Mets don't have same HOPE as Yankees

It's a good thing that New York Yankees players aren't as busy or skittish as some of their counterparts in Queens or HOPE week would never have happened.

When Yankee Public Relations Director Jason Zillo started preparing to host the second annual HOPE week at the stadium last month, he told the team all about the people whose accomplishments and perseverance would be honored. After he was done, there was a line of players eagerly waiting to sign up to participate in not one, but multiple events celebrating the team's most disadvantaged fans. It's too bad the Mets can't get the same kind of commitment from all of their players.

What should have been a nice gesture by Mets players in visiting injured veterans at Walter Reed Hospital instead turned into a PR disaster because Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo couldn't find the time or just didn't have the heart for the visit. Castillo made a comment about not wanting to see that, presumably referring to young soldiers missing limbs due to their time in war zones. It's understandable that the image might be disturbing to him. But what Castillo obviously failed to comprehend is that spending some time with major-league ballplayers helps these young men and women forget their troubles, if only for a few minutes, and lifts their spirits. That alone should have gotten him past his skittishness. But it didn't.

I give a lot of credit to the Mets players and staff that made the trip. The story should have been them talking about their experiences with the injured soldiers, bringing light to their plight. Instead, it's about three players who couldn't spare three hours out of their lives. If the Mets can't even get all their players to attend an afternoon outing to comfort people who have sacrificed so much for this country, it doesn't bode well for their future as a team.

Thanks to Keith Allison via Wikipedia for the photo.

Sigh of relief for Yankees as Posada OK

The New York Yankees are breathing a sigh of relief now that they know that Jorge Posada is not suffering a concussion and will be OK despite getting hit on the head with a foul tip behind the plate.

For Jorge, the clean bill of health is just the latest good news, which started with the release of a book he wrote with his wife Laura called the Beauty of Love about finding out their son had a rare, life-threatening condition called craniosynostosis and the sale of special T-shirts commemorating his 1,000 RBI milestone to benefit his foundation that helps other children with the condition.

In breaking the news of Posada's injury during his post-game press conference yesterday, Joe Girardi sounded a little worried. Being a former catcher, Girardi knows these kinds of injuries come with the territory, but he also expressed concern as he talked about how other players have been affected for lengthy time periods by concussions.

Girardi cares about his players so he was more worried about Posada's health. But as the Yankee manager, he also had to worry about the stretch run and postseason implications of Posada possibly headed to the disabled list so late in the season. Concussions take a long time to heal and the catcher could have been out for at least a month because the Yankees, unlike the Mets, take no chances with their injured players.

Imagine the Yankees in the playoffs with a slumping Francisco Cervelli, who has suffered multiple concussions himself, as the primary catcher. As Girardi indicated, you lose a lot of playoff experience if Posada is on the sidelines. But Posada is going to be fine and will likely catch again after sitting out the next game or two under his ultra-cautious manager. And that's a relief for everyone in the organization.

Resting Hughes now readies him for October

The New York Yankees didn't even wait for Andy Pettitte to return before benching Phil Hughes for a start to limit his innings and rest that valuable right arm. It was the right call. The Yankees will need a revitalized Hughes for a successful run in the playoffs.

Watching his last start, I just had the sense that Hughes has gotten tired, despite his insistence to the contrary. After spending most of last year in the bullpen, the youngster has now pitched 155 innings this year and the impact of that may be finally catching up with him. Hughes didn't seem particularly happy about being forced to take a seat, but he understands that it's for his own good and hopefully he can come back strong in his final three starts.

More importantly, it's for the good of the team. Hughes is going to be the number #3 pitcher in the playoff rotation behind CC Sabathia and Pettitte and the Yankees need him to be the dominant guy who already had 11 wins around the All-Star break. Hughes is more reliable than either AJ Burnett or Javier Vazquez and the Yanks will have a hard time repeating if he can't win in the playoffs. Giving him a rest now is the best way to get him ready for October.

Swisher saves the day for Yankees

Super Swish! On just one leg, Nick Swisher hit a walk-off home run, saving the New York Yankees from the embarrassment of getting swept by the resurgent Baltimore Orioles.

What Buck Showalter has done with the O's, who have been the Yankees’ favorite whipping boys for years, is remarkable. Showalter has led his players to a 21-13 record and has them believing they can play against and beat anyone, even the mighty Yankees. Enjoying the role of spoiler, the O's spanked Yankee ace CC Sabathia last night and were three outs away from a sweep of the Bronx Bombers in their own stadium, which Alex Rodriguez stated several times would have been unacceptable.

But Swisher, whose left knee is clearly still not 100%, took a healthy swing and deposited a pitch into the left field bullpen for a much-needed victory. “I didn’t know if he was going to make it around the bases with that limp that he had,” winning pitcher Joba Chamberlain joked after the game.

The victory was critical, not just because the Yankees were close to losing four consecutive games for the first time this season, but because the Tampa Bay Rays are still breathing down their necks. Thanks to Swish, their division lead stays intact for now and the Yankees can enjoy their off day.

