SI.Com: Posnanski: MARIANO RIVERA’S A TRUE YANKEE, ALMOST MYTHICAL IN HIS DOMINANCE

Not enough Mo here lately.

There is a Yankee mythology that sustains New York fans and drives everybody else crazy, and it goes something like this: To play for the New York Yankees, you need to have a certain quality—quiet dignity, maybe, that’s part of it, or valor or a sense of the moment. All of that. More. To be a Yankee, the mythos goes, you should suffer your pain in private like Mantle, and keep hitting home runs even when your hair falls out like Maris, and find your true self in October like Reggie. You can be larger than life, like the Babe, and call yourself lucky when dying like Gehrig, and see the world through your own eyes like Yogi. You can even punch out marshmallow salesmen like Billy Martin. As long as you win almost every time out, like Whitey, and make perfectly timed moves, like Casey, and are willing to dive headfirst after victory like Jeter.
. . .
Yes, if there is an expression that conveys the Yankee myth, it would be the countenance of Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning.

WEEI: Larry Lucchino Discusses Bay, A.L. East Race

Given the Yankees’ offseason spending, is there satisfaction in being ahead of them after a winter in which the Sox spent their resources on short-term contracts and extensions for homegrown players?

They are definitely two different approaches. No question about that. We don’t rule out the significant free-agent signings. Make no mistake about that. We were out there trying to sign Teixeira. We look at the best free agents to come onto the market every year. It’s just not our primary course of action. It’s not the preferred way to operate. But you should never, and we never, foreclose any options to make our team better.

I do like the fact very much that we have a different approach. The Yankees seem to do things one way. We try to do them another. They’ve built the eighth wonder of the world as a ballpark, as a grand stadium, a grand edifice. We just have a nice little ballpark here. They’re also in the largest market in the world. We are in the most avid or passionate market in the world. There are real differences between us, and I like to be reminded of those from time to time.

Would you be surprised if a team with the resources of the Yankees made a run at Jason Bay in free agency this winter?

They have a track record of doing exactly that: signing the best players to come onto the free-agent market…Jason has the kind of track record that will establish him as one of the better free agents on the market as a position player. I think that it’s quite likely that they may do that, as a general rule. But who knows? I don’t know how rich their farm system is in terms of coming outfielders, but that doesn’t seem to deter them in most years.

Thanks to Bill Spanswicked This Way Comes.

Bruce Jenkins Blog: Hypocrites

Show me an announcer that’s not a hypocrite and I’ll show you a Ganglians recording session without a theremin-equipped sandbox.

Part of the fun of Manny Ramirez’ return to the Dodgers, scheduled for Friday night, will be the exposure of Charley Steiner as a hypocrite. Michael Kay was the first to go down, and Charley’s next.

...It seems this didn’t go over too well in other cities. Kay, who anchors the Yankees’ telecasts, ripped Krukow and Kuiper in a public forum for getting so excited over a steroid guy. Steiner, part of the Dodgers’ radio team, made some equally rude comments (off the air), establishing himself as a real high-and-mighty beacon of integrity.

Except it doesn’t work that way. Alex Rodriguez opened the season in disgrace after the steroid-related embarrassment of spring training, but that didn’t stop Kay from going nuts when A-Rod slugged his first home run. Presto—instant hypocrite! Now we get to hear Steiner when Manny rocks Dodger Stadium for the first time. What, he’s going to treat it like a funeral while the place is going crazy?

I’ve known Kay since his days as a Yankee beat writer in New York, and he’s a good guy. So is Steiner, who livened up many an ESPN “SportsCenter” before he joined the Dodgers. Ripping the Giants’ broadcasting team, to say the least, was not their finest hour.

Hughes looking, feeling good as RP

It’s easy to second-guess him because Brian Bruney came in and blew the lead—and got the win; nice scoring rules, MLB!—but Bruney’s been pretty brilliant lately. My problem with taking out Hughes is that every time you use him for just one easy inning, you make it that much harder to get him back into the rotation if the need arises. Why not use Hughes for two or three innings at a time? And if the “problem” is not enough work for the other relievers, here’s a radical idea: don’t carry so many relievers.

Minihane: Would Lou Gehrig Have Been a Hero in 2009?

Lou Gehrig: All the arguing in the world can’t change the decision of the umpire...yeah, but now that the umps have Instant Replay!

