Is Joe Girardi the answer? I'd say yes. What our team is lacking is fire, is will (and of course, healthy starting pitching). Girardi brings the Torre patience and class but he also brings a bit of a temper too, which is exactly what we need. I don't know if Mattingly can do that, at this point.

As the days go by, and if the Yankees don't get out of last place by mid May, I would seriously expect heads to roll. Cashman saved Torre's job last year after the Detroit debacle. I don't think George is going to be patient again.

Source: NY Daily News

BY MARK FEINSAND
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Friday, April 13th 2007, 4:00 AM

OAKLAND - The Yankees instituted a new fitness program for their players this year, looking to enhance their performance on the field.

Instead, some wonder whether it has contributed to keeping several of the Bombers' biggest stars off the field, as a rash of injuries has hit the Yankees during the early weeks of the season.

Mike Mussina was the latest casualty, leaving Wednesday's game in Minneapolis with a strained left hamstring. He joined Bobby Abreu, Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui on the list of players who have suffered strains or pulls since spring training. That's 60% of the starting rotation plus the entire starting outfield.

"We have to deal with (the injuries), but I don't attribute it to our performance management team," GM Brian Cashman said. "Everything we've put in place has been to the benefit to our players."

Over the winter, Cashman got rid of Jeff Mangold, the Yanks' strength and conditioning coach for the previous nine seasons, and hired Marty Miller, who served as a minor league trainer for the Expos from 1995-97, to serve in the newly created position of director of performance enhancement.

Miller had not worked in baseball since leaving the Expos, spending the past nine years as the director of fitness at the Ballen Isles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He has a master's degree from California University of Pennsylvania in performance enhancement and injury prevention.

"Marty isn't a baseball guy like Mangold was," said one player, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Marty has been given a lot of pull, and I think he's a little too gung-ho right now."

Cashman also hired Dana Cavalea, 24, to be the new assistant director of performance enhancement. Cavalea had served as a strength and conditioning coach under Mangold during spring training since 2003, but is now a member of the full-time staff.

During the first day of workouts with pitchers and catchers, the pair's pre-workout stretching program did not include any stretching exercises for the players' arms.

"Right off the bat, (Miller has) got a bad rap," said the player, who also called the team's current pregame stretch routine inadequate. "Pitchers and catchers out there not stretching their arms? Their thing is that the active stretch gets everything stretched out, but that's garbage."

Neither Miller nor Cavalea is permitted to speak with reporters, though Miller did an interview last week with the Palm Beach Post, his hometown paper.

"I've been able to come in here and really kind of change this whole department around," Miller told the paper.

According to the player, Miller and Cavalea have tried to force some of their program on players, many of whom have had successful careers for more than a decade. The response has been a combination of resistance and indifference.

"I think as Marty and Dana get more knowledge of the game, it will get better," the player said. "It's like a rookie pitcher coming to the majors: You might know a lot about pitching, but you don't know what you have to do to be successful at that level.

"They know a ton about conditioning, but they have to figure out how their strengths work into this situation," the player continued. "Mangold didn't have the knowledge that these guys have, but he took the workout that players wanted to do and he'd add things and tweak it."

In addition to the hiring of Miller and Cavalea, the Yankees entered into a 10-year strategic partnership with 24 Hour Fitness, a California-based fitness center company. According to the press release, one of 24 Hour Fitness' duties was the installation of a "state of the art fitness facility" at Yankee Stadium, but players have been less than impressed with the initial results.

"They've done a phenomenal job making the weight room nice," the player said. "Aesthetically it looks great, but functionally, there's nothing in there. You walk in there and there's four of the same machine and a bunch of empty space. What do you expect us to do in there?"

According to a team source, Pettitte was encouraged by either Miller or Cavalea to ditch the weight belt he usually wears while doing his routine squats, saying it would help him strengthen his stomach during the exercises. Pettitte injured his back while doing the squats, costing him 10days in spring training.

"None of these injuries have anything to do with this new program," Cashman said. "It's not anything that's putting anybody in jeopardy."

Cashman also noted that both Matsui and Damon suffered their strains during games played in temperatures in the 30s. Damon, whose calf strain caused him to leave the Yanks' season opener early and then miss the next two games, said Miller and Cavalea have been working hard to keep the players in shape, though he admitted that the unusual number of injuries "raises some eyebrows" in regard to the new fitness program.

A source said that George Steinbrenner was very upset about the multitude of injuries that have hit the team, but his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said the owner had no critical comments to make about the new fitness program. "He's not upset about it," Rubenstein said. "He said, 'Injuries happen.'"

Cashman has received positive feedback from some players, including Scott Proctor, Mariano Rivera and Carl Pavano, but he knows it might take some time for other players to come around.

"Cash is always trying to better the team any way he can," Proctor said. "This is a good investment; it just needs some time to take. Guys need to learn to trust it, and then it will be good for us."

"You can't change Rome in a day," Cashman said. "Does that mean all the guys are going to gravitate to them? No. We're not going to force them to switch their stuff ... if it's worked for them over the years."

