The hands on the hips say it all: “I was the G-Men’s poster boy my first couple of seasons, and then I didn’t get involved as much as I wanted, and we were one and done in the playoffs a few times, and then I was still pissy after we won a SuperBowl (one in which I sat out with a broken leg), but now things are better ’cause I get to play with Reggie Bush.”

While this sounds like a trade made in Madden Heaven if you’re living in N’Awlins, it’s gotta make you question whether Shockey ever truly embraced being a G-Man. After 9/11 he came back with that ridic tat that screamed “U.S. pride” — and even more so “NY pride” — but now he plans to trade in the Big Apple and a SuperBowl ring for a pair of floaties… what, to soon?

Stephon Marbury, Gary Sheffield, and now you can add Jeremy Shockey to the list of bush league cry babies who are unworthy of calling New York “home.”

Back in ‘99, we took the “French pastry”, so what should we call Danilo Gallinari? The f@#king Calzone? I guess some people are saying this kid’s the next Toni Kukoc. Awesome. So he looks like a Poindexter and he’d be a great 5th option on a championship team. Would’ve been a great pick if we were the freaking Celtics. Didn’t Isiah tell Donnie Walsh during his exit interview that we lost, not won, 59 games last year? As a Knick fan, I have no choice other than to try to find the silver lining in everything, so two thoughts: 1) if this kid really is the reincarnation of Kukoc, then Donnie Walsh will look like a genius two years down the line if we really do pair him with another #23– LeBron James. We kinda put the cart before the horse, but at least there seems to be some semblance of a plan at work here; 2) the last time a coach did a favor for a family friend in the draft, it resulted in Mike Piazza being taken with the last pick in the ‘88 MLB draft. Here’s hoping history repeats itself…

Nothing has happened to change my opinion from when I first handicapped the Knicks’ draft prospects (well, other than us not having a top-5 pick), so I’d be drafting the same guy I would’ve drafted on February 15th– O.J. Mayo. Unfortunately, the smart money has him being taken with the 2nd or 3rd pick, so here’s some ideas on what we should do instead:

1) Trade up to get Mayo– I don’t care what it takes, just make it happen. I’d also suggest that Donnie try to swing a deal with Chicago/Miami for the 1st or 2nd pick, but there’s a better chance of us winning 60 games next year than that happening.

2) Trade Marbury and Malik Rose’s expiring contract for Baron Davis, then draft an athletic big-man like Anthony Randolph (sorry to half-steal your idea, Chuck)– Donnie Walsh has been dropping hints left and right about his willingness to forego drafting a PG if he can acquire an accomplished vet to run the show, and B-Diddy certainly fits the bill. Plus, his contract will come off the books after next season, so putting him in Orange and Blue would accomplish two of Walsh’ main goals– 1) get us well under the cap when LeBron becomes an FA in 2010 and 2) keep us somewhat competitive in the interim. If Davis is in the fold, then we might as well take a gamble on Randolph, who has been compared to Chris Bosh.

3) Trade up to get Mayo– we better f@#kin’ do it!

4) Trade David Lee and Malik Rose to Memphis for the 5th pick and Brian Cardinal, then draft Mayo (if he’s available there, which he won’t be, in which case we should take Russell Westbrook) and Randolph– This isn’t a Monnie D. original obviously, but it’s a pretty decent alternative as far as the “kill two birds with one stone” approach goes. We need a PG and someone who can play above the rim like Chuck mentioned, and we’d get both if we could pull this off. The deal obviously becomes the greatest thing since God created T&A if Mayo slips to 5th. I know, I know, most of you would rather make out with Sarah Jessica Parker than trade D-Lee, but seriously, just because he’s the only white guy on the team doesn’t make him our best player… it just makes him your favorite one. It’s time to get something in return for him before his stock plummets in D’Antoni’s shooter-oriented system.

5) Trade up to get Mayo– I think you get the point.

