Hillman? I’ve met the guy, interviewed him for almost an hour, and came away incredibly impressed. But he’s floundered since the day that impression was formed (early 2001). Great presence, very logical and clear-thinking, but he has not flourished.

Who else? Who ya’ got? If Buck’s a BS answer, you have to have something else.

I think Girardi has had some massive head-scratchers throughout the last few months. But there are things he’s done well with a team that has many problems that lurk below the surface that can’t be so easily dismissed.

Is he perfect? Definitely not. Still waiting for a REAL candidate to prefer.

That series was one, long drawn out horror show. In every single game I found myself simply hoping the Yanks would win, while feeling a terrible certainty that logic, probability, and what my gut was burbling told me each game would end badly.

Three games, chances in all three games, three losses in a variety of awful outcomes.

Joba shits the bed, blown opportunities, inevitable Gaudin-Cruz home run; an inexplicably overused Mariano blowing a save; a time game headed into the 7th with Dustin Moseley and who knows up against Cliff Lee and what looks like a variety of good options in the Rangers bullpen.

0 for 3.

I happen to agree that this team looks dreadful right now, and, as I said after game 1, they look like a bad bet against ANY of the possible postseason teams, so long as neither the White Sox or the Red Sox go on a hellacious run while the Yankees crumble.

Minnesota or Texas? Probably doesn’t matter if the team can’t play better than this.

The overwhelmingly depressing part of the series against Texas is that Hamilton sat the whole thing out. That’s ugly.

I’m furious with the Yanks for getting to me in every which way – watching every brutal minute of Game 1, out drinking and home to see the shock of the Yanks leading in the 9th and then the peekaboo check of the score to find a 7-6 turd on my doorstep, tuning out the game all day and then idiotically watching the 7th before turning them off in disgust.

Fuck you, Yankees. You still couldn’t ruin a weekend that included that epic win over Notre Dame. I banish you from my thoughts. Mostly.

Is there a chance that this is just the suck before the surprise of suddenly solid, tenacious play that leads into a surprising postseason? I suppose it could be – we’re not going to throw some of these guys as starters in a postseason series if Pettitte returns in form.

Cano’s slump may be temporary; the team as a whole does ebb and flow.

I’d be very surprised, though, if this season isn’t what I’ve had this nagging feeling it will be for at least a month: as someone said in one of the game threads, this one just screams that it’s all going to end in tears.

Two things from the series – a question and a statement.

First, the statement. Albaladejo SUCKS. To heck with any of you who have fooled yourselves into thinking this isn’t obvious. I watch, he sucks. My eyes tell me he sucks. Just like they told me that Melancon SUCKED. Albaladejo could save 100 games in a season in the minors, and until I see stuff that looks any different from the crap and slop he throws every time he wears the real uniform, I’m pretty certain he’s straight garbage.

Second, a question: has there been ANY sort of answer for the decision to throw Mo for two innings in game 1? That was the decision I found most inexplicable in a weekend of strange choices. When they didn’t take the lead after Mo’s first inning, I thought the situation demanded that you sit your 40 year-old wizard down. Has Girardi given ANY plausible explanation for that?

Closing thoughts in this sloppily written complaint (I’m tired): this Texas team reminds me distressingly of the semi-recent Angels squads. Not just because Vlad is there – but more because I see solid, if occasionally unspectacular starting pitcher, a team that has frighteningly more team speed than the Yankees, a billion guys in the bullpen who throw high nineties or something else nasty, and a horribly overmanaging manager who doesn’t look like a dope because all the parts are the right parts, meaning most moves, no matter how stupid, are still passable moves.

Finally, fuck you Joba. I blame your fat gutlessness for this whole series. You started a chain reaction with the most pathetic pitch I’ve seen a Yankee throw all season. And this is a team that starts AJ Burnett.

Btw, no talk from anybody about how Kevin Towers and Damon Oppenheimer are being considered for D-Backs GM (though a conflicting report says the Yanks nixed talks with Oppenheimer)?

Good luck against Tampa, boys, I think you’re going to need it …

What possible reason is there to risk ANYTHING getting another inning out of Cliff Lee here.

THE STUPID, IT BURNS!!!!

[71] That is a frightening possibility. I want to be believe that the Yankees are aware of Girardi’s shortcomings, but it doesn’t seem so. Instead, I am putting my faith in the lure of the Cubs job. I really hope Chicago is as close to Girardi’s heart as so many people seem to think.

[67] Yeah, but a good manager looks at 6 innings and 1 run and thinks, “that’s pretty goddamn good, no point in getting greedy” and has somebody warming behind Dustin Freaking Moseley to start the inning.

There’s NO way that Moseley should have been left in a position to give up 4 runs.