Joe Torre is Coach Taylor!

In that he was complicit in the dishonest dismissal of his predecessor. Coach Taylor let Buddy Garrity do the dirty work for him, and Torre let Dodgers GM Ned Colletti be the bad guy. The difference: Coach Taylor at least feels bad about it.

Los Angelenos All Come From Somewhere

Joe Torre and the Dodgers deserve each other. A manager who's too lazy and apathetic to get off his ass even when his star pitcher is being swarmed by MOTHERFUCKING BUGS in a playoff game is perfect for a fan-base that arrives in the 3rd inning, leaves in the 7th, and spends the in-between period texting and making phone calls.

The 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers -- League leaders in truly not giving a fuck. Too bad J.D. Drew's not still around.

Bye Bye Johnny, Johnny Bye Bye

Wow.

Joe Torre has turned down an extension to continue managing the Yankees. According to Peter Abraham, Torre was offered a $5 million deal, with an additional $3 million in incentives. I guess at this point in his career, Torre didn't want to take a potential pay cut.

Now we all have to cross our fingers as we venture into the great unknown, and we get our fist new manager since 1996. Changing managers used to be as common for Yankees fans as meeting at the giant Louisville Slugger, now it's a shock and we don't quite know what to do with ourselves.

Don Mattingly does not seem like the right man for the job, but I'm not sure about Joe Girardi, either. I know I don't want Tony LaRussa.

Either way, Torre is able to leave with his dignity intact, resigning rather than facing the axe.

And He Said Rhiannon...Stay

Is Joe Torre staying after all?

The Yankees have announced that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner are effectively taking over operations from the team. I can't think of a solid reason why this announcement would need to happen right now, unless the Baby Bosses are planning to retain Torre.

This announcement is their way of saving face for their Dad, so it doesn't seem like his announcement that Torre was managing for his job in the ALDS was empty bluster. Now, they can paint it that when the sons took over, they decided to keep Torre, whereas George had been planning to fire him.

At the very least, the dark princes now have an excuse to do whatever they want without it seeming contradictory to past statements. They've given themselves options.

The Mind is Strong but the Heart is Feeble

I have campaigned for Joe Torre's dismissal for nearly four years. When he brought Jeff Weaver into Game 4 of the 2003 World Series instead of Mariano Rivera, I considered it an unforgivable mistake that cost the team a championship. It was a fireable offense, and I spent that off-season telling everyone who would listen that Torre needed to go.

Not a brilliant tactician in the best of times, Torre seemed to throw more and more wins away because of bullpen neglect with each passing ring-less season. His refusal to bring his best reliever into a tie game on the road is as well documented as it is foolish. Compounding the problem, he picks one or two relievers each season to wear down to the point of exhaustion or injury, so when anyone other than Rivera is brought into a close game after June, the results are likely to be ugly.

Torre's other in-game management strategies have also failed him in this dim century. He favors "small ball" over sensible ball. He bunts too often, in the wrong situation. He plays the wrong guys (see: Womack, Tony) and mismanages his bench. He seems incapable of catching up to modern baseball thought and employing new approaches, though the same can be said of all but a handful of current managers.

The conventional wisdom on Joe Torre is that his skill handling the New York media and massaging the egos of his star players atones for whatever strategic shortcomings show up during games. But in recent years, the clubhouse has fallen apart, and the tabloids have piled on the Yankees, leaving Torre's worth questionable at best. He failed to quell Hurricane Sheffield, he let players snipe at each other in the press, and worst of all, he let the Alex Rodriguez situation spiral out of control.

ARod is a lightning rod for attention and criticism, so no matter what Torre did, ARod would have dealt with some backlash in New York. In 2006, though, Torre allowed the wildfire surrounding his struggling star to spread and engulf the team. Whether out of misguided "tough love" or genuine ineptitude, Torre submarined ARod in an infamous Sports Illustrated article implying the third sacker didn't have the faith and support of his teammates and manager. Then, in self-destructive move of shocking naivete, Torre batted one of the best hitters of all time (in his prime) eighth in a playoff game against Detroit. This was unforgivable move number two.

Playoff results rely largely on luck, but the Yankees' lack of success on that front, coupled with Torre's obvious procedural shortcomings, seems like clear evidence he should be replaced. Finally, after many years of nightmares in which I'm screaming my throat bloody but no one can hear me, Torre's demise seems imminent.

And I don't know how I feel about it.