Nothing good comes from this loss, other than once again, we've confirmed that if we actually had decent pitching, the Yankees could win over Dice-K.

These are the steps I think need to be taken to remedy this slide:

1.) Papa George comes down off the hill: It's like getting a bloody edict from the Pope nowadays, but George needs to light a fire under this team. I realize this isn't going to *fix* the actual fundamental issues with the Yankees, but they need to keep their emotions high and get a fire lit under this team. We're the New York Yankees, not the Kansas City Royals (umm...we may actually envy the Royal's record pretty soon...).

Dice-K was shaky again: 6 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 BB, 7 SO 3-2 with a 4.36 ERA

You forgot one "stat" (again)... the "W".

Bobby Abreu cannot bat third, make 15 million a year and bunt. Not saturday, not yesterday, not ever. He looks scared. This is New York Bobby, get over it or get out of here.

"'Don't get too high, [or] too low.' -- that kind of thing," Hughes said. "That's probably where I got most of my personality."

Source: Yahoo (Japan)

先発が負傷、井川緊急登板でＮＹ救った

4月30日10時12分配信 日刊スポーツ

先発が負傷、井川緊急登板でＮＹ救った

ヤンキース対レッドソックス　７回表レッドソックス無死一、二塁、無失点のまま降板した井川にスタンドのファンはスタンディングオベーション（撮影・加藤仁）
＜ヤンキース３－１レッドソックス＞◇２８日（日本時間２９日）◇ヤンキースタジアム
　【ニューヨーク（米ニューヨーク州）２８日（日本時間２９日）】ヤンキース井川慶投手（２７）がレッドソックス戦にスクランブル登板し、７連敗していたチームを救った。先発ジェフ・カーステンズ（２４）の負傷で初回無死一、二塁から急きょマウンドに上がり、６回０／３を被安打２無失点の好投で、２勝目を挙げた。先発危機の立場から一気に救世主となり、次は５月４日からのマリナーズ戦（ニューヨーク）に先発する。
　ベンチに戻る井川をヤンキースタジアムの観客が総立ちで迎えた。「６回０／３で拍手をもらえたのは初めてです」と精いっぱいのジョークで、うれしさを表現した。
　中継ぎ陣が連投続き。試合前、「今日はブルペンを手伝ってくれ」と伝えられた。「つめでも研ごうかな」とのんびり構えていた試合開始直後、いきなり出番が来た。
　先発カーステンズが先頭打者ルーゴに初球を打たれ、打球を右ひざに受けた。何とか次のユーキリスに投げたものの、左前打されて降板した。「真っ先に井川の名前が頭に浮かんだ」とトーリ監督は言った。
　ブルペンではなくマウンドへ向かった井川は、背番号と同じ２９球を投げて何とか肩をつくった。「たぶん長くは投げない。どんどん力強い球を投げて何とかしようと思っていた」。無死一、二塁の大ピンチにも、無心で３番オルティスに挑んだ。低めの変化球で二ゴロ併殺に打ち取り、四球の後、ドルーを空振りの三振に仕留めた。
　走者がいなくてもセットポジションで投げた。「打者のタイミングを外しづらいんですが、コントロールはあるんで」。捕手のポサダは「すべての球種でストライクを取れた」と目を丸くした。
　さらに、レ軍松坂との意見交換も好投を支えた。これまでは、右足を踏み出した後も打者側に滑らせて下半身の粘りをつくっていた。日本の軟らかいマウンドならではの投球術だった。だがメジャーの硬いマウンドでは滑らせることができない。対処法を聞くため、２０日の遠征先のボストンで松坂をつかまえた。メジャーに対応するために２年前、踏み出した足を滑らせないフォームに修正したことを聞いた。頑張っているのは松坂も同じと知り、意識して練習していた。
　２番手以降で投げたのは、０２年１０月１２日広島戦（広島）以来。試合前は「足を引っ張らなければいいんですけど」と漏らしていたが、堂々の２勝目を挙げ、チームの連敗も７で止めた。前回２３日デビルレイズ戦（タンパ）では制球に苦しみ、５回途中７失点ＫＯ。この日の先発を飛ばされたが「この１勝は大きい。（井川を）ローテーションに戻す」とトーリ監督の信頼も取り戻した。マリナーズ４連戦で先発に復帰する。【堀まどか】

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I don't want Don Mattingly as the coach.

Why?

Because he's from the Joe Torre school. We need a manager with fire, at least for the forseable future. One thing this team has lacked is passion over the past few years, and I think Girardi could light a fire under his guys better than Torre.

That's probably because he comes from the Don Zimmer school of thought, which may hurt his chances of becoming manager - Steinbrenner dislikes Zim, and by proxy, probably would favor Mattingly over Girardi for the nod.

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Johnny Damon is seeing a chiropractor. Okay. Now, he has to fly down to Florida to see this guy. Now, to paraphrase Mike Francesca (profanity is mine)...This chiropractor isn't fucking Jonas Salk...bring this fucking asshole to the Four Seasons before the Red Sox series, have him fix Damon up, and give me a fucking break.