I’m sitting up in the press box today with my buddy, an ex-umpire who gets paid to evaluate crews who come through NYC. Whenever it looks like an ump blows a call we all stare at him…and he pretty much ignores us and jots down some notes.

One of his jobs is to time breaks between innings to see if the umpires are doing their job in moving the game along. Now, I knew FOX games go long, and he just informed me of one of the many reasons. FOX broadcasts tack an extra 20 seconds onto every commercial break. That only adds up to an extra six minutes a game, but for some reason it feels like forever between half-innings.

Maybe I’m just kevetching…or trying to get even with Fox for insisting upon making Buck and McCarver their top baseball coverage team. Either way you slice it, I’ll take a local broadcast any day.

So, who sits?

I have to admit that when I saw the line-up card last night I exhaled a grunt of frustration and thought to myself, ‘Damn, Melky’s out…Giambi’s return is screwing everything up.’ Yeah, we know how this story works after watching Joe Torre shuffle through Jason Giambi, Melky Cabrera, Bernie Williams and Gary “Play me at first? You treat black players differently…but I never said you were a racist” Sheffield last season.

Torre will find a way to get everyone in the game which means there will be nights where Johnny Damon is in center, left, at DH or on the bench. There will be nights where Hideki Matsui DHs or plays left. Giambi will mostly just DH, but at times push the productive Andy Phillips to the bench and play first. Shelly Duncan will get few chances to prove he’s more than a fluke while Wilson Betemit prays for a starter to get injured. And, of course, there will be nights where Melky Cabrera, the Yankees’ best outfielder, also sits on the bench.

This last fact is really the biggest shame of all. You have a kid who is once again blossoming with regular playing time now forced to wonder when he gets to play. You hope that he continues to push that average over .300, but I wonder…the kid is 23 years-old. Can he produce when he has to sit twice a week?

Also factor this in when you consider Melky…how will a slump by Melky effect Robinson Cano? I’m not saying that it will, but those two are attached at the hip — they even live in the same building. Both started the season cold and then they both got hot and seemed to be inflating the Yankees with energy in July and August…is that something you really want to mess with?

Just a little food for thought.

So back to Giambi last night. When I saw that Torre had finally sat Melky while keeping BOTH Johnny Damon AND Jason Giambi in the line-up, I let out an exasperated deep breath. But then Giambi stepped up and hit two home runs that pretty much clinched an important game against the Tigers. And then I started thinking…why doesn’t Damon (who went 0-for-4 and needs to rest an injury-plagued body anyway) sit for a little while and we’ll see where this “Giambi at DH, Melky in center” concept goes.

It might be enough to keep everyone but Damon happy…and the Yankees winning.

You just saw it getting away tonight. Sheff receiving all the boos he deserved, grounding out to third…and reaching on A-Rod’s error. Mike Mussina walking his first batter in 22.1 innings while facing the dangerous Magglio Ordonez…setting the scene that would end this one before it started. It was Carlos Guillen stepping in next to take Moose deep…and that really was that in the Tigers 8-5 win over the Yankees.

Justin Verlander finally won since the All-Star break and the Yankees now look mortal for the first time since then. It was inevitable that they would cool down and start losing a few, particularly with the junior varsity teams off the schedule. So now it’s Sox by 5.5 and Seattle by a half game. There’s plenty of baseball left for the Yanks to survive a short skid…that is, of course, as long as the skid is short…

On a side note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give props to the fan who reached into Brandon Inge’s glove and yanked out Hideki Matsui’s foul ball in the first inning…it was a legit play that any home fan should have made and it allowed Matsui to single home Derek Jeter one pitch later. This is what home field advantage is all about. Kudos, brother.

Alright, I’m not saying that Roger Clemens could have inspired the Yankees to have had more than two hits against Daniel Cabrera and the O’s bullpen during their 12-0 loss tonight. I’m not saying that Clemens would have kept the Yankees close enough to want to rally on an evening when they were mourning the loss of the Scooter. But I’ll go out on a limb and say that the Yanks don’t lose twelve-zip with the Rocket on the hill.