July 4th will mark the 70th anniversary of perhaps baseball’s most famous moment. (And maybe the most famous speech in sports history—is “Win one for the Gipper” close?) Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” farewell to roughly 60,000 at Yankee Stadium took place on July 4, 1939. Can any athlete ever again be as beloved as The Iron Horse was during his 277-word farewell? Is it possible? If Gehrig had to deal with the 2009 world back in 1939, would he have been looked at the same way when he stepped up to the microphone at Yankee Stadium?

How could he? Can you imagine one of the three or four best hitters of all time going through what Gehrig went through, but having it happen today? It would be disgusting, 50 times worse than Jade Goody. You’d have TMZ parked in the Mayo Clinic. Some guy who was teammates for an hour and a half with Gehrig 15 years ago would come out with a scandal-filled book (yup, my money would be on Wally Pipp, too). And yes, you’d hear the whispers. “Well, his power numbers really spiked in 1927. How does someone go from 16 homers to 47?” It would never end. Probably some girl he dated as a freshman at Columbia would wind up as “The Bachelorette.” And all because a guy could hit a baseball.

BLS poll: Derek Jeter vs. Mariano Rivera, who you taking?

In the wake of Mariano Rivera earning his 500th save on Sunday night, an interesting debate has been born in the blogosphere.

Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter?

There’s no doubt that both were the two biggest titans not named Joe Torre during the championship years and it’s hard to imagine the Yankees winning without either future Hall of Famer wearing pinstripes.

Why is Bucky Dent in my Mailbox?

So I opened my mail last night … and there he was.

Bucky Dent. 

Well, at least a three and a half inch cardboard facsimile of him in near-Mint condition.

Someone is anonymously sending baseball cards to baseball bloggers and writers ... including David Pinto, Will Carroll and Craig Calcaterra

Rivera or Jeter? Who’s the greatest?

ariano Rivera or Derek Jeter? Which of these two current New York Yankee icons is higher on the franchise’s list of all-time greats?

For me, the answer is simple. Rivera. No contest.

As great as Jeter is, and as much as he has meant to the Yankees, the last 15 years of Yankee baseball have been about one thing, and one thing only. Get the ball to Rivera with a lead, then wait for John Sterling to start screeching “Yankees win ... Theeeeeeee Yankees win.”

Jeter is the Captain. Rivera has been, and still is, the Most Important Yankee

WFAN: Murti: Ruthian Impact

Sometimes when you are constantly cut off when speaking by the aorta-boiling King of All Beige Dockers...mindless pyramidal off-track oozing like this can happen.

I’ve written before in this space that you can make the case Mariano Rivera is the most important Yankee since Babe Ruth. Think about it.

The Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years if Mariano Rivera is not their closer. If the Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years they don’t draw 3-4 million fans every year for the last decade. If the Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years and draw 3-4 million fans every year for the last decade they don’t erect that shiny new building that in the Bronx.

Almost ninety years ago the Yankees imported Babe Ruth from Boston and the fortunes of the franchise changed forever. They built a spectacular new stadium that came to be known as the House That Ruth Built. Mariano Rivera’s arrival was less heralded, but has his status as the greatest closer in history been any less important to this franchise?

The game has changed over the years, so much so that the lockdown closer is as important as the big slugger. Ruth used to make opposing teams quake when he came to bat. How do you think teams feel when they see Rivera come into a game?

Here’s another important aspect to Rivera’s greatness. By nature of the position he occupies, every one of the 500 saves he’s racked up obviously resulted in Yankee victories. The math is a little fuzzy from the Ruth era, but I’m quite certain he hit plenty of home runs in games the Yankees lost.

Calcaterra—Yankees and Mets fans are unimaginative

Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner was at the Mets-Yankees game last night, and he wonders why Yankees and Mets fans are so darn economically inefficient when it comes to their cheers and taunts:

A pattern quickly emerged. The many Yankees fans regularly broke into their thunderous cheer: “Let’s go Yankees!” (clap-clap-clap-clap … clap-clap). If you are a Yankees fan (we are; but we do not hate the Mets), this was a sign of what might be called prideful hubris, or maybe hubristic pride: we can come into your stadium and rock it very, very hard.

How’d the Mets fans respond? Succinctly. In the space where the Yankees fans did their rhythmic clapping, Mets fans shouted “Yankees suck!” . . .This pattern was repeated all night. What surprised me is that neither side found a way to improve their effort. I kept waiting for the Yankees fans to fill in their clapping with some chanting that couldn’t be hijacked by the Mets fans, and I kept waiting for the Mets fans to either be proactive in their chanting or to move beyond “Yankees suck!” But neither side budged . . . I fear not that we are teaching our children to be coarse but that we are teaching them to be uncreative and unskilled in the use of game theory.

