The whole night was strange; the needle jumped off the groove early and never quite straightened itself out. We had that crazy second inning, in which the right field umpire had the good fortune of access to replay on the call he blew and not having it on the one he didn’t. We had the endless, endless bottom of the fourth inning, in which the Yankees scored a go-ahead run in the amount of time it takes for a elephant to be born, mate and die. (The inning was less exciting too.) We had poor bastard who might have interfered with Brett Gardner on a pop-up down the first-base line in the fifth inning, whose name we’ll never end up knowing because Josh Hamilton didn’t hit a three-run homer on the next pitch. And, of course, we had this guy. If you’d like to see that guy in glorious motion, try this one.

But in spite of all that, if the Yankees lose this series, this night will be remembered as the night that Joe Girardi lost the city. Girardi has made some poor decisions in the postseason over the last couple of years, but they’ve mostly been of the LaRussa-ian overmanaging variety, and nothing particularly harmful. But in the sixth inning, the walls collapsed on him. With one out and a runner on first in the sixth inning with the Yankees leading 3-2, Ian Kinsler hit a long fly ball off Burnett that was caught on the warning track by Curtis Granderson. Alertly, Nelson Cruz, the runner on first, tagged up and reached second base.

Now, at this point, Girardi had several decisions to make. First, does he keep in Burnett? At that point, Burnett had thrown about 93 pitches, so he had a little left, but on the other hand: He’d thrown 5 2/3 innings and only given up two runs. Considering the Yankees were being openly mocked coming into the game for starting Burnett, shoot, 5 2/3 with two runs, that’s pretty darned good, right? That’s found money. Who wouldn’t take that? It’s A.J. Burnett: You cheated God, Joe! But whichever: Girardi trusted his man, it’s not exactly Grady Little-level negligence.The strange move was the next one: Intentionally walking David Murphy because of the suddenly open base. Sure, Molina’s not exactly Josh Hamilton (who hit two more damn homers tonight, by the way), but with a one-run lead, Girardi put an extra man on base because … he wanted a force out? (It didn’t help that, according to Girardi looked indecisive and conflicted the entire time.) Then he left Burnett in after the intentional walk — including one pitch that nearly got past Francisco Cervelli — and watched as Burnett’s first pitch wound inside the left-field foul pole. That’s when everything got silent. Until the booing came … when everybody saw Girardi come out to relieve Boone Logan (whose sole purpose on the roster to get out Hamilton, who’s currently 2-for-2 against him with a homer and a double). Girardi was showered with boos, like, Carl Pavano-level boos. That won’t be forgotten. If you saw him talk after the game, he acts like he knows it too.

For our money, his decision not to pinch hit for Lance Berkman — who hits so poorly against lefties he probably shouldn’t even bother being a pinch-hitter — with Austin Kearns when the bases were loaded in the bottom of the eight was even more inexplicable. But the intentional walk is how this one will go down in history.

By the ninth inning, it didn’t matter, though: The Yankees, in their own stadium the last two nights, have been outscored 14-0 from the sixth inning on. Oh, oh, with everything else going on, we totally forgot to mention that Mark Teixeira got hurt. Yeah: We know, right? He strained his hamstring trying to run out a grounder in the fifth inning, and the Yanks certainly missed him: His replacement Marcus Thames struck out in his only plate appearance, against a righthander, and he was unavailable when Berkman was befuddled against a lefthander. Teixeira will have an MRI tomorrow morning, which isn’t ideal, but it’s really not ideal when the Yankees are supposed to play at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, which they are.

Listen: This is obviously the worst case scenario. Forget Cliff Lee, the Yankees will have to be extremely fortunate — and show a fortitude they haven’t shown this series — just to be so lucky to see Lee again. It is frighteningly possible that the Yankees season could be over by 7:30 Wednesday night. The Yankees have CC Sabathia on Wednesday afternoon against C.J. Wilson, a pitching matchup that favors them. They have another one on Friday night that favors them. They can get there. Three wins is not four. There is no clock in baseball. This doesn’t have to be over just yet. But boy: It sure does feel over, don’t it? Truthfully: It’s felt over for a while.

Oh, and one note to end here: The inevitable consequence of billion-dollar cathedrals of luxury boxes is a wealthier, more corporate, less engaged fan. It happens. We get it. But it was astounding, and deeply depressing, to see the massive number of empty seats there were at Yankee Stadium in the seventh inning tonight. (In the ninth inning, down by seven runs, we suppose we understand.) It was a long game, on a Tuesday night, and everybody’s gotta go to work Wednesday, all understood. But considering how many amazing October nights the Yankees have given their fans over the last 15 years, and considering the tying run was at the plate in the eighth inning, it must have been harrowing for Yankees brass to see so many fans head for the gates. We don’t want to see anyone mocking Los Angeles sports fans anymore. The new Yankee Stadium has turned Yankees postseason crowds into something we don’t recognize, and don’t want to.