Initially, I assumed my mixed feelings were sheer sentimentality, which I needed to vanquish. Torre was around for the best sports era of my life, and he's part of a million fantastic memories. Despite his faults, I once had genuine affection for him, and I realized that when he was gone, I would miss the old goat.

I can't deny that it got to me when he said, after Game 4, "The 12 years just felt like they were 10 minutes long." It all came rushing back to me, flooding my eyes with tears: Paul O'Neill's lunging catch, Joe Girardi's triple, Chuck Knoblauch's bubble, Derek Jeter's flip, Chad Curtis's home run, Jim Leyritz's happy shrug, Mariano Duncan's T-shirts, Don Zimmer's cheeks, Ramiro Mendoza's posture, Scott Brosius's leap, David Cone's perfect game, Mariano Rivera's raised arms.

The champagne, the parades, the ad hoc T-shirt shops set up at corner gas stations the week after the World Series, the newspapers saved under the bed, the sheer fucking joy.

Joe Torre was part of it. And he's one of the last gunfighters still standing. Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada and Torre. That's it. All of a suddent, next year, it might just be Jeter. What if Torre gets fired, and Rivera, Pettitte and Posada leave in protest? Will a new manager be worth it? Maybe not.

Especially when you start considering possible replacements: Joe Girardi is the best option, but he wore out some young arms in Miami. Don Mattingly has no track record, there's no reason to believe he'll be better than Torre. Tony LaRussa is an egomaniacal dinosaur, stuck in his tropes from a pre-Jamesian era.

Perhaps I'm just getting cold feet. Perhaps I can't bear to say goodbye to one of the last remnants of the glory days. Or perhaps I've been wrong all along, and Torre brings more to the table then he takes away.

Fuck.

It's Harder Now That It's Over

I'm genuinely sad for Joe Torre today.

But that doesn't mean he should stay. This team is quickly becoming the Braves of the '90s. Three straight ALDS losses. 4-13 in their last 17 post-season games. Stunning strategic blunders. It's time for a new era.

Maybe with a different manager, the Yankees don't make the playoffs this year. But maybe, if they get in, they actually win the World Series. I'm ready to take the chance.

Joe Torre's Guide to Bullpen Management

Step 1: Do not think about the future. All that matters is winning today's game. Fuck that...all that matters is getting the next out. It doesn't even matter what happens two innings from now, let alone tomorrow night or two weeks from now. If we can't get this hitter out, we are all going to be fired, and we will lose every game forevermore. Don't worry about saving pitchers for the next game, or preserving their arms for the next season. Act as if today's game is the last game that will ever be played in the history of baseball. Planning ahead is for fools who don't understand the importance of the moment.

Step 2: Disregard Step 1 as it pertains to Mariano Rivera. Only bring Rivera into a game when it is a save situation, especially on the road. In case of a tie game, bring in a string of inferior pitchers, while saving Rivera for a situation that may never arise. In these cases, an imaginary 12th inning is more critical than the 8th or 9th inning that is actually being played. Mariano Rivera is a delicate flower who must be preserved, watered and cared for.

Step 3: If you think these two directly opposing philosophies make me a hypocrite, you are a small-minded second-guesser incapable of understanding the wisdom of the Green Tea Zenmaster.

Fire Joe Torre This Second

Brian Cashman needs to make his way down to the Yankees dugout right now, before this game is over, and relieve Joe Torre of his duties. Don Mattingly can slide over from his seat on the bench, Joe Girardi can come down from the broadcast booth, Freddy Sez can take over. I don't care, but Torre needs to vacate the premises.

With a 5-0 lead in the ninth against the Red Sox, Torre sent Joba Chamberlain out for a second inning of work. Under the looming presence of the Joba Rules, Chamberlain now can't pitch again until Sunday. Torre apparently does not believe that one pitcher in his bullpen, other than Joba and Rivera, can record three outs before giving up five runs. Chris Britton and Edwar Ramirez should quit now, because they're not ever going to be used or trusted under this dark regime.

This is a ludicrous decision that puts the Yankees at a disadvantage this weekend. And in a tight Wild Card race, this team needs every advantage it can muster.

Am I Too Late? Am I Too Late?

Tell you that I love you/Now they've carried you away

Steven Goldman raised a frightening point yesterday, one that might become much scarier over the next week: What if the Yankees are too late?

What if they spent a couple weeks too many playing like the Blue Jays? What if there's nothing they can do now to dig themselves out of the trap they built for themselves earlier in the season? What if their fate was decided by those dreary first three months of the season, and no hot streak or mea culpa trade can save them?

