Clemens is making $875,000 per start (based on his projected 20 starts).

Yesterday he made $213,414 per inning(4 1/3)

$9,722 per pitch (90)

$15,909 per strike (55)

Seriously, for no other reason than hours of punny amusment for Sliced, Chyll, Bama, and I.

Come on Cash- He got game!

Sterling registering his disgust at the offhanded manner in which the Yanks were failing to advance runners, and run the bases: "Not good, not bad, TERRIBLE!" he said, calling out Jeter and Abreu by name.

Sure, Sterling's home run calls are corny, and sometimes inaccurate (he called Melky's deep fly out a homer yesterday, gave it the full treatment too, leading me to believe the scored was tied... before correcting himself) -- but even a homer like Sterling knows a stinkbomb when he smells one, and he was as fed up with this team as the rest of us.

First full day of summer and it's hard to picture these Yanks standing tall when the schools re-open and the leaves start to fall.

Oh well. It's still summer, and it's still Yankees baseball.

I'll keep watching, and listening, and rooting because watching and listening to a Yankee loss on a summer night is still better than not watching them at all.

Maybe the futility of a Yankee summer will make this sweetest of seasons go slower.

When's Phil Hughes back? That's something else to look forward to.

And Cairo starting game after game. Man, Cashman helped to restock the farm, but what a terrible job at the major league level. A team starting Cairo at 1B doesn't deserve to win anything. Just plain disgusting - I'm sure you all have mentioned that one or two times.

Meanwhile, Carlos Pena - a guy the Yanks couldn't find room for last year when they were starting Cairo, Phillips, and Wilson -is just tearing things up in Tampa. Sure, it's a fluke but he's still better and younger than anything the Yanks have right now. Instead, they'll make a run at Scott Hatteberg.

The power of Ha! can only do so much. And too bad Tyler lost his.

P.s. I managed to check in here a few times - great work by Ken, Alex, Cliff, and Emma. The frontpage loaded quickly on a very slow connection and once there i could easily see all the doings in Yankeeland from the game recaps. One quick and easy page load and I was up to speed - thanks guys and gal!

Like Sliced said, we will all probably keep watching, and perhaps continue to scratch our heads out and scream our lungs out...

5 Welcome back. I've noticed the fast load times on the Toaster when I'm back in my hometown and using dialup. Ken's got a nice product here, no fluff to slow it down.

Seriously, I want no part of this guy. Consider this: the A's are playing Mark Kotsay in CF. Since 2003, Kotsay has had an OPS+ over 100 exactly once. Kotsay's injured as much as Bradley is, and Nick Swisher plays CF when he's out; Swisher's a fine hitter, but I suspect he's not a great center fielder. Meanwhile, Shannon Stewart is playing left - a lousy defensive outfielder with OPS+ of 88, 88 and 89 since 2005.

Yet the A's would rather live with this situation than tolerate having Milton Bradley on their team. Doesn't that tell you something?

His name, by the way, for those who don't know, is his deadbeat fathers' name. His biological father snuck into the hospital and named the child after himself and then was never seen again. Bradley uses that as fuel.

Also, if the Yanks don't trade for him, in eight days he will be absolutely free and only be around for the rest of the season. With Giambi unlikely to play for the Yankees for a long time, and Damon about to serve his first DL stint, they could use the bat. When healthy, he's much better than anything else the Yankees have.

It's not like the Yankees' clubhouse has this delicate chemistry that can't be upset. They need to win baseball games, and they can do that by having better baseball players.

But I can't see Cashman making that move. Indeed, why doesn't he just wait another month to improve the team?

For the Yanks, I'm not really sure if I would use MB to replace Melky or not. If you do, then you might as well trade Melky because the demotion back to 4th/5th outfielder will likely end his usefulness with the Yankees.

I'm still more in favor of pursuing Teixeira (assuming we actually win 2 out of 3 in SF and stay in this thing) as long as it doesn't cost us Hughes, Joba or Tabata. We really do need a 1B badly.

As 12 said: "They need to win baseball games, and they can do that by having better baseball players."

"Oh well. It's still summer, and it's still Yankees baseball.

I'll keep watching, and listening, and rooting because watching and listening to a Yankee loss on a summer night is still better than not watching them at all. "

Indeed.

Don't bring in anyone. Enough stich drek to go around. I can live with the losing. Like to hear the spin Joe puts on it. So long as they keep playing hard, OK with me. Can't convince me they aren't trying to hit.

Feel sad for Andy.

Have seen them lose and seen them win. Never rooted for another team. Won't stop looking for their boxscore first any time soon.

Let's face it -- MB is the not kind of guy who's going to be happy playing every other day. I wouldn't sit Abreu and his career .910 OPS for MB's career .784 -- that seems like a downgrade to me even against LHP. Same for Hideki's .855 OPS. MB in CF seems like a defensive downgrade (from Melky) to me? (I would never DH Melky!) And this puts Damon totally out of the lineup -- which may very well be deserved, but is unlikely to happen with Joe.