Unless the Knicks find some way of be in position to draft either O.J. Mayo or Derrick Rose, the Knicks need to demonstrate their desire to really rebuild the team and draft Anthony Randolph because if the goal is to truly secure Lebron James services in 2010, then the Knicks need to add complimentary players… NOW! I know several mock drafts have the Knicks selecting Russell Westbrook or Jerryd Bayless. However, last time I checked, the Knicks’ roster is full of under-sized shooting guards who can’t play the point. So why draft another one??? Or some people say they should look into Danilo Gallinari. Need I remind you all of the success rate of the European big man in the NBA???? Besides Dirk, I am hard pressed to name even one guy who’s become an impact player (Donny-Darko anyone?) And the one guy who does come to mind — Vlade Divac — is retired. Other than Michael Beasley, no other big man has as much potential as Randolph, and he can do one thing that every other Knick big man has trouble doing– playing above the rim. This certainly wouldn’t be the most popular pick, but I think in the long run it will be the best one for the franchise’s future.

This weekend I saw Get Smart. I used to watch it on Nick at Nite and it was pretty funny back in the day. Well, the big screen version was no disappointment as Steve Carrel made you almost pee yourself in playing Maxwell Smart. Duane “The Rock” Johnson also makes an appearance as the Great Khali, both from the WWE.

However the most intriguing performance was that of Anne Hathway. Once Disney’s little princess, she is now a legitimate sex kitten. She’s asked to use her sex appeal in a variety of situations and, I gotta tell ya, it works.

I usually don’t do movie reviews, well, because this is a sports site (although variety and the like has never been discouraged), but I would strongly encourage going to see Get Smart because it’s funny and Anne Hathaway can get it.

To touch on some sports issues though:

1. Shaq’s freestyle was rabbitish and a little weak… Kobe, you could eat my a$$? Very original. Could’ve went with suck my [beep], but a$$ was definitely more crowd-friendly.

2. On a somewhat related note, Ozzie Guillen went freaking nuts two weeks or so ago saying how everyone and everything basically could eat his a$$, and the White Sox have played legitimate baseball since then.

3. Willie Randolph was supposedly doomed before he could get a bona fide crack at turning the Mets around this season… and after last year’s collapse like a back alley boob job, it wasn’t really a surprise. New York is all about winning and if you don’t, your job is in jeopardy… unless you coach the Knicks, then you have a few years and a gajillion dollars before to blow before you’re ousted.

4. “Pacman” Jones no longer wishes to be referred to by his nickname and strictly wants to be known as Adam Jones. I guess it’s easier than having to remember “Prison Number 736492128.”

5. Interleague play is a stellar idea that should be continued as long as possible. Sure, it might take some of the glamour away from the World Series, but in all reality, it’s one of the only times a number of fans can see their teams play with the big dogs in the AL. You can thank us in advance for your best attendance numbers of the season, Pittsburgh Pirates.

6. Maria Sharapova said she would be wearing less flashy clothes at Wimbeldon… and we would continue to watch her play why?

7. Roger Federer extended his win streak on grass courts to 60 straight… why do I feel like this guy does not pull as much a$$ as he should? And if he does, I wanna see what kind of caliber he is pulling, just so I can decide if growing my hair out that long is worth it.

8. Anne Hathaway… just needed to make a shout-out one more time.

The most disappointing part of this whole “freestyle” — if we can even call it that because it’s pretty obvious Shaq’s been rehearsing this since last week; think about it, how many freestyles can you think of off the top of your head that have a chorus — has to be the “Kobe, tell me how my a$$ tastes” line ’cause it really makes no sense whatsoever. I mean I get it, Shaq doesn’t like Kobe, but the only time you’d be tasting something is if you put it in your mouth, and I’m almost positive Shaq’s backside isn’t fitting inside Kobe’s face. I’m guessing he was trying to go with Mike Tyson’s infamous “How my ‘dic-tate’” line here, which is obviously more anatomically appropriate, and just botched it. Oh, you mean the Tyson thing was just the punchline for a bad joke? K, nevermind then. The Ewing thing kinda pisses me off though. Shaq can loose weight faster than he can make a free throw, yet he sees fit to attack the greatest jump-shooting center in NBA history? I don’t remember Shaq winning any championships by himself the way Pat was asked to every year. Dis’ Kobe all you want, you fat bastard, but John Starks he is not.

