Schmuckaholic

"A selfish and immature act by the most self-centered man in baseball may have cost the Yankees the AL East last night at Yankee Stadium." George King (N.Y.Post)

Kevin Brown broke two bones in his left hand last night after punching a clubhouse wall:

"I reacted to frustration I'd swallowed all year. ... There are no excuses. I let it boil over and I did something stupid." (ESPN)

Brown later apologized to his teammates and to the organization. According to Jack Curry:

"It's an issue we shouldn't be dealing with," General Manager Brian Cashman said, "and we are."

...The one question the Yankees should ask Brown is how someone who is earning $15 million a year to pitch once every five days even dreams of putting his job and his team's future in jeopardy with such an irrational act.

"You just can't do this," Cashman said. "You've got to keep your emotions in check."

I liked the idea of Kevin Brown essentially replacing Roger Clemens at the start of the year. I knew he'd spend some time on the DL, but I liked his surly, Sal Maglie demeanor, and his intensity. I thought he was a gamer. But I can't believe that he's put his teammates in this kind of situation. Roger Clemens would never do something so thoughtless. I'd venture a guess and say that Jeff Weaver wouldn't either. You know what this tells me about Kevin Brown? Consciously or not, he doesn't want to pitch anymore. He just quit on the team. He's not a gamer, he's a clown. He's going to have to live with the consequences of his actions, because it's likely to follow him well past his playing days. There is a chance that he can come back this season. For his sake--as well as the Yankees--he'd better hope so.

Orlando Hernandez, Mike Mussina, Javier Vazquez, Jon Lieber: They must be dancing in the streets up in New England.