Lipstick On A Pig: The 2007 Yankees

Free Runs Cost.

The Yankees' recent string of scoring a lot of runs masks the essential flaws of this team, flaws that were prominently on display Thursday and Friday nights.

Each night, the Yankees failed to get two 'free runs," that is, a man on second with no outs or a man on third with one or no outs. Runs that you can get without getting any more hits.

Thursday it doesn't look important because the final score was 7-0. But that was a 4-0 game most of the way, and 4-2, which it should have been, is much different psychologically than 4-0.

Last night of course the two free runs not gotten were the difference in the game.

Note that this has nothing to do with the team's 1-18 with RISP or whatever it is the past two nights. These were four runs we missed out simply by not making the right kind of outs.

This team has been horrible at this all year. The recent run-scoring outbursts against Tampa and KC (coincidence? unlikely) masked how poorly this team does with situational hitting, how ridiculously streaky they are, and how vulnerable the bullpen is.

Jeter, Cano, and Posada all had horrendous at bats in big spots last night (Jeter more than one).

Please Make That Deal -- We'll Throw In Airfare.

Rumor has it that the Tigers are interested in re-acquiring Kyle Farnsworth. Brian, make this deal NOW before Detroit comes to their senses. The arm isn't enough, as impressive as it can be. Farnsworth's fastball is straight, making it hittable at any speed, and he simply doesn't have the feel for pitching effectively in the late innings. He's a crummy teammate and a meltdown waiting to happen.

Hillenbrand Signs With San Diego -- Whew!

Shea Hillenbrand signed a minor league deal with San Diego, thankfully making it impossible for the Yankees to acquire him. As I've written before, offense at first base is not this team's problem -- Andy Phillips is more than good enough for the rest of this season. He plays a great first base and gets some big hits.

I Don't Make Idle Threats, But . . .

Rumor has it that Jason Giambi is close to returning to the lineup. If Giambi's return costs Melky an every day spot, I will have to seriously consider investing in a Mets' jersey. For whatever reason Torre doesn't like Melky too much -- I guess being a huge part of saving last year's season wasn't enough for Joe -- and it won't surprise Me at all if Giambi DHs, and Johnny Damon and his .240 average go back into the outfield until Damon literally drops, since he won't ever go on the DL and heaven forbid Torre ever overrules one of his veterans.

By then it won't matter anyway. We'll be well and truly out of it. Hmmm . . . Wright or Beltran, for the jersey, do you think?

I Think My Clicker Is Broken!

Did Mariano throw 72 pitches in the ninth inning of the suspended game last night or did it just seem that way? Amazing how Torre knew he wouldn't need Mariano in the regular game. The man's a genius, I tell you!

Two Out Of Three, The Hard Way (Of Course)

Caution: Keep Hands And Feet Inside Car While Ride Is In Motion.

After Thursday's shocking loss, I honestly was caught by surprise by the lackluster effort Friday night. This team keeps sucking me in like this -- making me think they've turned some corner, then wrenching me back to reality with a game like Friday night's.

It is going to be a roller coaster ride with this bunch of Yankees this year, and where it ends up is anyone's guess.

But there was one wonderful moment Friday night, and one subtle blown opportunity by Torre to take even more of the sting out.

Late in Friday's lopsided loss, Shelley Duncan got his first major league hit, and as is customary, they take the ball out of play to save for the kid. Always a nice moment, and I felt good for Duncan after striking out in his first two at bats and looking pretty bad and overwhelmed in the process.

The next batter up, Damon, gets a hit to break an 0-for-20-something skid, and, with brilliant comedic sense, calls for the ball!!!!!

I was laughing my head off . . . Damon's move was perfect.

Now, because Torre had earlier put the DH into play a position, our pitcher had to bat, and Ron Villone's spot was up next.

This is where Torre missed his chance: Let Villone bat. We weren't scoring 10 runs to come back and tie the game -- carry the laughs from Damon's calling for the ball forward. Give the guys on the bench something to laugh about, watching Villone trying to make contact against major league pitching.

