GAYS ON BROADWAY? SAY HEY

Richard Greenberg's play, "Take Me Out," opened on Broadway last night, after having had a succesful run at Joe Papp's Public Theater last fall. Here is an excerpt from Ben Brantely's review today in the Times.

["Take Me Out" is] the story of Darren Lemming (Daniel Sunjata), a god among baseball players and the star of a team called the Empires, who sets off a complicated chain of ultimately tragic events when he publicly announces that he is gay. This allows Mr. Greenberg to consider ¡ª in language that gives joltingly bombastic dimensions to locker room humor ¡ª big, big subjects like sexual and racial prejudice, moral responsibility, public versus personal identities and the inability of people to ever truly know one another.

Whew! That's a roster that would have overloaded even Sophocles. And in trying to give theatrical life to each theme, Mr. Greenberg winds up sacrificing fully developed characters and credible plotting to Ideas with a capital I. Despite a vivid ensemble of actors who embody a lively spectrum of bat wielders, "Take Me Out" ultimately fails by the dizzyingly high standards it sets for itself as a metaphysical mystery play.

But the director, Joe Mantello, has sensibly chosen to emphasize the play's less ponderous aspects. These include zippy (if improbably polysyllabic) dialogue; a hypnotic narrative that does much to disguise the potholes in the plot and is appealingly delivered by Neal Huff as a shortstop with the worldview of a novelist; and a host of good-looking guys standing around naked for the show's already notorious shower scenes.

...But ultimately, it's [Denis] O'Hare who owns the evening. A lonely, emotionally constipated gay man whose life takes on meaning when he takes on Darren as a client, Mr. O'Hare's Mason becomes baseball's dream cheerleader. To see him bend and blossom before the mysteries of the game is a bit like watching Cary Grant, in his priggish mode, being thawed out by a madcap Katharine Hepburn in "Bringing Up Baby."

And what an enchanting and enchanted take on baseball Mr. Greenberg has created for Mason, both passionately personal and lyrically analytical. It's a sensibility that is so smart, raw and sincere all at once that you may find tears in your eyes in the first act as Mason describes the raptures of "the home-run trot."

There is also a moment in the second act that turns baseball into something like grand opera. The white light of night games floods the stage as the ensemble members act out an evocative baseball ballet, and Mr. O'Hare waxes into hallelujah-like paeans to the game. "Maybe I've had a ridiculous life," he says, "but this is one of its best nights."

The scene is one of the most stirring on Broadway right now. It's an unconditional, all-American epiphany that, in these days of fretful ambivalence, is something to cherish.

You have to wonder when gay ballplayers will feel comfortable enough to come out. Homosexuality is one of the last great taboos to grip the game (and sporting culture in general), and it would take a man with considerable personality to publicly address the issue. Hopefully, it will be a star player. I wouldn't hold my breath on it happening any time soon, though. Whoever makes the move will have to be a brave individual. It won't be someone as touchy as Robbie Alomar, that's for sure.

THAT'S A WRAP

Mike C over at Baseball Rants, has a couple of excellent articles on the Hall of Fame voting process. The first concerns Whitey Herzog's reaction to not being elected earlier this week by the Veteran's Committee, while the second tackles Jayson Stark's latest column.

Hal Bodley weighs in on the Committee's choice not to select anyone for the Hall as well.

Meanwhile, Jay Jaffe, has a funny take on Reggie Jackson's insatiable need for attention. He also comments on Jackson as a Hall of Fame voter. (If you are Whitey Herzog, this doesn't bode well for you.)

Ed Cossette has a good posting today about superstition and the Red Sox.

FIT AS A FIDDLE

Yankee fans, don't miss out on Will Carroll's team health report at Baseball Prospectus. Carroll is as informative and definitive as usual. According to the report, the biggest cause for concern is the respective health of Nick Johnson, Bernie Williams, David Wells and Andy Pettitte.

DEBUTS

Godzilla Matsui hit a home run yesterday in his Yankee spring training debut against the Reds, while Jose Contreras got his tits lit, giving up a grand slam to Adam Dunn.

"He hit a rocket," Manager Joe Torre said. "He just hit a bullet."

...Jason Giambi, who was on base, reminded Matsui of his experience last spring. Giambi homered twice in his exhibition debut, then hit no more the rest of camp. "Don't let that be the last one," Giambi told him.

What impressed Giambi most was not the home run but the at-bat that led up to it. Matsui, who walked 114 times while batting .334 last season, saw eight pitches.

"That's part of his game a lot of people don't realize," Giambi said. "He's a great hitter, not just a great home-run hitter."

Contreras was in the dugout for the homer and admired what he saw. "It was a perfect swing," he said.

Of his own performance, Contreras was not as kind. He retired the last five hitters he faced, three with strikeouts. But Contreras was quite disappointed with his first inning, when he needed four mound conferences with catcher Jorge Posada. Contreras and Posada had trouble with the signals. Contreras's splitter was everywhere, his slider was flat. The pounding he took had no precedent.

"That never happened to me in my 10 years of pitching ¡ª five runs in one inning and a grand slam," Contreras said through an interpreter. "I know it's just baseball, but I have to prepare better. It was my first game here and I wanted to leave a good impression, and I didn't. I know a lot of people were anxious to see me perform, but I wasn't able to give them the results they wanted."

When Contreras gets in trouble, he tends to work more deliberately. Stottlemyre noticed and tried to let him pick up the pace on his own. He finally went to the mound after the homer. "It gives me something to look for the next time," Stottlemyre said. "Next time, maybe I'll try to go out when I see it, before the damage is done."

MORE BOOMER BLASTS

More quotes are spilling out from David Wells' upcoming biography. Shocked?

"As of right now, I'd estimate 25 to 40 percent of all major leaguers are juiced. But that number's fast rising."

..."Down in the minors, where virtually every flat-broke, baloney-sandwich-eating Double-A prospect is chasing after the same, elusive, multi-million-dollar payday, the use of anabolic homer-helpers is flat-out booming," Wells wrote. "At just about 12 bucks per shot, those steroid vials must be seen as a really solid investment."

He writes that amphetamines are so commonplace that "stand in the middle of your clubhouse and walk 10 feet in any direction, chances are you'll find what you need."

"As a pitcher, I won't ever object to a sleepy-eyed middle infielder beaning up to help me win," Wells said. "That may not be the politically correct spin on the practice, but I really couldn't care less."

..."A syringe full of 'roids can make it a whole lot easier for a major leaguer to feel confident about his game," Wells wrote. "They're easy to score. They're easy to use. They really do work."

Steroids, according to Wells, have changed the game.

"The '78 Yankees look like a high school team when compared to today's players," he said.

Wells also takes swipes at teammates Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, insuring that once again, he won't be winning the "Mr. Personality" award in the Yankee clubhouse. David Cone, who is pals with Boomer, commented on Boomer's book in the Post this morning:

"Chances are I was probably with him," Cone said in a manner that meant he was, indeed, with Wells. "We are both good friends of Lorne Michaels [the executive who created Saturday Night Live]. We have always supported the show together. So, yes, we were probably there."

In explaining his pal, Cone kept using the word "throwback" to describe Wells' penchant for late-night activities, even when they might have come before a game he pitched. But when asked how many times Wells might have pitched in such shape, Cone refused to answer, saying, "I am not going to throw him under the bus."

..."He's a throwback," said Cone, who is trying to make the Mets this spring. "He's always been a loose spirit. He could have pitched in the 1930s and '40s with the Gashouse Gang, who were known for throwing a few back on the nights before they played. His way of doing things has worked for him."

...Of the half-drunk revelation, [former Yankee pitcher, Mike] Stanton joked, "That surprises you? How?"

DON'T SLEEP

Will Carroll, from The Baseball Prospectus, has an authoratative piece on the dangers of heatstroke, and co-authors another fine article with Nate Silver on the dynamics of pitching injuries.

Essential reading.

Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci has an interesting look at the derth of stellar center fielders in today's game.

"Like a lot of things, it goes in cycles, and we're in a down cycle," [Oakland general manager, Billy] Beane said. "It'll come back."

Where have all the good center fielders gone?

"They're playing shortstop now," Beane said.

KNOW THY ENEMY

You may have noticed that I haven't been covering the Red Sox too tough over the past few weeks. Since spring training started, the old "Us vs. Them" mentality has taken hold. It's not to say that there aren't interesting things happening to Boston's Home Nine, it's just that the thought of the Sox is starting to make me see red.

Partisanship aside, here is a look at how ex-Yank Ramiro Mendoza is coming along.

And here are a couple of good articles on starting pitcher Derek Lowe, who survived a brush with skin cancer this winter, and pitched in the Sox spring training opener yesterday.

REGGIE: ME AND MY BIG, FAT MOUTH

Predictably, Reggie Jackson didn't stay mad for long. After clearing his pipes to Jack Curry in The New York Times yesterday, Reggie backed off this morning:

"It ruffled some feathers with people I have a good relationship with," Jackson said. "I am treated very well in this organization. I have no negative feelings toward the Yankees. If it weren't for the Yankees, I wouldn't be in baseball. If not for George, I wouldn't have a job in baseball. It's too good here."

SHUT OUT

The newly revamped Veteran's Committee didn't select anyone for the Hall of Fame yesterday. Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva and Ron Santo had the best showings.
Personal favorites, Minnie Minoso and Curt Flood weren't even close. Marvin Miller didn't make it either, but seemed to take the news in stride:

"The way I see it, I received over 75% of the players' vote," Miller said philosophically by phone from New York. "I harken back to when I was first elected as executive director. Although managers, coaches and trainers were all considered management, they voted and, despite that, I won 489-136. I guess I have to conclude after all those gains we made for the players, I've lost ground."

Miller chuckled as he said it, but later admitted his disappointment. "I'm understandably disappointed, but you have to put it in context," he said. "I'd said in the past I thought it was doubtful I'd be elected. It was an honest appraisal, and so it's not disappointing in that I expected it."

Bill Madden reports on the mildly suprising turn of events in the News, and Dave Anderson does the same in the Times.

After all the build up, I was bummed that nobody was elected, but I suppose nobody was better than Gil Hodges, despite tremendous local sentiment for the ex-Brooklyn Dodger.

BOOMER'S BOOK: DOCK ELLIS AIN'T GOT NUTHIN ON ME

According to his forthcoming book, "Perfect I'm Not. Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball," (to be published by William Morrow on April Fool's Day), David Wells pitched his perfect game with a wicked hangover.

