anything. And the Yankee offense, which any broadcaster near a microphone will tell you (over and over again) is among the best in baseball, came up short. It could be argued that rain was a factor here again, but then we'd have to acknowledge that without the rain, Curtis Granderson's foul popup would have been caught, and Robinson Cano would never have gotten a chance to bat as the potential winning run. And ground out.

Then came the Clash of the Titans, the anticipated meeting of Great Aces and as usual with such things, it didn't live up to the hype. Sabathia and Justin Verlander had each pitched a little Friday night, so on Monday, as Jon Smoltz wouldn't shut up about, they had not prepared as they normally would, and each game up four runs.

Enter Rafael Soriano, the $35-million man, who took what Brett Gardner had given him--a tie game--and untied it with one pitch to Delmon Young. Perhaps someone should listen to Brian Cashman once in a while when he says, "Maybe we don't need this guy."

And so here we are, one game from elimination, with the baseball in the hand of M. Burnett.

Keep this in mind, Yankee fans: He'll be pitching against the #4 guy for the Tigers, Rick Porcello, the Morristown, NJ native with a career ERA of 4.50. In short, the kind of pitcher the Yankees generally have for breakfast. And you can bet A.J., in an elimination game, will be on a leash so short it'll be more like a strap.

And he has shown signs that he can be dominant for three or four innings. But Joe Girardi, famous for his quick hook in the playoffs, has to be really jumpy with Burnett tonight. He shows one sign of weakness, and Phil Hughes is up in the bullpen. There can't be any hesitation. Things around A.J. tend to deteriorate much too fast.

All I'm saying is, it could be worse. But not much. See you all at the TV tonight.

Tonight's Marquee Matchup

Glub, glub, glub.

Well. THAT was something.

Much as it has been irritating to watch the Yankees lose the last three games of the season, no baseball fan can deny the amazing comeback of the Tampa Bay Rays. Congrats to those in the Tampa/St. Pete area on something that really made meaningless games (for Yankee fans) riveting to watch.

And anytime you can make Yankee fans actually feel bad for Boston Red Sox fans, you've really accomplished something. Kudos, Rays.

Also: major props to the Baltimore Orioles, who really could have phoned in, let's face it, everything since the All-Star break, and still played with intensity and skill the last month of the season. With 10 games left in the season, many baseball pundits were saying that the Sox would have a huge advantage because they had to play the Orioles seven times, while the Rays were dealing with the American League East champion Yankees. Didn't turn out that way. Nicely done, O's.

So let's assess the playoffs, which begin in about 20 minutes, as far as I can tell:

It is not an advantage for the Yankees to have drawn the Detroit Tigers for the first round, although the Texas Rangers would have been no picnic, either. Any team with Justin Verlander and even decent pitching after him (and Fister has been better than decent lately) is dangerous.

They're especially dangerous when your rotation consists of C.C. Sabathia, who has been good but not his great self since the almost-a-perfect-game rain delay in August, Ivan Nova, who has been good when he hasn't been bad lately, and Freddy Garcia, who has beaten bad teams very handily but has not been huge against good ones. And the Tigers are a good one.

The offense--including Derek Jeter and his .297 batting average for the season (quite an accomplishment, considering his first half), Alex Rodriguez and his bum knee (he couldn't even PINCH HIT in an extra-inning game?), Jesus Montero, who froze up in spring training when trying to prove something, Nick Swisher, who hasn't been hitting consistently for a month, Russell Martin, who is a very nice catcher and hits home runs sometimes, and Mark Teixiera, again nice for power but the average is way down this year--can be amazing, or it can go to sleep.

Except Robinson Cano, who hits everybody all the time.

The bullpen has been a real source of strength, but overworked lately. Get the ball to Robertson and Mo, and I'm relaxed. Anybody else, not so much.

Verlander vs. Sabathia should bring out the best in the big guy. And Verlander does occasionally lose a game. Once in a while. Sort of. So Friday night will set the tone. Brian Cashman said in an interview a few days ago that in assessing his team and the potential competition, "We could run the table and go all the way, or we could be eliminated in the first round."

He's got that right.

A Class Act

Okay, so Jorge Posada was not behind the plate, and he should have been. We'll overlook that.

There's nothing that's left to be said about Mariano Rivera that hasn't been said. He's taken an incredible physical talent and turned it into an art. He's done something that most teams would be tickled to have a guy do for three years and done it for 16. He has done it better than anyone who ever did it has done it before, and in all likelihood, better than anyone who will follow him, at least for a very, very long time.

But let's put that aside.

What's important with an artist isn't the fact of the art. It's not output. It's not the number of paintings Picasso finished, or the sheer volume of work Mozart completed. Numbers don't tell the story with true artists, and that's what Rivera is.

It's style.

Mariano Rivera is quite possibly the greatest stylist in the history of baseball. He has performed at a high level for an impossibly long time, at an impossibly advanced age now (for baseball--in life terms, he's a kid) and he has the statistics to prove it. But it's the WAY he's done it that sets him apart from everyone else.

Rivera used to be able to blow batters away. He could throw that speedball by ya, make you look like a fool, boy. But what's interesting is that since he's lost a few miles per hour on his velocity, he hasn't lost a lick of effectiveness. He's still as good now as he was then, give or take a strikeout.

And he's dominated a sport--entirely, to the point that David Ortiz of the Red Sox, a team not noted for its kindness to the Yankees, would choose Rivera as the one player in baseball history he'd sign to be on a fantasy team. First. 

But through all that, with the 602 saves and the 0.71 ERA in the postseason and the countless broken bats and the whole shmear, Rivera has never been a showboat on the mound. He doesn't do that ridiculous vulture face Papelbon does. He doesn't pump his fist and pretend to have a heart attack the way Joba Chamberlain does. He never shows up the opposition. He doesn't make them look foolish.

He just beats them. Almost every time.