Am I Psychic, Or What?

During the first game yesterday, with the Yankees down 2-0 and looking pretty blah, A-Rod walked. I told iris, "that was the turning point. Not just of this game but of the whole season."

The next pitch Matsui jerks into the stands to tie the game. Since I said that to iris we've scored 24 runs.

I scare myself sometimes.

Breaking News.

Yanks acquire Molina from Angels for minor-league pitcher. Not earth-shaking but for someone who's going to play once a week it's fine, and Molina is a significant upgrade from Will Nieves.

Breaking News, Part 2.

Will Nieves traded for two fungo bats. The fungo bats are reportedly extremely upset.

A Nightmare On 161st Street, Part 17: The F-Word Cometh

I Have Seen This Movie Before And It's Just As Scary Every Time.

The script is horrifyingly familiar, made no less upsetting by virtue of repetition.

We lead late. Have to get the eighth inning to give the game to Mariano. In comes Farnsworth.

And then there's a baserunner. Or two. Or a home run. Or some walks. Or all of the above.

Unlike the horror movie series, though, the bad guy isn't wearing a goalie mask, as if he's proud of his grisly crimes.

But, as often happens in the horror genre, the monster has a master, the mad scientist pushing the buttons and throwing the switches, giving life to the beast.

How many times do we have to see this particular (bad) movie?

I don't care how much money Farnsworth is making -- he's pitched his way to the bottom of the heap. That Torre keeps running him out there in big spots is inexplicable and bizarre.

If the archives are still out there, you'll know I'm not second -guessing. When the Yankees were thinking of signing Farnsworth, I wrote on the Yankees message boards that we needed to stay away from this goon at all costs. He had had one good season (one good half-season, really) and that we shouldn't be fooled by that.

He is Armando Benitez with a better workout regimen. All arm and no brains. All stuff and no heart.

Supposedly Cashman is looking to trade Farnsworth. Do it -- amazingly enough there are some teams out there desperate/stupid enough to actually trade us something for him. In the meantime, Torre needs to not pitch him unless we are ahead or behind 7 or more runs. Right now I want to see Proctor or Bruney or anyone else (except Meyers) in the eighth inning.

But this is what Torre does. You'll note that it took no time at all for Ron Villone to earn his way back into important spots. He's a Joe guy and a Joe guy gets 1,293 chances to fail. Meanwhile Chris Britton, who apparently insulted Torre's family or something, rots in Scranton. And don't tell me that Sean Henn can't do a better job than Mike Meyers.

Call 1-800-NO-F-CLUE

Say Whatever You Like -- The Radio's On But No One's Really Listening.

A WFAN caller today actually took the time to call, sit on hold for 20 minutes, and talk to a screener, just to complain to the host about Melky Cabrera. This caller, presumably sober at such a tender hour of the day, said that Melky's lack of power made him "not the long-term answer" in the outfield for the Yankees.

Now, the host could have done the responsible thing and set the caller straight on Melky, and maybe tossed in the 800 number for AA, just in case.

Instead, the host, Evan Roberts, says, "I think you're right and I"m sure the Yankees aren't thinking of Melky as the answer. Melky's a lot like Endy Chavez -- good in small doses but when he plays every day he gets exposed."

That exchange is wrong on so many levels.

1. If the caller thinks that Melky not hitting home runs is the cause of the Yankees' problems, then I take it back, he wasn't sober after all.

2. Evan Roberts has to concede to the facts and the facts are that last year, when Melky played every day, far from "being exposed," he performed admirably in a difficult situation and was a big part of the reason we won 97 games last year. Torre not using the lineup that won those 97 games in the playoffs is one of his biggest blunders ever. [On a side note, I wonder how Torre feels now about kowtowing to Sheffield last year in the playoffs after Sheffield basically just called him a racist bastard.]

And for Evan, and everyone else who might wonder, here's Melky's numbers from last year:

130 games
Hit .280
50 RBI
75 runs
12/17 in steals
7 HRs

Perfectly respectable for a rookie, in fact better than respectable. And what doesn't show there is the infusion of youth and energy and speed that Melky provides, which was instrumental in last year's run.