These are horrible questions to face, in part because they tie into larger issues of destiny, luck and self-determination. Did that math test I failed junior year irrevocably change my career path? Am I doomed to forever be unhappy because Lois broke up with me after finding me in bed with her AIDS-ridden pet howler monkey?

Unfortunately, there's no coming back from some mistakes. Maybe the Yankees can overcome their current 3-game deficit in the loss column for the Wild Card. But maybe they can't. Maybe they'll be 6 games out after Anaheim, Detroit and Boston are done with them. And if that's the case, it won't be the September Yankees who are to blame. It will be the May Yankees.

More specifically, it will be May Joe Torre and May Brian Cashman. When it became apparent that this team had needs, they weren't addressed with anything even resembling immediacy. Crippling weaknesses were ignored for months with a neglect bordering on the criminal. Players slump: it happens, and no one can be blamed for that. It's not anyone's fault that Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano hit like aborted fetuses until July.

But it is someone's fault when holes that were obvious in January remained obvious in March, April, May and June. This team never had a first baseman. They never had a backup catcher. The bullpen was always a quagmire with too few options for a manager who used them poorly.

Yet Miguel Cairo kept playing first base. Luis Vizcaino and Kyle Farnsworth kept blowing games, and were given ample opportunities to do so. A rotting corpse fell apart bone by bone while attempting to spell Jorge Posada.

Finally, more than half-way through the season, the Yankees' brass got proactive. Young players were brought into the mix and some notable failures were expelled. Injuries and trades forced Joe Torre to manage outside his comfort zone. And the team finally played up to expectations. Who knows...maybe if Joba Chamberlain had been brought up June 1, that would have been the difference between 91 and 94 wins. Maybe if Andy Phillips and Wilson Betemit had begun sharing first-base duties three weeks earlier, the Yankees would be in front of Seattle right now.

It didn't happen that way. And now it might be too late. There might not be enough oxygen left in the tank, or enough intangibles left in the Captain. If they do fall short, if they do fail, we'll all know why, and that's the hardest part. It was all so avoidable.

Yankees Win a Weird One

The Yankees continue to survive and move on after the All-Star Break, as they beat Toronto 3-2 in a strange ten-inning affair to move three games over .500.

For the second straight night, the Yankees won a game in which the pitching patchup seemed to favor Toronto. Roy Halladay got through a wild first inning to pitch a seven-inning gem, and Andy Pettitte matched him in results if not performance. Pettitte allowed 10 baserunners in seven innings, but struck out a season-high seven Blue Jays to counteract his high WHIP.

The useless (except to his opponents) Kyle Farnsworth gave Toronto a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for one of the strangest half-innings of the season.

Nice Guy Andy led off with a bloop single to left, and was pinch-run for by Miguel Cairo. Cairo stole second on a hit-and-run that Melky Cabrera swung through. Then, after failing to get down a sac bunt, Melky hit a grounder to the right side. Aaron Hill couldn't come up with it, and it leaked through to right field.

At that point, third base coach Larry Bowa made the asinine decision to send Cairo home, even though there was no one out and Alex Rios has a gun in right. Cairo was out by about ten feet, and made a bizarre slide directly into the catcher's shinguards, even though Greg Zaun was standing wide of home plate. I have absolutely no problems with Larry Bowa as a third base coach, but he blew that call.

Cabrera, who had advanced to second on the throw, stole third off a sleeping Jeremy Accardo. Clearly rattled, Accardo walked the inept Johnny Damon and then balked home the tying run.

So, to sum up, the bottom of the ninth featured a stolen base on a failed hit-and-run, a failed sacrifice bunt, a dribbler through the infield, an awful send by a third base coach, another steal, and a balked-in run.

The Yankees went on to win in the 10th when Robinson Cano knocked in ARod (who reached on a HBP) with a solid single to left. Larry Bowa owes Cano a few drinks.

Also of note, Brian Bruney and Luis Vizcaino pitched two scoreless innings after the arsonist allowed the go-ahead run. And Edwar Ramirez has apparently died, and no one told us, because he's getting about as many innings as Chris Britton on the big league club.

The Yankees should now be thinking sweep, with Halladay out of the way and Clemens and Wang waiting in the queue.

DFA Kyle Farnsworth Tonight. I Beg You.

Serial arsonist Kyle Farnsworth used to be known as a million-dollar arm with a ten-cent brain. These days, the arm and brain are much more closely aligned. They are both retarded.