Consider this, and I think it's no small point: The greatest players in the sport have their detractors. Babe Ruth? The called shot was a way of showing up the opponent. They didn't care for it. Ty Cobb? EVERYBODY hated him, even his own teammates. Joe DiMaggio? Some teammates were not huge fans; he treated Mickey Mantle very badly. 

Mariano Rivera? Try to find someone in the sport who will be willing to say something--anything--negative about him. Go ahead. Try.

Other pitchers will ask how he throws his trademark cutter, and Rivera will patiently show them. None of them can do it the way he does, anyhow. Watch him in the middle innings, and he's out in the bullpen, invariably talking to one of the younger pitchers, imparting advice. It's not talked about, but it seems obvious that David Robertson learned a bit from Rivera during those talks. Chamberlain, too. A good number of others.

Position players will sometimes hear from Rivera when they're not performing up to expectations. Not in a scolding way; Rivera will let them know what's expected of them, and why it's important to the whole team that they improve. Asked about his massive individual accomplishments, and Rivera says, "I don't talk about myself. I'm a team player." 

Maybe so. But teams are made up of individuals doing their jobs well. And there are few, if any, who do their job as well as Mariano Rivera.

That's his style.

Dear Joe Girardi:

The day is coming, and coming very soon. Possibly this week. So you need to make your decision pretty much now.

Mariano Rivera, the closer for whom no superlative actually seems sufficient, is going to set a new record for saves in a career. He's sitting at 599 today; the record is 601. A third-grader could do the math.

As inevitable as the moment is, you need to understand the drama and the importance of it. You need to remember, yes, that your team is trying to win the division title, and that even with only 17 games left to play, a 3.5-game lead is not insurmountable, so each win is important, especially when you know the Red Sox will wake up one of these days and stop losing every single game they play.

So yeah, winning the game will be important when Mo is out on the mound. He won't be there if you have a huge lead, or if the team is behind, so there's always the possibility that the game could get away, and you'll need your best defensive team on the field. But the moment will be important, and for that reason, you have to make a choice that would seem counter-intuitive.

Jorge Posada must be the catcher when Rivera sets the record.

It's something you owe to Posada, with whom you've reportedly had a rocky relationship. You have to set that aside and do what's right. It's something you owe to Rivera, who knows his core-four, big-three, best-of-seven, whatever teammate will undoubtedly not be back next year, and has a very good chance of not being on the postseason roster. It's something you owe to your team captain, who is Posada's closest friend in that clubhouse and will want his pal to have that last moment of glory. He'll want Jorge in the endlessly-replayed highlight when Mo walks off that mound.

It's something you owe to the fans, who like Russell Martin well enough, have been energized by Jesus Montero, and hope they'll warm to Austin Romine. They LOVE Posada. You need to do this.

And while it's unfair to say this to you, I'll say it anyway: It's what Joe Torre would do. Maybe that will turn your opinion against the idea and maybe it won't, but even given his shortcomings as a daily manager (you handle a bullpen with infinitely more skill), Torre understands the game beyond sabermetrics and cold wins and losses. He knows there's emotion involved. He let players manage on the last day of the season, and often chose the ones who wouldn't be back the following year--let them have some fun before they left. He managed the All-Star Game when Cal Ripken Jr. was moved from third base to shortstop on the field, without his prior knowledge, because it was the right thing to do. He'd know how to handle this very special moment.

Jorge Posada MUST be the catcher when Mariano Rivera sets the record.

Respectfully,

Jeff Cohen, Fan

Left-handed Complement

The two extra-inning losses to the Orioles over the past couple of days don't mean a whole lot of anything. Yes, winning those games would have widened the lead over the Red Sox to 4.5 games, and that would be fairly enjoyable with only 20 left to play. But winning the division is, sad to say, a secondary goal to getting into the playoffs, and it would take a catastrophe of biblical proportions to avoid that at this point.

What can be taken from these two games is sparse, but some of it is important, and the key fact is: The Boone Logan who was effective for a month or so is not the real Boone Logan, and must not be trusted with important left-handed batters in crucial--that is, playoff--games.

The Yankees called up a number of pitchers once the waiver deadline was passed. And the lefty they brought up from their well-stocked minor league system was... Aaron Laffey. Who had already been released by another club and was with the Yankees for all of a day last month.

Maybe it's me.

We already know what doesn't work. Isn't this time of the year, when the playoff spot is just about a certainty and the job at hand is getting in the best shape for the postseason you can be, the time to try out a young guy or two and see if they can catch lightning in a bottle? Does the name "Joba Chamberlain" mean anything to these guys?

If, as seems destined, the Yankees and Red Sox meet in the ALCS, and David Ortiz is up with the game on the line, how much do you not want to see Boone Logan come out of the bullpen while the Fenway faithful scream?

I don't want that a lot.

Derek Jeter, Defensive Liability

Remember when Derek Jeter was rehabbing his leg, and Eduardo Nunez was supposed to be an enormous improvement over the aging captain? Remember how ol' Noonie was going to make up for Jeter's lack of range and show us how shortstop is really supposed to be played?

I give you the 11th inning of Wednesday's game (and in fact, a bunch of other games) as evidence that such thinking was, let's say, a little off in terms of accuracy.

You hold your breath when Nunez is at short and the ball is hit to him. You never have to do that with Jeter. The captain might not get to as many grounders as the statheads think he should but you know what? When he does get to them, they become outs.

And yes, I understand that these were awful playing conditions, the ball was slick, the grass was wet and the dirt was mud. I fully realize there had been a game played until the wee hours of the morning less than a half-day before this one began. I get that everybody was really tired.

But the young guys are supposed to show the old grizzled veterans how energy and verve and youth are all assets. They're supposed to be faster and slicker. They're supposed to pick up the damn ball.