After watching Kobe Bryant toss up bricks and throw away passes to Pau Gasol all series long, proving yet again that he is not in Michael Jordan’s class, I started thinking about some things. No, not about how a majority of my childhood sports’ memories are of MJ tormenting the Knicks (and for the record, the only fourth quarter memory I have of Scottie Pippen is him refusing to come into the game during the 4th quarter of Game 3 against the Knicks in the 1994 Eastern Conference Semi-finals, which Toni Kukoc won anyway with a fade-away jumper. F#@kin’ Bulls.) Instead, I was wondering what life would be like as a Knick fan if Patrick Ewing had been born in 1982 instead of 1962 and got a chance to play in today’s NBA. Other than Tim Duncan, there are no traditional, dominant big men in the NBA and, most importantly, there is no Michael Jordan. Give any Knick team from 91-92 to 94-95 (maybe even 96-97) a shot in today’s NBA and I’m pretty sure they would go 2-girls-one-cup on the rest of the NBA. A front-line of Ewing, Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley would be the most feared in the league. After a hard foul from Oak, a flagrant from Mase, and 3-consecutive blocked shots by Pat, the opposition wouldn’t be concerned so much about flopping to draw foul calls so much as faking an injury to get the hell out of the game. I mean there isn’t a team in today’s NBA that has anything close to the intimidation factor those old Knick squads had. Actually, today’s NBA is quite soft, and if you check the delivery manifest at every arena, you’ll find that each shipment of basketballs comes with a complimentary crate-full of tampons. I guess Patrick Ewing’s career shows that in addition to talent, you need a little bit o’ luck because if he played in these NBA Finals, he would’ve exposed KG for being the overgrown two-guard that he is.

And with the 6th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Knicks select some overrated European big man who’ll spend his career anchored to the three-point line, never average more than 10 ppg, and be lucky if his teammates don’t ostracize him by the end of the first week of training camp… and that’s if he even makes it over to the States to begin with. In other words, Donnie Walsh just found out how hard turning this thing around is going to be…

So just about a year a ago, it looked like the NBA was dead. All of us had just sat through arguably the worst postseason of the last two decades (or just didn’t bother to watch… either way, it sucked), and as if people didn’t feel like the NBA playoffs were the biggest joke this side of Paris Hilton’s music career after Amare Stoudemire was suspended for Game 5 of the Suns/Spurs series, Tim Donaghy jumped on the scene and pretty much confirmed what we all suspected ever since Michael Jordan converted his first three-point-play without a defender within 5-feet of him: at least one referee, and probably more– though the NBA would sooner contract 20 teams than admit to it– was rigging games.

What a difference a year makes. The NBA better be careful, because it’s in danger of becoming relevant again after one of the most competitive seasons in league history– all 8 playoff teams out West won at least 50 games– has yielded the most entertaining playoffs since the good ol’ “Jordan’s Bulls/Ewing’s Knicks” days. And to top it all off, we now get the two best teams in each conference going at it for the right to move on to the NBA Finals…

Alright, my apologies for the somewhat long intro, but you have to understand– for an NBA junkie like me, this is about as good as it gets (short of the Knicks being competitive again, and I’ll get to that in a minute). I haven’t been this excited about a conference finals that didn’t involve the Knicks since… well, never. I’m not sure if it’s the NBA finally putting out a high quality product that’s worth watching, or more a case of the ultimate effect of the Knicks’ yearly suckiness finally kicking in and compelling me to watch good basketball, but I’m willing to give David Stern the benefit of the doubt here.