I can think of no greater indictment of the new expensive ballparks in New York than the fact that they have priced out one of the greatest forces of nature in the universe: verbally abusive, yet incredibly clever New York baseball fans.

Matthews: ‘Fans’ split Citi with Mets crashing

or...Aftermathews: “Goin’ Home”

The injury-depleted Mets may not have given up on their season yet, but their fans certainly have given up on them.

By the time the ninth inning started, the only fans left in the park wore the colors of the visiting team.

Certainly, the hour was getting late and it was a work night. But the price of tickets at this, the second-most expensive ballpark in the world only because it shares a world with Yankee Stadium, seemed to ensure that just about everyone who paid his or her way in would stick around for the ultimate resolution.

Not so. By the time the Mets had squandered what would be their third and final threat of the game, just about everyone who had come specifically to see them had either left the park or was in the process of leaving.

Leaving the game at that point was like walking out on Hank Aaron while he was chasing Babe Ruth, or splitting on the Rolling Stones before the encore.

But split they did, and left their team, and its new home, in the hands of their bitterest rivals.

Carig: Could Rockies closer Huston Street be fitted for a new set of pinstripes?

The 161st Street to Bridge Song?

The Yankees may want to keep an eye turned toward the Rockies, because if Colorado stumbles, right-handed reliever Huston Street may become available again. If that’s so, don’t be surprised to see the Yankees come knocking.

Apparently, they already have this season. A major league source, who requested anonymity because he isn’t authorized to comment on other teams, told me that the Yankees’ reported interest in Street was serious.

The source said that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman approached the Rockies about a deal as early as the middle of May, as the Yankees’ bullpen struggled. Meanwhile, the source said the Rockies had already begun combing through the Yankees’ minor league system, mining for possible trade targets.

Then, before a deal could get rolling, manager Clint Hurdle was fired.

S.I.: Pearlman: A-Rod, Manny Ramirez great with steroids, but what about now?

“Could it be that without drugs players like A-Rod, Manny aren’t that good?”

Again, I know. I know. Blasphemy! But the question must be addressed: Why is it that, when PED-implicated ballplayers return from lengthy absences, we never ask whether their non-drugged selves will live up to past greatness? If, as was suggested by Selena Roberts in her recent biography, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs during his Yankee tenure, shouldn’t his presumed newfound, post-steroid cleanliness coincide with a dropoff? After all, performance enhancers enhance performance. They make you stronger, faster, quicker. They help you work out more, bounce back in a shorter time span.

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers anxiously await the July 3 return of Manny Ramirez, who was suspended 50 games for failing a drug test. After initially protesting his guilt, Ramirez slunk off into the abyss—a guilty man hoping that, with time, all things pass. Now, all things have passed. Yet instead of wondering whether Manny will return as Jim Rice or Jim Bolger, the Dodgers assume they will be getting the same masher who averaged 36 homers and 118 RBIs over his first 14 full seasons. Manager Joe Torre, whose continued naiveté/indifference over steroids staggers the mind, has repeatedly expressed his excitement over Ramirez’s reappearance in the Dodgers outfield, where he clearly expects nothing less than an All-Star-quality slugger.

But why? At 37, Ramirez has reached the chronological threshold, where the majority of legends find themselves either mimicking Buddy Biancalana or filming “Hi! I’m Danny Tartabull! You might remember me from ...” commercials for Biff Jones Toyota. At 37, Dale Murphy was batting .143 with no home runs in 26 games with the Rockies. Duke Snider was batting .210 with four homers and 17 RBIs for the San Francisco Giants. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Roger Maris were retired.

And at age 37 Del Rice hit no home runs!

Pinstripe Alley: Concerning the Mets

Interview with Eric Simon from Amazin’ Avenue...including a grission drop!

Give me your honest opinion of Jerry Manuel.

He seems like a nice guy. Very affable, particularly with the New York media. He wears emo glasses, which are something of a trend these days.