Oddly, the errors at first base ended when Mark Teixiera entered the game. A really good play was made at second, when Robinson Cano (hardly grizzled, he) came in to hit and stayed for fielding. If Derek Jeter had been at short, maybe he wouldn't have reached the ball that Nunez booted, which turned into the winning run.

But if he'd gotten to it, it would have been an out.

Go Figure

So the best performance (statistically) from a starting pitcher for the Yankees in the latest Boston series was from A.J. Burnett.

What?

Yup. Burnett, who had been a walking loss for the past two months, faced a game the Yankees needed to win--more for their own psyches than for the standings--and did what he's supposed to do. That's a sight we haven't seen for quite some time.

But let's not go crazy: Burnett lasted 5.1 innings and left with the team behind. That was partially because the Yankees were trying to set new records for stranding men on base, and partially because Burnett just couldn't resist the temptation to give up a home run to Dustin Pedroia. He did not make it through the sixth, he did not dominate, he did not "turn his season around." Not yet.

The ongoing psychodrama that is A.J. Burnett continues. You still have no idea what you're going to get the next time he steps on the mound. But despite assurances before the Boston series that "we're not going to decide based on one start," you can bet that Phil Hughes is the current favorite to transfer to the bullpen if indeed the Yankees ever do whittle their starting rotation down to the standard five.

This, too, can change with one more good start from Hughes and another lousy one from Burnett. But you're likely to hear about how Hughes has come out of the pen before, how Burnett's stuff doesn't translate well to that role, and other blind justification.

Bet that Hughes will be a reliever before this month is over, and Burnett won't.

And hey: That Jesus Montero sure can get hit by a pitch, can't he? (Just kidding--we don't know what the kid can do yet.)

Hatfields 5, McCoys 3

So baseball's longest-standing feud goes on, and this one was not exactly an awe-inspiring affair. Yeah, the Yankees won by three runs, but it felt more like the Red Sox lost this one. CC struck out 10 and seemed lucky to get away with only 2 runs scored against him. When the most controversial and central player on the field is Francisco Cervelli, something is truly odd about the game.

A few thoughts: If Derek Jeter is going to go back to hitting a ground ball every time up, he should wait for the knee to heal completely before playing again. The stint on the DL did wonders for him last time.

Sabathia (as has been noted here before) hasn't been the same since the rain-delay sort-of-an-almost-no-hitter about a month ago. Not sure if that's the cause, but it certainly is the demarcation line.

Nick Swisher is always having the most fun on the field. He's enjoyable to watch just for that.

Rafael Soriano must have hitter information in his hat. He stares into it every time someone new comes to the plate. Is that legal? If not, why not?

Anything less than a sweep, and this trip is not exactly huge. Oh wait, A.J. Burnett pitches on Thursday. Anything less than two wins, and this trip is not exactly... Josh Beckett tomorrow night? Winning one game is a moral victory, surely.

Curtis Granderson vs. Adrian Gonzalez: The battle of the MVP candidates came up with a clear favorite: Eric Chavez, who got two RBI singles. But at least Granderson got on base. Probably the MVP of the game is Boone Logan, of all people.

Girardi got thrown out for yelling about the swing-ish thing that Saltalamacchia did when he got hit, and he was once again snippy about being asked about it (and other things) after the game. What's the matter, Joe? You weren't expecting reporters in your office?

Whatever station is carrying a Yankee-Red Sox game should offer free seat cushions or Dunkin Donuts coffee or something. You're going to be sitting a LONG time for these things...

You Can Say It Ain't So, Joe

No, I'm not shocked that AJ Burnett had another lousy start on Saturday. I'm not even surprised that he seemed pissed when he was removed in the midst of having another lousy start on Saturday. I've gotten so used to the situation now that even the fact that Burnett is still apparently in the starting rotation for the first-place Yankees (who MUST do some damage in Boston next week!) doesn't get a rise out of me.

But I was sort of aghast at Joe Girardi's treatment of Jack Curry after the latest Burnett meltdown. Curry, asking the 800-pound gorilla question, was pretty much ambushed by the Yankee manager, who complained that "everyone's always asking about AJ, AJ, AJ," making him sound like Jan Brady while looking like a Claymation version of a primitive man (see below).

Part of what Girardi said (while trying to spin the idea that Burnett was mad at the UMPIRE for ONE PITCH out of what had already been a disastrous inning) was something on the order of, "What do you want, for the pitcher to be happy he's being taken out?"

Well, Joe, what do YOU want, for something that obvious to happen in front of 40,000 fans and almost as many TV cameras, and for the reporters covering the team NOT to ask about it afterward?

It was out of line for Girardi, who isn't within miles as smooth as his predecessor in dealing with the media (but then, almost nobody is), to jump on the reporter for doing his job. If Curry were to walk out of the press box and down into the dugout in the middle of the game and berate Girardi for pinch hitting Eric Chavez for Jorge Posada, he'd be out of line. The manager would be doing his job.

Girardi, in jumping down Curry's throat (and it was only Curry's throat because YES always gets the first question--you have to wonder if Girardi would have been just as nasty if Kim Jones were working that night) for asking the most obvious question of the game is just as out of line. It's unprofessional and it's out of character. Usually Girardi, while hardly being the most forthcoming guy in the world, understands the job of the press (he was a broadcaster for a while, or do we forget that?) and answers. His answers might be bland and uninformative, but that's okay. We don't expect him to put his job on the line or throw his players under the bus.

We should expect him to answer the questions without berating the reporter for asking them. That's not too much to ask, and neither was, "What happened when you were taking AJ out of the game?"

A Tale of Two DL Stays

Sometimes, a stay on the Disabled List can really help a player. And then there's Bartolo Colon.

Colon, who was clearly the Yankees' second best starter until June 12, went on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, came back pretty much as soon as he was eligible, and hasn't been the same pitcher since. Despite the voodoo surgery done to his shoulder, which appeared to have completely resurrected the Colon who won the Cy Young Award for Cleveland back when dinosaurs were young, the loss of rhythm--or the fact that Colon is old and this was going to happen anyway--has turned him into a mediocre starter who can't go deep into games and is bound to have one bad inning per start.

