The role of a critic.

"This one's for you, buddy. You know who you are. For the past week or so, you've been e-mailing newspapers, calling sports talk radio stations, kicking it around with your pals. Although the words may vary, the conclusion is always the same.

Joe must go."

The last five years or so.


"So clearly, there's only one thing to do. Fire the manager."

I doubt if anybody thinks the firing of the manager would instantly solve all the Yankees' problems and propel the Yankees into the playoffs.

The Yankees need pitching and everybody knows this, even people who call sports talk radio stations. Most observers knew this before the season even started.


"Is it Torre's fault that three-fifths of his starting rotation has spent time on the disabled list, or that right now Bobby Abreu couldn't hit the ground if he fell out of a window, or that Chien-Ming Wang split a nail on his pitching hand yesterday, compromising his chances to tame the Red Sox, or that Alex Rodriguez hit into an eighth-inning double play when a two-run homer would have helped a lot more?"

I will give Matthews credit for one cogent baseball observation. A two-run homer would have helped a lot more than a double play.


"Is it Torre's fault that his front office left him pitching-poor this season, or that for the first time in recent memory, the Red Sox seem to have not only the better setup man - well, who would you prefer, Kyle Farnsworth or Hideki Okajima? - but the better closer?

Could Torre have kept David Ortiz, Alex Cora and Manny Ramirez in the ballpark yesterday?"

Very interesting question.

The Yankees are in last place. They are behind the Red Sox, the Blue Jays, the Orioles, and the Devil Rays.

Does Torre have worse set up men than the Devil Rays?


As for yesterday's game, I think Torre may bear some responsibility, if you think about it.

Alex Cora faked a bunt on his first pitch. Torre, Posada, and Wang all fell for it and grooved a fastball down the middle on the next pitch.

Scott Proctor allowed a homerun to Manny Ramirez. Due to Torre's peculiarities as a manager, Scott Proctor has pitched 4,500 innings in the past two seasons. His arm may be tired.


"Besides, who could do a better job with this team than Torre has done? Don Mattingly? Joe Girardi? Or you, buddy? If so, tell me how."

Don Mattingly? I'm not sure.

Joe Girardi? Absolutely.

Me? Am I supposed to manage the Yankees better than Joe Torre?

In truth, I think I casually pay attention to the opponent and the game situation with more insight that Joe Torre. I would have never sent the runners with ARod batting and Wakefield pitching. It's the strike-'em-out, throw-'em-'out Joe Torre Special.

Or send righties in against Okajima. I'll bet Torre has no idea what Okajima's splits are or that Okajima throws a lot of changeups. Not that there's too much to go on with a pitcher with such a small sample size, but Torre also has no idea what Roy Halladay's splits are. Torre said last week that he doesn't stay up at night thinking about the opponent's pitcher -- gee, you don't say.


This is a bizarre stance for a sportswriter to take.

Just because I would not be able to manager the Yankees, I am not allowed to criticize the manager of the Yankees.

But, what do you do every single day in your newspaper column?

Hey, Wallace. When Alex Rodriguez hit into a double play in the eighth inning yesterday, would you have been able to do any better?