And Mets fans know it.

And, they can’t do a damned thing about it.

The problem facing this team is literally facing the owner right in the mirror every morning. Jeff Wilpon, baseball’s version of Jim Dolan, the Knicks owner, is the problem. Like Dolan, Wilpon doesn’t see himself the way the world does. He doesn’t understand how little he truly knows about running a baseball team. Or, running a business.

What has happened to the Mets under Wilpon’s direction is a team that is rudderless. There is no direction and there is no true director to show Mets minor and major league players the “Mets way” of doing things. There is no such thing as a Mets way, it appears.

If you look around the major leagues at the solid franchises who, year-by-year put a winning product on the field despite having payrolls a fraction of what the Mets spend, you can perceive very clearly a winning attitude and way of doing things that emanates from the top down.

People talk about the Yankees payroll as the main reason for their contending ways every year but one need only look at their minor league teams, the major league prospects they are developing at all levels of the minors, the way they are teaching their kid Yankee hitters how to be patient at the plate to make the opposing pitcher work and throw more pitches. It’s the Yankee Way.

The Minnesota Twins are closing in on yet another division championship at the Major League level with a payroll below $70 million, compared to the Mets’ $150 million. Led by former Mets shortstop, Ron Gardenhire, the Twins have learned the little aspects of the game that leads to wins. Gardenhire played that way, hit and running and bunting and catching the ball, and has conveyed his way to the rest of the organization.

What exactly is the Mets Way? Is it Tony Bernazard, the former assistant to Mets General Manager Omar Minaya brow-beating minor league Mets into playing better or risking a fist-fight with Bernazard, himself? That got Bernazard fired so the Mets must have decided that wasn’t the way to develop minor league talent. Is it having a general manager in Minaya who is given almost zero latitude to develop and build the franchise with Wilpon’s money because he has already proven himself to be a poor administrator in the game of baseball. It appears the Wilpons have heard this complaint about Minaya enough times where they will finally shift the gm out of that office and back into an area where he is comfortable and confident – baseball scouting and minor league player development. The GM job, with its immense requirements of detail orientation, an understanding of the evolving salary cap and legal issues, and, specific to the New York market, a comfort-level with the pesky New York press corps, appears to have been a little too much for Minaya to handle. He has one more year on his contract with the organization and the Mets, ever-frugal, will make him earn his $2.5 million remaining dollars in a position he is more suited for.

But who will take his place and begin to put a stamp on the organization to learn how to draft, teach, train, and act in a way that is the Mets Way? With Kevin Towers, the accomplished former general manager of the San Diego Padres who spent the past year with the Yankees assisting his buddy, Brian Cashman (and getting the benefit of learning the Yankees Way), leaving yesterday to take the general manager’s job with Arizona, that leaves not too many young, accomplished candidates to replace Minaya. Sure the Mets can bring in Tal Smith for a year or two, or a few of the retreads that are flying around the general manager radar screen but the bottom line is, who will want to come to New York to work under Jeff Wilpon? It appears not anyone with a solid reputation and track record.

So, the Mets may continue to flounder without a true leader of the franchise. To Dolan’s credit, he finally brought in a basketball man who had the respect of the league in Donnie Walsh to run things the right way, quite possibly even developing a Knicks Way of doing things. However, Jeff Wilpon has not yet reached the point where he understands the long and short-term ramifications of his decisions.

Without bringing in someone who has earned the respect of his peers in the sport and can lay down the principals of winning baseball throughout the Mets organization, the Mets Way will continue to be one of floundering and hoping.

If any team should be acutely tuned-in to how suddenly a championship pedigree can turn into second-division mediocrity, it’s this historic franchise. All they need do is look at how their great teams of the fifties and sixties were allowed to get old together without replenishing the talent base and how that era’s great core of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra/Elston Howard all lost their youth collectively within a couple of years time.

Before you knew it, Yankees fans were left with names like Horace Clarke, Danny Cater, Jake Gibbs, and Dooley Womack to lead the way through the rest of the underachieving sixties and early seventies, until the irascible George Steinbrenner swooped in from Cleveland to take the crumbling team and stadium off the thankful hands of CBS in 1973.

Now, we fast-forward to 2010 and the Yankees are playing good baseball, good enough to be in first place in the American League’s East Division with the best record in the game, 58-34. But, it’s a very fragile and tenuous record, one capable of changing in that veritable blink of an eye.

Like the famous Yankee core of that earlier era, the current-day core of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettite, and Mariano Rivera has carried the franchise to multiple championships. And, just as that Mantle-led group of the Casey Stengel and Ralph Houk-managed Yankees aged none too gracefully, we are now seeing the inevitable physical breakdown of today’s heroes, as well.