The New York Post reports:

Wells writes that he was still drunk from the night before when he mastered the Twins on a brilliant Bronx Sunday.

"As of this writing, 15 men in the history of baseball have ever thrown a perfect game. Only one of those men did it half-drunk, with bloodshot eyes, monster breath and a raging, skull-rattling hangover. That would be me," Wells wrote. "Never in the history of professional sports has a feat so difficult been accomplished by an athlete so thoroughly shot."

Five years later, an older Wells remembers and laughs.

"I don't recommend doing that. It's not healthy," Wells said yesterday of attempting to get big league hitters out while hung over. "It was a phase of my life when I was a party animal. Back then I went out all the time. I could do no wrong that year. I was in a zone all year."

...Joe Torre said he saw no signs that Wells was walking on the proverbial waterbed that day.

"That stuff has been going on forever," Torre said of pitchers working after staying out late. "Don Larsen [another perfect-gamer] did it. You certainly hope your pitcher takes care of himself the day before he pitches, but . . ."

That should sell some books, huh?

Boomer's revelation brings Doc Ellis to mind. Ellis, who once wore haircurlers during a game, and who called George Steinbrenner's pep-talks "high school Charley shit," pitched a no-hitter for the Pirates the morning after he had tripped on LSD. The episode is recounted in Ellis' biography, "In the Country of Baseball," co-written with Donald Hall. Suffice it to say, Boomer Wells isn't the first nut job to perform well while still loaded.

STILL REGGIE, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Rob Neyer mentioned the other day just how much ink has been spilled on the Bronx Zoo Yankees, and it's true. It's funny that nobody has made a Movie-of-the-week about that team (I'm thinking about the 1977-78 version, featuring George, Billy, Reggie and Thurman). Maybe it won't happen until the principal players are dead. Still, when I was recently reading Ed Linn's "Steinbrenner's Yankees," I wondered: who would serve as a good narrator? Who could play the Cameron Crowe roll in "Almost Famous?"

Who would work? Chambliss, Willie Randolph? Maybe Fran Healy, the seldom-used back up catcher, and one of Jackson's few allies on the team, would make a good fit. The narrator would have to be a minor character, someone on the fringes.

How about Ray Negron?

Who?

Let's turn to June 18, 1977, one of the most controversial days in Yankee history. The Yankees were playing the Game of the Week in Boston and getting creamed, when Billy Martin replaced Reggie Jackson in the middle of an inning with Paul Blair. Martin thought Jackson had loafed after a ball. When Reggie returned to the dugout, all hell broke loose.

According to Linn:

The TV Camera in center field had caught it all, and a mobile camera at the end of the dugout had come wheeling in to catch a close-up of the wrestling match. Before the camera could be activated, Ray Negron, who runs the Betamax (closed-circuit camera) for the Yankees, had thrown himself in front of it and was screaming at the cameraman. Negron is a former Yankee bat boy and Pittsburgh Pirate farmhand. He had been hired by Billy Martin at the beginning of spring training, but he had also become so friendly with Reggie Jackson¡ªthey shared the same locker area, and they both spoke Spanish---that Reggie had asked him to move into his apartment and become his general factotum. Negron was the one man on the club who had reason to like and be grateful to both Billy and Reggie, and what was happening was so painful to him that he found himself throwing a towel over the mobile camera and threatening to break the radar gun over the cameraman's head. The mobile cameraman recalled afterwards that it was Martin who had shouted to Negron to cover the camera. It was exactly the opposite. The first thing Martin did when Yogi let him up was to pull the still-hysterical Negron away from the cameraman and shove him down on the bench.

It's a thought, no?

Negron went on to work as an advisor and substance-abuse counselor for the Rangers and Indians. Interestingly, he was hired by Robbie Alomar a few days ago to work as the second baseman's personal assistant, a job he previously held when Alomar was with Cleveland.

Back to Reggie. After disaster was averted in the dugout that day in Boston, 1977, Martin almost lost his job. Gabe Paul, who was not a Martin fan, prevented George from canning Billy the Kid, cause it would look like Jackson was running the team if the manager was fired right then and there. Negron made sure Reggie left the locker room before Martin arrived.

Later that night, two reporters came up to Reggie's room to talk----Paul Montgomery of the New York Times, and Phil Pepe of the Daily News.

Here is Linn's account of Reggie in rare form:

As the interview began, Reggie was sitting on the floor, bare-chested except for a gold cross and two gold medallions. A blonde was in the shower, a local girlfriend. Mike Torrez was sitting in a chair alongside Reggie with a bottle of white wine¡¦"If I go too far," he hold Torrez before he began, "stop me."

His memory during the interview was that he hadn't said anything when he came back to the dugout, but had merely held his arms open in that "What did I do wrong?" gesture. "The man took a position today to show me up on national television. Everyone could see that."

¡¦At one point he became so upset that he retreated to the edge of the bed and began to read the Bible. He was a born-again Christian, he told them, and quite often went to the Bible for solace.

Once he had himself back under control, he resumed his position on the floor and went right back to the company line. "I don't know anything about managing, but I'll take the heat for whatever the manger says."

¡¦And then he began to come apart. "If the press keeps messing with me," he sobbed, "I'll hit thirty homers and maybe ninety ribbys and hit .270. If they leave me alone, I'll have forty homers, one hundred and twenty ribbys, and I'll be hitting .300."

For the record, the press didn't leave Reggie alone---he didn't give them a chance to---and he ended up hitting .286, with 32 homers and 110 RBI.

¡¦His eyes filled up, and began speaking with rising emotion about the way he was being treated on the ballclub. "I'm just a black man to them who doesn't know how to be subservient. I'm a black buck with an IQ of 160, and making $700,00 a year. They've never had anyone like me on their team before." Except for Steinbrenner. "I love that man, he treats me like I'm somebody."

His voice broke, and he came rising up on his haunches. "The rest of them treat me like I'm dirt." There were tears running down his cheeks now. "I'm a Christian," he screamed, "and they're fucking with me because I'm a nigger, and they don't like niggers on this team. The Yankee pinstripes are Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. I've got an IQ of 160, they can't mess with me..." He was a man so clearly out of control, a man in such terrible torment, that Mike Torrez stood up and told the writers, "I think you'd better leave."

Jackson's rocky relationship with Steinbrenner and the Yankees was only getting started in June of 1977, but all these years later, Reggie is still around, and just like George, he needs to sound off every once in awhile just to show us that he can. Reggie still needs to know that he matters, that he is important. He found a sympathetic ear in Jack Curry of the New York Times:

"I think, first of all, I'd like to have a meaningful title that would be of value to me and the minority community and separate me in the organization instead of just being a springtime coach," Jackson said. "I want something of value, whether it's baseball ops or something where I work for Brian Cashman or Mark Newman, or I'm a special envoy. Anything."

"Not for me, but for my community and family because I'm more than an adviser to the managing general partner," Jackson said. "If I was the only one, I'd feel as though I'd have more credibility."

Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Don Mattingly and Clyde King are also special advisers to Steinbrenner.

Jackson added that he wanted credibility as a "baseball-content person," and "not as a trophy; not as just fluff."

..."I don't really call myself a coach," Jackson said. "I'm a teacher, a mentor, I'm anything. I'm a big brother, at times, a father, at times, and a messenger, at times. There's no job too menial and, hopefully, they think I'm capable of handling the big jobs."

..."If I remain as I am now for the rest of my days, I'll be grateful," Jackson said. "I got a place to hang my hat. I got a locker that says `Reggie' or `Mr. October.' I appreciate that. I got a plaque in center field. I know who puts the plaques in center field. So I'm on the team. I'm part of his family. For me, I need family, I need friends. I need loved ones. I need to be cared about, which probably makes me pretty damn human."

This is a man who just wants a little love. Is that so wrong?

THE ENVELOPE PLEASE

The Veteran's Committee will announce their selections for the Hall of Fame later this afternoon. Who is going to make it? The one name I keep reading about is a logical one: Marvin Miller. Alan Schwarz has an excellent two-part interview with the former head of the Player's Union this morning at ESPN.com.

Schwarz asked Miller about Curt Flood, who is also up for selection:

Miller: I'd vote for him. He is the ideal one for this. The statistics stand up, I think. I haven't examined them closely. But for a number of years he was the outstanding center fielder in baseball. It was a period when Willie Mays was admittedly entering his last days as a player. But Curt Flood was clearly the best center fielder in baseball.

And his off-the-field thing ... let me tell you a story when he was deciding about the lawsuit. He's all gung-ho. I felt it was my responsibility to play devil's advocate. It was easy to do because I really felt pessimistic about the whole thing. The court was never going to reverse itself. So I ply him with all the reasons that any sane person would decide not to do this: "I don't think you can play and do this lawsuit. You're 32 years old and I don't think you can take a year off. Furthermore, I don't think (the owners) would let you come back. They have long memories. And it's million-to-one shot -- the Supreme Court almost never reverses itself. Finally, I threw him the final punch -- even if you prevail against the odds and they rule for you, you will not benefit. They won't assess damages retroactively. Curt, as far as they're concerned, you're dead. You're not gonna be a player, you're not gonna be a coach, you're not gonna be a scout."

"I won't get any benefit?"

"No."

And he said, "But it would benefit all the other players and the others to come, wouldn't it?"

"Most certainly."

And he said, "That's good enough for me."

That's why I think Curt Flood belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Rob Neyer, makes his case for Ron Santo, Wes Ferrell, Carl Mays and Minnie Minoso.

Here is the case for Minnie:

Minoso isn't going to get elected, because not enough voters saw him play. But Minoso almost certainly does belong in the Hall of Fame. It's hard to say exactly when he'd have first played regularly in the major leagues if not for the color line, but it stands to reason that it would have happened before he was 28.

But instead, it did happen when he was 28. Minoso spent a couple of seasons in the Negro National League, then graduated to so-called "Organized Baseball" with a couple of fine seasons in the Pacific Coast League. And then in 1951, he finally got his shot, with the White Sox. When he was 28.

Minoso's career "rate stats" are outstanding: .389 OBP, .459 slugging percentage. He was exceedingly durable, especially for a player who led his league in HBP no fewer than 10 times. But he finished his career with "only" 1,963 hits, which of course isn't a lot for a Hall of Fame outfielder who wasn't a big power hitter.

It's fairly safe to assume, though, that if Minoso had grown up in Georgia with pale skin rather than in Cuba with dark skin, he'd have reached the major leagues three or four years before he did. Let's be conservative, and give Minoso four more seasons. He was good for approximately 175 hits per season, and 175 times four is 700 hits. Add 700 to 1,963, and you get 2,663 hits.

