It's not like we can't get to Halladay tomorrow, but making up the number of runs Henn is likely to give up seems pretty optimistic.

Boston has a decent matchup with Schilling tomorrow against Bonser, but Santana agsinst Beckett on Thursday may be the game that clinches it for us.

The MVP? "If it was A-Rod [having the year I'm having], it would be unanimous. If it was someone else, it would be unanimous. But why isn't it? Because it's Gary Sheffield. And I'm supposed to be flattered [by being mentioned]? My uncle [Gooden] said, 'Man, don't say anything' or 'Do this or do that' to get it. If I have to kiss your behind to get an award, guess what? I won't win it."

I'm not so sure about that. The anonymous quote about A-Rod being used to only the numbers mattering in Seattle and Texas seems like Jeter. He always talks about winning being the only thing that matters and he probably still holds a grudge over the esquire article

I also hope Sean Henn pitches well tonight. Its good to have pitching depth, as any Red Sox fan would tell you, and a nice performance out of Henn could enhance his value. Young lefties who can pitch are always desirable.

Giambi is a dolt for saying any such thing about Arod considering his current slump (though I'm sure he gave the quote before the slump took place) and what was it? Oh yeah, 2004 and 2005. I don't think Giambi has any right to tell anyone to "man up" when he sucked so thoroughly himself for so long. Especially when said person won an MVP here.

I was asked recently "True or False: Arod will have an OPS of over 1.000 in September" My answer was "true, but no one would notice."

So far, I couldn't have been more right.

By the way, I have to agree this was excellent reporting. Maybe now the other journalists can let it die, but I doubt it.

12 Giambi, Posada, Joe, and Jeter all spoke on the record so the anonymous quotes are most likely from other players who don't want to get embroiled in this mess.

If the Yanks didn't discuss A-Rod's slump among themselves, and to the media, that MIGHT BE A STORY. But THIS IS NO STORY.

Despite how the sports radio hosts, NY rag writers, Yankee-haters, and even the Yankee broadcasters themselves want to portray Verducci's "intriguing expose," THERE'S NO STORY HERE.

A great player, who's had image issues for years, forever it seems, went into a slump and got booed by thousands of NY fans who want him to somehow be Derek Four Rings, or Scott Brosius, or someone else he is not. Actually, I don't know what the booers want.

I figure for every booer, there was a silent supporter wishing the booers would shut their yaps. Verducci validates the booers, referring to them as "Yankees traditionalists" who question A-Rod's pinstripe worthiness. Silly notion.

Now, the booers are cheering his game again, waiting to see how he'll do in October, when they'll cheer or boo him mostly depending on how the team does.

This is a national baseball sensation worthy of ten pages, regurtitation and analysis, as the playoffs are about to begin?

Verducci compares A-Rod to a pretty girl. Fine. I'll take that silly analogy a step further. A-Rod is a Playboy pinup. Some appreciate what they see. Some say, "Eh, does nothing for me." But does anybody want to read ten pages about how the Playboy pinup had a bad month, confidence issues? Care to delve into her relationships with her fellow Playmates, or with Hugh Hefner? That might be a story, but not to me.

Would you rather watch A-Rod and the Yanks play ball, or keep analyzing the third baseman's psyche? Me too. END OF NON STORY.

I'd say we end this here on the Banter.

Maybe we can be the ones who focus on the fact that after all this, the Yankees are playing 30-games-over-.500 baseball. And that we have another month and a half to go.

I didn't watch most of last night's game but I'm curious, what were Singleton, Kay and Leiter saying about the article? Anyone care to paraphrase in a few sentences?

BTW, I have really grown to appreciate Leiter's contribution to the talking heads on YES. During Monday night's game, Leiter was very, very candid when discussing AJ Burnett. He spoke from his prespective as Burnett's teammate in Florida and essentially called Burnett stubborn and immature. He said that Burnett has great stuff but his fastball is straight, and no matter how much the veteran pitchers and coaches have tried to get AJ to change his style, Burnett has resisted. And Leiter went so far as to say that Burnett's mediocre career stats are a result of this stubborness. This was all on the air, no less!!!

http://tinyurl.com/jwenv

Mirabelli refers to himself in the third person no less than six times in defending himself. Sample excerpt:

`Like I said, there are things he said that I don't think were totally accurate. It was unprovoked and it had nothing to do with anything except taking a whack at Doug Mirabelli.

``Hopefully I won't get crucified over one person's opinion of Doug Mirabelli. "

I actually thought I had stumbled upon an Onion parody, but Mirabelli is so crushingly insignificant that I knew it had to be the real thing.

