IT'S TIME FOR HANK

rto fire somebody. Frankly, I don't care who it is. But somebody needs to go to show this team theis bair current level of play is not acceptable. And if the firing doesn't work, it's time to send some superstars down to double A and make them ride buses for awhile.

This is a team that supposedly has pitching problems holding down the best offense in baseball. And for the third consecutive game and the sixth time in recent memory, the Yanks offense wastes good to great pitching and loses a game that was there for the taking. Probably they'll wind up getting swept at home by a mediocre team, the second time that has happened this year. Why? Start with the familiar. They cannot hit with men on base. They left 15 this game. If you took the Yankees WHGP (walks and hits per game) and divided it by their RPG, I'm sure the number, the WQ or Wastage Quotient, would be higher than any team in the league. If you did the same division for just the 7th through 9th innings, it would be astronomically higher than any other team. Is this Giardi's fault? Not Really. But he can't be sitting important components--in this game Jeter and Matsui--when the team is misfiring this badly. Stop babying these guys. Let them play hurt once in a while, and let it be known, the more the team loses the less you give a damn about individual aches and pains.

I had really hoped that the hiring of Giardi would mean an end to the mollycoddling of Mama Joe. But in this, as in other areas discussed here, Giardi has been much less of a change agent than advertised. This team should be ashamed of itself, and the manager and owner, as well as the fans, should let them know it.

One more thing. Why doesn't Giardi understand at this point that you simply do not pitch Rivera in a tie game. Look at the stats: without a lead to protect, Rivera is not great, not good, not even average; he stinks, as his ERA, 4.oo, proves beyond doubt. In a tie game you are actually better off with Farnsworth.