There are, to be sure, players with more than 2,663 hits who aren't in the Hall of Fame. But I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody with 2,663 hits and Minoso's broad base of skills who hasn't been elected or won't be. Bill James rates Minoso as the 10th-greatest left fielder ever, and I think that's just about right

I'm rooting for Minnie, and Flood, even though I'm not convinced Flood should make it, regardless of the stand he took against the Reserve Clause. I'd put my money on Miller though. Who else? Hodges, Torre, Oliva, Dick Allen? We shall soon find out.

THE NEW POPEYE

Joel Sherman doesn't trust the Love-In that is taking place in Mets camp this spring. After taking his shots at the Bronx Zoo for the past few weeks, Sherman takes aim at "Art Howe's House of Boredom:"

Maybe Howe really is the second coming of Joe Torre. Maybe those Mets who embarrassed themselves last year really are on a mission this season. Maybe the introduction of champions Tom Glavine and Mike Stanton really will bring a missing seriousness to the proceedings.

It's just, this is the time of year for delusions, for best-case scenarios. And I have been in Mets camp before and bought the hype, heard this same - is it propaganda or promotion?

This time I am going to have to see it from April on to believe any of it.

To counter Sherman's skepticism, here is a bright and cheery article by John Harper on Al Leiter, the Mouth of the Mets.

If the Howe-Torre comparison makes sense, does that make Don Baylor the new Don Zimmer? They both have dubious mangerial track records, and they are both chubby baseball "lifers." Zim has a steel plate in his head; Baylor holds the all-time record for being hit by a pitch. Last summer Rob Neyer made a convincing arguement that Baylor was a poor manager, and surmised:

Don Baylor is a fine "baseball man," but time has passed him by, leaving too many things that don't work in the 21st century. Let's not feel too sorry for him, though. He's made a good living in the game for three decades, and he'll have a job in baseball for as long as he wants one. "Manager" just shouldn't be that job any more.

Mets GM Steve Phillips, is happy to have Baylor as Art Howe's right-hand man:

"Obviously, having managed a lot of games, when it comes to being Art's righthand man with the game decisions, he's been through just about everything before," Phillips said. "Having been in the National League, and having a knowledge of the players and personnel in the league, will help with Art's learning curve on the bench.

"He also brings just instant credibility with players. One of the things we thought was the connection with Mo (Vaughn) ... and that Don could be an asset trying to help us get the most out of Mo this year - communication, knowing his approach at the plate - obviously working everything through (hitting coach) Denny (Walling). They're similar, big guys. They were similar types of threats at the plate."

Said Howe: "I want to be surrounded by the best people I can be surrounded by. He's certainly one of the best in the game."

Baylor's sagacity can be traced back to his days as a player. In the spring of 1985, he told David Falkner:

You have to learn to forget the bad in this game. The sonner you do, the sooner you'll be able to continue playing. In '73, I made the last out in the playoffs. I saw Billy North jumping straight up in the air. They were going to the World Series, and I was going home to watch. We lost that game in our park, it was a day game in Baltimore. I thought that was the end of the world. I had made the last out and let Oakland go to the World Series. I stayed up most of the night with that, and then the next day, the sun was out and everything was going on a usual; I was still alive and I had my heatlh and I could let myself think for the first time that it was a game and not life and death that I had just been through.

ROB TO THE RESCUE

Rob Neyer has a fine, even-handed look at Boss George in his lastest column for ESPN. He carefully reminds us that in spite of Steinbrenner's boorish personality, he is the chief reason why the Yankees have been successful since CBS sold the team in 1973:

If you read what's been written about Steinbrenner, you'll have a hard time escaping the conclusion that he's something less than a wonderful person. But if you ignore much of what's been written and instead focus on the facts, you'll also have a hard time escaping the conclusion that the Yankees have won six World Series since 1973 not in spite of their owner, but because of him.

...Yes, he meddles -- and lies, and bullies, and blackmails -- but he also wants to win more than any other owner in baseball, and you can't separate these like the egg yolk from the white. If you want one, you have to accept the other.

George has made foolish trades, just like the next guy, of course. If it wasn't for Gabe Paul, Ron Guidry would have never made it to 1978 as a Yankee. But Steinbrenner has had his shinning moments too (most recently going after Mussina and Giambi). Here is one I didn't know about:

In their book Detroit Tigers Lists and More, co-authors Mark Pattison and David Raglin report (and I've confirmed this with a Detroit baseball writer) that in November of 1997 the Tigers and Yankees worked out a big trade. The Yankees would get pitching prospects Mike Drumright and Roberto Duran, and the Tigers would get Bernie Williams, who was set to make a large sum of money upon gaining free agency at the conclusion of the 1998 season.

Tigers general manager Randy Smith thought the deal was done ... only to be informed by Yankees general manager Bob Watson that the deal was off. Why? Because Boss Steinbrenner nixed the trade. And in 1998, 1) the Yankees won 114 games, 2) the Yankees won the World Series, shortly after which 3) the Yankees signed Williams to a new seven-year, $87.5 million contract

YES, INDEED

Props go to Aaron Gleeman for pointing out Steve Goldman's stellar column, The Pinstriped Bible, over at the YES Network's website. As Gleeman correctly pointed out, Goldman is no shill, and his column (which appears every Thursday) is insightful and appealing. Check it out.

MAILBOX

Here are a couple of letters I recieved recently via e-mail:

Alex:

Thanks for the baseball memories. Spring's not so far away, and it
feels closer than ever with Yanks reporting, and the various media
frenzies in full bloom, and yes Steinbrenner's a bad loser and sometimes
worse than that, but it all finds perspective sometimes, and it can be
the smallest thing, like the bullpen boys calling Chris Hammond's best
pitch 'the Bugs Bunny Change'. Thank god baseball's back. (Tho' in my
day, I thought Bugs called it 'The Slow Ball'.)

Cheers. HARLEY.

Bugs' slow ball resulted in the famous "strike-one, stike-two, strike-three, yer out (x 3)" dismantling of the nefarious Gashouse Gorillas. But nothing was better than the last pitch Bugs threw that day, when he announced:

Watch me paste this pathetic palooka with a
powerful, paralyzing, perfect, packi-dermis, percussion pitch.

This item appeared over the AP wire. Somehow, I missed it but it was brought to my attention this morning:

PLUMBING PROBLEMS

An elderly man dressed in a a Yankee baseball uniform was taken into custody
today at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Police, answering a call
from museum authorities about a disturbance in the picture galleries, were
forced to arrest the man who, according to gallery goers, was ranting
incoherently about "plumbing" "Tintoretto" and "windowsills." One
eyewitness complained: "You should have heard what he was yelling about
annunciations."

No further details were available.

SCRIBES TO GEORGE: ENOUGH ALREADY

"The great thing about baseball is that there's a crisis every day." Gabe Paul

While Mike Piazza and Jason Giambi unleash hitting clinics in spring training bp, the heavy hitters of the New York print media were out in fine form, getting their licks in, over the weekend too. On Sunday there were articles from New York Times warhorse Murray Chass, the distinguished Times columnist Dave Anderson, and the always pugnacious Mike Lupica in the Daily News. Each expressed a resigned sense of fatigue with the antics of one George M. Steinbrenner. Lupica isn't so much resigned as he is fed-up. They are bored, already, and how can you can't blame them? The same beat all these years.

The truth is, unless you are a Yankee fan, there is less and less that is attractive about George's team. It's like Roger Angell once said: you want to see the Yankees and all you can see is George. He's getting in the way of you and the team.

Here is Chass on the Jeter-George Puff Pastry Strudel:

Jeter has had a charmed career, playing shortstop for the Yankees only during their current championship era. He is too young to have experienced the verbal abuse Steinbrenner heaped upon his predecessors, Reggie Jackson, for example, in 1981, and Dave Winfield throughout his nine years in New York.

¡¦In 2003, this Steinbrenner shtick is old. It should be ignored.

If Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, saw that his attacks were disappearing into a verbal void, he might abandon them and develop a new act. The problem is, players won't ignore his comments because they gain widespread dissemination.

Of course, what we really learned from this exercise is that Jeter has an ego too. Sure, he could have walked away and taken the high road, but he's proud, and vain and sensitive just like the rest of them. Fine.

The winners in this flimsy scandal will be Yankee fans, Jeter's teammates, and Jeter and Geogre as well. Jeter will likely put forth a terrific effort, like he's done every year since 1996, the numbers will speak for themselves and everyone will be happy. Jeter is never going to be the best player in the league, or maybe even the best player on his team. But he is the leader of his team, and for Yankee fans, that is enough.

Naturally, Jeter will have to confront The Boss again in September if he's had a great year, cause George will be popping off about how it was his motivation that was the key to Jeter's success. And you know he'll be hearing from George if he has a shitty year. Jeter can let his ego can get involved or he can look the the other way. Of course, it's easy to take the high road when you're on top.

Still, I don't think Yankee fans are particularly sweating this Hoo-Ha. We know it's George being George. As distasteful at he is, at the end of the day, we've got everything we want, right? This is tabliod candy. It's Michael Jackson, fer crying out loud.

Chass continues:

Not everyone has been overcome by the Steinbrenner-Jeter exchange, hanging on their every word.

"It's crazy," a longtime Yankees fan said. "It's nothing. It's a nonstory."

But plenty of people are still listening

I'm not usually a fan of the veteran Times' columnist, Dave Anderson. He seems to be more distinguished by his endurance rather than his relevance or substance. I'm not familiar with his early work, so perhaps I'm being unfair, but most of the time, his columns leave him glazed over with boredom. But Anderson was precise and sure, like an old country doctor, in his examination of Jeter and George on Sunday:

Steinbrenner is a corporate chameleon. With strangers, he can be charming and charitable, especially if he wants something they've got. But if you're on his payroll, he feels entitled to do or say anything in order to get more production out of you ¡ª whether you're the Yankee Stadium receptionist or you're the Yankees' best player.

When the Yankees were winning four World Series championships in five years, the principal owner's relative silence had some people thinking he had mellowed.

Those people didn't understand. With all those new World Series rings and profits, Steinbrenner didn't have much to growl about. But ever since the Yankees were rudely eliminated in the first round of last year's American League playoffs by the Anaheim Angels, his bark has been as threatening as his bite.

"He's worse than ever," Yankee front-office people were heard to mumble in recent months. "Worse than the losing years."