Sometimes, like in Wednesday night's game, that bad inning will kill ya. (Of course, the bad call on Billy Butler's "home run" didn't help, but we could go back and change the Jeffrey Maier call if that sort of thing bothers you...) Sometimes, it just means you have to overwork your bullpen a little. Other times, the Yankees will run into a pitcher they can massacre, and you won't notice Colon's ineffective spells. Don't expect that last one to happen in playoff games.

And then, there's Derek Jeter.

Remember when the Captain was a candidate for the scrap heap? When people were saying that--get this--Eduardo Nunez should be the everyday shortstop? When actual professional baseball writers were polishing Jeter's professional obituary and proclaiming him the baseball version of The Phantom (the ghost who walks)? When he got one extra-base hit a month, whether the Yankees needed it or not?

Meet Derek Jeter, post Disabled List: Here's a guy now hitting .290 for the year, who has 14 multi-hit games in the 36 he's played since coming back. Who gets doubles on a regular basis, the occasional triple and more RBIs in those 36 games than he had in his first 62.

Having worked on his swing with someone other than Curtis Granderson's favorite batting coach, Jeter used the DL time to figure out what was bothering him, make an adjustment, and raise his batting average around 30 points. He's making the plays in the field, doing his usual Captain Clutch thing, and all in all does not look like a 37-year-old hanger-on who will be stealing the team's money for another two years at least.

Welcome back, Derek. Take Bartolo over to the side one day and explain to him what needs to be done.

A-Rod's Coming Back... Sorry, Did I Doze Off?

Sometime in the next few days, the exciting thrill ride that is Alex Rodriguez will return to play third base (sometimes) and hit for the Yankees. And after Michael Kay is finished salivating over how he's "the greatest player alive today" and how this is going to be a major shot in the arm for the Yankees's offense, I'll find the mute button on my remote and sit back for the last six weeks of the regular season.

The fact is, the Yankees have done really well since Mr. Rod has been gone (23-11), much as they more than held their own when Derek Jeter was out (14-4) and how the bullpen actually improved when Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano went missing. The offense is going to be better? Really? How much better?

Unless A-Rod, while recuperating from knee surgery, has become a legitimate #2 starting pitcher, his presence will be nice, but not world-changing. The Yankees will still make the postseason, much as they would have if he'd been out for the rest of the year. The question is what will happen in the games after September 28, and given Mr. Rod's history in the postseason, the answer is clearly: Who knows?

Sometimes, he'll be the driving force that puts the game out of reach. Others, he'll be a lox. He's been both, sometimes in the same year. So there's no predicting.

Rodriguez has always been something of an odd Yankee; fans don't really warm up to him the way they do to home-grown products like Jeter or Posada, or even imports like Tino Martinez, Paul O'Neill and Nick Swisher. He is admired, but not loved. His talent is indisputable, and so is his maddening personality and the sideshow that follows him wherever he goes.

He is closest in Yankee history to Reggie Jackson, another superstar who came when the Yankees were already good and made them better. Rodriguez loves the spotlight, like Reggie (even at Old Timer's Day, Reggie makes sure it's his picture in the paper the next day). He has a terrific sense of drama, like Reggie.

So far, he has delivered one championship, which is one more than most. But one fewer than Reggie, and four fewer than Jeter, Posada and Mo.

A-Rod will be back soon. You'll forgive me if I don't postpone my weekend plans just to see him.

Hip, Hip, Jorge

Much has been said over the past week regarding the future of Jorge Posada, designated hitter, spot first baseman, and erstwhile catcher. Posada, one of the Three Musketeers or whatever they're calling the dwindling number of 90s Yankees still hanging on now, will turn 40 tomorrow, and his performance in his first year as a full-time DH has been, let's say, not overwhelmingly wonderful.

To be fair, all we heard last winter and spring was that Posada might have a difficult time transitioning to a full-time Designated Hitter (shouldn't they have come up with a better name for that by now?), and patience would be required. Posada, ironically, didn't help matters much by have a terrific first couple of weeks, hitting home runs and appearing to take to his new role splendidly. Then came a few months of not-at-all-splendid hitting, his sudden inability to hit right handed, the infamous "I'm not gonna play if I have to bat ninth) incident and last week, Posada's benching in favor of, well, anybody.

This has led to considerably talk suggesting Posada should retire, if not immediately, then certainly at the end of the season. Many pundits have predicted he will not be included on the postseason roster, assuming a catastrophe doesn't occur and the Yankees are in fact a postseason team.

Posada, for his part, has said he might want to play another year, and it doesn't have to be for the Yankees, the team on which he's been a fixture for 15 years.

After his 6-RBI performance on Sunday and his two runs scored last night, it appears there might be some life left in the old catcher after all. (By the way, Mariano Rivera allowed no hits, no walks, no runs, and had a strikeout, so shut up about how he's all washed up, okay?) Should he push it and play another year, perhaps for a team like Kansas City, where he could mentor the younger players?

That's not for me to say, but what the hell: No, probably not. The best thing Posada could do right now is have a great last month and a half, work his way onto the postseason roster, get some hits to help as the push toward a World Series goes on, and leave to a Paul O'Neill-like ovation at Yankee Stadium in October (or November, or December, depending on rainouts). As a Yankee fan, I don't want to see him in the uniform of another team, struggling to hang on with a .220 batting average. This proud man should leave on his own terms, become a bullpen coach for a while, maybe.

He can help younger players, but not because he was ever the greatest defensive catcher on the planet; he wasn't. He can help because he is the toughest guy in the clubhouse, the one who will get in your face when you're dogging it, the one who cares the most about winning. He can take a team that's never won before and show it what it means to succeed. He can help young players (like, say, Jesus Montero) understand that the game isn't all about them; it's about 25 guys pulling together toward a common goal. That Jorge Posada can do very, very well.