It is criminally irresponsible for Joe Torre to bring him into the 8th inning of a tie game when there are other players (any other players, including Wade Boggs) available to pitch. And Brian Cashman is simply not doing his job when he allows Farnsy to remain on the roster for Torre to misuse him.

Perhaps the Yankees are trying to lose games. Every beat writer, blogger and casual, drunk fan at the Stadium knows that Farnsworth is probably going to give up a run in any given appearance. Even the dense Michael Kay sounds exhausted when reading Farnsworth's rap sheet. It makes no sense that baseball men with as much experience as Cashman and Torre don't know the same thing. So perhaps we're looking at a "Major League" scenario in which the top brass is actively trying to lose. Or maybe the manager and GM have entered into some bizarre career-suicide pact, and they're trying to leave the Yankees a sub-.500 team before they go. Maybe it's just one last "fuck you" to George Steinbrenner and his brethren.

Because nobody in their right mind thinks Kyle Farnsworth is going to help you win games.

Jorgie Tells the Truth

After Saturday's miserable one-hit effort against Chad Fucking Gaudin, Jorge Posada said, "At times we just go through the motions. Today was one of those days. I think everybody knows what I'm talking about."

If that's not the ultimate damnation of Joe Torre as manager, I don't know what is.

I also wonder who Posada is calling out. Certainly not Jeter or ARod. Damon, although a paraplegic, doesn't seem like a slacker. Matsui? Abreu? Cano? The last two seem likely candidates.

Either way, it's about time somebody stood up and publicly shamed some of the players on this team, like Mike Mussina did with Carl Pavano in spring training.

A Change in the Weather?

In a radio interview yesterday, Brian Cashman wouldn't say that Joe Torre's job is safe, as he has done so many times before.

This would seem to signify a subtle shift in the GM's rhetoric, which could eventually mean Clueless Joe's ouster. Too little, too late for 2007, but still a worthwhile endeavor, if only to save Yankees' fans countless nights of heartburn.

If and when the axe falls, we'll thank Joe Torre for the years of service, for the memories, for his role in the championships. Then we'll slam the door behind him. The time to do this came three years ago, at minimum.

The Breaking Point

Orioles 3, Yankees 2. Where's Mo, indeed?

Joe Torre bungled his second game in three days, and in the exact same fashion...by leaving his best pitcher on the bench while a lesser reliever, with an overused, diseased arm, blows the game.

I don't care if the Yankees were at home, on the road, or playing a pick-up game in my backyard...Mariano Rivera needed to be in that game. We want him on that wall. We need him on that wall.

Torre made another key mistake ordering Robinson Cano to bunt in the top of the ninth with Jorge Posada on first and nobody out. Predictably, the low-percentage move backfired and the lead runner was forced at second. Way to take your best remaining bat out of the inning, Joe. I'm sure Miguel Cairo will pick up the slack. Oh, wait...

This loss was sickening, unconscionable, unmanageable, unbearable.

Worse was the way Torre responded after the loss:

"We walked ourselves right out of this game," Torre said. And: "We contributed more than the Orioles did to our demise, with the walks and our play in center field."

Wow. Just...wow. Torre, who used to be so skilled at protecting his players from criticism, now doles it on them himself to protect his own ass. That's simply irresponsible and despicable. Torre was most responsible for the loss, and if he doesn't know that, he's truly an idiot, and should be fired. If he does know it, and is throwing Proctor and Melky Cabrera under the bus to deflect blame, he's a Machiavellian douche, and should be fired.

A Brief Glimpse Inside the Mind of Joe Torre: Hmm, last year, when Alex Rodriguez was really struggling at the plate, I humiliated him in front of the entire world by batting him eighth against the Tigers. That worked out so well, I think I'll try it again with Abreu!

Overheard in the Psycho Fan's Apartment as Scott Proctor Appeared to Start the Ninth Inning: "Why am I the only person in the world who's not retarded?"

Events That Made the Psycho Fan Bash His Head Into a Brick Wall: Kyle Farnsworth's continued existence on this team; Miguel Cairo at first base.

Joe Torre is a Fuckwit...

...and it makes me sick to my stomach that he's still the manager of this team. In a year in which the Yankees can't afford to lose winnable games, he has cost them far too many wins already with his idiocy. Today, Torre bungled his way through a disastrous, 13-inning loss to a dreadful team, screwing up his bullpen, his bench and the game as a whole.

