Jayson Werth is the son of Kim Schofield and a former NCAA football star. Kim is also the sister of Dick Schofield - who played a lot of shortstop for the Angels back in the 1980’s. She later married Dennis Werth, the former Yankee, who became Jayson’s step-dad.

Whenever I hear Jayson Werth’s name, I think back to something sorta-cruel that I did around 1980 or 1981. (I think it was 1980, but, I’m not 100% sure.) Back then, I used to have a Yankees road jersey - just like the players wear on the field. You know it - gray with “New York” across the chest (but with no number on the back). Those days, it was a rare thing to own - and, to be honest, I think I had to special order it (or something) to get it.

Back in the day, I would wear ‘the roadie’ to the Stadium when going to games. I would also wear one of those plastic Yankees batting helmets - without the ear flaps, like Bobby Meacham and Tony Pena wear now on the field, and, like Tim Raines wore when playing in New York. In the late ’70’s, it was not uncommon for fans to wear those to the park. (But, you never see them now.)

So, that one day in 1980 or 1981, I’m going to a game and I get there way early - before the Stadium even opens. (I was meeting some friends to go see the game and they were not there yet.) Basically, I’m just walking around the outside of the Stadium, by myself, killing time, and there’s just about no one there.

Suddenly, a few small kids - about three of four of them - come up to me and I guess they were confused by seeing me wearing the road jersey and the batting helmet. They ask me if I play for the Yankees.

Now, keep in mind, I was 18-years old at the time and a bit of a smart-ass. So, I tell them “Yes, I’m Dennis Werth” - knowing that he’s on the team and there’s no way these kids would know what he looked like or whether I was telling the truth.

After I told them that, they got excited and started asking me for my autograph. That line, well, I could not cross. So, I ‘fessed up and told them that I was only kidding around. Know what? They wouldn’t believe me and thought I was trying to get out of signing for them. In the end, I had to ’shoo’ them away - and I made sure that I got out of there too.

I really meant no harm at the time. I was just goofing around. Like I said, I was eighteen then - and a bit of a loon.

It’s a story that I really didn’t think much about from the time I graduated college (1985) until 1997. I just filed it away with the rest of my ‘toys in the attic.’ When I started reading about Jayson Werth, in ‘97, in Baseball America - since he was a 1st round draft pick that year by the Orioles - the memory came out of storage. Seeing the name “Werth” reminded me of my brief imposter moment. Still does…like when I saw it tonight in the news.

Consider this your WasWatching.com “Good Night” story for today. See you in the morning. Sleep tight. Sweet dreams. And, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Me? I’m dipping into the DVD collection and am going to treat myself to my own personal “Rainout Theater.” Scanning my options, “The Warriors” caught my attention. Yeah, it will be 30-years old next year; but, it’s still a fun movie for me. A few years ago, there was some talk that Tony Scott was going to do a remake of it. But, I think that’s now in limbo.

What about you? What will you be watching tonight in place of the Subway Series?

These up-and-down Mets are just 20-19. Yes, they’ve been without Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez. But they are underachieving royally again, and they know it.

“The effort is there,” Billy Wagner said. “We’re just not earning our money, as Hank (Steinbrenner) likes to say.

“You look in here at the talent and the track records of all of our guys. You’re going to lose some tough games to some teams you shouldn’t. But it shouldn’t be as many as we continuously do.”

And then Wagner started to get annoyed. Here’s the cleaned-up-for-kids version:

“Will somebody tell me why the closer is being interviewed and I didn’t even play, and they’re over there not getting interviewed?” Wagner said, looking across the clubhouse in the general direction of where the two Carloses’ lockers are located. “I got it. They’re gone.”

Hey, you gotta love it, right?

According to a person familiar with what’s going on in the upper reaches of the New York Yankees’ hierarchy, new boss Hank Steinbrenner currently “blames Brian Cashman for everything.”

And, the way things are going right now, that’s a lot of things.

Cashman said he “wouldn’t comment on our internal discussions,” but said nothing to suggest Hank is anything but dissatisfied with what’s going on so far.

“I’m OK with everything,” Cashman told SI.com. “The Steinbrenners are custodians of the greatest franchise in sports history. When things don’t go well, there’s an uncomfortableness. And it’s my job is to deal with it.”

But Hank’s most pointed behind-the-scenes complaints are directed toward the big pitching decisions, and specifically the fact that Cashman — with the backing of practically all the Yankees baseball people — successfully argued to keep Hughes and Kennedy rather than trade them for Johan Santana, who pitches tonight for the New York Mets in the opener of a Subway Series that features the two struggling big-market teams. The Yankees are 20-22 and in last place while the Mets aren’t much better at 20-19.