Meanwhile, Lupica opines:

¡¦Steinbrenner should know that better than anyone. Money can't buy you love.

Yankee fans know, too. Oh, they show up at Stadium in record numbers. They sure want Yankee games back on Cablevision. But there is something joyless about all of this, going into every season and being told that if their team doesn't win the World Series it has let everybody down and is a loser. This is the sense of entitlement Steinbrenner has bullied into the culture of baseball in New York.

If there is even the hint that the Yankees might not run away with things, Steinbrenner will spend more, bring in more guys, put the uniform on them and make them instant Yankees. He has to do it now that the Yankees have come up short two years in a row, that's what he keeps saying. I'm a bad loser, he says. He's just as bad a winner. And always has been.

I don't buy into the joylessness that Lupica has been writing about lately. I'm going to find continued joy in watching Soriano swing, Bernie Williams play center field, Jeter run the bases, Giambi work a pitcher, and Rivera mow through the ninth, no matter how much noise George makes.

That is what still makes this team different. The team is worth watching. No matter how much George tries to get in the way, it's easier to ignore him these days because the Yankees have so many compelling players. This is Joe Torre's Yankees too.

Still, Lupica reminded me of something Nettles wrote in his book, "Balls:"

George has never learned how to lose. He thinks being a good loser is a sign of weakness. And that's not how life is. You're going to lose sometimes.

Baseball fans understand this inherently. Even spoiled ass Yankee fans, even though they need to be reminded more often. Daily News media columnists, Bob Raissman understands that all Yankee fans who are bound to Cablevision, are all losing, no matter what the Yankees do:

It's really curious that Steinbrenner would go after guys who have brought him four world championships, while he barely flaps his lips at Cablevision. The company's stance against the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network has a far greater adverse impact on Steinbrenner, and Yankee fans, than any off-the-field endeavor Jeter might undertake.

Yet, Steinbrenner has displayed more zeal going after his shortstop and manager than he has when commenting on Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and his son

...No offense to [YES boss, Leo] Hindery, who has worked long and hard trying to get a deal for YES with Cablevision, but if Steinbrenner has a problem with Torre, a manager who has brought him four titles, why does the manager of his YES Network get cut slack? Hey, if Steinbrenner said it's easier winning four championships than securing a deal with Cablevision I wouldn't argue with him.

Still, it's curious that Steinbrenner, who is big on motivation, has failed to take the gloves off and put some verbal heat on the Dolans. Steinbrenner knows how to create pressure and make headlines. Even if his words had no impact on Cablevision suits, they would at least show Steinbrenner is out there battling for Yankee fans.

Perhaps this will dawn on Steinbrenner one hot day in July, when he comes to the realization many loyal Yankee fans still can't watch the games on TV.

Why wait?

Yankee fans need a 110% effort from Steinbrenner on this matter - now.

A-fuggin-Men.

Lupica couldn't resist adding a parting shot of his own, jabbing at not only George, but all the self-satisfied, entitled Yankee fans too:

It is another reason why the baseball season would be a lot better here, and not just for Mets fans, if the Mets got better fast. No one wants Steinbrenner's angry face to be the face of baseball in New York.This isn't Yankee hating, or Steinbrenner hating, even though that is always the knee-jerk defense of Steinbrenner. It is just sheer exhaustion.

JOHNSON IS YANKS FIRST CASUALTY

According to a report on CNN.SI.com, Yankee DH Nick Johnson has stopped taking batting practice due to the lingering effects from an wrist injury that occured last August. Though an MRI was negative, a discouraged Johnson has shut it down for the time being:

"It's a concern because it's something that's lingered," Yankees manager Joe Torre said Friday. "You don't know how quickly he can recover from this. He's shut down until we find out what the best course of action is."

"I'm pretty concerned," Johnson said. "It doesn't feel too good."

"It's too bad," Torre said. "This young kid has had some problems and really hasn't had a chance to get on track. He has a great deal of potential. He's a good kid and wants it badly."

SO GIVE A SHOUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT

You'll excuse me if I've been slow in getting to all of the quality baseball blogs and websites out there, but this past week, I came across one of the best: Jay Jaffe's Futility Infielder. It is neatly designed, and the writing is top-notch. I've linked Jay's site with the other regulars on the left-hand column of Bronx Banter. You should make a point of getting there as often as possible. Just this week, Jaffe has excellent posts on Voros McCracken, a baseball writer, and sabermetrician, who was hired by the Red Sox (prior to Bill James, mind you), as well as a link to an long article on Steve Dalkowski, the fire-balling, party animal, who was the source for "Nuke" LaLoosh, Tim Robbins' character in "Bull Durham."

Don't sleep.

SANDY TO DODGERS: NO FRUIT FOR YOU

According the the L.A. Times, Sandy Koufax has abruptly severed ties with the Los Angeles Dodgers because of a report in that appeared in the New York Post, which suggested that Sandy is a big, ol' fag.

The Post is a subsidiary of News Corp. which also owns the Dodgers:

Koufax, a very private man who established a standard for pitching excellence in four of the most dominant seasons in the game's history from 1963-66, recently informed the Dodgers he would no longer attend spring training here at Dodgertown, visit Dodger Stadium or participate in activities while they are owned by the media conglomerate...

Expressing his feelings to the Dodgers through [senior vice president, Derrick] Hall shortly after learning of the report, Koufax said "it does not make sense for me to promote any" of the companies controlled by News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, adding he would "feel foolish to be associated with or promote one entity if it helps another." Hall said Koufax stressed, "I have no problems with the Dodgers or their current or previous management. It's more so about [News Corp.]."

Contacted Thursday by The Times, Leavy, a former Washington Post reporter, said she assumed the item was about her book. She called it "thoroughly erroneous on all counts. [The item] was blatantly unfair, scandalous and contemptible. It was thoroughly without basis in so far as it had to do with Sandy or any relationship I had with him professionally. It's not the kind of journalism I practice."

Leavy said she had not spoken with Koufax since the item appeared, about his feelings toward the Post, News Corp. or the Dodgers.

"Sandy Koufax is as principled a human being as I have ever met in my life," she said. "If this is a stand he is taking, I certainly understand why he might feel that way and I totally support it."

..."It was irresponsible and inappropriate," Hall said of the Post's report. "It's unfortunate that this happened, but we fully support and understand Sandy's position on this. It's terrible because he's an important part of this organization and its rich history. And most importantly, Sandy has a lot of friends who are hurt by this."

...Koufax has held a variety of minor league pitching positions with the Dodgers. He has been a fixture at spring training since his closest friend on the club, Dave Wallace, returned in 2000, tutoring pitchers during the exhibition season. Wallace, a senior vice president in baseball operations, also recently had dinner with the intensely private Koufax.

"The disappointment I feel can't be expressed enough, and I feel saddest for the players who will miss the benefit of learning from Sandy, who has so much to offer," he said. "To lose the knowledge of a guy of that stature ... I really don't want to say anything else about it."

It sure is nice to see someone stick it to Murdoch. Once again, Koufax couldn't be cast any better.

DOWN IN FRONT: YANKEE (FAN) GO HOME

My friend Greg G, is as loyal a Yankee fan as I know. He also represents everything baseball fans all over the country depise about Yankee fans. He's loud, vulgar, and thoroughly obnoxious. G regularly drives me crazy during the course of the season, bragging about how the Yanks will win it all, and laughing when players on rival teams get hurt. Basically, he violates every superstition I hold dear.

Here is a part of a letter I recieved from him the other day. Truthfully, I didn't have the nerve to print the entire thing. If you are feeling queasy, you may just want to skip this and move along with your day:

Greetings from sunny L.A. I am a diehard Yankee fan, (who as luck would have it) moved to Los Angeles in 1993 only to miss most of my beloved Yankees recent renaissance. I visit the big A (now Edison Field), whenever the Yanks are in town. I even had the good fortune to see Don Mattingly's first and last pinch hit homer to put the Yankees over the top of the Angels in the strike-shortened season of '94. My brother's friend, (also a transplanted New Yorker) went down to the fence behind the batting cage and exhorted Mattingly by shouting at him prior to his at bat, "I came all the way from NY Donnie, we need a big hit!" And Don Mattingly looked at him curiously and amusedly, and then Donnie Baseball delivered to the delight of the more than two-thirds of the crowd who turned Anaheim into the Bronx west for the day. Now I get the YES network and last year I watched no less than 145 games. (Much to the dismay of my good friend Al Belth from the Bronx, who is a stones throw from the stadium, and has cablevision holding him hostage.)

I always take solace when we Yankee fans took over Edison Field, and turn it into our personal NY playground, where we can rebut any of the in-bred Angels fan by asking them to show us their 26 World Series rings. Prior to last season the Angels would show nostalgia clips on the jumbotron of when they won the AL west in the 80's. The best player that they could trot out was our beloved Reggie Jackson (who was past his prime by the time he showed up in La La land). The California Angels changed their name to the Anaheim Angels a few years back. Rightly recognizing that they could not in any way represent the California sports contingent since they were only drawing fans twice the size of the attendance of Expos games.

Now the Angels are the defending champs. I bet we see Angel fans coming out of the woodwork just like the Amazin' Mets after '86, when all of a sudden everyone decided that the Mets were where it was at. The Angels increased their payroll by 20 million to bring back the same nobody's who knocked Goliath on his rump last October. The Angels always played the Yanks hard in Anaheim, mostly because they wanted to quiet all the Bronx brood who turned their sanitized park into a looney bin, and actually sounded like a sporting event was taking place not some boring kennel club dog show.

Now we'll have to hear it from the Anaheim A-holes, who have been waiting since the team's existence to be able to brag to anyone, and especially Yankee fans like me, that Team Disney finally got a ring. If David Eckstein, (who's dwarfed by the bat boy, and has a second job as Tinkerbell at the crappiest place on earth), is holding up another trophy this October, I personally swear that I will eat Mo Vaughn.

Ah, Yankee class. You gotta love it.

POSADA'S SON HAS 3RD OPERATION

Yankee catcher, Jorge Posada has not been in camp this week. His 3-year old son, who was born with craniosynostosis, "a condition where the bones in a baby's skull fuse before the child's brain has stopped growing," had his third major surgery yesterday. Posada is expected to arrive in Tampa shortly.

METS GIVE CLARK A CHANCE

Tony Clark, a former All-Star first baseman, who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat last season, was signed by the Mets to a minor league deal, and hopes to make the team as Mo Vaughn's back-up.