First of all, yet again, the Yankees lost an extra-inning game while their best pitcher sat around waiting for a phone call. Mariano Rivera lingered on the bench while a parade of inferior arms threw inning after inning against the Giants. In one ultimate tour de force of lunacy, Joe Torre allowed Scott Proctor to bat for himself with the winning run on base in the 13th inning, then sent him and his limp, dangling, wizened right arm out for a third, and ultimately fatal, inning of work. All the while, Rivera sat in the bullpen playing Connect Four with the bullpen catcher and one of San Francisco's "ball dudes."

Torre also fucked up by botching the 7th inning, bringing in the inept Mike Myers for Chien-Ming Wang, who walked his only batter faced, then calling for Brian Bruney and Ron Villone, severely limiting his options the rest of the way.

This game exposed Torre's strategical inadequacies, but it also exposed the severe lack of depth and flexibility on the Yankees' roster. Mike Myers and Ron Villone are just taking up space in the bullpen (Chris Britton has apparently died in Scranton). Chris Basak isn't even sent in to hit in favor of a pitcher. Miguel Cairo, Andy Phillips and Wil Nieves still have jobs. Kevin Thompson is hanging around. Christ, even the ghost of Bernie Williams would have been better than these Keystone Kops.

Brian Cashman gave his manager a short hand to play this season, and there's almost no manager in baseball less well-equipped to handle limitations than Joe Torre.

Oh, and Derek Jeter's hurt.

What an Offense!

Well, the Yankees were dominated by another all-time great, Jeff Francis this time, and Joe Torre left Andy Pettitte in a few hitters too long, and that was that.

Two losses in a row to a crappy N.L. team, and the Yankees find themselves in a double digit deficit in their division yet again. So much for hope. The Yanks were never really in the division race, and the last two games just confirm that.

This is an overrated offense filled with past-their-prime players and guys who shouldn't be in the Major Leagues. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada have to carry the load while the rest of the lineup implodes around them. The Johnny Damon contract, which looked so reasonable just 12 months ago, already looks like an albatross. And those of us waiting for Robinson Cano's bat to wake up are starting to get pretty desperate. Melky Cabrera may have all the energy in the world...but he can't hit a lick.

Also, Clueless Joe: everyone watching that game on television could see that Andy Pettitte was tiring and becoming ineffective in the 7th inning. Why couldn't you see that in the dugout? Meanwhile, the best candidate to eventually take over for Torre, Joe Girardi, looks set to take over another team in the division.

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Don't Write When You're Angry

FUCK THAT NOISE.

Ironically, Joe Torre's 2,000th career managerial win featured one of his worst strategic performances to date. Here are 10 things that made me furious during last night's 10-3 win over the White Sox, the least relaxing seven-run victory in baseball history.

1) In a decision reeking of senility, Torre chose to give Derek Jeter a night off (though he pinch-hit late) for the same game that The Unsinkable Wil Nieves was subbing for Jorge Posada. With one deft stroke, Torre removed two of the Yankees' three best hitters from the starting lineup, a lineup that featured an impressive bottom three of Phelps/Cairo/Nieves.

2) Torre pulled Mike Mussina with two on and no out in the 7th inning, after Mussina had allowed ZERO RUNS on only 79 PITCHES. Mussina got the hook after allowing an infield dribbler and one hard-hit ball to open the inning. Stupidity turned into idiocy as Torre elected to bring in Mike Myers to face lefty A.J. Pierzynski. Myers had allowed a .333 BAA to lefties entering the game, and Pierzynski promptly singled in the tying run.

3) In the 8th inning of a 4-1 game, Torre brought Kyle Farnsworth in to "hold the lead." Farnsy predictably blew up, forcing Torre to bring in Rivera for a potential five-out save...

4)...but Rivera's arm was saved by the Yankees' six-run outburst in the top of the ninth, which gave them a 10-3 lead. BUT TORRE LEFT RIVERA IN THE FUCKING GAME. After vowing in spring training to never use the aging closer for more than an inning, Torre let him pitch 1 2/3 when there was absolutely no justifiable reason to do so. I don't know if Torre wanted Mo to get a save because his total is so low this year, or if he honestly didn't believe any of his other pitchers could hold a seven-run lead against the worst offensive team in the American League. Either way, Torre was handed a gift and promptly pissed green tea all over it. I know Rivera hasn't pitched a lot this year, but that's not a good enough reason to let him go an extra inning when the game's already wrapped up. Now, he probably can't pitch tonight.

