Waiting... For What? For Whom?

My big concern about the Torre-decision delay is this: They may be waiting until they have his successor lined up before dropping the ax. This would indicate someone from the outside, like Tony LaRussa (oy vey) or Bobby Valentine (even worse) -- rather than someone in-house like Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly, Tony Pena, Larry Bowa, or the manager of one of the farm-system teams.

If they stay in-house, at least it would be a tribute to Torre to have someone he knows and respects from working with him. He might respect LaRussa and Valentine, or whoever it is if it's somebody we're not considering (certainly Torre himself wasn't first on anyone's list in 1995), but to get someone that different would be a slap in the face with brass knuckles.

Then again, as has been stated before, maybe they are just waiting to see if the Indians can finish the job against the Red Sox. That would soften the blow considerably, and possibly lead Steinbrenner (but which one?) to make the decision to keep Torre.

Right now, I'm still ambivalent. I love Joe, but...

And I'm sure a lot of Yankee fans are having that same thought.

*

I know one way to settle this. Imagine it's June 2008. The Yankees and Red Sox begin a 3-game series at Fenway. (I haven't seen next year's schedule, but there's been just such a series in every June since I can remember.) The teams are within the margin of error; that is, one team is in first now, the other could be in first with a sweep.

And a Sox starter hits a Yankee batter. (Does it really matter who is in either place? The Sox staff is full of punks, and they don't care who they hit.) It's obvious that it was on purpose.

What do you want the Yankee manager to do? I want him to get out to the umpires' crew chief and tell him that I'm not going to put up with this crap. Either you warn every Sox pitcher and manager Terry Francona to knock it the hell off, or the game is a forfeit to the Yankees. And if the crew chief refuses to threaten the Sox with the forfeit, pull the Yankees off the field. If the crew chief then forfeits to the Red Sox, appeal to the Commissioner.

Even if you fail, your point is made, and the Red Sox look like the bums they are, for all the world to see.

Can you imagine Don Mattingly doing that? Not if you're sober, you can't.

Can you imagine Joe Girardi doing that? I can.

My personal feelings about Don's unmistakable record of the Yankees never having won a Pennant with him in uniform (1982-95, 2004-07) aside, he is not the manager the Yankees need. Forget Donnie Baseball; give me someone who will stand up for his players.