Let's hope he does.

Okay, Maybe It's Time To Worry

So CC Sabathia gave up five home runs in a game. So he gave up five runs.

Wait. WHAT? 5 HOME RUNS IN ONE GAME?

If this were an isolated incident, it wouldn't be that worrisome. But a man who was absolutely untouchable for most of the season has now been extremely touchable for three straight starts, since being brought back after two separate rain delays in one game. Apparently Joe Girardi didn't learn his lesson after doing roughly the same thing to pitchers during his brief Florida Marlins stewardship and seeing them come down with injuries not long after.

This is not to say that CC is injured. The Yankees have not indicated any concern about his health, and Sabathia has not said anything is bothering him. He's probably NOT injured. But he might be tiring. And at this time of the year, that's not great.

I've said it before, but it might not be an awful idea to keep the 6-man rotation going for a while, give CC and Colon an extra day of rest along the way. Yes, he had that extra day before the 5-HR game, but it was one try through the rotation, and maybe another would help. There's still a very comfortable lead in the wild card race, a very small distance to the Red Sox in first for the division lead, and a good few weeks left in the season. A little experimentation to get the only legitimate ace on the staff back to his previous pace can't hurt.

Calm Down, People

No, Mariano Rivera is NOT all washed up. He's blown two games in a row. The number of times that has happened to every closer in the business is so astronomical I'd bet the Elias Sports Bureau couldn't calculate it.

Yes, he's 41 years old. Yeah, he doesn't throw at 95 MPH anymore. And I'll still take Mo over any other closer in the business, including Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the Los Angeles Police Department. So take a deep breath, look at the six-game lead in the wild card and the 7.5 weeks left in the season, and calm down.

At the end of it, you'll be glad this guy is in the Yankees pen.

Just for Illustration (See Below)

Bob Joe Girardi

Random Thoughts

*Every time the Yankees are scheduled to play on Channel 9 (it ain't MY 9!), it rains. Every. Single. Time. This has been going on for years. The only reasonable solution: Move to another station.

*Not sure I agree with Steven Goldman (although he is a very smart man) about Jorge Posada. Does it have more dignity to release a pillar of the team since the late 1990s? Seeing him play in the uniform of, say, the Detroit Tigers would be plain wrong (no offense, Detroit).

*Fans of every team can agree on one thing: The ESPN Baseball team has to go. (Never thought I'd long for Miller and Morgan!) I had the sound turned off Sunday night, and it was STILL infuriating. Am I really required to watch Curt Schilling aggrandize himself while a game goes on down on the field, and the cameras occasionally condescend to focus on it?

*And it should be against the law to run the same items on the same crawl on the bottom of the screen for FOUR HOURS. If I had to read that thing about Tiger Woods's caddie one more time, I was going to start taking hostages.

*By the way, funny how Andy Pettitte doesn't show up when ESPN does a game at Yankee Stadium and tell you how great he was. There is a definition of "class" to be found here. Guess which one of those two has it.

*I don't see the point to bringing up Jesus Montero before Sept. 1. Even without Posada as the everyday DH, between days off for Jeter, Swisher, Teixiera and Cano, the Yankees need Chavez and Nunez and maybe another infielder more than a backup backup catcher. Once A-Rod comes back, a decision will have to be made.

*It makes no sense--zero--to send Ivan Nova back to the minors for even a day. There are too many pitchers performing on a much lower level than Nova (yes, I mean you, A.J., and I don't care how much money you're making). Are you sending a winning team out on the field, or a payroll? Sit Burnett. See how he does out of the pen. But leave Nova alone. He's one of the few reliable starters in this rotation.

*Anybody remember the Nickelodeon show "Kablam"? And the segment called "Prometheus and Bob"? Doesn't Joe Girardi sort of resemble Bob? Maybe it's me.

*Has any batter ever seen that idiotic face Jonathan Papelbon makes when he's looking in for the sign, called time, and just stood there laughing? Because that's what I'd do. One of the millions of reasons I'm not a major league baseball player.

*I realize Robinson Cano is a great hitter. I do. I get that. I believe it with ever fiber of my being, okay? The announcers can stop telling me he's a great hitter. Now if he'd just stop swinging at everything that passes near home plate, in the strike zone or not.

*Freddy Garcia always has an expression on his face when he's pitching that indicates he'd rather be in a hammock watching the game with a beer in his hand. He sort of rolls his eyes, as if to say, "Do I really have to throw this thing again?"

*One day, I'm pretty sure, when Michael Kay, John Flaherty and Paul O'Neill are broadcasting together, a fistfight is going to break out. I'm not sure who will be involved, but Flaherty will win.

Okay...

So that was a bad loss, and not a great weekend. But here's the bottom line:

The Yankees are a total of 1 game out of first place on August 8. That means there are 47 games left to make up a one-game deficit. If they can't do that, well, there are larger problems at work.

But then, there's the 7-game lead they have in the wild card race. If they give THAT up in 47 games, that's a catastrophe. It doesn't seem likely we'll see that happening.

Yeah, it was infuriating to watch all those Boston people celebrating like they'd beaten Mo all by themselves. Yes, it's a worry that CC has trouble with this team all of a sudden. Would have been nice if the Yankees had scored that extra run in the 9th off Papelbon and given Mo the little cushion he needed Sunday night that he doesn't need most nights. Fenway Park is a tough place. Always has been.

But is this team headed to the playoffs? Sure it is. Will it meet the Red Sox there? We can only hope.

Here's An Idea...

How about keeping the 6-man rotation going for a while? If the justification for cutting back to 5 is that we need CC to pitch every fifth day, consider: In 2009, Girardi rested CC for an extra day down the stretch, and he was a major factor in the World Series win.