After a slow start this year (when he wasn't playing every day, early on), Melky's got his numbers back in range of last year's.

And perhaps the most important thing -- he isn't even 23 yet. Who says this is as good as Melky gets? I see him filling out as he gets older, developing significant power, and possibly moving to a corner outfield spot.

3. Melky is by far our best defensive outfielder, not only because of his arm but because of his ability to get to balls that Matsui can't reach or that Abreu can't be bothered with because Abreu's brooding over being 1 for his last 48 or whatever it was there for a while. Already this season there have been several games we'd likely have lost had Damon been playing center.

But talk radio hosts basically say whatever they feel like, the facts and common sense be damned.

Silly me . . . I thought the idea was for the host to be smarter than the callers.

ESPN's M&M Boys Strike Out. Looking. Twice.

Mike and Mike Math Moment.

Mike and Mike this morning were talking about about the Yankees' situation this morning, and Mike Golic repeated the oft-cited, but wrong, assessment that teams in the Yankees' situation have "too many teams to climb over."

That matters in September. It doesn't matter with almost 70+ games left.

If 95 games will get the Yankees to the postseason, then they have to get to that number. It doesn't matter what other teams do, IF 95 is the number. Now to do that, as of three games go the Yankees needed to play .688 ball the rest of the way. A tall order, perhaps unlikely, but how many teams there are to climb over is no issue at this point.

Then they started talking about how the Yankees' first 28 games starting today are all vs. teams with under-500 records. What follows is a good illustration of why sports talk show hosts should avoid anything remotely mathematical.

Greenberg : The Yankees' next 28 games are against teams under .500. What do they have to go over this stretch . . . 24-4?"

Golic : Well even that that won't matter if Boston goes 17-7.

Greenberg : Oh well, if Boston goes 17-7 the Yankees are dead.

Um, guys? 17-7 is 24, first of all. Golic by his own admission has the brain power of a bag of slab bacon, but Greenberg went to Northwestern, which I'd always been led to believe was a good school. Secondly if the Yankees were to go 24-4 over these next 28 games, in all likelihood they will be atop the wild card standings or very close to it.

They don't need to go 24-4 over the next 28. If they win 70% of those games, that's 20-8, rounded up. Which won't be easy, but they are playing some less than stellar teams and any second half run has to start immediately.

Mike and Mike Money Moment.

Intertwined with that Yankees' conversation above was the Mikes talking about the "news item" that the Yankees "are willing to negotiate now" with A-Rod about a new contract. To me this is no news -- policies to the contrary, I believe the Yankees have been willing to talk to Boras about a new deal since last season ended. Perhaps now they have leaked Buster Olney's big scoop to make it publicly known that they are going to aggressively pursue an extension with A-Rod.

The Mikes went on to say, correctly, I think, that it will take something like $30 million per, for a fair number of years, to sign A Rod. Then Greenberg veers off the road, saying that it won't work, that A-Rod is definitely opting out and testing the market.

Err . . . Mike? What market, exactly? Given that we are talking about something like . . . $225 million over 7 years, let's say . . . how many teams actually could seriously be in the market for A Rod? I can think of four, perhaps five at the outside. San Francisco (rumored to want A Rod badly) is not an option, unless they are willing to 1) commit 35% of their total payroll to one player, or 2) dramatically increase their payroll. The Yankees, The Mets, The Angels, The Red Sox, The Cubs. Boras knows pretty much exactly what each of those teams can/will offer.

The other point, and this blind spot is not limited to Mike and Mike, but it's the most important thing in this situation: A Rod wants to stay with the Yankees! I know, gosh, how horrible to be the star of the most recognized team in sports, in one of the greatest cities in the world. And A-Rod is cognizant of his place in the history of the game . . . and he knows that, rightly or wrongly, accomplishments with the Yankees just plain mean more. A Rod's going into Cooperstown wearing a Mariners' hat? A Texas Rangers hat? I think not.