On the field, he’s a so-so manager at best. He bunts far too often with his position players, he regularly makes baffling bullpen decisions, has an interesting approach to lineup construction, and occasionally gets himself into trouble by needlessly micromanaging in-game situations. Most frustrating, though, is that he’s stubborn and closed-minded to a fault, completely eschewing “statistical numbers” as he calls them, preferring to manage “from the gut”. I’m not one to advocate managing entirely by the numbers, but to be so embarrassingly obstinate as to ignore valuable reams of relevant information because they don’t factor in edge, heart or grission is horrifyingly pernicious to the ultimate goal of winning baseball games.

MLB: A-Rod ties Reggie on all-time homer list

Between Reggie being miffed and the Grammys dropping Polka as a category. Tough times.

Jackson expressed some of his feelings about Rodriguez’s pursuit in a Feb. 25 chat with reporters, acknowledging that Rodriguez would soon “blow by me like I’m standing still.”

Jackson chuckled at that comment, but the Hall of Fame slugger said that he also has a problem with players who played in the era of performance-enhancing substances surpassing him on hallowed lists.

Six players have now hit the 563-homer mark since Jackson’s retirement, though among them, only Rodriguez has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.

“I guess I get angry sometimes,” Jackson said then. “I’ve been reprimanded by the Commissioner [Bud Selig] and the president of our team. I pleaded with them to say, ‘Try to understand. I’m personally involved. I’m selfish today and made some negative comments.’

“I’m hurt and bewildered. I don’t know if we’ll ever get through it. We’re all hurt, and it’s in our lifetimes.”

MLB: Yanks insist Joba’s a starter; fans would like to see him in ‘pen

As Mike Francesa gets quoted in MLB.com...(spreads opens NY Daily News looking for article...finds XXX beige Dockers sale at Celluheavy Pants Factory)

The Yankees insist that Chamberlain will spend his future as a starter, and a successful one at that. Yet the debate rages on, crackling over the AM radio airwaves and spilling into the Internet blogosphere. There appears to be no end in sight.

“Whenever the topic is brought up, there is always a spirited debate on both sides, and it really can come up out of nowhere,” said Mike Francesa, who hosts a popular sports talk show on WFAN in New York. “It’s what you would call a hot-button issue. Everybody seems to have an opinion, and there are a lot of people who feel the way I do.”

..."The reason Joba is Joba was that he was electrifying,” Francesa said. “He really showed some special qualities that he has never duplicated since. I think he has all the makeup of a standout reliever.”

..."I think where the Yankees fail against the Red Sox is in two areas,” Francesa said. “One is the proficiency that Boston can move through the seventh, eighth and ninth innings versus the Yankees, and the ability to get situational hits. That’s why the Red Sox are 8-0 against the Yankees, those two reasons.”

12:01 Tuesday: Patent Unearths Mascot Mystery

But why would The Boss want a mascot?  After all, everybody knows the Yankees are just one of four MLB teams that don’t have a mascot, as beautifully illustrated the other day by the folks at GOOD.

So maybe it is for the new Tampa high school named in George’s honor.  That must be it.  They were looking for a mascot recently.  But this guy certainly isn’t a “Warrior”.

It couldn’t be a Yankees mascot, could it? And if the traditional, no-names-on-jerseys Yankees were going to have a mascot, would it really be this?

Just a little more Googling and there it is: a reference and picture of this “Yankees mascot” at a recent charity event.  In pinstripes.  Oh my.

The story gets better.  The inventor, Felix Lopez, is Senior VP of the Yankees.  And he’s Steinbrenner’s son-in-law.  In other words, the 26-time World Series champions, who will pay hundreds of millions of dollars for top talent on the field, won’t hire the best graphics designers in the land to come up with an endearing entertainer to keep fans happy in their overpriced seats as they watch their team struggle to make the playoffs.  For that, they turn to family.

Yeah, this mascot is kind of cute.  But he’s no San Diego Chicken or Phillie Phanatic.  For what the Yanks paid, I’d think they’d have done better getting Dancin’ Homer to do the Baby Elephant Walk on the jumbotron.

Goldman: Swisher’s game

Swisher: a sub-woofer Speaker with swervo techniques.

Melky should not be taken out in favor of Gardner. Swisher should. He plays awful defense and is a terrible baserunner. Since both he and Melky are slumping, those other two categories have Swishy beat. Swish is a useful player but he should be platooned. He’s exposed playing every day.