It’s more than just the fact the Core Four, as they’ve been called, have been superb, productive players throughout their careers. It’s also important to note the positions they play are not going to be easily replaced, positions that are arguably, the four most important on a major league team.

It is well-known in baseball circles that a team cannot even attempt to think about being a championship contender unless it is strong “up the middle” as the saying goes. In baseball parlance, high levels of production on the field and at bat are necessary from the catching position, shortstop, second base, and centerfield. Looking into the Yankees future, these positions will very much be in the transition phase over the next year or two because of age or the need to improve on the current players in those positions.

Jeter’s batting average, here in late July, is down to .268. Is that a news flash? Let’s see, the sure-fire Hall of Famer with the lifetime batting average of .315 is now 36-years old. There are a lot of miles on the shortstops’ legs and entire body and it’s finally starting to show in a diminished performance this season. His stolen bases are way down, his ability to cover his position is diminished, and his bat speed appears decreased.

To Yankees fans, it’s a huge story for a couple of reasons. There doesn’t appear to be a replacement on the Yankees roster or in their minor league system capable of approaching the consistent productivity Jeter has been delivering day-in and day-out for 16 years. At so important a position as shortstop, where an outstanding player with great range in the field and the ability to turn the double-play can stop the other team from scoring, any diminishment has a huge impact on his team’s ability to win. The Yanks have been spoiled by the excellence of Jeter. They recognize, better than anyone, that you just don’t replace Hall of Famers, even in the age of free-agency.

The one player without whom the Yankees arguably would not have won even one championship during these last 14 years is Rivera. He has become the greatest closer in the games’ history and for all these years has been what separates the Yankees from all other teams. Nobody else has had a closer of his quality. There have been teams with better starting pitching, better iineups, better managers. But, no one had Rivera and that’s why the Yankees won. The eventual retirement of Rivera, now suffering from chronic knee and oblique pain, and the likelihood he can never be satisfactorily replaced will most certainly bring the Yankees back to the pack.

Posada has been a proud, serious-minded player for his entire career. As a young player, he hated being platooned with Joe Girardi, his current manager when he felt there was no comparison in their talent levels. He was probably right but Posada finally became a competent defensive catcher who learned the nuances of calling a good game for his pitching staff. He is an ancient player for his position but continues to swing the bat as well as ever. Girardi recognizes the need to keep his games-played to the 100-120 range to preserve Posada’s skill level. But, at 38-years old, Posada’s career as a catcher has been on the back end for several years now. It’s conceivable he will be a designated hitter next year and a backup catcher. The Yankees are surely looking to replace him with a younger talent.

That takes us to Pettitte. His performance this year has been extraordinary, considering his age and his production over the past several years. He’s been on a 20-win pace this season, with 11 wins at the All-Star break. But then, the 38-year old lefty showed his age in his last start this past Saturday afternoon. In his windup, he strained his groin muscle. He wasn’t stretching for a ground ball, he wasn’t running down to first base. Nope, he was just winding up to throw a pitch and felt his groin pull. Pettitte Is now out for what the Yankees are saying will be 4-5 weeks. That takes Pettitte into September when he might return to the team. At his age, who knows what he’ll be capable of after taking a month and half of the season off.

With five world championships and eight American League pennants under their belt since 1996, Jeter, et al, have become a legendary entity unto themselves. The Yankees, however, should recognize there is scant time left to the careers of these four players. As a result, Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman understands they are on the cusp of turning over the leadership of their team to new players. The question is, to whom?

All of these doubts and questions about a team come with the territory when players reach their upper thirties in professional sports. Rivera, Pettitte, Posada, and Jeter’s combined age is 152. That, by itself, creates plenty of doubts for Cashman.

When you throw in the 34-year old Alex Rodriguez and the 30-year old Mark Texeira, you realize this particular championship era for the Pinstripes is coming to a close. The end of the era could happen much sooner than later, especially when your most important players, your core, can break down so suddenly.

And then, the Yankees will be left with players like Swisher, Pena, Granderson, Gardner, Cervelli, and Chamberlain to take this franchise to new heights. Or lows.

Tonight, they faced off against their local rivals, the Staten Island Yankees on a breezy summer night at MCU Park, the ballpark by the ocean. Brooklyn, 2.5 games ahead of the second-place Yankee farm team were playing against the Staten Islanders for the fourth time this season, the Cyclones holding a 2-1edge.

This wasn’t one of Brookyn’s best games, however. Several mishaps in the field and some loose relief pitching contributed to the Cyclones’ 8-5 loss to the Yankees.

Brooklyn manager, Wally Backman, of 1986 Mets world championship fame, has continued his winning ways as a field leader as he has his team playing what has become known in these parts as “Wally Ball.”

What exactly does that mean?

“It’s playing hit and run, taking the extra base whenever we can, bunting, stealing bases, and putting pressure on the opposing team at all times,” Backman said before tonight’s game. “It’s also about getting solid pitching and defense.”