All off-season all the so-called "experts" had A Rod traded this off-season. That didn't happen, and all those experts now have him opting out. Greenberg said "I think A Rod really wants to go to Anaheim or the Cubs." This is based apparently on Greenberg's close friendship with and deep personal knowledge of A-Rod.

Not to mention that the Yankees have one advantage that other potential bidders for A-Rod don't have. And that is $81 million. $81 million that the Texas Rangers still have to pay A-Rod if he doesn't opt out of his current contract. The Yankees will extend A-Rod as opposed to ripping up the last three years of the current deal. In exchange for that I'm sure the team will go a little more money, or an extra year. As in all long-term deals with a guy in his mid-30s (A-Rod will be 35, I think, when the current deal is up), you know and have to accept that you're going to overpay in the end year(s). But that overpayment when A Rod is 42 is offset by the fact that Texas is paying a big chunk of A-Rod's salary during these hugely productive years.

I think the odds are very good that A-Rod remains a Yankee for the rest of his career.

2-1 in 13, 12-0. Go Figure

I Watched Fox Baseball For Four Hours And All I Got Was This Crummy "L."

Catchers often end up managers. Catchers have to think a lot during the course of a game. Because of that catchers can make good managers, and good analysts, too.

The issue is when the former catcher/analyst says everything that he thinks. This is Joe Gerardi's problem. After a couple of innings he becomes unlistenable because he has only two modes: Joycean stream of consciousness or catatonic silence. At one point yesterday, the catcher came out to talk to the pitcher and Gerardi was stone silent for about 30 seconds. I think Steve Albert deliberately didn't prod Gerardi with a "what is he saying to him in a situation like this?" line because Albert needed a break from listening to Gerardi as well.

As for the game. When you lose 2-1 in 13 innings there's always going to be regrets, at bats/situations both before and during the extra innings, that sealed the team's fate.

Two stand out for me. Bottom 7 . . . Posada leads off with a double. This is a free run -- we can score without getting any more hits. (I haven't looked up the numbers but my observations suggest that the 2007 Yankees are doing a terrible job of collecting free runs.) And we don't get this one either. Strikeout strikeout pickoff.

PICKOFF?!!?!!!???!!?!!!??

Off second? Where exactly was Crazy Legs Posada going? For all this talents and wonderful contributions over the years, Posada has always been a terrible baserunner. Not just slow, but with horrendous instincts/judgment as well.

There went that chance.

The one that really sticks with Me is in the bottom of the 13th, with us down a run. First and third, one out. Melky up.

Gerardi immediately talked about how the safety squeeze would work well here. Melky can handle the bat, Cairo's fast enough to score on a safety squeeze, and if they pitch out there's no risk since it's a safety squeeze.

I have to agree. Melky had struck out four times already. And striking out isn't even the worst that could happen -- he could hit into a game-ending double play, and then Jeter, leading the world in hitting with 2 outs and RISP wouldn't get up to bat.

To my way of thinking you do it on the first pitch.

They didn't. Not on the first pitch, or ever. Melky strikes out for the fifth time, Jeter hits a harmless grounder. Ballgame.

Now, since I'm the reasonable sort, I tried to think of reasons Joe didn't do it. I come with two possibilities, both of which seem pretty weak.

1. Joe, having already used everyone in the pen he felt good about using, decided to play for the win.

My problem with that argument is that you have to tie it or nothing else matters. There's no way of knowing -- if you hold your nose and put in . . . Villone, let's say, maybe he pitches three good innings. Plus, Anaheim had already used both of their good relievers. Scioscia's options were to use K-Rod for a third inning or roll the dice. In either case getting the game to the 14th (and esepcially beyond, if it comes to that) puts big pressure on Anaheim as well.

2. Joe felt that the Angels were looking for the squeeze, thus decreasing the play's chance of success.

Granted, K-Rod did pantomime a lot before throwing the first pitch to Melky, obviously attempting to get someone to give away the play. So it was on their minds. It would be hard for it not to be.