And why was Jeff Karstens (God bless him for trying) starting on a night that Clemens is slated to go? Because he was suspended for defending his teammate in Toronto. Yes, Alex Rodriguez’s knee was attacked twice and Clemens couldn’t tell the Jays to back off by drilling Alex Rios? This is still a joke to me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame the umpires or anyone who enforces rules that are already in place. They’re just doing their jobs by ejecting/suspending Clemens. But why do we have to watch another pitcher choose between suspension and letting an attack on his player go unanswered?

Clemens did the right thing in defending A-Rod. It’s a shame that the Yankees had to suffer a one-sided beating as a result.

He is a legend. There is no question of that. From his mid-broadcast cannoli deliveries to his attempts at starting Yankee rallies by reading birthday wishes, Phil Rizzuto was unlike any announcer MLB has ever seen. There is no such thing as an objective call of any baseball game and Phil didn’t even bother trying. He loved the Yankees through and through and yesterday his team and its fans lost a good man at the age of 89.

Those who are old enough to recall his broadcasts remember that his wife is named Cora and that Phil must have loved her dearly for the number of times he mentioned her name. She lives on, but sadly is now without her husband.

Personally, I never saw Phil play ball, but he did it well enough to win an AL MVP award and win seven World Series titles as the Yankee shortstop and leadoff man. He played with Mantle, DiMaggio, Ford and Berra but was a enough of a star to be a borderline Hall of Famer until his broadcating credentials tipped the scales for him in 1994. He is more of a Yankee than almost anyone else who played in pinstripes and rightly deserves his number ten retired out in monument park.

This is one man who I will truly miss.

Below is the official Yankee press release on Phil Rizzuto’s passing:

PHIL RIZZUTO

SEPTEMBER 25, 1917 – AUGUST 13, 2007

GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER

PRINCIPAL OWNER, NEW YORK YANKEES

RE: THE PASSING OF PHIL RIZZUTO

“I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop. Phil Rizzuto’s contributions to the Yankees and the sport of baseball were immense for a period of over 50 years. He was one of the greatest Yankees of all time and a dear, close friend of mine whose loss is enormous to me and to the entire Yankee family. He epitomized the Yankee spirit — gritty and hard charging — and he wore the pinstripes proudly. While Scooter may have been smaller in size than some, he was among the tallest in his stature as a Yankee. He was a favorite of fans both as a player and later as a broadcaster. His voice and “Holy Cow” will be part of baseball for as long as we play the game. No one deserved his place in the Hall of Fame more than Number 10. Our condolences to his wife, Cora, and the rest of his family.”

YOGI BERRA

FORMER RIZZUTO TEAMMATE AND YANKEES LEGEND

“This is a sad day for Carmen and me. Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew - a dear friend and great teammate. He was a heck of a player, too. When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big, actually small, brother to me. He has meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories.”

JOR TORRE

MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES

“Phil was a Hall-of-Famer both on and off the field, and when you were in his company, he made you feel like a family friend.

“Every time Scooter walked into my office, the first thing he’d say is, ‘Where’s Jeter? Where’s Jeter?’ A few minutes later I’d see the two of them giving big hugs to each other in the clubhouse. That’s the type of person Phil was, you just couldn’t figure out how such a big heart could fit inside such a small body.”

BOBBY RICHARDSON

FORMER RIZZUTO TEAMMATE (1955-56)

“When I joined the Yankees at age 19, Phil became my first roommate. The train left spring training that season to head north and he shared the seat next to me. Later in Phil’s career, [Manager] Casey Stengel would sometimes pinch-hit for him late in the game, and then I would enter the game at shortstop. Can you imagine, me playing defense for Phil Rizzuto!

“I learned so much about baseball and life from Phil. He was fun-loving off the field, and on the field he was the one person that kept the team together. He was deservedly recognized by the Hall of Fame, and it was an honor to be his teammate and friend.”

