JUST A FEW THOUGHTS

***WANG HURT AGAIN***
A strained shoulder, bursitis, something is wrong. It appears that he going to miss some time. Of course, there's no chance that Hughes will be put back into the rotation because, "...he's not stretched out enough." How could he be with Girardi showing everyone how smart he is by making moves every inning. As Picasner has said in the past, why not use Hughes for two, three or even four innings? Why does he burn up his bullpen by using everybody for just one inning? Now, we're all paying the price.

***GIRARDI WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR?***
Yesterday, he was quoted as saying, "Yeah, Posada had a great game, but he got pretty banged up. I kept asking him how many fingers I was holding up, and most of the time, he was close enough."

***THREE MORE HOME RUNS***
I don't think Doc Halladay is too pleased with the new Yankee Stadium. He shouldn't blame the loss on that, though. He got hit pretty hard. Certainly not typical of him.

***A BUNT ON A 3-0 COUNT***
What was Cano thinking? Was he thinking at all? The 5-spot in the lineup is supposed to be the RBI spot. If you have your #5 guy bunting, I believe it's time to re-think the assignment.

***NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE SEEING THIS***
The Yanks make the Pirates pay half of Hinske remaining salary before they'll take him. Somebody's paying the Yanks? What's next, senior citizens discounts?

***NO, MICHAEL. NO! NO! NO!***
Michael Kay has begun calling Phil Coke & Phil Hughes, "The Philthy's" Please don't let this catch on.

***TORRE MANAGER OF THE YEAR?***
It's common for sportswriters to come out with the favorites in various categories, based on 1st half performances and Joe Torre seems to be the consensus pick for Manager-of-the Year. I'll bet not one of his bullpen crew voted for him. The biggest factor is the fact that the Dodgers have the best record is baseball. They have a good team, but they do feast on the weakest division in baseball, the NL West, and I think their bullpen is going to implode by September.

***TURMOIL IN THE MET'S CLUBHOUSE?***
There are rumors that the same back-stabbing that resulted in the firing of Willie Randolph, is happening now to Jerry Manuel. Bill Madden, of the NY Daily News, claims that the culprit is Assistant GM, Tony Bernazand. He says the the Wilpons, Met owners, seem to listen to Bernazand and not Omar Minaya, the GM. Well, Jerry, you were there went Willie got undermined, so you shouldn't be surprised.