But, as Gerardi pointed out, all the ingredients were there for the safety squeeze: A fast enough guy on third and a good bunter at the plate. The night before, the suicide squeeze was used because Posada is very slow and if he doesn't leave the base until the ball's bunted it would have to be close to a perfect bunt. In this situation, with Cairo running all Melky has to do is get the bunt up the first base line a little and Cairo scores standing up.

But Torre, who squeezed the night before in the midst of a big inning . . . in the THIRD inning, when the beer vendor could have thrown on a Yankee uniform and gotten a hit, doesn't squeeze in the 13th inning needing one run to keep the game going, at home.

I'm so mystified I can almost believe that Melky missed the sign, except that there was no conference with the third base coach after the first pitch, as there surely would have been had a sign been missed.


The Bronx Bombers Reappear, Much To The Chagrin Of An New Old-Timer.

Saturday's tough loss had no carryover as the Yankees took Santana deep, repeatedly, en route to a 12-0 win to close out the first half.

It was encouraging to see no hangover from yesterday, and to see someone other than A Rod hitting it out (although A Rod snuck one over the left field wall, too, for a nice round 30 home runs at the break).

But iris mentioned to me that "Roger must be really pissed."

I laughed. Hm. 14 runs the day before he pitches. 4 quick runs the day after he pitches. The day he pitched we looked like the 2005/2006 Houston Astros.

I assured iris that Roger was not mad at all. That he was all about the team. Etc.

Then it was 7-0. "You know Roger is livid now." Noooooooooo, silly. Roger's all about the team, I assured her. He just ran into some good pitching by Lackey yesterday.

Then it was 10-0. They showed a shot of Andy Pettitte in the dugout. No Roger sitting next to him. What the . . . ? At first I thought maybe they let all the starters except Wang leave the team early for the All-Star break, but in that case Pettitte wouldn't have been on the bench.

I had to stop reassuring iris at that point.

A Tough Game To Watch, Made Tougher

Shut Up.

Michael Kay is perhaps the more infuriating announcer in professional sports. I realize there is a lot of competition, but for Me Kay's aggressive stupidity, his refusal to let go of a "point," no matter how many different ways it is shown to be wrong and/or irrelevant, and his inability to stop doing radio even though he's been on TV for five years now, give him the crown.

Last night Kay was in rare form, even for him.

Pettitte couldn't hold a big lead and was taken out without being able to get the win. Now, in a situation like this . . . the scoring rules are clear. Edwar Ramirez came in, and by the time he left the Yankees had been tied, and then gone ahead again. Ramirez was thus in line to get the win if the score held.

Now there is one exception. If, in the opinion of the official scorer, the reliever who would technically be in line for the win was "brief and ineffective," the scorer can award the win to another pitcher.

It's very rare that that happens. And while there is no strict definition of "brief and ineffective," it's generally assumed that's it really brief and really ineffective, like . . . 1/3 of an inning and four runs allowed. Ramirez wasn't great last night but was nowhere near brief and ineffective -- 1-1/3 innings, one run allowed. Yet Kay several times said that Ramirez was in line for the win but that it would be up to the official scorer. Does he really not know, after all these years, that there was basically zero chance of Ramirez not getting the win?

Infuriating. Aggressively stupid.


Shut Up Shuttin' Up.

But Kay was in rare form already last night. When Ramirez came into the game, he talked about Ramirez' changeup, calling it a "Bugs Bunny changeup."

The reference comes from a Bugs Bunny cartoon in which Bugs is pitching and throws his special pitch, a very slow pitch at which the hitter swings three times and strikes himself out. It's a classic, but if you're going to talk about in on a baseball telecast, you have to have all the facts, namely, what the pitch was actually called.

Say it with me, Michael: The Paralyzin' Palooka Pitch.