No one connected with this years’ team had seen so many poor game decisions as they did tonight. however. One onlooker mentioned that this great, little stadium located on Brooklyns’ southern tip had recently hosted a concert by a new band called Furthur, fronted by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. Other than the unsightly patches of brown dirt left on the outfield grass by the stage, one has to wonder, after so many strange plays by the Brooklyners if the old rock icons from the sixties had left anything else on the field to dull the players’ decision-making abilities.

The Yankees got off quickly in the top of the first when they scored an unearned run on an error by first baseman Jeff Flagg, who, with a runner on third, couldn’t figure out whether to step on the bag himself on a ground ball or toss it to the pitcher covering, Wes Wrenn. He finally tossed it but not until the runner had safely crossed first and the lead runner on third base had scored.

“I think Jeff just had a little bit of a brain cramp on that play,” said Backman. “The runner was dead out at the plate if Jeff threw the ball home.” Did Backman say Dead, as in Grateful Dead?

Down the one run, Cody Holliday led off the Cyclones half of the first with a double down the left field line off of Staten Island’s hard-throwing Wilton Rodriguez, who came in with an 0-3 record along with a 3.48 ERA. Darrell Ceciliani, the Cyclones’ leading hitter with a .404 average, promptly jumped on a Rodriguez fastball for another double, scoring Holliday.

Cory Vaughn, Backman’s third place hitter and the son of former major leaguer, Greg Vaughn, grounded to second for the first out, moving Ceciliani to third. Up stepped Flagg, with a chance to redeem himself for his error and to get the run in from third base. Instead, he swung at a pitch in the dirt for strike three. J.B. Brown however, picked him up with a line single to center putting the Cyclones ahead, 2-1.

In the bottom of the second inning, Brooklyn second baseman Luis Nieves singled with one out and stole second. Holliday grounded to second, moving Nieves to third base with Ceciliani, fast becoming a Backman favorite, stepping in. The 20-year old prospect once again showed why he is getting noticed within the Mets organization. He jumped on the first pitch and drove it to left center for his second double of the game and his second rbi in two innings.   

Wrenn, Brooklyn’s 24-year old pitcher, was sailing along through 4 2/3 innings, holding the Yankees to just three hits until, with two outs in the the fifth, Luis Parache, a .150 hitting infielder pulled a pitch down the right field line, barely clearing the fence. On the very next serving by Wrenn, Eduardo Sosa, he of the .237 batting average hit an absolute bomb of a home run, also to right field that would have cleared Citifield with ease, tying the game at 3-3. Wrenn struck out the next batter to end the fifth but his unexplained lapses had let the Staten Islanders back into the game. The Grateful Dead affect?

When Wrenn gave up two more singles to start the top of the sixth, Backman went out to get him, bringing in Ryan Fraser, a 6’4” hard-throwing righty. Fraser, a bit of a Jekyl and Hyde on the mound, had struck out five in his three innings this year but had also averaged more than one walk per inning, not unusual for hard-throwers in Single A baseball. The young pitcher may not always know where the ball is going but his wildness didn’t rear its head when he faced his first hitter, Kelvin DeLeon with runners on first and third. He whiffed the Yankees outfielder on three consecutive hard sliders and followed that with two consecutive strikes to Kevin Mahoney until he reverted back to his wild side, throwing four straight balls to walk the Yankees’ sixth place hitter and load the bases with just one out.

Fraser got two quick strikes on Ferraro, the next hitter who was batting just .158, before he blew the hitter away with a high hard fastball.  Now, there were two out and bases loaded.

Farnham, Staten Island’s seventh place hitter, whiffed at Fraser’s first two fastballs then worked the count to 2-2. On the next pitch, Fraser showed his wild side again by throwing the ball three feet wide of his catcher as the ball rolled to the backstop, the runner scoring from third to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.  On the next pitch, Farnham hit it solidly into centerfield for a single, two runs scoring, and the Staten Islanders, just like that, had opened up a 6-3 lead. 

Brooklyn fought back in their half of the sixth inning. Sandoval led off with a single. Nieves followed with a long triple to right center, driving in the fourth run of the game for the home team. After a ground out to first kept the runner from scoring, it was Ceciliani’s turn again. The youngster, looking the part of a disciplined hitter with a good idea of the strike zone, walked on four pitches, leaving Vaughn, the number three hitter, to step in with runners on first and third. Vaughn grounded to second but his hustle down the line beat the throw to first to prevent a double play. The run scored and it was now, 6-5.

In the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded for Staten Island and one out, Flagg, Brooklyn’s first baseman, had difficulty once again with deciding whether to toss the ball to the pitcher covering first or to take it himself. He didn’t make the connection with his pitcher, the runner beat the late throw to first, and Staten Island had their seventh run of the night.

