BARN? WHAT BARN?

***THE BARN IS GONE AND THE HORSES ARE LOOSE***

This hasn't been a good week for the Yanks. You can't win when your starters can't get out of their own way, the relievers offer no relief and only three guys can hit (notice I didn't say 'hitters').

Girardi has gotten downright scary with the decisions he's making. Maybe Tony Pena should start spitting some of those sunflower seeds at Joe instead of on the ground. I always thought Joe Torre used to over-use pitchers who were getting people out. Girardi over-uses guys who can't get anybody out. Why the fascination with Chad Gaudin? Is he holding one of Joe's kids hostage?

In the movie "The Natural," the club brought in a motivational speaker, who bored the players to death ("...ah, but curable."). The Yanks brought in former NFL coach, Tony Dungy. An NFL coach? What's he going to teach them? How to pick up the blitz? When to use the cover-2? It seems to be working: no one has completed a pass on them this week.

The Yanks have a 5 1/2 game lead over Boston for the wild card, but they have 4 games left with the Bosox, 3 of them in Fenway. Things look a little dicey. Girardi's answer - "If you had said back in the spring, that we have a 5 1/2 game lead with 7 to go to make the playoffs, we'd have all signed on." Sure Joe, until they also said you'd have a 9 game lead with 11 games to go. Can you say New York Mets?

CP-