The magic number will disappear soon enough regardless of who the Yanks trot out there. For the sake of rest, and risking further injury, here's the lineup I hope the Yanks mostly deploy between now and Sept. 26th when the Yanks come home for their final postseason tune up.

Sheff and Matsui should bat 3rd/4th and I don't care how they stack the rest.

Green 3B
Cannizaro SS
Cano/Cairo 2B
Phillips/Wilson/Sheff 1B
Fasano/Wilson (let's see what he can do) C

Guiel, Thompson should share CF/RF.

Give Bernie a little LF/DH duty. Matsui LF when he's ready.

Posada, Giambi, Damon, Melky, Jeter, A-Rod shouldn't play until the Yanks come home next week, and very little after that.

Chyll Will said this yesterday and Chyll Will says it today. Hit the ball. Throw the ball. Eat the ball. Tell them to kiss your behind if necessary. Win games and have a nice warm cup of STFU.

Pretty please, with a cherry on top???

I believe Sheffield was still ticked off at being "snubbed" in 1992, when he campaigned for it pretty actively. He had a great season that year, but I guess Barry Bonds kissed a lot of writers' behinds. Either that, or he just had a better season.

That was also the year that Sheffield talked to the LA Times about tanking on his team the year before, in Milwaukee. I can't imagine that won him a lot of votes.

"Remember when SI was relevant? Neither do I."

Ok, well one last thing which I believe somebody previously touched on: Kay pumping the story in the booth last night. At the time, not having read the story yet, I couldn't help but get the feeling that this was Michael Kay, the ESPN radio host, doing a segment on his show and not Michael Kay, the YES play-by-play guy. It sounded like Verducci's column would overwhelmingly read as high on style and little substance. Well, I just read the article and my Spidey senses were confirmed.

Nothing to see here, move along...

I wish we would just sit Giambi for the next ten days and give him the shot if he needs it. Maybe he needs a couple of months for the inflamation to disapear but could the 10 days rest hurt?

Giambi has two years remaining on his contract. He's no spring chicken and he seems to be breaking down. That might be the best reason i can think of to hang on to Shef. If he really can play first he might form a deadly 1b/DH combo with Giambi next year; the righty lefty dynamic would be impressive. Shef then also becomes an extreamly versitile and valuable player as he could also play the outfield to spell Abreu and who ever is starting in left on days when we face tough lefties.

I really think Ca$hman and Co. should give hanging on to Shef. a long hard look.

I'm interested in talking about more pressing issues:
- clinching the AL East
- securing home field advantage
- getting Sheff (and Matsui) back into the swing of things
- ID'ing the postseason roster
- seeing what we can get out of the young arms, which will enable Cash to accurately address needs this Winter
- figuring out how much of a delay there is between 880 and the TV broadcast so we don't have to listen to BuckCarver
- deciding who we want to face in the first round (I say Detroit: fading fast Polanco injured, young pitchers, free swingers, rather than a short series against Minny, seeing Santana twice, and a couple games in that quirky dome)
- figuring out which Mets fans in your office are for real vs bandwagon, so you know which ones to needle once they get bounced in the NLDS or swept by the Bombers

Just wanted to stop by with Random Stat of the Day, courtesy of MLB.com's sortable players stats:

Guess who leads the 2006 New York Yankees in "RBIs with runners on 1st and 3rd"?

Give up?

It's Bernie Williams, with 12! Just ahead of Cano, Posada, and A-Rod, who all have ten. You could look it up.

Well, I guess its over.

BP Postseason Odds
Generated Wed Sep 20 08:56:52 EDT 2006

Yanks:
AL East: 100.00000
Wildcard: 0
Overall: 100.00000

Red Sox:
AL East: 0
Wildcard: .00263
Overall: .00263

I won't comment on Sheff until I see him. If the Yanks fall behind late in the game, I anticipate seeing him. If they clinch tonight, I expect to see him from hear on out. Point is, he needs real at-bats and with Giambi gurting, he'll get the long look we thirst for (apparently).

Dotel + 4R Lead = 3R HR. No mas.

A lefty long reliever would be nice. Who? We have to have somebody in the system, anybody?

My friend upstate claims her two supervisors are rabid Mets fans originally from the Bronx. Eh?? Is that like Yankees/Jets in reverse? I told her to go to work today with a Yankee cap on backwards, but she says there'd be funeral arrangements made if she did. I'm rounding up the posse as we speak, heh-heh...

For all of Torre's strengths, I've thought for a long time that he is ... errr ... inflexible ... in his managing style. Of course I am not complaining about the results and maybe a high-strung manager would lead the '06 Yankees into last place. But, in this context, it's intersting to me tha