Goldman:...This month he’s hitting .267/.397/.500. You show me a team that benches a guy with those rates and I’ll show you a team that needs its head examined. Swisher has faults, and when a team is not playing well, those faults—the strikeouts, sub-Speaker agility in the outfield, become exaggerated. This happens to every team in a bad place—the urge to punish someone strong, and it frequently seizes on the wrong player. Swisher has been productive against both lefties and righties, has hit well by any reasonable standard, and has left something to be desired only at Yankee Stadium II, where, despite his struggles, he has posted a .373 on-base percentage. He’s part of the solution, not the problem…

...And yet he’s still going to lose playing time to Xavier Nady. That’s the way of things, and it’s depressing.

Deep Left Field: You know what would be weird?

The Stabbin’ Neckbreakers should be a cover band…

Now, if you’re that guy, you’ve probably got some pent up frustrations from the 90’s as well. There’s that Puckett thing, of course. There’s the Dave Windfield thing. The Eric Gregg thing. And of course the J*m F*cking L*yr*tz thing. You could even track across the years until you get to the C*rl*s F*cking B*ltr*n thing, but that would be going too far.

That L*yr*tz thing would quite obviously open doors onto the whole of “Yankees of the mid-to-late ‘90s” thing, and that would be a sea of seething potential most anyone would be well advised not to swim. Visions blurred red, stabbings of necks, etc. Yeah, you don’t want to go into the deep end of the Yankee thing at all. So you still with me? You thinking about maybe being that guy? Yeah. Okay. Now throw in for good measure that you’re a total comic book dork from the old days and you literally grew up on The Transformers.

Now, if you’re that guy, and you take a long lunch one afternoon to go see the new Transformers sequel, and you’re a little late so you sit in the back row to avoid the walking through other folks in the dark, and you sit there all two and a half hours chuckling along with some vaguely familiar guy sitting two seats over, and it’s clear he too is a total Transformers dork, and then the lights come up and you’re grabbing your headgear for the ride back and you suddenly realize, dude, that’s Mariano Rivera, and ####, now I TOTALLY CAN’T HATE THAT GUY ANYMORE!

Yeah. That would be totally weird. It would be like losing a part of your soul.

SNY: Salfino: Taking a closer look at A-Rod’s slump

You mean it’s not from everybody walking Tex to get to A-Rod because there’s no protection from going after Tex since A-Rod is going bad due to too many fastballs seen because of the odd choosing of random team fistulas?

If the lack of protection was viewed as an excuse for Teixeira, why isn’t Rodriguez given amends for the same thing? Who’s protecting him? Yankee No. 5 hitters have a .724 OPS this year, lower than all spots other than eighth (.721) and ninth (.631). Robinson Cano’s been in the No. 5 hole a lot, but his OPS dipped to .790 on June 11—though it’s quickly climbed since. Still, no pitcher is remotely going to fear Cano enough to give in to Rodriguez. That’s common sense.

And I stipulate there doesn’t have to be a reason for his slump. All players are streaky. Even those who appear to be consistent because we choose to measure seasons are much more streaky if you measure equally arbitrary points of time within those seasons.

I was hoping to find another month where A-Rod was comparably bad and couldn’t. I ignored 2007 because he had such a great year and I didn’t remember his slumping. But then I clicked it and found that in July, in that MVP year, A-Rod hit .206 in 122 at-bats with a .183 average on balls in play. The next two months, his overall averages were (including the many homers out of play) .330 and .362, respectively.

I also stipulate there’s a good chance, given the still unproven nature of A-Rod’s treatment, that his hip is a big factor in his relatively poor performance. But simple fatigue is far too nebulous for me.

Carig: Keith Hernandez, Mark Teixeira and a question of range

Meh...I also heard Keith ragging on the fundamental theorem of calculus the other day.

Former Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez apparently isn’t overly impressed with the work of current Yankees first baseman and two-time Gold Glover Mark Teixeira. From Bob Raissman of the Daily News:

When asked Sunday (third inning, Rays-Mets) if any current first baseman reminded him of him, the SNY analyst said, “No ... I don’t think there’s really anyone outstanding out there.” It took awhile, but Gary Cohen finally brought up Mark Teixeira. Mex said he liked Tex but added: “Not a whole lot of range. Not smooth, but gets the job done.”

On the surface, Hernandez’s comments seem nothing more than an ode to bluster and ego, the type not uncommon to plenty of ex-players. But could there be something to Hernandez’s “not a whole lot of range” assertion?

Statistically, it appears so.