Of Hank and the Santana deal, one Yankees insider said: “He won’t give up on that one.”

Cashman knows this terrain. He’s been here before.

“The franchise is very fortunate to have the Steinbrenners directing it. The Steinbrenners inherited the need to win, and they commit to it financially, which is the biggest thing you could ask for,” Cashman said. “All I care about is what’s best for the franchise. If that includes me going forward, or doesn’t include me, that’s a decision to be made above me.”

It wasn’t just Cashman, though, who stumped for Hughes (who’s 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA) and Kennedy (0-3, 8.48), and Hank knows that. Of the Yankees’ expansive baseball department, only ex-GM Gene Michael favored trading the kids for Santana (who is 4-2 with a 3.10 ERA), according to people familiar with their internal votes.

And Cashman continued, “I believe in our players. And I believe in our process. In the short term, I understand why people are upset. My job is to do what needs to be done for the short term and long term, and I understand everything that goes with it.”

The subject of Cashman’s future could actually turn into a family debate for the Steinbrenners, as the quiet, younger son Hal is said to be a big supporter of Cashman. Hal sided with Cashman on the call not to surrender the farm for Santana, and is believed to generally support Cashman. Most people around the team still believe that despite the team’s dreadful beginning — and the fireworks occurring behind the scenes — Cashman and the Steinbrenners will eventually work it out, and that Cashman will stay.

“If I fit in or not is not a concern to me,” Cashman said. “I don’t worry about it. I don’t fear it. What is a concern is to make the right decisions for the club that are positive for both the short term and the long term.”

The Stick Michael thing here may be the killer. Everyone knows that Stick built the team that went on to win rings in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. So, Hank knows it too. And, if Michael thought going after Santana was the right thing to do, that probably carries a ton of weight in Hank’s mind…and it won’t go away.

If Johan Santana has one of those “Pedro” nights today, and whiffs 17 Yankees batters in the game tonight, well, I wouldn’t want to be the one answering Brian Cashman’s phone after the game.

According to the stats that WordPress provides, this is the 5,000th published post for WasWatching.com in its 1,122 day history. That’s a rate of 4.5 posts per day.
File this under: Hello, my name is Steve. And, I’m a Yankees addict.

[Hal] Steinbrenner said of his team: “I’ve been discouraged at times. We knew with the young pitching that we might go through some growing pains. We knew we would have to be patient there. What’s more disappointing to me is the hitting. The hitting and the injuries, which are nobody’s fault. You can’t win many games if you only score one or two runs.”

“It’s certainly discouraging at times,” Steinbrenner said, “but we’ve got a great team and I believe we’ll be fine. We just need to get a little lucky with the injuries and start hitting again.”

With Rodriguez and Posada still out, Steinbrenner said: “The other guys need to step up.”

“We need to just stay in the hunt,” he said of surviving the injury bug. ” … I absolutely feel we have a great team. I believe we have as good a chance as anybody this year.”

Here’s the thing with continuing to play the injury card…what happens, if, when A-Rod and Posada return, the Yankees continue to play poorly? Let’s not forget that A-Rod was 3 for 23 with RISP before he went on the D.L. And, Posada will have to shake off a month’s worth of rust when he comes back - at the least. It’s not like, when Alex and Jorge come back, all of a sudden the fog will lift like magic and the Yankees will start mashing the ball.

Sure, A-Rod and Posada will be much better than Ensberg and Molina. But, will that still be enough to make up for the other Yankees hitters who are under-performing?

“This is not the Ian Kennedy that we all saw last year, and we need to find a way to get him back there,” said Manager Joe Girardi. “When he made a mistake it was a bad mistake and they didn’t miss. Sometimes those are singles. Today they were homers and doubles.”

“I felt like I had the right mind-set and I was attacking guys, but they’re a very good team,” Kennedy said. “Mentally, I think I’m going in the right direction.”

Know what bothered me the most about Kennedy yesterday? His mound presence.

When Ian hit Ben Zobrist with that pitch in the third, Kennedy had a reaction like “Oh, I give up. Here we go again. Woe is me.” It was like someone sucked the air out of his body. Next, he walked Akinori Iwamura and it got worse. Dave Eiland saw it too - and quickly went out to the mound. Granted, Ian worked out of that jam as best that he could - but, the message was clear…he’s somewhat shell-shocked on the mound. For a guy who needs to be confident in his pitches, as he doesn’t have off-the-charts stuff, that’s never a good thing.