LOOKING GOOD, AND FEELING FINE IN METS CAMP

While there hasn't been a dull moment in Tampa, the Mets are having a virtual Love-In at their training camp in Port. St. Lucie. Two days ago, owner Fred Wilpon inspired his troops with a all-in-together-now speech. John Harper reports that everything is coming up roses and daffodils for the Shea-Hey kids with new skipper Art Howe at the helm.

Wilpon's high school pal, Sandy Koufax was in camp too, talking with Al Leiter. The Post reports that Tom Glavine's professionalism has already made an impact on his teammates:

Glavine said the main ingredient to success is hard work.

"That's all part of building up that winning tradition and respect that you want," Glavine said. "You're not going to get respect from people unless you earn it, and you earn it by carrying yourself the right way as an individual and a team.

"You go out there, you hustle, you do what you're supposed to do, and when you win the game, well, you act like you meant to win the game."

Gary Pettis, the Mets outfield coach, has his hands full with Brett Butler's boy, Roger Cedeno, but remains hopeful:

"I'd like to see our guys a little more comfortable running after fly balls. I want to make sure we get enough work in so we run smooth so the ball doesn't look like it's bouncing. They have to run on their toes. The longer you run, you have to run on your toes and that's the problem with a lot of outfielders. They don't stay on their toes. They start out on their toes, but then they start pounding the ground and the ball appears to move on them because their head is going up and down.

"If you don't work at it," Pettis adds, "that's one of the hardest things to pick up."

THE DIPLOMAT

The venerated former captain of the Yankees, Don Mattingly, who is making his annual visit to Yankee camp as an instructor, commented on the George/Jeter business:

"It was part of [Yankee culture] 15, 20 years ago, it's part of it today, and it will probably be part of it five or 10 years from now," Mattingly said. "You grow up in it. It's normal.

"I don't have any advice for Derek other than 'be himself.' He's handled himself great so far. He's won championships, he's a great player and he's been a great guy for the team. There's no reason to think that won't keep happening."

..."It's easy for me to laugh, I'm back on a farm in Indiana."

And that's the truth: thhhpppt.

NEVER ENDING STORY

Brace yourself, Jack Curry had a startling scoop in today's Times: George gets the final word. The Boss always has last licks when it comes to newspaper controversy, and he threw the press a couple of bones in regards to the tiresome Jeter flap. As he ducked into an elevator yesterday, the Boss opined:

"I am the way I am," Steinbrenner said soon after the doors to the elevator closed. "I got my message through. If I'm paying a guy $16 million, I want him to listen."

Classic George. Give 'em a tidbit, and leave 'em wanting more.

Steinbrenner reiterated himself this afternoon:

"I was trying to get him completely focused," the New York Yankees' principal owner said Thursday. "I said I need that for this year. For us to prevail, we need him completely focused. He's that important to the team."

..."I think (manager) Joe Torre will get that across to him. I think (Jeter's) going to be fine. He always gives 100 percent. But I need 110 percent."

As far as Jeter is concerned, the story is dead.

"It's done from my point of view," Jeter said Thursday. "When something is over in my mind, it's done.

Of course, we all know: It ain't over 'til the Fatman says it's over.

The Boss wouldn't have it any other way.

(Oy fuggin Vey.)

BOO WHO?

Here's a laugh. God Squad, Gold Member Brett Butler, who was brought to Met camp specifically to help Roger Cedeno become a competent center fielder, appealed to New Yorkers' kinder side, asking that we not boo ol' Roger when he stinks up the place:

"Roger is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet, and he's got one of the greatest hearts in the world," Butler said. "And if somebody boos him, he's going to be hurt.

"If the fans will understand that's how Roger is and support and embrace him, then Roger will be successful. If not - and they bury him, which can happen - it's a double-edged sword that makes it kind of tough."

This is New York Butler is talking about, of course. Hell, booing is simply a New Yorker's misguided attempt at encouragement.

Tell you what. If Butler is willing to stand on the top step of the dugout, whenever Cedeno makes an error, I'll be happy to boo him instead of Roger.

SAY IT AIN'T SO

Both Mike Lupica and Bob Klapisch have columns on Joe Torre's tenuous job security.

According to Klap:

Torre isn't afraid to oppose Steinbrenner in public, but he's smart enough to keep the rhetoric polite and carefully muted. There's virtually no chance he and The Boss will engage in the type of war that cost Martin his job so many times. If Torre and Steinbrenner ever quarrel, it'll be in private.

...Those who are close to Torre say he has a healthy and realistic approach to his tenure in the Bronx: He knows that, sooner or later, everyone gets fired by The Boss. Everyone. Certainly, Steinbrenner isn't taking direct aim at Torre, but the manager is already armed with the knowledge that, no matter what happens to him, history will regard him kindly.

...The Boss believes it's his money that propelled the Yankees to the top. He can't understand why Torre instead gets so much of the credit. Steinbrenner has had to remain silent on this issue for the better part of seven years, but now that the Yankees have gone two seasons without a championship, he seized the opportunity to travel in his personal time tunnel, all the way back to the '70s and '80s

A more pressing issue for the Yankees could be their lousy team defense. John Perricone, who just surpassed the 40,000-hit mark at Only Baseball Matters, thinks that the Bombers' lack of defense will be lead to their demise in 2003, just as it hurt them against Anahiem in the playoffs last fall.

The New York Times has an article this morning about the Yankees' defensive concerns. Joe Torre, for one, isn't sweating yet:

"I don't think it's a terminal problem," he said

..."Soriano has been learning the position, and Jeter has had little nagging injuries the past couple of springs; they didn't have a chance to get used to each other," [third base coach, Willie] Randolph said. "I look at this spring training as a chance for them to work hard, work together and get accustomed to each other.

"It has to be like clockwork, be automatic. It's like dancing. It's a groove. Like Bucky Dent and I, we knew what each other wanted to do. They haven't arrived at that yet."

..."He can do all the things at second base that you need done," Torre said. "He's not afraid of guys sliding in, he's got real good range to his right, behind the bag, and he's an accurate thrower. He struggled somewhat going to his left because he's getting used to it, but he has the wherewithal to be an outstanding second baseman."

When spring training started, General Manager Brian Cashman called Soriano the one player whose defense could significantly improve. The others, he said, are who they are.

THE SAD STORY OF STEVE BECHLER

I haven't been able to bring myself to write about the sudden death of Steve Bechler, the 23-year old Orioles pitcher who died of heatstroke on Monday. I don't know why it's had this effect on me. Perhaps it's because this story brings home just how far atheletes will go to gain a competitive edge. The photograph of Bechler being carted off the field on Sunday is heart-breaking (it's been reprinted adnauseam, once again today on ESPN's website). According to a front-page report in the Times today, it may not ever been known whether the dietrary supplement ephedra was the main cause of Belcher's death:

"But what is clear, experts said yesterday, is that ephedra can be dangerous. They said that no other dietrary supplement on the market had stirred as many warnings and frightening medical histories as ephedra. It has been linked to deaths, to strokes, to heart arrythmias and even psychotic episodes."

IT DON'T MEAN A THING¡¦

Here are some first impressions of Godzilla Matsui's swing:

"He's very compact for a power hitter," Torre said. "Normally, a lefthander has an uppercut. He's level. When you're compact, it's less likely that a pitcher can punch holes in your swing. There's less a pitcher can exploit, less moving parts.

"His approach seems sound. Like Tino (Martinez), he seems to have the ability to hit the ball with authority the other way."

¡¦"His swing is built for all the forkballs they throw over there," [Jason] Giambi said. "He's a great low-ball hitter."

"I told him that standing ovation when he strikes out, that [bleep] is gone," Giambi said. "I told him I got booed for the first month, but it was fun, the ultimate place to play."

Booing a baseball player in Japan isn't common. Yet Matsui understands when he fails to deliver a hit in a key situation he is going to hear it.

"I guess I can't help it if I strike out," Matsui said. "I will look at it as an awakening."

This is how Joel Sherman saw it:

Matsui keeps his feet at about shoulders width and strides very little into the ball. The knob of his bat is held out about a foot from his heart, and his hands drift back a few inches as a pitch is delivered. Between pitches, he begins by staring into the opposite batter's box before shrugging his shoulders and slowing swiveling his head to face the pitcher.
...Hitting coach Rick Down, after eyeballing his new pupil for the first time, said, "There are not very many moving parts. Maintenance will be easy."

Down mentioned the thickness of Matsui's legs and the power he derives from them, and even within the confines of a meaningless batting practice session, Matsui pulled enough balls with authority to hint at his power potential. In fact, Ventura, who played as a Met against Matsui in a 2000 exhibition in Tokyo, said, "People don't realize just how strong he is. This is not a small, thin guy."

IT'S OKAY WITH ME

Don't count on Jason Giambi to stir shit up with The Boss. The Yankees best hitter played choir boy yesterday when asked about the restrictions placed on his personal trainer:

"I don't think it's a punishment," Giambi said. "I know Mr. Steinbrenner loves to win, and when things don't all fall into place, he starts looking for things to make it better. This is just one of those things where we could be more focused. I don't know, but I don't think he's trying to punish me. I just think he wants to win the World Series."

MOVE OVER DJ, YOU'VE GOT COMPANY

Looks like Derek Jeter isn't the only superstar shortstop with an axe to grind this spring. After recieving the first real dose of bad press from the Boston media late last season, Nomar Garciaparra arrived at training camp with a chip square on his shoulder. Dan Shaughnessy broke the story in yesterday's Boston Globe:

''I don't know how to act this year,'' Nomar said yesterday, while sitting in front of his locker after a workout. ''Somebody will write some [expletive] or whatever. Some [expletive] that I was unhappy or I'm this. I don't get it.

''I was unhappy last year when we weren't in the playoffs. I'm happy with my situation, but I can't win, and I don't know how I'm going to act. If I was happy all year and we were losing, then it would be, `Well, he's a little too happy. Obviously he doesn't care.' You know what I mean? If I'm walking around chipper all the time and we're not winning, then it will be like -- `what's Nomar so happy about? He has nothing to be happy about. We're not in the playoffs.'

''So I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I'll just ask somebody every day how I'm supposed to be acting. You tell me. You ask my teammates and my coaches. Nobody says I'm unhappy.

''I wish you guys could tell me the best strategy, because I'm in a no-win situation. And then people make [expletive] up to try to make me look bad.''

Asked to specify what was made up, Garciaparra referred to a column by Steve Buckley in the Herald last summer that recommended he leave town if he's so unhappy. The column erroneously stated that he had called the press box to change a scoring decision. Garciaparra is still steamed about the allegation.

