the worst coached team in baseball

It's hard to think otherwise. With all of this talent, the Yankees are still a 500 team, and that is with their pitching at a fairly high level. The 2 games of this homestand are archetypal. They win the first with another great outing from Mussina and a lot of hitting. The outcome is never in doubt. Then they get a close one and, appearances notwithstanding, the outcome is never in doubt. You just know they're going to lose, no matter how hard they have to work at it. And tonight they had to work really hard. The Rays walked 14 batters for heaven's sake. The Yankees left 16 men on base. Sixteen! On one for thirteen hitting with men in scoring position. That's right they batted something like .072 with men in scoring position. This is a lineup, remember, with 6 or so of the best hitters in baseball. But wait, there's more! In the sixth inning the runners on second and third both got tagged out on a grounder to third. I mean you can't make this stuff up. Even slow Joe was roused from his perpetual slumber when that happened to ask what the hell was going on. Well Joe, you moron, what's going on is that you have taken a team of all stars and coached them into playing like slow pitch softball amateurs. Under your expert guidance, they're less Babe Ruth than Babe Ruth League.

But at this point, I have to admit, the fault is not yours alone. George fired Billy Martin on 4 separate occasions. He was right to do so every single time. But Billy on his drunkest day, and we're talking blackout drunk here, we're talking fistfights with salesmen in elevators drunk,we're talking the kind of drunk that ultimately killed him in a single vehicle accident, on his drunkest day he never so badly ruined a class of talent this high. (Which just goes to bear out Samuel Johnson's famous anecdote. You, Joe, meet Billy Martin on an especially obnoxious bender. You're drunk! you exclaim. To which Billy replies, yes, but in the morning I'll be sober, sort of, and you'll still be slow.) Why George is letting you keep your job and blow his considerable investment is beyond me. Your continued tenure is by far the most compelling testimony yet that the rumors of his Alzheimer's are, if anything, understated.

Seven innings, two runs, three hits. Wang's line. When you're the new murderer's row, you've got to win every single time you get pitching like that. But with 14 walks to boot, losing is inexcusable for any major league team Especially at home! Jeez, the Royals would have won this one. When the Red Sox got the same number of walks from Baltimore, on the road, they scored 15 runs, without a hit from Manny. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Torre and the team owe their fans a public apology for this game. And the fans owe it to the team to boycott them until George remembers who he is and fires Torre's ass. Now, more than ever, JOE MUST GO!