In the eighth, more poor decision-making affected the game’s outcome. Holliday lined a pitch into left field. Following the aggressive credo of his manager but maybe forgetting his team was two runs down, he tried to take the extra base with the Cyclones’ two best hitters coming up next. Holliday was thrown out at second on a good throw from the Yankee left fielder.

Did Wally Ball lose out tonight to the Grateful Dead or was it, as Backman said afterwards, just “youthful exuberance” at this level of baseball. Either way, Brooklyn maintains its first place lead over Staten Island by 1.5 games.

The surprising (maybe shocking?) Mets are now in second place, just one and a half games behind the equally surprising Atlanta Braves in the National League East division. All of a sudden, the downtrodden but, in recent years, decidedly unlovable Mets have turned around what initially appeared to be a season on a path of countdowns to managerial and general managerial firings. We’ve come full circle from how dumb Mets management has been to how sharp they are.

Disengaged from their fan base because of three consecutive and horrific end-of-season disappointments, high-ticket prices for a poor on-field product, a variety of disastrous public relations goofs (see Omar Minaya at any press conference, Mets medical staff decisions, player unrest expressed in the media) and enduring consistent criticism from such on-air voices of their own flagship radio station as Mike Francesa of WFAN-AM, the Metsies have a chance to become the darlings of New York’s baseball summer.

They hustle for manager Jerry Manuel. Their team chemistry appears better than it’s been in many years with the subtraction of such lovable louts as Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, and Ryan Church. It will be interesting to see how the personality of this team adjusts to the return of Carlos Beltran, old smiley himself and the unwanted and unnecessary Oliver Perez, when he comes off the disabled list.

As currently constituted though, the Mets are  likable and fun to watch, particularly with the core of their team, Jose Reyes and David Wright now combining with newcomers Jason Bay, the kid first baseman Ike Davis, Jeff Francoeur, the catching platoon of Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco, and a re-discovered starting pitching staff giving them a chance to win every day.

The Yankees have always been expected to win, and have been doing just that all season long. The fact Tampa Bay has been on a streak since Day One has not discouraged the Yankees or its fans one bit. No one connected with the team expects their current second-place standing in the American League East division to continue much longer. In fact, Tampa Bay is now beginning its descent back to reality as the Yankees, now a 1/2 game behind the Rays, and the Red Sox are playing as they were expected to.

Those expectations of Yankee pennants and annually contending for a championship are exactly why the Mets become the more interesting story this summer. When you’re at the top and your sole job is to stay there, the only element that could add pizzazz to the storyline is a bunch of injuries capable of derailing the inevitable march to a championship. Or, having your 35-year old shortstop all of a sudden showing his age. Now, that would be fascinating to watch.  

So, hold onto to your hats, NY baseball fans. It’s going to be a long, bumpy, but very fun ride this summer, particularly for the team from Queens. After all, aren’t roller-coasters usually more exciting than Ferris Wheels?  

The move pushes the Yankees’ payroll for next season to more than $200 million.

What It Means

Vazquez, with a 15-10 record, ranked second in the National League last season with 238 strikeouts and sixth in ERA at 2.87 as the No. 2 starter in the rotation. This is his second time around with the Yankees, having pitched in New York in 2004, when he went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA and made his only All-Star team.

His first stint in New York ended miserably, when he relieved Kevin Brown trailing 2-0 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Boston and allowed a first-pitch grand slam to Johnny Damon.

Vazquez, 33, joins a pitching rotation that includes CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte. The Yankees’ top four starters will combine for $64 million in payroll — more than four teams paid their entire rosters last season.

With the trade and including the still-unfinalized signing of free-agent designated hitter Nick Johnson, the Yankees’ payroll for next season stands at $200.9 million for 16 signed players. That includes two not expected to make the opening-day roster: pitcher Andrew Brackman and infielder Juan Miranda.

Vazquez

Logan

Cabrera had been the Yankees’ starting center fielder for most of the past three seasons. After losing the job to Brett Gardner during spring training this year, he quickly regained it and hit .274 with 13 homers and 68 RBIs, helping the Yankees win the World Series for the first time since 2000. He is eligible for free agency after the 2012 season.

This move opens the door for outfield moves for both teams. The Yankees now are expected to explore both the free-agent and trade markets for a left fielder. But they’ve continued to portray themselves as uninterested in anyone in the price range of Matt Holliday, Jason Bay or Damon.

One name that has been on their radar screen is Mark DeRosa, whose $6 million asking price is in the dollar area they appear willing to allocate.

The Vazquez deal frees up about $9 million for the Braves to spend on upgrading their offense — Vazquez’s $11.5 million salary, minus the $3 million or so Cabrera figures to earn via arbitration, and getting the $500,000 in cash from the Yankees.

Cabrera

Dunn

They’ll now look to use that surplus on an outfield bat, a first baseman or possibly both.