DEREK JETER

SHORTSTOP AND CAPTAIN, NEW YORK YANKEES

“Mr. Rizzuto serves as the ultimate reminder that physical stature has little bearing on the size of a person’s heart. Nothing was ever given to Phil, and he used every ounce of his ability to become one of the greatest Yankees to ever wear this uniform.”

DON LARSEN

FORMER RIZZUTO TEAMMATE (1955-56)

“Phil was one of the most jovial people you’d ever come across. We were teammates for a short time, but he made a lasting impression with everyone whose life intersected his. He and his wife, Cora, were a special couple, and my heart goes out to her and the rest of the Rizzuto family.”

How sweet was it to watch Joba Chamberlain strike out two in a perfect eighth inning before handing the ball off to Mariano Rivera? Or seeing Melky Cabrera race home on a dribbler from Derek Jeter to end the game? Pretty nice way to end a 7-6 Yankee win over the O’s. Sure, Mo’ blew the save, but let’s not ruin the moment here…

If you catch my drift, I’m saying that these are all homegrown talents, folks…and that makes it so much sweeter. Does anyone else think about this every time they see the Yankees’ starting line up these days? Melky in center, Posada catching, Jeter at short, Cano at second, Phillips at first…Mo’ and Joba in the pen…Hughes, Wang and Pettitte in the rotation…a crazy dude named Shelly coming off the bench, breaking hands with high fives?

That’s the dream: farmhands all around. One could argue that the Yankees are carried by free agents at the corner outfield positions and that they bought the best player in baseball to play third. Their DH is an ex-Red Sox hero as is one of the five starters. Sure, that’s all true. But you look at the Yankees these days and you aren’t necessarily seeing mercenaries with huge contracts. Instead, there’s a steady diet of guys who grew up with the pinstripes and want to win because they are Yankees.

Players like Mo, Posada and Jeter say it over and over…they are proud to have only worn the Yankee uniform all their careers. It is the kind of homegrown investment that makes players play harder when times get tough…it helps create the chemistry the Yanks have lacked for years. At the end of the year it may not win a championship, but Brian Cashman’s steadfast desire to hold onto prospects will be his legacy as GM (not his free agent signings/trades for starters or set-up men). This process of cultivating kids will serve the Yankees well for years to come.

Read this garbage if you haven’t already. It’s absurd. Roger Clemens gets a five-game suspension for hitting Alex Rios while Toronto’s Josh Towers walks off with only a fine after completing a two-day assault on A-Rod.

You can read about it here on ESPN.com.

Man. Is this what it’s come down to? An entire team sets its sights against A-Rod, throws at his knee twice but A-Rod’s teammates should do nothing about it? Ridiculous. When is Major League Baseball going to wake up and allow the players to police the game they play, the way they used to? Probably never. But if you’re going to suspend Roger Clemens, you have to look at Josh Towers who, in my opinion, was much more in the wrong then Clemens.

Okay, I get it. There was a warning and THEN Clemens nailed Alex Rios. Gotcha. That’s more of a no-no than an “innocent” shot at the knee from earlier in the game…and as MLB defines the rules, Clemens’ punishment should be steeper. So, yes, at this point people are just enforcing rules….Except there are two critical flaws with this rule.

1) It does not take into account the premeditated nature of Towers’ dangerous shot at A-Rod’s knee and 2) it does not allow players to police the game between the lines. Listen, we all know that Towers was channeling his team’s anger from the “Ha” incident when he threw at A-Rod. Or, at the very least, we know that Towers was getting even just about as well as we know that Clemens was throwing at Rios intentionally. So I ask you, what is worse: to get even within the frame of one game or to wait months and then unload over a two-game period while targeting a vulnerable body part?

Frankly, it’s insane. I hope Clemens successfully appeals this case. The Rocket shouldn’t even be thinking about a suspension, but instead, should be getting ready for his next start. Just like Josh Towers.

Kudos to Roger Clemens.