With a free agent payday looming last season, Teixeira posted his first above-average defensive numbers since 2004, while playing for the Braves and Angels. He posted a 10.6 ultimate zone rating, which takes into account how many runs a fielder is saving or costing his team when compared to the average fielder.

But in his first season as a Yankee, Teixeira’s UZR has fallen to a below average -.1.9.

Thanks to Tango.

Fish Tank:  Video: Marlins fan vs. Yankees fan in a brawl for the ages

Wondering about all that ruckus in the stands during Sunday’s game? We’ve got the answer. One intrepid fan shot the following video, which involves a Yankees fan and Marlins fan going at it, WWE-style, in what some are calling ‘The Citizen Kane of Fan Fight Videos.’ A title well-earned, we say:

Fish Tank:  MLB denies Yankees protest

The Yankees protest of the Marlins 6-5 victory Sunday was denied Tuesday by major league baseball.

President Larry Beinfest informed Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez of the decision just before Gonzalez received a fax from the league office.

Gonzalez was relieved, even though he believed it wasn’t a “protestable type” incident.

“What’s the old (saying), thousand pound gorilla,” Gonzalez said. “I had about two of them.

“It’s embarrassing, big time embarrassing. You got 25 players on the team and six coaches and staff members, 50,000 people in the stands and two million viewers. It’s not easy. It’s embarrassing. And then to get the game protested and you got an off day, it’s a tough couple of days.”

YFSF: Cheapies, cont.

That last sentence is my emphasis, but that’s a key point, and the diagram makes it very clear: If a cheap home run is snaked around the Fenway Park right-field foul pole, it probably would have done the same thing in the Bronx.

Missed it yesterday, but this is an interesting bit on YanksfanSoxfan about cheap homers in the Fens and the House that Stein Built.

Feinsand: Yankees’ catcher Jorge Posada say he’s pumped up by critics’ chatter

With two years remaining on his contract after this season, Posada knows he won’t be catching the 130-plus games he did every year from 2000-07, but he has no plans to vacate his position any time soon, either.

“I have a lot of fun behind the plate, I enjoy it and I don’t think I’m hurting the team,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt the team. When the time comes that I think I am, I’ll do what I need to do.”

Posada is hardly the first player to deal with this. Derek Jeter’s critics have been calling for the Yankees to move him from shortstop for the past few years, yet the captain continues to take his position every night without a second thought.

“Everybody is going to be criticized at some point, I don’t care who you are,” Jeter said. “It’s how to respond to that criticism that matters. I’ve told him, ‘You’ve got to take criticism as a challenge.’ He’s doing that.”

..."If somebody steals a base off of him, people say, ‘He can’t catch,’” Jeter said. “Maybe a guy just stole a base. That’s the unfortunate thing; once you get labeled, it’s pretty hard to shake that.”

..."People try to read too much into everything,” Posada said. “True baseball fans, they understand.”

I am the backstop man.
Well the men don’t know, but little fans understand.

Raissman: Took a while, but Michael Kay gets it right on YES

As Kay was commenting, derisively, on the umps’ performance, or lack thereof, did anyone flash back to the eighth inning of Saturday night’s Yankees-Marlins tilt? Dan Uggla had tapped a grounder foul outside third. Florida’s third base coach picked the ball up and tossed it into the stands.

Kay: “Third base coach Pat Listach makes a friend.”

Paul O’Neill: “Wasn’t he a Yankee for a couple of days?”

Kay (YES’ camera now had a close-up of the third base coach): “He came over with Graeme Lloyd in that deal ... luckily for the Yankees they didn’t void the deal because Graeme Lloyd helped them win the championship in ‘96.”

Now, it’s doubtful the majority of viewers could instantaneously name Florida’s third base coach, but anyone who has seen Listach, either coaching third for the Washington Nationals against the Mets this season, or in the recent Yankees series, knew the coach who flipped the ball to a fan looked nothing like him.

So, like those umps, it took Kay awhile (he got around to it in the ninth) to set the record straight. Kay said it was a case of having a “brain cramp” (so did YES’ production crew) and thinking “one series back” when Listach was coaching third for the Nats. “That’s Bo Porter, the third base coach for the Marlins,” Kay said.

Yep...and Casey Kotchman is the Angels next great lefty-throwing 3B and Lefty Gomez was known as The Knight Of Kennett Square and condiments give you luxurious goiters and…

Klapisch: Judgment days ahead for Girardi

“Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.”