Before I forget… as you’ve probably heard, the Draft Lottery is being held from 7:30-8, and stands to be the best thing to come out of Jersey since White Castle if you’re a Knick fan… or the worst thing since Matchbox 20 (update: I confused dead Wendy’s mogul Dave Thomas for Rob Thomas. Happens every day, right? Thanks to devo for the tip. How bout’ this: the worst thing to come out of Jersey since emo music, and people who dress up like emo musicians) depending on how the ping pong balls fly up the chute tonight. Being the beleaguered Knick fan that I am, I’m preparing for the worst case scenario, which would be falling out of the five spot all the way down to eight. As it is, we’ve only got a 7.4% chance of winning the damn thing, which is another way of saying, “It ain’t happening.” But if it does? I’m pre-ordering my Derrick Rose jersey at 8:01pm.

Anyway, here’s how I see this Celtics/Pistons series playing out: in all honesty, I’m not sure how this thing goes back to Boston without the Pistons having an opportunity to clinch in Game 5. The C’s are basically giving tonight’s game away after they labored through another 7-game series, while the Pistons have just been chillin’, getting Chauncey Billups healthy enough to drop an enormous deuce on Rajon Rondo and Sam Cassell. Everyone’s talking about how in spite of Boston’s struggles on the road in these playoffs, no one has proven they can beat them at home, which still makes them a viable championship threat. Well that’s all about change real fast ’cause it wouldn’t shock me if the Pistons took Game 2 either (though I’m not actually saying it’ll happen). Garnett, Pierce, and that guy who claims to be Ray Allen have managed to survive by the skin of their teeth thanks to playing against guys that didn’t know how to get it done in a hostile environment– first the Hawks, and then every Cavalier not named LeBron James. And let’s face it: if you take away LeBron (I know you can’t, but just go with me here), it basically took the Celtics seven games to beat a team whose second best player had more turnovers (6) than assists (5) in Game 7, and he was the f#$king point guard (Delonte West)!!! Call me crazy, but I just don’t see guys like Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince having those kinds of issues. When my beloved Patriots lost like dogs in the Super Bowl, I said I’d be willing to make that sacrifice if it meant Boston teams would roll through their regular seasons and then choke on their own vomit in the playoffs, and it looks like I’m going to be rewarded for my faithfulness. Can’t wait to see what fate has in store for the Sox this year! Pick: Pistons in 6

Alright, so the Knicks have made many bad decisions over the years and have basically turned the franchise into the east coast version of the LA Clippers. First, they traded Patrick Ewing with one year left on his contract that started the cap quagmire that the Knicks still have not escaped. Second, they hired incompetent GM’s like Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas to run the franchise. Third, they polluted the roster with players like Jerome James and Stephon Marbury. I could go on for days (probably years) listing the dumb decisions the Knicks have made over this past decade. However, the Knicks have finally made one decision that makes sense in naming Mike D’Antoni as head coach.

Some pundits, such as Peter Vecsey and Shaun Powell to name a few, have ridiculed Donnie Walsh’s decision to hire D’Antoni. The critics feel that his system is not built for our (garbage) roster and that a coach such as Mark Jackson is needed to preach defense and bond with Stephon Marbury. As I have said before, I agree with those who say that Mike D’Antoni is not a good fit with the current roster. But, he is a perfect fit for the future of the franchise. In fact, the only “good” fit for this roster is an atomic bomb to blow it up. The Knicks are building for the future and D’Antoni’s system is the future of the NBA. The two top players in the NBA playoffs right now are Tony Parker and Chris Paul and they are both point guards (Editor’s note: I guess Chuck forgot that there were players named Kobe and LeBron in these playoffs too) and, not coincidentally, the most important position in the NBA today is the point guard position. If your team has a Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Steve Nash, or Derron Williams, your team makes the playoffs year-in and year-out. These four players also happen to be the top four players at their position and you can make a legitimate argument that the true MVP this season was Chris Paul. There is only one true dominant post player in this year’s playoffs, and that guy is Tim Duncan. Therefore, you don’t hire a coach whose system fits the talents of players such as Eddy Curry. You hire him in the hopes that he can wreak havoc in the Eastern Conference with a star point guard (So we don’t have one right this second, so what? By this coming Tuesday, Derrick Rose may already be lined up to be that guy.)