Girardi decisions get tougher down stretch

With his New York Yankees still locked in a tight division race, Joe Girardi's decisions are getting tougher down the stretch.

This weekend provided ample evidence of the hard choices Girardi will have to make in getting his team ready for the playoffs when its postseason position is still not guaranteed. The Yankees manager removed rookie Ivan Nova from Friday's game one out away from a potential victory, to the youngster's obvious disappointment. On Saturday, he gave the hook to Javier Vazquez one out from a possible win, much to the veteran's annoyance and frustration. A rookie is in no position to argue with his manager, but pulling Vazquez was a bit of a surprise and signaled that the manager doesn't have much confidence in the veteran righty, which is largely his fault.

Girardi took a lot of flak in the tabloids for over managing, which I agree he is prone to do, but I can't fault him for either quick hook. With the Tampa Bay Rays only 2.5 games back, Girardi has to make sure he wins all the games he can. He is caught in the classic dilemma of needing to pull out victories for his entire team while soothing the egos and hurt feelings of his players. In those scenarios, a manager has to do what's best for the team and hope the player can live with it or at least not cause a major disruption that distracts the team from its ultimate goal.

The decisions only get tougher for Girardi. Does he pull Phil Hughes for a start when Andy Pettitte is finally ready to rejoin the rotation? It might seem like a better idea to pull the inconsistent AJ Burnett or one of the rookies. But watching yesterday's game, I started to wonder if young Mr. Hughes is feeling the effects of a full season of starting work and whether it would be good to skip him in mid-September and give him a few weeks toward the end of the month to round back into shape. Not knowing which AJ or Javy is going to show up on the mound on any given day, the Yankees need to get Hughes right again before October.

The Yankees manager doesn't tip his hand, but you can be sure these tough choices are keeping him up at night.

Yanks won't embarrass Jeter with lineup drop

Joel Sherman of the New York Post made the bold statement that Derek Jeter should be dropped in the New York Yankees lineup. It's a perfectly valid opinion, but it's not going to happen.

It's hard to argue against batting Jeter at the bottom of the lineup, especially taking into account all the rally-killing double plays he has grounded into this year. Jeter started today’s baseball game hitting at .266 with only 59 ribbies and has recently looked overmatched at the plate and frustrated in the dugout.

Jeter has consistently said he doesn't care where he hits in the lineup, but he does like batting in the first inning. However, Jeter is a very proud individual and would probably be terribly embarrassed if he was dropped to the bottom of the order. And that's the reason why Joe Girardi can't do it. He can't publicly embarrass the Yankee Captain by writing his name in the seventh, eighth or ninth spot in the lineup card.

Sherman made a legitimate, ballsy suggestion in his column that Girardi probably will be forced to ignore, but I do I hope Jeter saw the column. He claims not to read the papers anymore, but if he saw it or was asked about it, he could take it as a challenge and perhaps be motivated to show he still belongs at the top of the lineup. Jeter loves proving people wrong and if he can get on a hot streak heading into the playoffs, it would boost the Yankees chances in October.

Random Yankee thoughts

Dallas Braden found out yesterday that indifference is the worst form of cruelty. Braden was expecting to be mercilessly booed by the New York Yankees faithful during his Thursday start. Instead, he was greeted with a collective yawn as Yankee fans couldn't muster much contempt in their hearts for Mr. Perfect, to his utter disappointment. No doubt the matchup would have had a lot more juice if Alex Rodriguez was in the lineup (and dared to try to cross Braden’s mound again), but it was not meant to be.

* I'm very glad to see that Jorge Posada apologized to umpire Dana DeMuth for his world-class meltdown at the plate Wednesday evening. No question the umpire blew the strike-three call (an umpire blowing a call: shocking!), but Posada's tirade was completely inappropriate and left me wincing as he pointed to the spot where the pitch was to demonstrate just how far outside it was. If Posada's outburst had happened a day earlier, the Yankees would have been in a real bad spot, with poor Ramiro Pena likely taking over as catcher after Posada's ejection, but luckily the Yankees were able to call up another catcher prior to the game due to baseball’s expanded rosters. I hope Joe Girardi made that point in a way Posada understands because for all his fire, which Yankee fans love, Posada is prone to head-scratching tantrums that could one day end up costing his team dearly.

* It's hard to feel sorry for Scott Boras for getting dumped by ARod. He will still get his cut of the third baseman's $275 million plus contract with the Yankees. For Boras, the blow to his ego from being rejected by his star client is probably the worst part.

* CC Sabathia's mom Margie has gotten a lot of attention recently, winning the Little League Parent of the Year award when her son is well on his way to a second Cy Young award and his first 20-win season. It used to be Derek Jeter's mother and father that were the most visible, with televisions eager to cut to the shortstop's proud parents anytime he was on base or made a nice play, but they have not been seen on camera much recently. Margie has stiff competition for the title of most famous Yankee parent from Dori and Phil Hughes Sr. They did a fun post-game interview with Kim Jones after their son PJ nearly no-hit the Oakland A’s and proudly gave fans a tour of their house, including PJ’s bedroom and his bobble-head collection, and introduced us to his dog Max.