Damon is one possibility, particularly because his home in Orlando is within minutes of the Braves’ spring training complex. Another option is free agent Xavier Nady, who could play first or the outfield and would come at a relatively low base price because he is recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.

Or the Braves could look to deal an outfielder — either Cabrera or possibly Jordan Schafer — for a bat. They’ve been linked in trade rumors to Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, who could potentially slide to first base.

Logan, acquired by the Braves from the White Sox in the Vazquez trade in December 2008, was 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA in 20 relief appearances. He held left-handers to a .231 average and figures to fill the hole created by the departure of Phil Coke, who was sent to Detroit in a deal that brought the Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson.

Atlanta had a surplus of starting pitching after giving Tim Hudson a $28 million, three-year contract in November. The trade left the Braves with a rotation that includes Hudson, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami.

The 24-year-old Dunn had a combined 99 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre and Double-A Trenton, going 4-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 38 relief appearances. He made his major league debut on Sept. 4 and had a 6.75 ERA in four appearances.

Vizcaino, who is 19, was 2-4 with a 2.13 ERA at Class A Staten Island, striking out 52 in 42 1/3 innings.

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Jeter was back at Yankee Stadium a couple of weeks after winning his fifth World Series title, capping a stellar season with a photo shoot for his latest achievement.

The magazine made the announcement Monday.

“It’s unbelievable. It was completely unexpected. It came out of the blue,” Jeter told The Associated Press during a break in the photo shoot. “When I heard it, what can you say? It’s one of the greatest honors you can achieve in sports.”

The 35-year-old Jeter is the first Bronx Bomber to be tapped for the award that has been given out since 1954. Swimmer Michael Phelps was last year’s recipient.

“That’s even harder considering all the great Yankee players that have played for this organization,” said Jeter, standing under the banners depicting Yankees greats that hang in the Great Hall of the new stadium. “So I hope I’ve done them proud.”

Sports Illustrated Group editor Terry McDonell certainly thinks he has.

“This verifies my idea that he is on the level of Ruth and Gehrig,” McDonell said. “He’s the greatest shortstop in the history of the game.”

Some other baseball players to win the award are Sandy Koufax (1965), Tom Seaver (1969), Cal Ripken Jr. (1995); and the recent nemeses of Jeter’s teams, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling (2001), and the Boston Red Sox (2004).

All business between the lines, Jeter has become one of the untarnished ambassadors in the steroids era of baseball through steady play and quiet leadership on and off the field.

“He’s so classy,” McDonell said. “He brings a dignity and elegance to the game.”

Jeter’s 2009 season was remarkable.

He batted .334 with 18 homers and 66 RBIs with 30 steals to help lead the Yankees to their first World Series title in nine years — a frustrating drought for the player who won four championships in his first five seasons.

And as calls swelled for Jeter to switch positions after his contract expires in 2010, the 10-time All-Star went out and had one of his best defensive seasons: He made a career-low eight errors in winning his fourth Gold Glove.

He also passed Yankees icon Lou Gehrig’s club record for hits, won the Hank Aaron Award as the AL’s top hitter, and was given the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field.

The World Series victory might have been Jeter’s most cherished accomplishment this year, but what clinched the sportsman award for him was his philanthropic work. Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation has doled out over $10 million in grants since 1996 to organizations that help keep young people away from alcohol and drugs.

“It’s about the manner of the striving and the quality of the effort, too,” McDonell said. “Off the field he has grown so much as a member of the community.”

Coming 15 seasons into a career full of honors, the award could be seen as a lifetime achievement, but both McDonell and Jeter dismissed the idea.

McDonell was impressed by Jeter’s leadership, how he “stepped in and molded a team” this spring with the arrival of three expensive free agents, and Alex Rodriguez’ admission to using steroids from 2001-03 and then having hip surgery that kept him out until May.

For Jeter, who only looks as far ahead as the next game, he’s nowhere near the end of an illustrious career that could culminate with 4,000 hits.

“I’ll take it one hit at a time. That’s a long way in the future,” said Jeter, who has 2,747 hits. “I’m going to play as long as I’m having fun. Right now I’m having a blast.”

Pettitte will be the third straight Yankees pitcher to start on short rest. He will be opposed on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium by the Phillies’ Pedro Martinez, making this a match of postseason veterans who are a combined 75 years of age.

Girardi had waited to make the Pettitte announcement official until he checked on the veteran left-hander’s condition Tuesday. How did that conversation go?

“‘How do you feel?’” Girardi asked. “And he said he felt great. It doesn’t take more than that.”

Petite sounded very confident at yesterday’s press conference.

“What an opportunity to be able to hopefully pitch the game to bring the 27^th world championship to this organization and to this city,” he said. “It’s what we set out to do. I’ve had the opportunity to close out the previous two rounds and it’s exciting. For me, it’s not even a concern. I’m just going to go as hard as I can, as long as I can.”