I don’t know whether Mark Jackson is a great coach or not, and I do not want to spend the next two years watching the Knicks figure out of he is. If he really wants to be a coach, maybe he should join Patrick Ewing on the bench and actually get some coaching experience. Mike D’Antoni was the most qualified coach on the market and the Knicks got him. Instead of criticizing Donnie Walsh, the critics should be celebrating this decision because at the start of the season, who would have ever dreamed that Mike D’Antoni would want to come to NYC? Finally, it looks like the Knicks have started building the foundation of a strong organization, and that is reason enough to be excited. And if Derrick Rose is walking through that door in June, well then we can all start dreaming big.

bringing in Mike D’Antoni to coach the Knicks is just another in a long line of quick fixes that will make us only marginally better and, needless to say, won’t get us any closer to winning a championship in the near future. Now I know Chuck didn’t make the claim that D’Antoni would lead us to a title anyway, but isn’t that the point? Yeah, us Knick fans are all beaten down like a first-time convict in the state penitentiary, and our goals are pretty modest these days, but the idea here is to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, not brighten our spirits while we continue to piss away opportunities in the putrid Eastern Conference.

The fact of the matter is, the NBA is becoming an awful lot like the NFL, where coaches need specific types of players to fit their “system,” unless they are elite ones like Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, or Greg Popovich (and even those guys need a “prime mover,” i.e. MJ & Kobe, Dwayne Wade, and Tim Duncan to make it all work). Crazily enough, the Knicks do have a few players who would fit D’Antoni’s “Phoe-ast Break” scheme, namely Crawford, Little Nate, D-Lee, and Ro’ Balkman. The only problem is, the entire freakin’ roster will fit perfectly into his “Defense, what defense?” scheme as well and, last time I checked, letting the opposition drop 100-points a night wasn’t exactly getting the Knicks out of the Atlantic Division basement. Hmmm actually, there’s another problem too– the Knicks simply don’t have the talent to outscore their opponents on a nightly basis the way D’Antoni’s teams did for the last 5-years; this is probably stating the obvious, but Stephon Marbury isn’t Steve Nash, and while Eddie Curry could probably eat Amare Stoudemire, he can’t hold a candle to him on the b-ball court.

But that brings us to my “what if” disclaimer. Let’s say Donnie Walsh really is the mastermind we’ve all been told he is. Let’s believe for a minute or two that he has all his ducks lined up in a row, that he brought in D’Antoni knowing full-well that he could mold this roster to D’Antoni’s wishes. And let’s run with the rumors for a second, hoping that Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw really are on their way to MSG courtesy of Stephon Marbury’s expiring contract. (Update: Donnie Walsh torpedoed this rumor on “Mike and the Mad Dog” this afternoon.) And then– even more of a stretch– let’s dream that our lottery luck miraculously changes this year, that we end up with one of the top-two picks in this year’s draft… and that it yields either Derrick Rose (this generation’s Steve Nash, you heard it here first) or Mike Beasely (remind you a little of Amare Stoudemire, right?). Well then everything changes. Then hiring D’Antoni goes from mismatch to perfect fit… then we really do pull a Celtic-esque overnight turnaround (and that’s forgetting Donnie Walsh’s goal to be under the cap by 2010 so we can go after LeBron) and challenge for the Eastern crown next year.

Ultimately, I’ll say this– I do think we’ll be a borderline playoff team next year. Which, if you think about it, could put D’Antoni and Walsh up for Coach of the Year/Exec of the Year honors considering how bad things have been the last 7 seasons. Still, I just don’t think it gets us anywhere near the promised land as things currently sit. But if Donnie gets the goods, well then– take a deep breath– the Knicks could win a championship before the Yanks win their next one. Like I said, that’s all a BIG “what if,” but the intrigue that comes along with signing a big-name coach is obviously what Donnie Walsh shelled out Dolan’s $24 million for. For once, let’s just hope it’s money well spent.