And you can't help but notice that since the double-rain-delay game, CC hasn't been as sharp. An extra day off now and again might not be the worst thing for him.

Of course, I'm up here in the cheap seats, so I might be wrong...

In A Perfect World...

... we'd be seeing Ivan Nova replace A.J. Burnett in the Yankees rotation for the foreseeable future. But in case you haven't noticed, this is far from a perfect world.

Nova, who is 10-4 on the year and has been getting better for some time now, pitched 7 2/3 innings of one-run baseball (a run that could probably have been avoided, frankly) over what is admittedly a light-hitting Chicago White Sox lineup. Since returning from a minor league assignment, he has had two starts and won them both, pitching well both times.

Burnett, not so much.

The overpriced pitcher, initially seen as a legitimate No. 2 starter behind CC Sabathia, has spent the last season and a half pitching himself into Ed Whitson territory, and his inability to hang in with a 12-run lead Wednesday night was not, shall we say, encouraging. It's financial reality, not baseball reality, that keeps him in the starting rotation.

Right now, the Yankee rotation in order of fan confidence would probably go: Sabathia (by a very wide margin), Colon, Garcia, Nova, Hughes, Burnett. You have to wonder if Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman feel the same way. And yet, news is expected later today that Nova will be heading back to the minors because Burnett is owed large buckets of money.

It's not a perfect world.

So Let Me Get This Straight...

If a team figures out the signals being given to a pitcher by a catcher (or any other signs) and exploits that knowledge, it's not smiled upon, but it's considered "gamesmanship." But if the batter happens to turn his head to see where the catcher is setting up, that is absolutely unconscionable.

Baseball is a funny game.

Deal or No Deal

No deal.

And that's good. As I articulated here ad nauseam, Brian Cashman made the right choice in not sending all the Yankees' best prospects away for anything less than a Cliff Lee-type dominant starter. Good on you, Brian.

Does that mean we should have total confidence in the starting five (or six) as it stands? Not necessarily. The Yankees will make the playoffs this year, barring a catastrophe of Debt Ceiling-like proportions. And once they're in those short series against the league's best pitchers, their starters (except CC) might be exposed. Or not. Short series are unpredictable; the Giants were not supposed to BE in the World Series last year, let alone win it.

With the reappearance of Ivan Nova, and his clear superiority in one start over the same sample of Phil Hughes, the Yankees will have an interesting choice to make soon. But not before they are finished with the Boston series next weekend. And that series has become a much bigger deal than it should be, for good reason.

The embarrassing complete domination of the Red Sox over the Yankees in the teams' first nine meetings this year (Boston 8, NY 1) must be stopped in this series. The Yankees can't wait until the end of this month, heading into the September stretch run, to do it. They must win at least two of the three games at Fenway Park this weekend to prove they can do it, if for no other reason.

And that won't be an easy task. Don't be fooled by the recent offensive outbursts: The Mariners, A's and Orioles are not even approaching the level of good teams. You're SUPPOSED to beat them in 7 out of 10 games. The real test will come not over the next four days in Chicago, but the following three in Boston. Rest assured CC will pitch one of those games, probably against Beckett. And then, we'll see.

Win/Win. No. Win/Win/Win?

Yesterday was a good day for the Yankees. Not only did they sweep a doubleheader from the hapless Orioles (yeah, that Buck Showalter can really whip a team into shape, can't he?), not only did they gain a complete half-game on the Red Sox, not only did they score 12 runs in the first inning for the first time in franchise history.

They also didn't trade their entire farm system for Ubaldo Jimenez. Nice work, Brian Cashman!

As previously noted here, a Montero-Banuelos-Nova-Betances deal for anybody short of Felix Hernandez (and maybe even then) would have been absurd. Even though it was suggested late that the Rockies were dropping their demand for one of the Killer Bs and would accept only the other three (how nice of them!), sending all those guys for a man with potential and an ERA over 4 in the National League would have been stupid.

And Cashman was explicit recently in his assurance that the Yankees "won't do anything stupid" at the trade deadline.

If there is no deal in the works, okay. Would have been nice to pick up a good starter, but there isn't a really good one available, and getting a mediocre one is pointless when we're loaded with those. A big bat? Where are you going to play him? You want to send Jorge Posada packing after all these years for a two-month rental on someone in an offense that scored 25 runs in two games yesterday?

If there is a side deal, something that can help the bench (you're a nice guy, Andruw Jones, but you are, let's put this delicately, a little past your prime), that would be good. But personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Montero, Betances and Banuelos in pinstripes.

Hold Your Ground, Brian!

As the trade deadline gets nearer (even nearer than the debt ceiling deadline, which is considerably more annoying), rumors continue to circulate that the Yankees might be interested in Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies. And while it would be nice to have another established starter in the rotation, especially with Phil Hughes continuing to look very shaky, so far Brian Cashman has not seemed willing to meet the Rockies' asking price.

And boy, is he right.

According to reports, in exchange for Jimenez, who is 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in the National League, Colorado is asking for Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos, Ivan Nova AND Jesus Montero. One starting pitcher who has already proven himself at least adequate in the major leagues, a hitting prospect who has awed a great number of scouts (although he probably won't come up as a catcher) and the two best pitching prospects in the organization.

6-9 with a 4.20 ERA in the NATIONAL League.

Cashman is completely right in not jumping at that kind of fleecing. For a guy like Jimenez, who has been an elite pitcher for exactly half of one season, and that was the first half of 2010, that's beyond way too much. Maybe you give them Montero, who's not having a fantastic year at Scranton/Wilkes Barre (some people say he seems "disinterested" in the minor leagues). Maybe you give them one pitcher, although probably not one of the "Killer B's." Hell, in exchange for Jimenez, maybe you give them Phil Hughes even up.

But you don't give away the farm (almost literally) for a guy who looked like he was going to be great a year ago. Keep in mind that Hughes was blazing his way through the American League at the same time and was on the 2010 All-Star team. What are we trading for?