Maybe it's sad that I know that, I don't know. But Kay has to know it if he's going to talk about it on TV. Calling it the "Bugs Bunny Changeup" is lame, and sad. And of course in typical Kay fashion, he mentions it over and over. Then to complete the self-humiliation he explains the reference! "For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, there was a Bugs Bunny cartoon . . . "

Stop, Michael, please. Just . . . stop.


And A Special "Shut Up" To The Rules and The Scoring Rules.

Two little odd things from last night. One from the game, one from the box score.

Cano apparently missed third base en route to scoring on Cairo's gapper and was called out when Anaheim appealed. The appeal play last worked in 1967, I think. It's time to take it out of the rules. If the guy left too early, or missed the base, have some guts and make it the umpire's job to call it. A system whereby the other team's mistake/cheating gets penalized only if you notice it, is ridiculous. What are umpires for?

The second thing is that in looking at the box score I see that Edwar Ramzirez, in addition to getting the win last night, gets tagged with a Blown Save.

In the sixth inning?

Not that it matters except I suppose in arbitration hearings, but there should be no blown saves given out prior to the eighth inning. Too much can still happen.

Non-Answers, Math Review, And Pitching Scared

Depends On How You Define "Is."

I happened to catch a little of Brian Cashman interviewed on WFAN this morning. Kim Jones asked Cashman: "I heard that Philip Hughes is pitching for the [Class A] Tampa Yankees Monday. Is he?"

This would appear to be a simple question. It wasn't. Cashman started talking and I quickly zoned out. Cashman spoke for what seemed like three minutes but I'm pretty sure the answer to the question was "yes." Hughes is pitching for the Tampa Yankees on Monday. Probably.

In other Cashman "news," another non-answer answer revealed that Kei Igawa is going to get another start after the All-Star Break. Sort of. Unless there's some other option, or something else happens. I think.

Kim asked Cashman if he had a number in mind, as in, how many wins in his mind the Yankees need to end up with. Kim wondered if 95 was a number Cashman might have thought about, since well, getting to 95 wasn't going to be too easy now. Not surprisingly, Cashman said he doesn't think of a particular number, we have to try to win each day and be consistently better blah blah blah.

B. S. Cashman thinks about a target number all the time, even if for some reason he feels he can't reveal what that number is. (Don't want to put pressure on the team, after all, right? They might not perform well. Oh . . . wait . . . they're already not . . . ).


In The Year 5525.

Speaking of numbers. We sit at 40-42. 80 games remain. 90 wins means we go 50-30 the rest of the way . . . .625 baseball. 95 wins would require a record of 55-25 -- a winning percentage of .6875.

Most likely 90 wins isn't going to get us into the playoffs but 95 will. So let's forget 90 and say the Yankees need to play .688 ball over the last 80 games.

As down as I've been on them, as much as I am convinced that Torre has been the wrong manager for this team for a couple of years, at least, now, I do not think it's impossible, honestly. If the lineup can just perform to the back of their baseball cards, if there is normal luck with calls and breaks, if thee are no more big injures, it can be done. Will it? I'm not sure. But it will be a fun final 80 games if the team addresses those 80 games with the proper sense of urgency, i. e., you can only win one game at a time but losing comes in bunches.


The 75% Solution / Strike Zone, Paging Mr. Mussina.

A good week, taking three of four from the Twins. Honestly I expected to lose three to the Twins, but the offense and pitching came through very nicely in the first two games, and yesterday, their crappy pitcher was a little worse than our crappy pitcher, and our bullpen was a tiny bit better than theirs. (Very satisfying when Shemp took Neshek deep -- Neshek is one of those pitchers whose mound mannerisms make him easily and instantly unlikeable.)

The Mussina-Santana game is one that, on paper, you could have written off ahead of time and in truth I had done so. But the reality is that for two-plus years now, more often than not Mussina has pitched just well enough to lose in big spots. Wednesday was a highly winnable game. [Why Torre doesn't pinch-hit Posada for the hitless wonder in the fifth inning when the game could be broken open, but then does use him with two outs, none on, down two runs, is beyond me, but even with that it was a winnable game.]