Last season, Kennedy (when he came up) attacked hitters - much like Matt Garza did to the Yankees the other night…doing it with a look on his mug that said “OK, go ahead, try and hit this!”

Yesterday’s start tells me that Ian Kennedy still has the same problem that he had before he went to the minors to figure it out. And, the issue is in his head. He doesn’t trust his stuff and has become fearful of big league hitters. Somehow, the Yankees need to figure out a way to get him back to where he was last year. If it means giving his phone number to Jim Fannin, at this point, could it hurt?

“I’m a year older than Mickey Mantle was in his final game,” [Giambi] says. “My teammates used to call me the Modern-day Mick because I could play all day and party all night. Now I’m more of a family guy. I drive an Escalade to the ballpark.”

What’s the name of that family, the Sopranos?

Giambi doesn’t plan to hang up his cleats just yet, but he’s not exactly ruing the day he does. “After A-Rod retires, he wants to be a real estate mogul, the next Donald Trump,” Giambi says. “I could care less. As long as I can have a fast boat and a margarita machine and can light my hair on fire, I’ll be just fine.”

I’ve never played in one, but, I’ve heard about these “Death Pool” games that people play. If I understand it right, you get more points for picking someone who passes at an early age. Based on what we have seen and heard about Giambi, he could be a ’sleeper’ pick in a lot of these pools once he retires. Between the stuff he’s put in his body, the partying, the fast cars, fast boats, and motorcycles, he’s a five-tool player in that game, in some respects.

New York’s kid starting pitcher allows one run for every inning pitched.
Bomber batters, for the most part, fail with runners in scoring position.
Weak and shallow Yankees bench exposed.
Yet, no name relief pitchers do surprisingly well.
The Yankees lose.

Be truthful here - the Yankees, in this set, just missed getting swept in a four game series by the Tampa Bay Rays. In fact, the Yankees are darned lucky that they won last night - via a bloop hit and gift DP liner - or else they would have been spanked in four straight.

At this point, I’m almost hoping that the Mets do something stupid against the Yankees this weekend - like tick them off with some taunting or by hitting some batters…anything - that will maybe give this team a chance to show that they can be sparked to life.

Right now…the Yankees play is just flat-out depressing.

This is what the new “Hammerin’ Hank” had to say to me Wednesday when I reached him in Tampa with the greeting: “How ’bout those Rays!”:

“They’re a great story down here right now,” he said, “although it’s terrible that they’re only drawing only 16,000 a game. They’re playing a lot better than us, that’s for sure. I know we’re gonna come on at some point in this season, but right now, other than (Chien-Ming) Wang, (Mariano) Rivera, (Derek) Jeter, (Hideki) Matsui, (Johnny) Damon and (Mike) Mussina, after I got on him a little, we’re not doing jack (bleep).

“What bothers me is that these guys are all working for me and my brother and they’re all making more money than we are. That’s what makes me mad. But while I’m confident they’ll come around, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens this year. And if they don’t come around then changes will have to be made. I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”

Hank has got to be kidding with the “they’re all making more money than we are” line. Please, dude, stop…really.

In any event, what do you think of that last line: “I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”

As a Yankees fan, do you agree that the team has made mistakes since 2003? If so, what were those mistakes? Tony Womack? Jeff Weaver? Miguel Cairo? Esteban Loaiza? Enrique Wilson? Kevin Brown? Wil Nieves? Randy Johnson? Bubba Crosby? Jaret Wright? Doug Mientkiewicz? Javier Vazquez?

Heck, they’re all gone already. What’s to clean-up? Kei Igawa? Carl Pavano? Jason Giambi?

Well, agreed, these are current problems. But, the should be done soon too.

Or, is Hank just saying, here, that the last five years have been, somewhat, wasted time in that the Yankees have been getting fooled with the Pavanos, Igawas, Weavers, etc.? And, now, it’s time to stop making bad decisions and time to start making smart ones?

What do you think?

In my opinion, this is one area where SNY has a leg up on YES. By going with three primary guys in the booth for most games, you do build something among the team of announcers and with the audience. It’s like the days when Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, and Frank Messer covered the Yankees games on TV. They knew each other, had fun, you got to know them, and you had fun with them as well.

Today, YES has seven guys that they use in the TV booth and you never know, coming into a series, which ones you’ll get - or, how many. Sometimes it’s a two-man booth and sometimes it’s three. Just like a ballclub, it’s hard to build on something when you keep moving the parts around in different combinations, etc.

In any event, it’s cool what the Mets announcers are doing with these shirts. It’s too bad that we can’t see something like this happening on the Yankees side too. And, (no pun intended) yes, as a Yankees fan, it hurts me to have to admit this…