With Scott Proctor now gone from the Yankee roster, he was going to have to be the guy that did it. A pitch right between the 1 and 5 on Alex Rios’ back. Perhaps one may argue that he set-up an inning in which the Blue Jays scored two runs and made things tighter, but you have to trust your pen with a seven-run lead. The bottom line is that Josh Towers went after A-Rod’s knee (the second Jays’ pitcher to do so in as many days) and such a dangerous pitch cannot be allowed to go unpunished. A-Rod is the Yankees’ best hitter…Rios is the currently the Jays’ best. The Rocket did the right thing by defending his teammate.

And then, of course, he got that look of crazy in his eyes when arguing with the home plate umpire. Yankee fans know what I’m talking about there.

Clemens went six solid for his team and then made a point. How this will all payoff in terms of community and camaraderie down stretch is unknown, but it certainly can’t hurt. The Yankees have been accused for years of being a team that lacked a cohesive core. Now they bring in a few kids who have some success, mix in a little veteran rage…perhaps they have a  little something cooking.

Here are a few notes from the game:

*Anyone notice Jason Giambi beat out the relay throw to first in his first at-bat back? He also managed to ground the ball the other way…Is this really Jason we have back?

*Um, sick slider you got there, Joba.

*Melky is smokin’ hot…two doubles and a triple. Fun.

*Damon stealing second up five in the eighth? That’s legit in this age in baseball.

*What about the kid Duncan ready to jump in there and protect A-Rod…? And then the hard slide at second base in the sixth? Love the moxie.

*Clemens should have thrown at Towers in the Jays’ dugout, not just Alex Rios…If the Jays don’t feel that they’ve gotten even for A-Rod’s ‘Ha’ after this then they’re just looking for a fight. And great retaliation by the Yanks…A-Rod gets hit, Posada hits a two-run double. The ultimate revenge.

Earlier today the Yankees kissed the surface of the AL Wild card lead before sinking a half-game back behind Detroit, winners of their evening game against Tampa Bay. The Bombers are on the playoff cusp that seemed all so far away a few weeks ago when just about everyone had checked their pulse and pronounced them dead. Now they are New York City’s darlings again…once again you have to dive several pages deep in the sports section to get past the glowing reports of the Yankee offense to find any word on the Mets — by the way, congrats to Tom Glavine on 300.

Yes, faith has been restored in the Big Apple as the Wild Card is now within reach, but this is no time to get too giddy. The real work still lies ahead for the Yanks who have a slew of tough games to come and are far from their real goal, the AL East title. As I write these words Boston and Curt Schilling have just been beaten by the Angels, 4-2, cutting the difference in the AL East to six games. Certainly, Boston has played well enough to deserve the best record in baseball…but who really plays to win the Wild Card? No one — particularly not the Yanks. You play to win the division.

The Yankees went into today’s game with Toronto with every reason to sit back and take a day off. Heck, they’ve been killing meager teams and almost everyone’s batting average is creeping up to .300 (Robinson Cano, the guy many people called overrated a few weeks ago, is up to .308…Hideki Matsui, who many thought was on his way out after that wrist injury was AL player of the month in July with 13 home runs and 28 RBI…). But the Yankees did not rest today. They fought. When Toronto starter Jesse Litsch threw behind A-Rod, the 500-home run man slid hard into second and started yelling at everyone. Sweet.

Later, both Jorge Posada and Matt Stairs got hit. You see, Toronto is only five games behind the Yankees and they’re clawing and scratching to get a piece of the playoff pie…but the Yankees are fighting back.

The Yanks are ready to play, but their goal is still six games off.  This is when it gets real fun to be a fan.

I hope you heard this. The shouts, chants…the applause before, during and after the home run. I hope you saw it too. The hugs from his teammates (including Jeter)…the curtain call…the applause when he ran out to his position. Dare I say it? … this place …um, loves A-Rod…

What a difference a few months, a few clutch home runs and MVP-like numbers make. He may even take down Roger Maris’ club record (or the non-juiced, MLB, single-season home run record). And now that the stress of hitting this home run is off, A-Rod and the Yankees can get on with their season.

Yes, the place shook like it was October up here in the Bronx. And perhaps this is just A-Rod’s honeymoon until then. But for now, it’s enough to buy him a little peace and quite.