AROUND THE LEAGUE

***LET'S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY***
The Yanks lost with Vasquez reverting to old habits. He simply couldn't put anyone away. After getting two strikes, he would try to finesse the plate, ending up with a full count. Forced to throw a strike, often with nothing on it, the Twins would tee off. He should take a page from Pettitte's book: pound that strike zone. A-Rod continues to look helpless at the plate, taking strikes and swinging at pitches outside the zone. If he's guessing, and I think he is, he sure is guessing wrong. To quote Crash Davis from "Bull Durham," "Quit thinking. It can only hurt the ballclub."

***THIS WILL BE A BIG HELP***
MLB has announced that they are "investigating" the Joe West-White Sox incident. Why waste your time? Do you actually think anything will come of this? You know, other than Ozzie Guillen & Mark Buehrle being suspended? The NHL is upset because umpires Bob Davidson & Joe West had more fights than they did this week. These confrontations aren't new. Here are some of the best:
http://thedailysomething.com/2010-articles/may/umps-behaving-badly.html
Then there was this little incident between Casey Blake of the Dodgers and umpire John Hirshbeck. After getting on first, Blake complained to Hirshbeck that Cubs pitcher Ted Lily was pitching from 4-6 inches IN FRONT of the pitching rubber. In the video, Hirshbeck seems more concerned with Blake than Lily, pointing his finger and arguing with Blake and not even paying attention to Lily. Blake kept telling him to just look at Lily. Nope! After the game, Hirshbeck said he couldn't tell if Lily was on the rubber, because he "couldn't leave his position to check."
Yeah, I had to read that quote twice, too. This was so serious, that Joe Torre awoke from his nap and actually strolled out to see what was going on, first stopping to talk to Blake to find out what he was supposed to "argue" about. Ted Lily even said after the game that "I might have been a couple of inches ahead of the rubber, I just wasn't paying attention." Apparently, neither were the umpires.

***HERE HE COMES TO SAVE THE DAY***
Jose Canseco says he's going to testify in support of Roger Clemens before the federal grand jury investigating charges of perjury against Clemens. That ought to help. It's like getting marital advice from Tiger Woods.

***HE COULD BE RIGHT***
Columnist Norman Chad says that LeBron James should sign with West Ham of the Premiere Soccer League. "Granted, he's never played soccer but, then again, David Beckham's a big deal and I don't think he ever plays soccer, either."

***MANAGER WATCH UPDATE***
Ken Macha, Brewers -- Still working
Dave Trembly, Orioles -- Still working
Jerry Manuel, Mets -- Still working
Ozzie Guillen, White Sox -- Still talking

CP-