Girardi’s demeanor doesn’t go unnoticed in the clubhouse. “Tight” is how one veteran described his manager without rancor. Of course, tight can be another form of intensity that complements Girardi’s obvious intelligence. And to be fair, he’s represented the organization in a commendable way — as opposed to say, Ozzie Guillen, who embarrasses the White Sox on a near-daily basis.

But there’s more to managing than simply bodysurfing a winning streak. Girardi looked crisp and in control when the Yankees were mauling the AL a month ago, launching all those crazy comebacks. But now they’re struggling — the Red Sox’ domination of the Bombers is nothing short of humiliating — and Girardi’s confidence has turned to a square-jawed form of desperation.

That’s why A-Rod played every day until he couldn’t bring his bat through the strike zone anymore — and, as he’s hinted, his hip is so stiff. It’s the reason why no one comes to Sabathia’s rescue in the seventh or eighth innings.

It’s because Girardi knows his managerial career will be over if he gets fired by the Yankees. The team is feeling the angst over ticket sales — they failed to sell out the Subway Series and are urgently reminding fans that seats are available for the Red Sox series in August.

AJC: Pricey pinstripes best fit for Teixeira

(Mark) Teixeira returns to Atlanta on Tuesday for the first time since being traded to the Angels last season for first baseman Casey Kotchman and right-handed pitcher Steve Marek. In 157 games spanning the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Teixeira hit .295 with 37 homers, 134 RBIs, 92 walks and 101 runs scored. Despite his statistical brilliance, the Braves finished third in the National League East in 2007 and were on their way to a fourth-place finish last year before he was dealt.

...

Able to parlay his status as the premier position player available in free agency, Teixeira signed an eight-year, $180 million deal with the Yankees two days before Christmas. It was widely panned as an example of fiscal irresponsibility. Along with Teixeira, the Yankees signed starting pitchers CC Sabathia ($161 million for seven years) and A.J. Burnett ($82.5 million for five) for the collective sum of $423.5 million.

Teixeira scoffs at the criticism.

“I was completely up front with everybody. I was totally honest with everybody. This is a business, guys. Everyone knows the Yankees paid the most,” Teixeira said. “If somebody had a problem with the decision I made, because it was a family decision and a business decision, they can have their opinion. That’s fine. I made the best decision for me, and it’s worked out great.”

New York Post: CALL HIM M.I.A-ROD

Kate Hudson may be wearing A-Rod out. The slumping Yankee slugger missed most of last night’s game against the Florida Marlins after riding the bench the night before as well with a case of “fatigue.”

The rest hasn’t seemed to do much good: In his pinch-hit cameo last night, he merely drew a walk.

And that R&R is expensive; Rodriguez pockets $203,704.40 a game—even when he’s riding the pine.

It’s not surprising that A-Rod is feeling a bit sluggish—the wilting all-star was caught partying in South Beach with Hudson, his main squeeze, in the wee hours yesterday morning.

The third baseman was seen leaving an exclusive party with the actress at around 2:30 a.m.

It remained to be seen whether the benched ballplayer would muster another sudden burst of energy for a late-night rendezvous with Hudson after last night’s game, which the Yanks dropped 2-1.

MLB: Yanks protest game over lineup snafu

This is messier than the time someone put Ross Moschitto’s name in the starting lineup!

For now, the Marlins are claiming a 6-5 victory over the Yankees on Sunday afternoon at Land Shark Stadium. Whether the score is upheld ultimately will be determined by Major League Baseball.

The Yankees have protested the game due to confusion created by a Marlins’ double-switch in the top of the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Marlins pinch-hit outfielder Alejandro De Aza for pitcher Renyel Pinto, who was batting ninth. When the inning ended, Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez made a double-switch. Reliever Leo Nunez entered the game, and Chris Coghlan remained in left field.

Nunez threw one pitch to Derek Jeter, a called strike. At that point, Yankees manager Joe Girardi brought to the attention of home plate umpire Tim Timmons that Coghlan was supposed to be out of the game, with De Aza in left field.

...Crew chief Jeff Kellogg told MLB.com after the game that the umpires are filing an incident report to Major League Baseball. He didn’t elaborate on anything specific.

“We’re going to file an incident report, and all that,” Kellogg said. “The protest is over the pitcher should have been removed from the game, or the pitch should not have counted. That’s the protest. Either or. One or the other should have happened.

“It goes to the league, and they will review everything. They will make a determination after that.”