Hold your ground, Brian. You're right.

Get Your Phil Today--It Might Be Your Last Chance!

Man, that CC Sabathia can throw a baseball, can't he? Sure do hope that guy doesn't have, like, an opt-out clause in his contract after this season. (Seriously, CC's probably not going anywhere.)

Today is about Phil Hughes. And once again, he might be pitching to save (or lose) his job.

When you're facing a team that's lost 17 games in a row, there are certain expectations. Most notably, that they'll lose 18 games in a row, especially when playing a postseason-worthy team like the Yankees. But that equation is complicated by two factors: 1. Phil Hughes is pitching today, and he has not been sharp in a long, long time; 2. He's pitching against Felix Hernandez (whom I'm NOT going to call "King Felix" because that's a stupid nickname).

Hernandez, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner (let's see him beat CC THIS year!), is always a threat to be dominating. But consider that in the 17 games the Mariners have lost in a row, he had to pitch at least three times, and lost, perhaps he's not as scary as usual.

But Hughes is a real question mark--you honestly don't know what you're going to get, or more importantly, why. And with Ivan Nova reportedly coming back on Saturday to pitch one game of the doubleheader (assuming his ankle permits it), you have to wonder who's auditioning here.

I don't have a lot of confidence in Hughes these days; it's just been too long since I've seen him be very good. Nova was getting better when he was sent down. By the end of this week, we should have a clearer view of who's doing what. Unless there's a big trade (which I don't think there will be). Stay tuned.

Wither Yankees?

How do you play crisp baseball when the field temperature is about 120 degrees?

I'll bet slowly. We'll see later today.

Meanwhile, the ongoing question that is Phil Hughes continues. Handed a 12-run lead, the erstwhile phenom couldn't make it through five to get the win. Is this a slide back to the horrific form that got him sent to the DL with mysterious "shoulder fatigue"? Or is it getting into his head?

Okay, so it was the hottest day pretty much since Apollo started dragging the sun across the sky. And that might have had some effect--it's hard to get a grip on the ball when your hand is soaking wet. Ask Gaylord Perry.

And one lousy start is not nearly enough of a sample to start judging. With Ivan Nova on the seven-day DL in Scranton, and due to come back for a doubleheader start next week, there's no alternative to sending Hughes out anyway. Maybe it's time to take a breath, chalk it up to one bad night, and move on.

But with the trade deadline rapidly approaching, and Hughes (not to mention Colon, Garcia and Burnett, if you want to be honest) question marks themselves, you can pretty much count on Brian Cashman spending the next eight days on his cell phone nonstop.

Seattle's lost 13 in a row--most recently to the Red Sox. Will the King Felix trade rumors start swirling again? (Don't salivate, Yankee fans--they're not trading Felix.)

The Trickle of Youth

Okay, so the last couple outings of Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia haven't gone well. That's to be expected, considering how well they'd been pitching in the first half. Is it time to push the panic button?

Maybe not. Colon is still admittedly nervous about--but not favoring--the leg he injured, which could explain his loss of command. Velocity doesn't seem to be a problem. He probably came back too soon, and should either be skipped when it's possible (Ivan Nova for a start, perhaps?) or just work his way through it.

Garcia? He was always living on the edge, fooling hitters with his head rather than his arm. Smart pitching coaches and hitters getting together before a series to size up a pitcher were bound to figure out patterns and if Garcia isn't perfect with his control, he's going to get lit up. So there might be more concern about him than about Colon. But consider this: Garcia had a decent year in 2010 for the White Sox, and can bounce back from a bad start or two.

Botton line: This is probably not the time to go nuts and give away the farm (almost literally) for someone like Ubaldo Jimenez, tempting though it might be. If this were last year and Cliff Lee was being dangled with Jimenez's current contract, you leap and give away whatever it takes. For Jimenez? How much worse is Nova/Banuelos/Betances going to be? Enough to give them all away AND Jesus Montero? That seems, to put it mildly, excessive for a guy who has an ERA over 4 in the National League.

Expect Brian Cashman, who is very smart, to do everything he can to improve the Yankees over the next two weeks. That does not include giving away every top prospect for a pitcher who might or might not have an impact when there are two--admittedly aging, and far from sure things--on the roster who might still be able to pitch.

Really?

Now we're criticizing Christian Lopez for NOT demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars for Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit home run ball? Seriously?

Sports radio and online commenters have been frothing at the mouth over the "naivete" of the 23-year-old Verizon employee, who was sitting in exactly the right place at the most unlikely of right times, and held onto the projectile Jeter launched over the State Farm sign in left center field. How dare he not cash in? How could he not demand that the multi-gajillionaire in pinstripes share some of the wealth to pay off Lopez's college loans? What kind of a jerk can this guy be?

Maybe he's a really good man.

Here's a guy who lunged at the ball and caught it, and whose first thought was not, "My ship has come in!", but instead, "Wow--what a great thing Derek Jeter just did!" And when the inevitable security guy showed up a millisecond later to whisk Lopez away from the Bronx crowd (and away from his cheap bleacher seats), Lopez did not start insisting on a part ownership in the Yankees or even a new Ford Edge (Derek Jeter? He's got... never mind). When asked what he wanted in exchange for the ball, Lopez seemed stunned, and said he wanted nothing more than to hand the ball to Jeter. "It's his accomplishment," he said in the booth with Michael Kay and John Flaherty later. "It's not up to me to take it away from him."

He calls the player "Mr. Jeter," the way Jeter calls his ex-manager "Mr. Torre."

The Yankees then lavished upon Lopez signed Jeter jerseys, bats and balls, tickets in the front row for the next game and tickets on the Championship Suite level for every game for the rest of 2011, including any postseason games the Yankees might host. Depending on whose version you read, Lopez had asked only for the signed Jeter paraphernalia. The tickets were the Yankees' idea.

