JohnnyC, that was an interesting article and I agree with the author. Torre should be bashed for playing Bernie every day, among other things. These are things you’ve been saying and I’m with you 100%. The only place where you and I disagree is, in my opinion, attributing blame to Torre for things that I deem out of his control, such as the approach of his hitters at the plate or the construction of his roster. These, I believe, are things that Torre is only partially responsible for and therefore not deserving of a full share of the blame. I haven’t yet heard you criticize Cashman or Yankee coaches (besides Mel Stottlemyre) when it seems to me that there is plenty of blame to go around to those folks as well.

I’m not bashing JohnnyC the person, I just don’t agree with some of your thoughts.

For any Yankees fans who are interested, check out Tim Marchman’s column in the NY Sun: http://www.nysun.com/article/32715
Rumor has it Marchman’s a Red Sox lurker. Or perhaps a nom de plume for Randy Levine. Suspiciously fake photo to the left of the column.

And, by the way, this JohnnyC bashing is getting way out of hand.

Just voicing my opinion as a Yankee fan, MJ, but I’ll take your suggestion and start blaming Donnie Baseball instead. Or blaming Derek Jeter. Or Tampa. Not the front office in Tampa. The city of Tampa. Is that what true Yankees fans are doing these days? I wouldn’t know since I get all my information from Lon Trost.

If we’re going to give Torre credit for the “intangibles” like team chemistry (since his strength clearly isn’t crafting the roster, in-game management, or bullpen management and we have to explain those 4 rings somehow), then we can equally blame him when the team comes out flat.

Haren was pitching well — locating his fastball and putting people away with the nasty splitter — but to me it just looked like the entire team was sleepwalking. I’m not sure why, but it couldn’t have looked more like they wanted to get this game over with and meet up with Texas.

You’re not a Yankee fan, JohnnyC. I don’t know who you are (the rumor is that you’re a Red Sox lurker) but that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. We’re now blaming the manager because hitters aren’t patient in one game? Doesn’t Don Mattingly deserve the blame for that since the only role he fills, besides PR show-pony, is to work with the hitters?

Some days, pitchers just pitch well and that’s all there is to it.

I realize that Haren has beaten the Yankees at least 3 times in the last 2 seasons but since when does one of the league’s best offenses (even without Sheff and Matsui) just capitulate and completely go against their usual game plan of patiently working the count? So the guy has a good splitter but the Yankees just beat a guy named Schilling whose splitter makes Haren’s look like a fucking palmball. This is one more example of how the 5 going on 6 years of failure (only winning it all is success…anyone who doesn’t believe that shouldn’t be managing the Yankees)have reversed the team’s psyche. We have no confidence when we face the Red Sox or any team or individual that’s out-managed or out-guessed Mr. Torre. It shows in our timid, uptight play…the errors, the mental lapses, the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, the desperate gestures and grim head-shaking. It’s all a reflection of the manager. We’re back in the ’80s and this isn’t even a VH1 special.