We will not be seeing Mark Jackson’s wife making any big purchases on 5th Avenue because her husband will not be the next head coach of the New York Knicks. You can say many things about the Knicks head coaching position: the roster sucks, the owner is dysfunctional, and the team is like a billion dollars over the salary cap. However, the Knicks pay good money, as evidenced by Mike D’Antoni’s reported 4-year, 24 million dollar contract to coach the team, and it’s pretty obvious that was D’Antoni’s main selling point.

Now many pundits believe that the Knicks do not have the players to run D’Antoni’s system, which is a valid point. But then again, the Knicks did not have the players to run Larry Brown’s system, or whatever “system” Isiah Thomas tried either. The simple fact is that the Knicks’ roster is beyond horrendous and whomever they choose as coach– be it D’Antoni, Mark Jackson or Avery Johnson– the roster was going need a major overhaul regardless. At the end of the day, the Knicks made the right, if not the most logical, decision: they got the best, most proven coach on the market in the hopes that he can breathe some life into this team as they begin the process of rebuilding. Before being coached by D’Antoni, Steve Nash was a good player. Under D’Antoni, he became a two-time MVP. Maybe in his contract year, $tarbury finds his 20-9 form and Jamal Crawford thrives in this up-tempo style. One major benefit of this decision is that at least Eddy Curry (if he stays) will finally have to run the floor and get in shape. That, to me, makes D’Antoni worth every penny.

I’ll have more to say about Mike D’Antoni’s 4-year, $24 million deal on Monday, but for now I’ll just say this: I always wondered what it’d be like to have the Pringles guy coach my favorite basketball team, and now I’ll finally get to find out…

So far so good, Donnie Walsh…

I’ve stayed away from talking about the Rangers’ 4-1 series loss to the Penguins till this point… and I’m going to keep on refraining because, quite frankly, swearing uncontrollably may make for good comedy, but it won’t make for a good blog. Though there are some other things I’m willing to talk about on this relatively slow news day…

– Joba’s blown save: Yeah, that’s exactly what they call it when you come in to hold a lead in the late innings and blow it, regardless of whether Mo is actually the guy who would eventually come in to close it out (it only becomes a “hold” when Mo notches the save). The thing that worries me the most about this (Aside from the fact that he continually went to his 2nd (slider) and 3rd best (curveball) pitches instead of going after guys with his 95+-mph-heatseaker… and oh yeah, the fact that he gave up that bomb to Dave freakin’ Dellucci. I could live with it if it was Travis Hafner, but Dave Dellucci??? The guy isn’t exactly Kirk Gibson.) is that there were visible tears in his eyes when he retreated to the dugout… and despite all the sarcasm this blog is rife with, that’s not an exaggeration by any means. In fact, I’m surprised his waterworks (no, not that kind, you pervert) didn’t land him on every Red Sox blog from here to farthest reaches of Sox Nation. The Great Mariano had to endure tougher defeats before he became the G.O.A.T.– cough-cough Game 4 of the ‘97 ALDS cough-cough– and yet you never saw any tears well up in his eyelids, ever. I hate to say this ’cause I love Joba to death, but if he’s having a nervous breakdown over blowing a game in early May, I don’t want to be there for his reaction when he gives one up in October without an assist from a million swarming bugs. My gut tells me he’ll bounce back from this… but he better, otherwise the Yanks’ problems will be a lot bigger than any of us could have imagined.