So clearly, Christian Lopez should be harshly criticized. Not cashing in on a moment like that? In front of millions of eyes? When it could have changed his life--a few lousy baseball tickets? It's downright un-American!

We should celebrate Christian Lopez's gesture for its focus, which is proper. It was Derek Jeter who hit the ball. 3,000 times. Christian Lopez was just in the right seat at the right time to become involved.

For one, I'm glad it was him and not someone else.

Good Day

If yesterday was Derek Jeter's last big hurrah with the Yankees--and I doubt that it was--it would be more than we could have hoped it would be.

I'm not much for particular numbers; is 3,000 hits really THAT much more impressive than 2,999? But to celebrate the consistency and the longevity and, let's face it, the breadth of a career that has so far taken in 15 remarkable summers, this was as good a time to pause and express our appreciation as any. Better than some. Perhaps even better than it will be on that inevitable day at Cooperstown (I'm going--anybody want to carpool?) or the even more inevitable Derek Jeter day, when they retire the #2, give him yet another Edge and shower a man who has made hundreds of millions of dollars with gifts. Hopefully, one of those gifts will be part ownership of the New York Yankees. Derek Jeter should never actually leave the team.

To reach the numerical milestone he did and to do it with one of the least probable home runs (and no cheapie!) ever, and then to get three more hits, including--here's the best part--the one that won the game, well, that's Derek Jeter. It was as if he'd gone to everyone on both teams before the game began and said, "Here's how I want it to go. Any objections?" And then hearing none, he proceeded.

In this age of ridiculously bloated salaries (for which I blame the owners, not the players--if someone offers YOU $30-million a year to do your job, are you going to protest that you're not worth it?), it takes a lot to bring the goosebumps one got watching Mantle hobble around on those tortured legs or Guidry strike out batter after batter seemingly on the power of a mustache. But watching Jeter yesterday, acting like he was 27 instead of 37, getting his five hits, raising his average about 15 points, getting hugs and applause from his teammates and THE OPPOSING PLAYERS, acknowledging his family first and then the fans, whom he never seems to forget--that was a day. A really, really good day. I'm glad my daughter, now an 18-year-old Yankee fan, was home from college to watch it with me.

Thank you, Derek.

Rain Out--Bummer, Man

Nothing to report, other than this gives Derek Jeter one less game to get two hits, but that shouldn't be a problem. Look at it on the bright side--one less game for Sergio Mitre to pitch in!

2,997 and Counting: Why Do I Care?

Forget the recurring nightmare that is Sergio Mitre's Yankee career. Forget Phil Hughes coming back and pitching better--but perhaps not as well as Ivan Nova. Forget the first lost series since the decimation that was the last visit by the Red Sox.

The next four days are about three hits.

With a double over the head of Austin Kearns, Derek Jeter now stands at 2,997 base hits in his career (as if you needed reminding). And with four games coming up against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium: the Theme Park, that means it will be a major upset if Jeter does not get his 3,000th hit at home.

So the question becomes: Why do we care?

Before you get tuned up, let's understand a few things. I'm a Yankee fan since the waning days of Mickey Mantle. I've lived through such "talents" as Ron Woods, Horace Clarke, Rich McKinney and the immortal Celerino Sanchez. Good times and bad, the Stump Merrill years as well as the Joe Torre years. And I am a huge fan of Derek Jeter. I've seen him make errors, but I've never seen him do anything wrong. The man is a Yankee, and one of the best there ever was.

That out of the way, let's examine the 3,000 hit "quest" (how did this become a "quest"? Why isn't it a "chase," a "pursuit," or a "countdown"?) as it stands today. Yes, it will be a tremendous event at The Theme Park (I've been there, and that ain't Yankee Stadium--it's a nice ballpark, but it ain't Yankee Stadium) when Cap'n Jeter gets his ovation, is probably given a new Ford Edge (Jeter? He's got an Edge!) and the game is interrupted for a long period of time for festivities. And Jeter being the first Yankee to reach that plateau (while a Yankee) is significant. It shows his endurance, his talent, his consistency, all the things that have made him a terrific Yankee.

But let's not kid ourselves--this isn't Derek Jeter from 1998. This is Derek Jeter now. And no, I'm not one of those people who will pull out the cybermetrics and prove how Eduardo Nunez should be the starting shortstop or Nick Swisher should be leading off. I think Jeter should remain the shortstop until: 1. He retires; 2. He shows such decline that he is a liability (in which case I believe he would retire); 3. He tells the team he thinks he can help more elsewhere; 4. Someone demonstrably better is in the Yankee system and ready to play. None of those things have happened yet, so Jeter is and should be the starting shortstop, this year and probably next.

Jeter now, however, is a different player. You can talk about the mechanics of his swing and the stride and all that stuff that Kevin Long and he reportedly adjusted throughout the winter and spring training, all of which was abandoned a couple of weeks into the season. The young shortstop superstar prince of New York has become the grizzled veteran surviving with his knowledge of the game and his wiles. That's okay. It happens to everybody. Except Mariano Rivera.

What's significant about Jeter's 3,000th hit--when it comes, which will shortly--is that it gives the fans a chance to celebrate a magnificent career. It gives HBO a chance to do the same, which is sort of interesting--how did they talk Jeter into that one? And it is yet another statistic which will eventually usher Jeter into the Hall of Fame. Any writer who doesn't vote for him is officially designated here as "crazy."

But there's a sadness to the event, too, because we're never getting the old Derek Jeter back. A .340 batting average? I don't think so. Gold Gloves? Probably, but only to make up for the ones he should have gotten when he really deserved them. Extra-base hits? They'll get rarer. Spectacular plays? Occasionally, but more based on his knowledge of the hitter and where to play than on the physical ability he used to have.

It's a little sad, but it's mostly happy. And sometime in the next four days, we'll get to see it play out. Stay tuned.