Petite is very much aware of the different type of preparation to go on shorter rest but doesn’t think it will affect him, though.

“I don’t think there’s that big a difference,” he said. “I guess you fatigue a little quicker because your body gets into the routine of pitching every fifth day. I can’t even remember the last time I went on three days rest. I know I went on three days rest in the World Series against the Marlins. And I know it was a good outing. It was six years ago. I don’t even know if I’ve done it since then. It’s just not done anymore. The biggest thing is our routines. We get so set on pitching on our fifth day so it’s a little unusual. My mindset is just going to be the same as normal. I’m not going to try to blow the ball past anyone. I’m going to try to pitch like I normally would. If I can get my command and my mechanics, I feel I should be successful.”

The Yankees won Game 4 with CC Sabathia going on short rest. They lost Game 5 as A.J. Burnett, also pitching on short rest, was toasted for six earned runs in two-plus innings. Girardi said Burnett’s difficulties were not necessarily the result of pitching on three days’ rest.

But this is what the Yankees have left at this point; Pettitte on short rest in Game 6 and, if that doesn’t work out, Sabathia on short rest, for the second straight start, in the finale.

There is no doubting the stature of either Sabathia or Pettitte. There is no doubting the talent of Burnett, although his performances in the postseason have run all the way from superb to woeful. But the fact is that there is nowhere else for the Yankees to turn.

The name of Chad Gaudin has been frequently floated as a possible fourth starter. That was never going to occur. Gaudin was released by the Cubs in April. He then compiled a 5.13 ERA for San Diego. That would be San Diego in the National League, with the most pitcher-friendly facility in the Majors.

“The thing is, Chad hasn’t thrown — I think he’s thrown one inning in 27 days,” Girardi said. “And to me, there are no games where you don’t keep the pedal to the metal, and that’s what we tried to do with our starters.”

The other starting option at one point appeared to be Joba Chamberlain. Between the Yankees’ desire to limit his innings and the sharp decline in his work as a starter in August and September, it was determined that his best move in this postseason would be a return to the bullpen.

“Part of it is that,” Girardi said. “Joba we turned into a bullpen guy, so it is what it is. These are the guys that we’ve relied on all year and we’re going to continue to do it.”

Pettitte is 37, which doesn’t make him a prime candidate for work on short rest. But over the last two months, every start he has had has been on long rest, rest more than the typical four days. To the question of what effect this would have when he went to short rest, Girardi replied with a smile:

“I would think that he’s rested. We haven’t had to overwork him the last, I don’t know, two months basically, and that’s probably why he feels extremely well.”

On the other side, Martinez, 38, pitched well in Game 2 of the Series, even though he took the loss. It is not difficult to picture him getting motivated for one more postseason bid for glory. At this point in his career, his performances are far from predictable, but this would be the sort of event that would summon forth his very best efforts.

“He’s capable of throwing a real good game,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. And this is why it is handy to have him around at a time such as this.

The Yankees look relatively better for Game 7 matchups. Sabathia would go for them, on short rest again, but he defines pitching durability in the contemporary game. For the Phillies, it would be Cole Hamels’ turn in the rotation. Hamels, the hero of the 2008 postseason, but a victim this autumn, earlier said he just wanted the season to be over. More recently, he said that he really wanted the ball in Game 7. Sabathia is still the more stable choice in this one.

And the World Series now moves back to the Bronx for Game 6, weather permitting, on Wednesday night, and for Game 7, if necessary, on Thursday night. Historically the Bronx has not been kind to the visiting team in the postseason. The Yankees are 6-1 at new Yankee Stadium in the 2009 postseason. Their only loss was to a virtually untouchable Cliff Lee in Game 1 of the World Series.

The only games the Phillies have won in this Series have been started by Lee. Is there a way they could get him back on the mound before this thing wraps up, even in relief?

“What’s that old saying: ‘Spahn and Sain and pray for rain?’ ” Manuel said, referring to a slogan that described the rotation, headed by Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, of the pennant-winning 1948 Boston Braves.

“Got an off-day tomorrow, maybe it’ll rain the next day. I can get [Lee] on three days like you guys are talking about,” Manuel told reporters with a smile on Monday night. “No, I look at it actually in a sense right now, the seventh game would be on his day to throw in the bullpen, and I’ll see what goes on from there. I’ll talk to him.”

“As far as my availability, I’m available,” Lee said to a large laugh. “I’ll pitch whenever they want me to pitch. That’s about as clear as I can say it. I’m ready whenever. I don’t really get that sore, so I’ll be ready to pitch whenever they want me to. If it’s going to help the team win, I’m in.”

The underlying difference in both the Game 6 matchup and the projected Game 7 matchup is that the Phillies starters will be going on regular rest, and the Yankee starters on short rest.