And that has everything to do with Mussina's refusal to not pitch scared. Has anyone noticed that some of Mussina's best starts are those right after returning from injuries, when he's limited to 80 pitches? The reason for that is that in those starts he's not nibbling because he knows he can't do that and last too long under the pitch count.

All these pitchers that can't throw 90 that the Yankees can't hit have one thing in common aside from their 86 mph fastballs: They throw stirkes. When they don't is when they get hurt.

Know it, learn it, live it, Mike. There's no point in making the perfect pitch if 1) it's too perfect for the ump to see that it's a strike, and 2) it costs you four pitches to throw that perfect pitch, one or more of which stands a good chance of getting hit hard or of walking the guy.

Chip, Chip, Chip . . . Oops!

Once More, With No Feeling.

Another numbing loss today. It would blend into all the others except that it started out with a jolt. That, and more classically horrible managing by Joe Torre make tpday's loss semi-memorable.

The jolt: Andy Pettitte allowing 8 runs in 1.2 innings. (Only 7 of said runs were earned thanks to an error by Abreu, who is suffering from Sheffield's Syndrome, in which poor performance at the plate causes desultory defense.) It was pretty shocking -- Andy has pitched well this year by and large and in most games has deserved a better fate. Not today -- there were some dribblers and bloops but Pettitte's location was way off and the shelling was richly deserved, disconcerting as it was.

So before I'm even settled in we're down 8-0. I check when and where the Boston game is on, since I figure to be watching a lot more of that game than this one.

But Haren is not his under-2 ERA self today. He's throwing a lot of pitches, and giving up some hits. 8-2. Villone, of all people, has replaced Pettite and Ronnie likes pitching down a lot of runs, obviously. Oakland's doing nothing against him.

8-4. We actually get the tying run to the plate with two outs (Cano, inserted into the 3 spot today). He makes out, but at 8-4, middle innings, Oakland's bullpen hardly bulletproof, it feels like we have a chance.

Villone is unhittable. We get it to 8-5, thanks to a 2-out hit by Jeter, his first since Tuesday, it feels like. Once again, the tying run to the plate with two outs. Once again, Cano. He strikes out. But OK . . . 8-5, three innings to go . . . we can do this. (Side note: Cano's approach at the plate this season is, to be kind, comical. Where is the hitting coach? Where is Mattingly? Or Bowa? Someone? Anyone?)

Bruney took over after Villone's 3.1 innings of outstanding relief and in his second inning of work, Bruney does the unthinkable: he allows a baserunner! I'm cursing before the batter even reaches first base because I already know what happens next.

And there he is. Mike Meyers, our "lefty specialist," and I want to throw something at the screen. Please, will the shills in the media who defend Torre no matter what, who humiliate, dismiss, and trash callers who say Joe should be fired, please make a semi-reasonable argument why you bring Meyers into the game at that point. To face a left-handed batter, when lefties are hitting well over .300 against Meyers.

And, to no fan's surprise, Meyers coughs it up to a lefty -- Cust doubles and Ellis easily scores from first. 9-5. And you could feel the life go completely out of the crowd, and the team. There would be no more chipping away.

Vizcaino comes in and gets out of that inning but gives up two more runs later, but it didn't matter. (Vizcaino has been pitching his way up the heap, headed for the coveted status of "Joe's guy." Today may have been just a little sidestep, or was the beginning of the quick slide back down to the bottom of the pile. We'll see.)

But once again, Torre's managing takes away what (admittedly little) chance we had at coming back in this game. Using Meyers in that situation is premature, and a case of slavish adherence to "the book." I wish Joe would look at the book that shows how Meyers is pitching now, not how he pitched for Boston in 2004, which is what Joe must see when he looks at him.

Release Meyers (that's not a knee-jerk reaction to today's performance -- it's long overdue). Fire Joe. Back up the truck and see what interest there might be for various and sundry warm bodies inhabiting the Pinstripes these days.

None of those will happen, of course . . . as I've said, iris has told me "it's going to be long year."

It already is. I think I've said that already, too.