- The Knicks’ coaching search: can this thing just end already? I know Donnie’s trying to do his due-diligence, but seriously, there’s really no other way to go here but Mark Jax. I hear ya, I hear ya, I like Mike D’Antoni too, but the guy walked into an ideal situation in Phoenix and now wants to leave when the going gets tough, which leads me to believe he’s not into the whole “franchise building” thing like Larry Brown. Plus, Donnie Walsh should be charged with murder if D’Antoni gets the gig ’cause his shortened rotation and break-neck style will put Eddie Curry six feet under by mid-November. And alright, Avery Johnson ain’t bad either. But he’s been the coach of a team that quit on him in the playoffs 3 years in a row (basically from Game 3 of ‘06 Finals on). Considering all that, how long would it be before the Knicks quit on him? Maybe the second week of training camp? Let’s just end the charade and hold the Jax press conference. I know he has zero experience and so-on and so-forth, but the guy’s gotta get his start somewhere, doesn’t he? Might as well be with a team that’s starting over from scratch, not to mention the one that plays in his hometown. The expectations will be low and he’ll get a fair amount of leeway– well at least as much leeway as you can get in NYC– which will be good for a rookie coach coming into a rebuilding situation. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Then again, these are the Knicks, Donnie Walsh or no Donnie Walsh running the show.

Alright, I promise you’ll hear from me about the Blueshirts in the near future… just as soon as I’m done constructing an effigy of Gary Bettman to light my bonfire this weekend.

First, before I precede any further I have to talk Grand Theft Auto IV. That game is amazing and is a definite must have if you own a Play Station 3 or Xbox 360. I have already sacrificed a week of my life to it, and instead of writing articles, I have been wreakin’ havoc as Nikko in Liberty City. Speaking of wreaking havoc, injuries and youth have decimated the Yankees and the 2008 season is very much in peril (who would have thought on May 2, 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays would be in first place and Joe Torre’s Dodgers would have a better record). Things are not looking good in the Bronx as the Yankees’ two most indepensible everyday players (A-Rod, and Posada) are on the DL along with their top young pitcher Phil Hughes (it sounds like him and Carl Pavano have a lot to talk about in Tampa). Unfortunately for Brian Cashman, his scapegoat now manages in LA and his hand picked manger does not look too good right now.

Coming into the season the Yankees stressed “physical” fitness to prevent injuries because under Joe Torre the players were “out of shape”. Along those lines, we all heard about how much running the Yankees were doing in spring training and what great shape everyone was in. Fast-forward to today and their top starting pitching prospect broke his rib (I wonder how?) and both A-Rod and Jeter have suffered quad injuries (Maybe there was too much running in spring training?). In addition to those, Jorge Posada has been placed on the DL for the first time in his career with a strain shoulder. I say all this to point out that Brian Cashman may come to regret (sooner rather than later) firing Joe Torre. For all of Torre’s well-chronicled lack of in-game management skills, this is the time that Torre was at his best; he was able to take the blame and lead his team through the rough times. So far, Joe Girardi’s been showing that he can’t handle the heat that comes with a rocky start in the Big City. Now Cashman has to take responsibility for his flawed off-season plan. In the off-season, I wrote that the Mets once tried to build a contender with three young pitching prospects in the mid 90’s and failed miserably. Cash is heading down the same path, as the Yankees are not going to make the postseason this year with the way rest of the division is playing. His trio of young pitchers has failed him big time this year. Ian Kennedy was obviously not ready for the big leagues, and Phil Hughes is pretty much done for the season (Phil Hughes has been on the DL 2-times already in the last two years while Johan Santana been on the DL twice in his entire career). And while Joba has been great in his set-up role, there is no guarantee that he will be an ace as a starter. This, combined with the age finally catching up to the rest of the Yankee roster, has already put the Bronx in crisis mode.

The way the season is going both Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman might be looking for new jobs in the off-season. The gap between the rest of the AL east and the Yankees has closed significantly this season. This past weekend’s series between Tampa and Boston was actually a big one (I never though that Tampa would ever be involved in one of those). The Yankees with out A-Rod and Posada are not a very good offensive team (despite what took place this weekend) and apart from Wang, the Yankees’ starting pitching is a crapshoot. For a 200 million dollar roster, this is unacceptable and it’s time that Brian Cashman is held responsible for his decisions. However, unlike his father, I don’t think Hank has the balls to make the tough decision and “fire” his GM.