''One thing that came out on me was if I don't like it here, get the [expletive] out. Go home. That I'm calling up people [official scorer] and changing errors.
''I don't need to talk to the guy. He asked me if I wanted to talk about it, hey, the damage was done. What was he gonna do, go write that he lied and that he [made a mistake]? Go ahead. Do that. Show me some [expletive]. But I've got more class than that. I never talked to him and never said anything.''

Reached in Boston last night, Buckley said, ''There's a difference between making stuff up and messing up. I messed up, and I told Nomar.''

Buckley was a bit more pointed in his column this morning.

Garciaparra, like Derek Jeter before him, directed most of his anger toward the media:

``I definitely expect myself to be a certain way, but at the same time you're in an environment where you walk on eggshells and can ruin you,'' Garciaparra said yesterday at the Red Sox spring training complex. ``Let's face it, there are things that still get brought up about some guys from six, seven or eight years ago so you have to watch everything. You're constantly stressed. And so if you're not careful, everything gets destroyed that you've worked so hard for.''

KEN BURNS INTERVIEW

Part II.

Bronx Banter: Jackie Robinson was a fitting choice as the hero of the "Baseball" series. Without taking anything away from his greatness, what about Larry Doby? He was the first black player in the American League. I don't mean to single you out on this, but how come Doby has been so over looked, even neglected, by history?

KB: That's one of those situations where when you are not the first, you get forgotten. It's the John Adams syndrome. So maybe it's going to take somebody of David McCollough's caliber to rescue the Larry Doby's of the world. The guys who end up in second.

BB: Nice guys finish last, right?

KB: That doesn't make him any less courageous or any less heroic, it's just that we focused our attention on the heroism and courage of Jackie Robinson, and that's what we endow with all the symbolic importance that Jackie Robinson has for us.

BB: So it was more of an aesthetic choice rather than just saying, ¡®Oh, Doby's story just isn't all that interesting.'

KB: It's just a question of first, it's not even a question of aesthetics. It's just Jackie was first, and Jackie also happened to display this incredible courage and heroics and really wore it. And Doby, of course, had to go through much of the same thing, it's just because our attention was on Jackie, we didn't have the time to do Doby as well.

BB: What about Minnie Minoso? He was the first black Latino to play in the majors, and he was a popular player who put together a Hall of Fame career, certainly comparable to Doby's. Bill James, Rob Neyer and Allen Barra all have him high on their list of players most worthy of the Hall of Fame. Considering how dominant Latin players are in the modern game, why hasn't their been more of an outcry about Minoso NOT being in the Hall?

KB: I don't know. Maybe you'll start one. Or perhaps there already is one and you'll be joining in the cause. It just has to do with the wave of people's attentions and concerns. I think the great effort of the last 20 years in the Hall of Fame has been to redress the incredible wrongs done to the Negro Leagues. Now that they have added a number of Negro League players, taking on a little bit of an act of faith their statistical accomplishments, thanks to the work of Buck O'Neill and others. Maybe now is the time to talk about the Latin thing. I mean baseball does mirror the waves of immigration, and now we are talking about Asian superstars, so maybe there will be a time when they are even coming to the Hall of Fame.

BB: Are you still in touch with Buck O'Neill?

KB: Yes, in fact I just wrote him a letter today. He's 92 and never looked better. He is as handsome as ever, and is, you know, one of the greatest human beings that ever walked the earth.

BB: I don't know if there is any player who is more compelling to me than Curt Flood. He was great in the interviews he did for "Baseball." What were your impressions of the man?

KB: I loved him. He and I hit it off in a really intense way. You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come across a Buck O'Neill and you know you are going to know him for the rest of your life. The same thing happened with Curt, and I'm just so sorry that his life was so short. We did speak many, many times after the series was out, and sort of conspired to do things¡¦I saw him a couple of times afterwards. I found him an incredibly sensitive person. And I don't mean that in a clichZd way. I mean there are some people whose vibrations a little bit finer. I think that was true with Curt Flood. And I think it made it more susceptible to the pain that the world is inevitably going to doll out. Perhaps, it even shortened his life, I don't know. But one sensed an emotional fragility in him that was interesting and attractive, particularly for a ballplayer of such extraordinary importance in the game.

BB: Was he bitter in the last years of his life?

KB: No, I think it was a more complicated emotion than that. You can look at Buck O'Neill and say, ¡®There's someone free of all bitterness,' right? And you can look at others who might have a chip on their shoulders, not to name any names. And I think Curt was somewhere inbetween. I don't think that's what animated him. I think that he knew that he came at a particular time. He performed a function. I'm sure he wished that he had been on the other side of the great largess that was bestowed on the players, after his, and Messersmith, and NcNally's contributions. But Flood was really a pioneer, and he is a sacrificial lamb, and I think somewhere along the line he had come to peace with it, although I think it was also eating him as well. And I don't mean that in a negative way. You know Flood paid the price for the time he came along. But he will always be an important person. He was the first one over the top of the fort.

BB: Do you have any idea what Flood did in the last years of his life?

KB: Well, I think he did what a lot of baseball players do. He was an "ex-ballplayer." And that means a variety of things. You should talk to his widow. Judy is an amazing human being, and they raised a family together. I remember meeting a couple of the kids, and they really had their head on straight. And I think that's what he really focused his attention on. I think he had some business interests, and he was doing charitable work, and of was of course, still connected to baseball.

BB: Thanks for taking some time out to talk.

KB: It was my pleasure.

THE CURSE OF PUMPSIE GREEN

The Red Sox are the winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award when it comes to horseshit race relations. There isn't a town that has had a tougher time accepting black players than Boston, which is strange because of the terrific liberal history the city enjoys. Still, the story of black players on the Red Sox is a sad one, especially considering they have had their share of talents: Reggie Smith, Cecil Cooper, George Scott, Jim Rice of course, as well as Ellis Burks, Oil Can Boyd and Mo Vaughn. Rice had the best career as a Red Sox, but he's remembered as a sour bastard, as well as a super-hitter: admired more than adored. Smith, Cooper and Burks all had their best years after they left Boston, and Mo Vaughn never should have left Boston, plain and simple. He was the first black star who enjoyed being a black star in Boston.

But did you know that according to Howard Bryant, the Red Sox didn't sign a black free agent until they signed Andre Dawson in 1993? That's almost twenty years after the birth of free agency. The Yankees do not posses a good history of race relations themselves, but when it came to free agency, at least George Steinbrenner was color blind.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that once again the scarcity of black players on Boston's roster is a reminder of a disturbing past:

''I think this is just an unfortunate anomaly,'' [GM, Theo] Epstein said yesterday. ''Obviously, we do not consider a player's race in our evaluation of the player.

''Believe me, I'm very aware of the Red Sox' terrible history of race relations. Our goal as an organization is to reverse that history, to become a trailblazer for diversity.

''This does not always manifest itself on the field because race is not a factor in our player personnel decisions. But there are plenty of other ways to make a difference, and this owership group is off to a great start in those areas.''

Former GM Lou Gorman first initiated a change in the redneck climate, beginning to hire African Americans to front office jobs during the early 1990s. But, according to Howard Byrant in his book on racism and Boston, "Shut Out:"

With so many years of perceived slights, what existed between the club and the city's blacks was nothing short of a cold war.

Gorman, frustrated by the lack of response to his inroads by a bitter black community, threw up his hands in despair, convinced that even his best efforts would be fruitless. For years, the Red Sox were attacked for ignoring the black community. Now, when the club attempted to create a bond in minority neighborhoods, they were rebuffed with distrust. What, Gorman wondered, was he supposed to do? It was one thing to be aware of one's own actions and treat people accordingly, quite another to change the entire culture and perception of a team, which had been in place since the turn of the century.

There were legitimate reasons for this retrenchment. The first was the lack of tangible results. Despite positive talk, little about the Red Sox organization had changed publicly. The second reason was even more severe: The consequence of the team's history finally seemed to have caught up with it. Black players, who because of free agency now could control to a great degree which teams they played for, now did not want to play for the Red Sox. And they were voicing it.

It was one of the great unforeseen consequences of the free agent era. Saddled with the blemishes of the past, the Red Sox now found themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage. The price the Red Sox would pay for Eddie Collins, Joe Cronin, and Pinky Higgens would not completely be paid during that era, but now in the free agency era, in which players could decide not only what teams they wanted to play for but also which ones they did not. Hall of Famer Dave Winfield once said that he would never play for the Red Sox for any amount of money, thanks to an ugly incident during the mid-1980s where a bottle was thrown at him from a moving car while he took a morning jog. Joe Carter, the great outfielder, would always be wary of Boston's reputation. Time Raines, the longtime Montreal Expos great, was bitter toward Boston because of an ugly incident at Logan Airport when police detained he and his wife while connecting through Boston to a vacation in the Bahamas. The authorities said Raines fit the description of a wanted cocaine dealer. To Raines, it was an example of the mistreatment that came with being black.

In addition to free agents choosing to avoid Boston, players with tenured status in the game chose another strategy that indicted the Red Sox: They would include language in their contracts to prevent them from being traded to the Red Sox. Two high-level black stars, Marquis Grissom and David Justice, inserted language into their contracts that prevented them from ever being traded to the Red Sox¡¦.When he was to become a free agent in 200, Peter Gammons¡¦told Ken Griffey, Jr. that he should consider Boston. A play of Griffey's immense talent along with an effervescent playing style would be revered in Boston, Gammons reasoned. Griffey's response was cool and incredulous. He would never consider Boston, the racist city, the place where he could get lynched. "I told him that he would own the city if he came here," Gammons said. "He looked at me like I was nuts. The city still has a racist label. It's very sad."

THE PLUMBING OF PITCHING

When I was growing up, my uncle Fred taught me how to draw, paint and most importantly: How to look. He also taught me how to be a Yankee fan. Fred married into the family when I was about three years old, and he made a huge impression on my creative development, as well as my sporting identity. A painter who makes a living as an animator---he's done spots for "Seasame Street" for years---Fred went to Cooper Union during the height of the Abstract Expressionist movement, in the mid to late 50s.

Fred would take me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I was a kid, and excitedly, expertly guide me through various galleries to specific paintings. He always had a lesson plan. The way he navigated his way around the MET made me feel like I was getting a private tour from an expert, which in fact, was exactly what I was getting. Whether we looked at Vermeers, or Carravaggios or Edward Hoppers or later on, Franz Klines or DeKoonings, Fred deconstructed paintings like he was a plumber. Straight, no chaser, no muss, no fuss, you know what I mean?