5) Where the fuck is Chris Britton?

6) I don't know if it was Torre's call or his own, but Johnny Damon had no business attempting to bunt after Jeter led off the 8th with a single.

7) Apparently, Jeter can't go to his right anymore, either.

8, 8...I forget what 8 was for...

but 9, 9, 9 for my lost God...

10, 10, 10, 10 is for Melky Cabrera batting second instead of Cano or Abreu. It must be his "energy."

Yankees 5, White Sox 1

Despite sloppy managing and sloppier base-running, the Yankes rode Chien-Ming Wang's dominant performance to a comfortable 5-1 win Wednesday night on the South Side.

Wang pitched like the ace he is, generating a steady stream of grounders and pop-ups, with the occasional K mixed in. His control was on, he kept his pitch count low, and the woeful White Sox lineup helped him out a few times. How's Ozzie Ball working out these days?

Miguel Cairo inexplicable started again at first base. Actually, "inexplicable" is not correct. The explanation is apparent and simple: Joe Torre is a moron who doesn't understand how to win baseball games. His peach-pit-and-green-tea-addled brain prevents him from understanding the most basic concepts of mathematics and strategy.

The last few games have also highlighted Derek Jeter's utter inability to go to his left on groundballs. I've never been as down on Captain Intangibles' defense as most stat-heads, but anecdotally speaking, he looks worse than ever ranging toward second base this year. In this White Sox series alone, he has allowed five balls hit to his left to get by him that most shortstops would have at least gotten a glove on. Perhaps not significantly, he has failed to convert his patented jump-and-fire play twice on grounders to his right by rookie Jerry Owens, allowing infield hits both times. In the past, Jeter's ability to be both clutch and spectacular in the field has helped mitigate his lack of range. That might not be the case anymore.

The Yankees have won five out of seven now, which is normally not a cause for celebration, but this year, we have to take what we can get, right kids? Before we start allowing ourselves to dream of better days, we must keep in mind that even if the Yankees play .600 ball for the rest of the year (normally a 97-win pace), they'll only win about 88 games. Two problems: a) this hasn't looked like a .600 team at any point this season, and b) 88 wins won't be good enough for the Wild Card in this league.

The grave has been dug.

The Purple Rose of Miguel Cairo

Yankees 7, White Sox 3.

So Josh Phelps threw the ball to all corners of Comiskey Monday night, and Joe Torre's shrill, hysterical reaction was to punish that bad boy, and start Miguel Cairo at first base against Mark Buehrle last night.

Miguel Cairo.

I don't care that Cairo slapped a clutch RBI single into centerfield last night; playing him at first-base was irresponsible, an extreme breach of a manager's responsibility to put the best team possible on the field. Cairo is a significantly below-average player at any position, let alone first base where mighty sluggers normally roam (or at least stumble). Cairo's not exactly Don Mattingly with the glove either, so there is no possible justification for playing him.

Bring me Andy Phillips. Bring me Josh Phelps. Bring me the ghost of Minky. Bring me Shelley Duncan. Bring me...oh, wait...not him.

Meanwhile, the Yanks' bullpen continues to disgrace itself at every opportunity, enabled like a lifelong alcoholic by the sad, abused tandem of Joe Torre and Brian Cashman.

Chris Britton, he of the impressive 2006 season and dominant minor league numbers, has pitched five innings with the big club this year. At the same time, Luis Vizcaino (6.91 ERA) has thrown 28 innings, Kyle Farnsworth (1.58 WHIP) has thrown 24, Ron Villone (6.30 ERA) has thrown 10, and Scott Proctor's right arm has grown 11 inches longer than his left. These guys shouldn't even have big-league jobs, let alone be allowed to pitch in high-leverage situations.

The Yankees, as an organization, don't recognize mistakes quickly enough, and they don't learn from the past. Minky/Miguel Cairo = Tony Womack. Vizcaino = Felix Heredia. Certain guys just need to be cut loose before they sink a season, but the team's brain trust is unwilling on incapable of action. Cashman and Torre combine the indecisiveness of Hamlet with the sheer stubbornness of Archie Bunker. The results speak for themselves.

Fire Joe Torre Because...

...he keeps selling out his own players.

I don't care if Torre hates ARod's guts. He needs to defend him, especially given how easy ARod is to criticize. This sort of thing used to be Torre's forte. His players loved him because he stood up for them wrong or right. Now he only stands up for his "boys."