PaullyInNYC

Well the Yankees are off to a slow start this season. They are 2-4. They beat the Angels yesterday 10 to 1. Maybe this will get them back to kicking ass being that they have an all star caliber team.

SwimCoach

The Yankees are back on track and now have won 4 in a row. Gary Sheffield got back on track and that all star lineup is starting to show its capabilities. They are 5 - 4.

Anyone willing to guess about how many wins the Yankees will get? And what they should get?

CityGuy

After watching Randy Johnson struggle against a depleted Devil Rays lineup last night Im wondering when the ace pitcher will get back to a consistent form.

Sitting two levels above the field behind home plate, Steinbrenner watched Johnson struggle against a lineup that was without Jorge Cantu, Rocco Baldelli, Aubrey Huff and Julio Lugo.

"I realized I haven't pitched well in three of my last four starts," Johnson said after the Yankees' 10-5 victory that was witnessed by 22,164. "I am looking to be consistent and trying to pitch the games I want to pitch. Of late, I haven't been able to do that."

In 62/3 innings Johnson gave up five runs and seven hits. In his last two starts Johnson has worked 112/3 frames, given up 13 hits, 11 runs and won twice. He is 5-2 with a bloated 5.02 ERA.

The Yankees couldn't exhale until Johnny Damon hit a grand slam off Dan Miceli in the eighth that turned a 6-5 edge into a 10-5 cushion.

Hideki Matsui (3-for-5) also homered for the Yankees, who are 4-1 against the Devil Rays after going 8-11 last year. The victory was Johnson's 268th and moved him into a tie with Jim Palmer for 32nd on the all-time list. Burleigh Grimes is next at 270.

Johnson has timing going for him. In his seven starts the Yankees are averaging 9.3 runs per game. During his five victories the Yankees are averaging 11.6 runs.

"We are winning and I am not pitching as well as I want to," Johnson said. "I have been the beneficiary of a lot of offense. I am looking forward to getting beyond where I am and get to where I need to be."

Johnson rebounded from a shaky fifth, when Ty Wigginton hit a two-run homer, to retire his last six batters before being replaced by Tanyon Sturtze with two outs and the Yankees leading by a run in the seventh. Sturtze retired Jonny Gomes on a liner to short.

Gary Sheffield's two-out pinch-hit single started a two-run rally that gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead in the seventh. Damon followed with a single off Chad Orvella before Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi walked to force in a run. Alex Rodriguez was hit to plate the go-ahead run.

Damon sealed the victory with the grand slam that was made extra special because his father, Jimmy, was on hand. Damon's father doesn't get to travel much since he undergoes kidney dialysis three days a week and is comfortable at the Orlando-area facility he uses. So the 90-minute drive is the best chance he has to see his son play.

"He got to see it and I acknowledged him," Damon said. "I am sure he then got in the car and headed back to Orlando."

Johnson was most irritated for letting a 4-3 lead vanish in the fifth.

"I have been around long enough to realize that I am out there to keep the lead," said Johnson, who notched his 4,400th career strikeout when he fanned Nick Green in the fourth. Only Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Roger Clemens (4,502) are ahead of Johnson (4,401) on the all-time list.

"Obviously he wasn't lights out," Damon said of Johnson. "But he is trying to figure it out. This time of the year he has a free pass. We know he will be the ace."

The question is when.

TheMan

the Yanks start a series again Cleveland tonite and with losing 4 in a row, they desperatly need to get back on track. Injuries to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson's miserable season have created craters for Cashman to fill. It's his responsibility to make the Yankees better.

Does he part with pitching prospect Philip Hughes for Alfonso Soriano and then sign Soriano, who can be a free agent after the year? Does he dangle Hughes in a package for Dontrelle Willis? Or does he settle for second-tier outfielders and pitchers?

TheMan

Only Steinbrenner, the imperialistic owner of the New York Yankees, can issue a statement chiding his team's elimination from the playoffs as "absolutely not acceptable" -- the "absolutely" added later for emphasis. Only Steinbrenner has the nerve to announce that the Yankees "will go back to work immediately and try to right this sad failure."

As opposed to going back to work immediately and trying not to right things.

In Steinbrenner's goofy mind, the failure was losing to the Detroit Tigers in the AL divisional playoffs. The Yankees couldn't even force a Game 5, winning the opener and then dropping the next three. That's when, ever so predictably, Steinbrenner's temper reached critical mass and the New York newspapers began breathlessly clearing space for the verbal meltdown.

Joe Torre's Yankees managerial career will probably be found in a meat locker soon, just like Frankie Carbone in "Goodfellas." But unlike poor, frozen Frankie, Torre will have a $7 million severance check to help keep him warm. That, his annual stay in Kapalua, Hawaii, and the soothing knowledge of never having to work for Steinbrenner again should get Torre through the winter. Lucky him.