We looked at how painters work with spacial relationships, with composition, and tension, and color in their work. Essentially, Fred stripped away all subject matter, and was able to show me how painters paint, and how they made the viewers look, regardless if the picture was abstract or representational.

"Every great painter has a drawing or a painting of a sink," he used to tell me. And he's not far off the mark. Put your favorite artist to the test when you get a chance. A sink, after all, is not a glamourous subject, but it is a blunt, and simple one which requires basic discipline and concentration. A sink also stripes away all pretention. What is it? A lousy ol' sink, you say. But, it's a great subject for any artist, young or old. The beauty is in the simplicity, because it's such a throwaway, everyday object.

I've carried this notion of plumbing to other areas of interest as well---writing, music, moviemaking. I love dissecting the creative process, discovering the bare bones of a craft.

Of course, baseball offers both the art of pitching and hitting for us to dig our forks into.

This past weekend, there were several articles on the nuts and bolts of pitching mechanics, preparation and philosophy. So, let's take a break from all the other nonsense for moment and look at the plumbing of pitching...

I saw Tim Kurkjian file a report from Yankee Camp over the weekend, and he said that Jose Contreras looked impressive in his bullpen sessions for the Yankees. According to scouting reports, Contreras apparently uses his slider and his forkball/splitter early in the count to set up his fastball. Curious.

The Post filed a story on the Cuban pitcher this past weekend, detailing his training methods:

"Since I left the [Cuban national] team in Mexico [in October], I took one week of vacation. Since then I have been working out and throwing," Contreras said at his Legends Field locker. "I have pretty much been throwing for three months. I would say that's the reason I might look a little bit ahead of the other guys."

Yesterday was the second bullpen session for Contreras since camp opened and it was impressive. The fastball had life and the splitter danced. And his location, usually off for pitchers at this stage, was razor sharp.

"I am ready right now to start pitching in games," said Contreras, who signed a four-year deal worth $32 million.

"He is very businesslike, very compact and he seems very sure of himself," Torre said of Contreras, who uses multiple arm angles ala Orlando Hernandez when releasing the ball. "There is a lot there and you get a little anxious to see him but it's still not going to be until you see the games that we are going to take note of all the equipment he has."

Two pieces of equipment Contreras uses aren't conventional to most pitches. Prior to throwing in the bullpen, Contreras plays catch with a 12-ounce baseball (a regular baseball is between 5 and 51/4 ounces) and a softball.

"The [baseball] builds strength and the softball helps with the grip, especially the splitter," said Contreras, who was 117-50 during the past seven seasons in Cuban league play.

John Harper, who is as unassuming as he is outstanding, had a terrific feature on Tom Glavine's approach to pitching last Sunday:

Glavine's cutter moves in harder and later on righthanders than I would have guessed. It doesn't have the speed of Mariano Rivera's cutter, or the violent down-and-in action of Al Leiter's, but if it's thrown in the right location, Glavine's cutter has enough on it to tie up righthanded hitters.

"Yeah," he says, "but it's easy to throw that pitch when I don't have to worry about making a mistake with it. It's harder to trust it with a hitter in there. That's what makes pitching away so much easier. If I make a mistake out there, it's usually only a single.

"I've been stubborn over the years about pitching away, but even though hitters know I'm going to work them away, I find that most hitters are not going to allow themselves to hit singles to right field all day. They want to hit home runs and extra-base hits. In the back of their mind they're always waiting for you to hang that one pitch they can smoke, and when you throw the ball down and away where you want to, you get your nice little ground ball or popup."

Glavine then motions for me to slide out farther, so that the middle of my chest is in line with the outside corner. He tells me later he'll ask Mike Piazza to set up the same way on either side of the plate because he uses the catcher's body, not the glove, as his target.

"I can't throw to the glove," he says. "I want the catcher's body splitting the corner. I'm looking at your chest and I want the glove right there in your chest."

..."I don't have a complicated game plan," he says. "I might shake off 10 to 15 pitches a game, but everybody knows what I like to throw. Mainly I want my catchers to get out there a couple of inches off the plate so I can hit that spot and they don't have to move the glove to catch it."

Meanwhile, the Times had a good story on Chris Hammond, who is slated to replace Mike Stanton as the lefty set-up man in Joe Torre's bullpen. (Evidentally, Hammond had a relationship with none other than the Great Joe D himself. On a side note, one of DiMaggio's lawyers has just published an anti-Joe D book. Looks as if that trends here to stay.)

Hammond has a killer changeup.

Hammond has thrown the pitch since he was 10. It got him to the majors with Cincinnati in 1990, and brought him back a decade later.

"Very few pitchers really want to throw the changeup," Hammond said. "I was talking to John Rocker a few years ago about it: `If I were you, I would sit down and that's all I'd do in the off-season, work on my changeup.' And he goes, `I can't. If I'm going to get beat, I don't want to get beat on my changeup.' "
Hammond was incredulous at that logic. For him, the changeup is a devastating weapon, evaluated at a score of 80 ¡ª the highest possible ¡ª by the Yankee scouts.

"It has different action on it," Newman said. "He has great arm speed and command of it. The funny term people use for it is the `Bugs Bunny change,' because it's like it stops in midair. It's so good he throws it to left-handers and right-handers."

Hammond held right-handers to a .206 average last year, and left-handers were more helpless, batting .174. He delivers his changeup awkwardly, stomping hard on the mound with his right foot and then releasing it. The harder he stomps, the more he is concentrating.

..."It looks funny," Newman said, "but more importantly, hitters think it looks funny."

The Yankees' bullpen is stuffed with hard throwers ¡ª Mariano Rivera, Steve Karsay, Antonio Osuna ¡ª and Hammond gives them a different look. As it is with all newcomers, he must prove he can handle the pressure of being a Yankee. But wherever he is, Hammond said, he will always be nervous.

Joel Sherman has a piece on Andy Pettitte, who is facing a crucial season in his career, and Jonah Keri conducts an outstanding interview with Oakland A's pitching coach, Rick Peterson, at Baseball Prospectus, that is well worth reading.

Finally, Murray Chass wrote a compelling article about the Jesse Orosco and the fountain of youth on Sunday. He also compiled a list of aging veterans who are willing to play for a fraction of what they once made, which once again suggests just how difficult it is for some players to leave the game. (Jim Caple and Aaron Gleeman give their takes on Rickey Henderson, who has not been signed by a team yet.)

Here is Dennis Eckersley, always a straight-shooter, talking to Mike Bryan in spring training 1988, from the book "Baseball Lives:"

People say baseball players should go out and have fun. No way. To me, baseball is pressure. I always feel it. This is work. The fun is afterwards, when you shake hands.

When I was a rookie I'd tear stuff up. Now I keep it in. What good is smashing a light on the way up the tunnel? But I still can't sleep at night if I stink. I've always tried to change that and act like a normal guy when I got home. "Hi, honey, what's happening?" I can't. It's there. It doesn't go away. But maybe that's why I've been successful in my career, because I care. I don't have fun. I pitch scared. That's what makes me go. Nothing wrong with being scared if you can channel it.

I issued to hide behind my cockiness. Don't let the other team know you're scared. I got crazy on the mound. Strike a guy out, throw my fist around---"Yeah!" Not real classy, but I was a raw kid. I didn't care. It wasn't fake. It was me. This wasn't taken very kindly by a lot of people. They couldn't wait to light me up. That's the price you pay.

¡¦I wish I was a little happier in this game. What is so great about this shit? You get the money, and then you're used to the money. You start making half a million a year, next thing you know you need half a million a year. And the heat is on!

Used to be neat to just be a big-league ballplayer, but that wore off. I'm still proud, but I don't want people to bother me about it. I wish my personality with people was better. I find myself becoming short with people. Going to the store. Getting gas.

If you're not happy with when you're doing lousy, then not happy when you're doing well, when the hell are you going to be happy? This game will humble you in a heartbeat. Soon as you starting getting happy¡¦Boom! For the fans---and this is just a guess---they think the money takes out the feeling. I may be wrong but I think they think, "What the hell is he worrying about? He's still getting' paid." There may be a few players who don't give 100 percent, but I always thought if you were good enough to make that kind of money, you'd have enough pride to play like that, wouldn't you think? You don't just turn it on¡ªor off.

This got me thinking about the David Cone situation. While Eck is scathingly honest, in the mold of a Pat Jordan, Cone is far more measured and polished. Still, I think Eck hits on something universal when he said:

I've been very fortunate to pitch for fourteen years in the big leagues. That's a long time for a pitcher. I'm afraid of life after baseball. Petrified. I'm not ashamed of saying it. I'll be all right, but nothing will ever compare with this. I will not stay in baseball. I think about commercial real estate and money¡ªbig money!

Or maybe I'll grow up after I get ouf of this fuckin' game.

And that, I believe is at the heart of the matter for all American men, not just aging jocks: The fear of growing up.

Perish the thought.

BOSOX OUTBID BOMBERS

The Red Sox exacted a measure of revenge against the Yankees, when they outbid the Bronx Bombers for the services of the top junior defector from Cuba. According to the Boston Globe:

The Sox signed 18-year-old righthander Gary Galvez for a bonus similar to the amount players selected late in the second round or high in the third round of the amateur draft receive: about $500,000.

''We'll end up signing 20 to 25 kids internationally this year, and we think this will probably be the best guy we sign,'' said Louie Eljaua, the team's director of international scouting. ''This is our first-round pick.''

Galvez, whose fastball has hit 93 and throws an above-average curve, was the ace of Cuba's junior national team before he defected last August. With 23 other refugees, he rode a vessel to an island near Key Largo, where the group was rescued by the US Coast Guard. He spent a month in Miami before he established residency in the Dominican Republic.

Several teams bid on Galvez, with the Sox and Yankees among them. Eljaua said the Sox did not make the top financial offer to Galvez, but prevailed because of the relationship they had built with him and because of his confidence in the team's pitching program.

''Every time you have a high-profile international guy, it's usually going to be the Yankees or us in the end,'' Eljaua said. ''This time, the good guys won.''

...Galvez will report to the Sox once he obtains a visa, which could take several weeks. He is projected to pitch at Single A Augusta.

WHAT'S UP WITH PRINCE P?

In what has been a relatively quiet Red Sox spring thus far, the only potential cause for noise could come from an expected source: the great Pedro Martinez. Dan Shaughnessy stressed that management play hardball with Martinez.