So again -- I just don't see him getting anything more than every other day PT unless you scrap Melky. We could use a stick, but I'd rather see one that's going to be in the lineup every day -- which means a 1B. That seems to be the big gaping hole in this lineup. CF is a small gaping hole in comparison. :-)

As for MB - as long as Cairo is in the lineup, and there's nothing on the bench, there's room for an upgrade. And MB is cheap ($2mil and one prospect or even league minimum and no prospects if he clears waivers) and young (29 yo).

If they get MB, they'd have more flexibility to rotate him, Matsui, and Abreu at the DH slot. Melky could stay in CF. And Damon becomes the full-time 1B. If that's what it takes to get Cairo out of the lineup, then so be it.

Again, I don't see Cashman making the move. You know, why do anything to improve the team?

29 I pretty much agree, go get MB if it's a reasonable price - honestly, I don't give a shit who they get, Dunn, Tex, and/or some combo of Hatteberg and/or Griffy and/or Bradley. There are enough holes and a non-existent bench so that just adding warm bodies & mixing and matching at 1B and DF would be fine.

This situation must make Bernie really sorry he didn't show up to ST - he could help this team (a bit) right now (at DH)... Because Damon really shouldve been DL'd for quite some time. Phelps at DH with Melk in CF & Phillips or Cairo at 1B and Damon on the DL would've been fine until Damon could come back an play 1B fulltime.... but alas.

I understand what you're saying about Bradley. But unless you can explain to me why they're DFA'ing him in the first place, I'll remain skeptical. Maybe he'd be the second-best outfielder on the Yankees - but he's already the second-best outfielder on the A's. So why the ignominious dump?

If they can get him for nithing, I suppose there's no harm in giving him a look. But I don't think the Yankees should give up anything of value, not for a short-term patch. This is looking like a lost season again, and in a couple of weeks it may be clear that the Yankees should start looking towards next year.

"Phelps at DH with Melk in CF & Phillips or Cairo at 1B and Damon on the DL would've been fine..."

My god - that's what the GM of the NY Yankees had set up...in spring training.

My real frustration here is that Cashman & co, who i still like on balance, seems unable to get the details and day to day stuff right - while still nailing the overall strategy. I mean, he did bring about a pretty drastic turnaround in philosophy, and managed to trade away guys with little value to the ML team, but then punts 1B, gets the wrong guys from Arizona, the wrong guy from Japan, and assembles a bench full of defensive replacements, sending away the one guy with even a hit of a bat. We all (usually rightly) criticize Torre's in game tactics, but usually think he does a good job with the clubhouse and personalities and over the course of a season trotting out the right guys in the right slots, i think the front office suffers from the same thing.

Meanwhile, the only guy they got that seems like he could help (Britton) is stuck behind aborted fetuses like Vizcaino and Villone.

From a strategy viewpoint, I guess that's why I'm OK with Tex but not so good with Dunn, MB, etc. You take a rental when you think you need one more piece to help win it all -- right now, we don't look like a team that's "one piece" away. So I don't want to trade assets for anybody who doesn't fit into a long-term strategy.

OTOH, as pointed out, MB won't require much in the way of assets. Dunn, however, would.

Hang on, Jim - you think the Yankees should have gotten more for RJ?????????

I seem to recall his having expressed that sentiment at some point in the past... ;-)

As for RJ, I've made my thoughts known once or twice. But he was an opportunity to improve at 1B or the bench, rather than acquire a crappy bullpen arm and even crappier AAA players.

The Sheffield trade I can't slam now because I was okay with it then. Just, how can the GM trade all those guys and get nothing back that helped the 2007 team? The GM went in Spring training with a bench of Melky, Cairo, Nieves, and Phelps with Mfhgdj starting at 1B. Just terrible...especially with an old team.

Well, I say bah-humbug to all that. The Sox are playing in Petco this weekend and the Yanks play the Giants. If they don't win 2 of 3 and gain at least a game, THEN its okay to retread all this boring stuff and I'll tune out again.

But it was just a crappy three game series, and sights should have been on the WC all along anyway...

And Milton Bradley? puh-lease. Wasn't everyone complaining about the Yanks being a very unlikeable team last year and before? There's nothing to root for in Milton, and his contribution to the team is simply not going to be enough to either make or break the season.

This team has been living and dying with A-Rod. When he knocks in runs, they win. When he doesn't, they don't (for the most part). I've noticed it more and more as the season goes on. In years past, it was Bernie (in his prime). When he was hitting, the team was winning, when he slumped, so did the offense. Its A-Rod now, which makes it that much scarier to think that he might be run out of town...

end rant...

Meanwhile, why do folks think one player will make or break the season? The 2007 Yankees are so screwed up in many areas that they need to improve whereever they can. It's been that way from Day 1.

Not horribly, yet, but the whole series in Denver he went back to that guessing thing that exasperates me about him.

He'd let meatballs go by and swing at breaking stuff. He still picked up a couple of hits and continued to walk, but it's clear his pitch-selection is out of whack.

Let's hope it's not a weeks-long affair.