These shrill Steinbrenner outbursts are sooooo Billy Martin Era. They were interesting then, tiresome now. The man has become a cartoon character, a caricature. He's good copy, but his version of the truth never includes any self-blame. It's always somebody else's fault.

Yes, the Yankees had nearly a $200 million player payroll this season, financially obscene even by MLB standards. That payroll is $56 million more than the combined payrolls of two of the four remaining teams in the playoffs (the Tigers at $82 million, and A's at $62 million), and only $30 million less than the combined payrolls of the Tigers, A's and a third surviving team, the St. Louis Cardinals ($86 million). But bloated payrolls guarantee nothing.

Flush with his adidas, attendance and television rights revenue, Steinbrenner has spent wisely and stupidly. But even Steinbrenner should know the essential truth of the postseason: Good pitching almost always beats good hitting. The Yankees, with their lineup for the ages, led the big leagues in runs and RBI this season, but the Tigers led the majors in pitching. That's why Detroit, not the Yanks, plays Oakland in the AL Championship Series beginning Tuesday.

And just to refresh Steinbrenner's selective memory, the Tigers finished the regular season with only two fewer wins than the Yankees. It wasn't like they were baseball's equivalent of Athletes In Action.

But Steinbrenner is "deeply disappointed" with the early elimination. What else is new? Steinbrenner's day isn't complete if he isn't pissed at somebody or something.

Meanwhile, Torre, the guy who has won four World Series, is 11-for-11 in reaching the playoffs and has more than 1,000 games as Steinbrenner's employee, is the one who will likely get tagged and bagged. The reasoning: The Yankees haven't advanced past the first round in three of the past five seasons. The truth: The Yankees haven't advanced past the first round in three of the past five seasons and Steinbrenner can't fire himself.

Back on Nov. 2, 1995, the day he was introduced as the 21st manager of the Yankees, Torre said he got "goosebumpy" when offered the job by Steinbrenner. That was the same news conference that Torre said he and general manager Bob Watson "are going to decide the baseball side of this operation. Until I see otherwise, I have no reason to think otherwise."

Watson now works for MLB, and Torre is on the Pink Slip Watch. Both men quickly learned that nobody truly decides the baseball side of the Yankees' operation except Steinbrenner. It has been that way since Steinbrenner bought the team in 1973. It will remain that way until he croaks.

As the rival New York Mets (with a payroll half the size of the Yankees) wipe the champagne from their eyes and ready for Wednesday's start of the NLCS, Steinbrenner wipes the mud from his peepers. He is humiliated, embarrassed … blah, blah, blah. It's the same schtick.

But if Steinbrenner really wants to make news, he'll keep Torre and let someone else hire Lou Piniella. He'll realize that Alex Rodriguez, for all his vast talent and his remaining $66.6 million price tag, is simply too fragile to handle the October playoff pressure. And wouldn't it be refreshing if Steinbrenner said he shared the responsibility for the unexpected playoff departure? After all, he's the guy who approved the trades and big-ticket items.

Will any of this happen? Doubtful.

In a weird way, I admire Steinbrenner's baseball passion. But it's too convenient to issue angry postseason decrees from the safety of your Yankees office or Tampa retreat. You can't always be part of the solution. In Steinbrenner's case, he's usually part of the problem.

If Steinbrenner really wants to right this sad failure, then he needs to find some new pitching, not a new manager. He needs to understand the Tigers' series win was no fluke. Most of all, he needs to keep his mouth shut.

PaullyInNYC

And just so everyone knows Joe Torre is coming back to be the New York Yankees coach/manager.

jeimsin

What moves should the New York Yankees make this offseason??

CityGuy

well it looks like the big unit, randy johnson may be headed back to the diamondbacks. Not 100% sure yet but we'll have to wait and see.

CityGuy

The New York Yankees agreed in principle to trade five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson to the Arizona Diamondbacks, ending two years that started with the shove of a cameraman and ended with boos and back surgery.

The two Major League Baseball teams reached tentative agreement today and Arizona has 72 hours to discuss Johnson's contract with his agents, Diamondbacks General Manager Josh Byrnes said in a statement.

Both teams declined further comment.

Johnson, a 43-year-old left-hander who is 20 wins shy of 300 for his career, would return to the club where he won four straight Cy Young awards from 1999 to 2002. He earlier won a Cy Young Award with Seattle.

The deal, 2 1/2 months after the pitcher had back surgery, would end a tumultuous tenure in New York for Johnson, who feuded with the news media and teammates and was jeered by fans for failing to duplicate the strikeouts and key victories that helped the 6-foot-10 veteran earn the nickname, ``Big Unit.''

TheMan

The New York Yankees are now 88-64 thanks to part in them winning 8 of their past 10 games. They have closed the gap on division rival Boston Red Sox (90-63) to 2.5 games. This is going to be an exciting run to the end of the regular season!