On Saturday, the Globe reported that:

Principal owner John W. Henry and CEO Larry Lucchino met privately with Martinez soon after he arrived Friday at the club's spring training headquarters - a meeting that apparently bred considerable good will.

''I know we're going to work it out,'' Martinez said in a news conference after the first formal workout for pitchers and catchers. ''They're a group of responsible owners. They know what to do. They know their business. I'm sure they're going to work something out. I'd like to finish my career in Boston.''

''If they don't pick it up now, it means they don't trust me,'' he said. ''It's a matter of confidence between them and me, and I'm sure they have the confidence, and I'm fine.''

''The uncertainty of whether I'm going to be in Boston is not easy to handle,'' he said. ''That's why I don't want to be in that position of, where am I going to go? Am I going to stay in Boston or not? That's not a fair position for a player like me.

WHO'S ON FIRST?

While the Sox happily play musical chairs with their first basemen, Kevin Millar finally arrived at camp to throw his hat in the ring.

According to the Globe:

The breakthrough in the Kevin Millar situation...came after Japanese officials were told that if the standoff continued, Major League Baseball might not proceed with plans to send the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A's to Japan to open the 2003 season there next month.

Mike C, over at Baseball Rants thinks all is not kosher in Beantown:

Millar should be a useful member of the Red Sox team this season. But any baseball fan should be rooting as hard as they can for the Yankees to bury the Sox by the break. The whole affair stinks worse than last week's meatloaf. Of course, the Pavlovian fans have been taught that the Yankees are the evil ones because the spend their seemingly inexhaustable funds wisely as opposed to the Red Sox, who appear to get a mulligan once or twice a year and whose owners were fast-tracked into purchasing the team even though better offers were on the table. If that's not evil, I don't know what is.

At least Millar has found himself in a friendly environment:

A friend of Garciaparra, Trot Nixon, Lou Merloni, and Todd Walker, Millar is renowned for trying almost anything to help him hit, including spraying his bat with deer urine last year on Opening Day after his inaugural deer hunting trip. When he went 0 for 3, though, he abandoned the gimmick.

Good thing, or it might have been harder to make even more friends on his new team.

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Is there any column that is more complete and thorough on a weekly basis than Gordon Edes' Sunday Notes feature? If so, let me know, cause it's bound to be a treat. Edes examines the hype at Yankee camp this week. So does Tony Massarotti, who like his peers in New York, Joel Sherman and even Bob Klapisch, is clearly a provocateur:

Whatever air of invincibility the Yankees possessed during the five-year span between 1996-2000 is going, going, gone.

``I think if you spend $180 million, I don't think it's just because you have it to spend,'' Red Sox owner John Henry said of the Yankees' current estimated payroll upon arriving at his team's spring training facility on Friday.

``I think it's also because there must be a need.''

...Do the Yankees have talent? Of course they do, though the 2001 Red Sox proved that talent alone is not enough. As much as the Yankees were stocked while winning four World Series titles during the final five years of the last millennium, they were also a unique collection of professionals. No lesser an authority than Seattle Mariners general manager Pat Gillick suggested before last season that the absence of chemistry (Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius) would adversely affect the Yankees more than anyone believed. It certainly seems Gillick hit the bull's eye.

METS TO ROBBIE: NO SOUP FOR YOU

Steve Phillips and the Mets have decided not to to talk contract extension with second baseman Robbie Alomar until the season is over. Alomar, who is famous for being fickle and moody, took the news in stride:

"I wanted to be a Met until the day that I retire. But sometimes you don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to stay real positive. I still have one more year to go. I feel real comfortable about this year, and if the right situation comes, I'll be a Met until I retire."

..."I don't have any thought that Robbie will be affected or impacted by this negatively," [GM] Phillips said. "I think he's professional and he's been in this position before. He's motivated to go out and have a great season."

Alomar said he wasn't offended by the Mets' position.

"Maybe I feel a little sad that I might not be here," Alomar said. "I want to be here. So we'll wait and see what happens."

WHO'S ON THIRD?

The Shea Hillenbrand-to-the-Mets rumor was revived this weekend, with a new twist. Now, there is talk about the Mets trading an assortment of young pitchers to the Red Sox for Hillenbrand, who would then be moved to the Marlins in exchange for Mike Lowell.

Cliff Floyd has nothing but good things to say about both Hillenbrand and Lowell.

My cousin Gabe lamented last week, that when the Yankees aquire former Mets, they do well in the Bronx, but when the Mets pick up ex-Yankees, they are less than inspiring (Al Leiter notwithstanding). That would all change if the Mets are fortunate enough to somehow land Mike Lowell. In fact, I believe that Lowell would be an outstanding replacement for Edgardo Alfonzo--he's solid, reliable, and even-keeled.

Hmmm. I may become a Met fan yet...

STORM BURIES NEW YORK, MISSES TAMPA

For all the hoo-ha surrounding Derek Jeter's Monday morning meeting with the press, the results must be seen as a disappointment. For the papers anyway. Throughout his career Jeter has been knocked for being a stiff interview, the prototypical jock robot. Suddenly, he was expected to add a juicy chapter to Bronx Zoo lore, but I'm happy to report that Jeter was his usual, bland self yesterday.

According to Joel Sherman in the New York Post:

The biggest difference between Derek Jeter's morning press conference and the one Hideki Matsui held in the afternoon was Matsui was boring in two languages.

Jeter did make like the great Joe D however, and bristled at the percieved tarnishing of his image:

"Image is important because that's who I am," Jeter said. "No one wants to have an image they don't care about."

"The problem is the way it's all been painted. That was my primary concern. Now, everywhere I go, people ask if I party too much.

"I didn't want Yankee fans to be thinking that I could care less whether we win or lose."

"Obviously, I know I can do a lot better than what happened last year," he said. "Healthwise, I'm in better shape than I have been.

"Ever since my shoulder injury (2001), I haven't been able to work out as much. This year I could."

What about the Boss?

"I don't think there is an issue of revenge, I don't know how you get back at The Boss," Jeter said. "I don't feel a need to get back at The Boss."

What about George taking all the glory if the Yanks win?

"He should take credit if we win, because he put together the team," Jeter said. "Hopefully, the year will go like that and we can answer the question then."

"If you don't win, what's the point of playing?" Jeter asked. "I am my biggest critic. Nobody gets on me more than I do. I am a perfectionist."
News:

Veteran columnists, Bill Madden and Mike Lupica weighed in with columns and, like Bob Klapisch, suggested Jeter move on, quickly.

According to Madden:

You'd have thought by now, after nearly eight years as a Yankee, that Jeter would have come to realize all of this comes with the territory. There's nary a Yankee superstar, from Reggie Jackson to Don Mattingly, who hasn't at one time or another been touched up by Steinbrenner.

¡¦Instead of grousing about how his image has been tarnished, Jeter should not forget that he had some pretty good company in that Steinbrenner rip job in December.

How do you think Torre felt hearing for the umpteenth time that he was just another run-of-the-mill losing manager until he came to the Yankees, and that he should not forget it's the organization that's been responsible for his four-ring, Hall of Fame success these past six years? How tempting do you think it was for Torre to retort: "If that's the case, will it be the organization who gets the blame if we don't win again this year, or just me and my coaches?"

Lupica echoed Madden's sentiments and couldn't help adding a jab:

Now that Steinbrenner has picked on Torre, Jeter and Jason Giambi in succession, you have to think it's somehow going to be Bernie's turn next.

Even Jeter's dad added his two cents to the proceedings:

"[Steinbrenner's comments] questioned his work ethic, his integrity," Charles Jeter said in a telephone interview. "It bothered him, rightfully so. It annoyed him. It annoyed me, to be honest with you. But I don't want to be part of the equation. My feeling is he took the right approach in what he said. I feel Derek has handled it."

"My main thing with Derek is to keep things between the white lines," Charles Jeter said. "We all work for somebody. I guess what Derek said is, `The boss can say anything that he wants to say.' You just hope the things that are said are about what's between the white lines."

"This too will pass and Derek will go on," Charles Jeter said. "And hopefully the Yankees will go on in their quest for another championship."

Father knows best, right?

NOTE:

I accidentally posted a bunch of articles this morning before they were finished and ready for publication. I'm trying to remedy the situation. The articles won't be ready until tomorrow, but if you see that mess that's up there today, please discard it, and tune in again tomorrow.

Perhaps I'll figure out a way to get rid of them so as to avoid any confusion. But if I can't, bear with me.
Thanks.
Alex

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW: SPRING IS HERE

I'm an early bird by nature. New Yorkers usually get fed up with the lingering winter sometime around mid-March, early-April. I hit the boiling point somewhere right after the Super Bowl. At some point, something just snaps inside of me, and no matter how much winter is left, I'll make the mental transition to spring. That way when spring finally does roll around, with the great smells of dirt, and worms, and flowers and baseball, I'm way ahead of the game.

By the time New Yorkers are finally able to shed the layers of old-man winter, and the city becomes a sea of exposed flesh and hormones, I'm be there with a shit-eating grin on my mug, talking bout, "Come on in, the water, she's fine."

The poster-boy for spring.

I made the mental switch this past week, in spite of everything.

No matter how much snow is dumped on us, no matter how brickadocious the temperature becomes, I'm stubbornly sticking to my guns: it's springtime.

It all started about 10 days ago, when we had our last snowfall, before the monster that's currently blanketing a good part of the country. It was the Friday before last, and I was going to meet an old friend for dinner on the Upper West Side. I had some time to kill, so I strolled through the lower part of Central Park.

It was the magic hour, when the sky is still blue, but darkness was descending over the city. There were a good number of people out, but not enough to feel crowded. I love the stillness, the hush that comes over New York when a big snow hits. Everything is slowed down just so.

As I walked past the softball fields at the base of the park, I couldn't help but walk closer. The fields---four in all---were surrounded by a fence for the winter. I stood right next to the fence and looked out at the virgin snow covering the diamonds. To my right, the skyscrapers of Manhattan were lit up against the fading blue skies. When I was a kid, skyscrapers reminded me of the Imperial Star Destroyers from the "Star Wars" movies---majestic, impregnable.

Here they were, standing guard over this patch of ballfields, lending an almost surreal grandeur to the scene.

I closed my eyes and imagined the same scene in July. The heat and humidity of summer, the sounds of games being played at all four diamonds, the smells of hot dogs and dog shit and roasting nuts, and of course, the cast of characters that make up the scene---umpires, vendors, players, goldbrickers, tourists.

There was something comforting about looking at the snow-cover