YES Network television host Bob Lorenz has been charged with drunken driving in Connecticut where police say he was found passed out in his car in his hometown of Westport.

The 48-year-old Lorenz was arrested early Wednesday morning. Police say they found him slumped over the wheel of his car and when they woke him up he drove away slowly and nearly hit a utility pole. Officers say his speech was slurred and he smelled of alcohol.

Lorenz hosts pregame and postgame shows for the New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets. He was arraigned Wednesday at Norwalk Superior Court and his case was continued to Feb. 29.

There’s no phone listing for Lorenz and it’s not clear if he has a lawyer. A Yes Network spokesman declined to comment.

And, then there’s this from the Daily News -

The woman accused of stalking and blackmailing Yankees GM Brian Cashman has injected steroids into the sordid mix.

From Rikers Island, Louise Meanwell claimed Wednesday that Cashman told her he misled federal investigators over what the Bombers’ brass knew of steroid use by players.

Meanwell, who claims she had an affair with Cashman, told the Daily News that Cashman confided to her that he was grilled in June or July by “the feds.”

She said Cashman told her he made it seem like the Yankees had no knowledge of players’ steroid use when, in fact, they did.

Cashman’s spokesman Chris Giglio vehemently denied the accusations.

“These claims are complete and utter fiction, the latest installment of a carefully concocted campaign of harassment now spewing from a jail cell by a person who is being held on serious criminal felony charges of harassment and extortion,” Giglio said.

A friend of Meanwell’s told The News he sent an email to federal investigators advising them of her claims.

The friend said he sent the email to Ron Gardella, chief investigator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and FBI agent Brian Jacob.

The email, obtained by The News, went on to say that Meanwell had “specific details” on dates and times that Cashman was aware of steroid use by players.

Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office refused to confirm or deny that Meanwell had informed them of her claims.

Cashman was on prosecutors’ witness list for Roger Clemens’ trial on perjury charges last July before Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial on the first day of the proceedings in Washington. Walton has scheduled a new trial for April.

I’m sure the Mets don’t mind the Yankees making the headlines with all this “stuff” and taking the spot-light off them and all their problems…

Along with a new uniform, Jose Reyes is getting a new look.

The All-Star shortstop, who has let his dreadlocks grow since 2007, planned a nationally televised haircut Friday on the MLB Network.

Reyes left the New York Mets in December for a $106 million, six-year contract with the Miami Marlins. His new team has a rule prohibiting hair below the helmet line.

Reyes planned to have a barber from the Bronx perform the haircut at the MLB Network studios. Network spokeswoman Lorraine Fisher said the trim will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, which planned to auction the hair on eBay.

Other players who have had to cut their hair to comply with team rules include Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon when they joined the New York Yankees.

I cannot imagine who would want to own any of these locks.

A woman stalked and shook down New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, getting him to pay her $6,000 and demanding more by threatening to harm his reputation, prosecutors said Thursday.

The case represents “a long-term effort to control and manipulate the victim,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eric Iverson told a judge as Louise Neathway, 36, was arraigned on grand larceny, stalking and harassment charges.

Her lawyers said Cashman had had “an inappropriate relationship” with Neathway, a medical sales worker and single mother of a 14-year-old daughter, and he turned on her when it ended badly.

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office bought his account of how this happened, hook, line and sinker,” lawyer Stephen G. McCarthy said. He and fellow Neathway lawyer Alan M. Abramson said Neathway denied the allegations.

Cashman said through spokesman Chris Giglio that he is “very grateful that this matter is in the hands of law enforcement.”

The Yankees declined to comment.

Neathway — who has a history of arrests on similar charges, prosecutors said — sometimes called and texted Cashman more than 10 times a night and threatened to harm someone he knew, prosecutors said.

After he told her last April that he didn’t want to talk to her anymore and even changed his contact information to avoid her, she asked him to pay for a $15,000-plus medical procedure and threatened to contact the press and his family with claims that would hurt his personal relationships and professional standing, according to a court complaint.

In response, he put $6,000 into two of her bank accounts Jan. 18 and tried again to extricate himself, but she instead demanded more money for operations, the complaint said.

A British native who also goes by Louise Meanwell, Neathway has a record that goes back to a 1998 trespassing arrest in North Carolina, Iverson told a judge. She’s still on probation stemming from a 2008 trespassing conviction in a New Jersey case that involved allegations of stalking and sending someone as many as 200 text messages in a weekend, and she has an open 2010 Manhattan harassment case, Iverson said.

McCarthy noted in court that the Manhattan case had been put on track to be dismissed, and he suggested prosecutors were making too much of the New Jersey case.

As for the current case, “it would be unfair to all of the parties involved to speculate about what occurred,” he and Abramson said in a written statement.

Neathway was being held on $300,000 bond. Her next court date is Tuesday.

And, Deadspin offers another angle here.

Does all this make Brian Cashman “Steve Phillips minus the hair”?

It’s just a story that the New York Yankees will have to deal with…or ignore…

At the least, it suggests that the buzz last summer was not someone blowing smoke.

The Mets expect to sell 10 minority shares of the team by the end of February, a person familiar with the process said Monday. The units, priced at $20 million each, would raise $200 million for the cash-strapped franchise and be used to pay existing loans and operating expenses for 2012.

It previously was believed that the Mets would close on a minimum of four units by the end of January. No reason was given for the new timetable or whether the closings would take place at the same time. None of the potential investors has been revealed. Major League Baseball has been involved in vetting the partial owners.

Earlier this month, principal owner Fred Wilpon expressed optimism about the process, but the Mets Monday had no comment on when the new investors will be in place.

Initial proceeds of the sales, those involved in the transaction have said, are earmarked to pay a $25-million loan the Mets obtained from MLB in November 2010 and a $40-million bridge loan from the Bank of America in the last quarter of 2011. The concept of selling up to 40 percent in smaller shares came after negotiations with hedge fund manager David Einhorn broke down last September over control issues.

General manager Sandy Alderson said the team lost $70 million in the 2011 season. It recently hired CRG Partners, a bankruptcy and financial turnaround consulting firm, to assist in fiscal matters. The team has said it will not seek bankruptcy proceedings.

At this point, the Mets should just have a Lotto thing…sell 400,000 chances at $500 each and then pull a winning ticket from the bunch. If your ticket comes up, then you own 40% of the team. It may be the best way for them to get the $200 million that they need…

…and, yes, I am joking…sorta/kinda.

From a baseball fan perspective, I totally get it. Why not go for the total reboot when they switch leagues? However, if I were a fan of the team, I think I would be upset over this possible change. They’ve been called the Astros for the last 47 years. That’s a lifetime for some fans. Granted, it’s not the greatest name ever for a baseball team. But, it’s been their name for almost a half-century. It’s hard to sweep that under the rug.