Given the quality of the three Yankee starters in question, if the Yankees prevail, the three-man rotation could be seen in retrospect as a source of strength. But if they lose, giving up a 3-1 lead in the process, the outcome could be seen as the result of the Yankees simply having a shortage of starting pitchers.

Thanks to Trainor Communications for assistance with press conference coverage.

The New York Yankees third baseman has been the center of attention since the regular season ended four weeks ago and the postseason began. And after A-Rod came through yet again in a crucial situation Sunday night, the Yankees now find themselves on the cusp of a World Series title.

With a line-drive double to left in the ninth off Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge, Rodriguez drove in the go-ahead run that paved the way for New York’s 7-4 victory in Game 4.

“There’s no question, I’ve never had a bigger hit,” the controversial star said.

A subsequent two-run single by Jorge Posada only padded the Yankees’ lead and made life easier for Mariano Rivera to finish things off in the bottom of the inning and send a crowd of 46,145 at Citizens Bank Park home disgusted.

Imagine how upset those same fans will be Monday night if the Yankees finish the series off and celebrate their 27th World Series title in the middle of the same diamond that hosted the Phillies’ championship dog pile one year ago.

“We take a lot of pride on being resilient and the way we bounce back,” Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. “Tonight is tough. At the same time, we’re down but we’re still breathing.”

If New York clinches in Game 5, surely Rodriguez will be front and center of it all, perhaps the biggest contributor to his team’s first championship in nine years and the first of his otherwise sparkling career. The slugger’s game-winning hit Sunday represented his 15th RBI of the postseason, matching the Yankees’ playoff record.

“He’s the reason why we’re sitting here,” said teammate Johnny Damon, who scored the go-ahead run after swiping two bases on one play earlier in the ninth. “Without him, who knows where our road may have stopped at.”

Rodriguez’s clutch hit came moments after his bullpen blew a 4-3 lead and allowed the Phillies to turn another pedestrian ballgame compelling again.

Clinging to that slim lead in the eighth following a solid-but-not-spectacular effort from ace CC Sabathia on short rest, the Yankees asked Joba Chamberlain to record three outs and get the ball to Rivera. The husky right-hander was downright dominant in striking out Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez on 96 mph high heaters, but he left another of those fastballs just enough over the plate for Pedro Feliz to knock the ball into the left-field bleachers and tie the game.

“Joba was throwing the ball great; I think it’s the best he’s thrown the ball in the bullpen for us thus far,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Then he makes a mistake to Feliz.”

No matter, because the Yankees stormed right back to recapture the lead. After Lidge retired the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth, Damon battled through a nine-pitch at-bat before singling to left. Then he surprised everyone in the park by stealing second and proceeding directly to third upon realizing no Philadelphia infielders were covering the base while shifted around to the right with Mark Teixeira at the plate.

“I’m just glad that when I started running, I still had some of my young legs behind me,” said Damon, who turns 36 Thursday.

Perhaps rattled by the whole situation, Lidge then plunked Teixeira, setting the stage for Rodriguez to drive his double to the left field corner and further distance himself from his past October failures and his connection to performance enhancing drugs.

 ”I feel more relaxed,” the highest-paid player in baseball history said. “This has been a unique year for me, obviously, after spring training and all the stuff that I’ve been through. For the first time in my career, I’ve felt like an underdog.”

Some three hours before the ninth-inning heroics, Phillies starter Joe Blanton put his team into an immediate hole, allowing two Yankees runs before the game was five minutes old. Derek Jeter singled and Damon doubled, and both wound up scoring on productive outs.

The most intriguing moment of the first inning, though, came when Blanton plunked Rodriguez in the back on a first-pitch fastball. A-Rod, who had already been hit by two pitches the night before, stood at the plate with hands on hips before taking his base. The umpiring crew gathered in the middle of the infield for a brief discussion, after which plate umpire Mike

Everitt issued warnings to Blanton and both dugouts.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s intentional,” Girardi said. “But Alex has been hit three times, and [Teixeira] has been hit twice. We need those guys.”

The Phillies weren’t fazed by the intimidating presence of Sabathia on the mound and jumped on the big lefty for a run in the first inning, with Shane Victorino blooping a double to center and Chase Utley (who homered twice off off him in Game 1) coming just short of another blast to right and settling for an RBI double.

Utley finally did get to Sabathia with a seventh-inning solo shot to right, knocking the Yankee starter out of the game and bringing some life back to the crowd.

“I felt good, I felt strong.” Sabathia said. “Sometimes too strong, trying to overthrow and trying to do too much.”

Ultimately, the Phillies were done in by an inability to take advantage of some earlier opportunities against Sabathia and an inability to play tight defense in a game that demanded it.

Utley, in particular, cost his team a run when he inexplicably tried to make a backhanded shovel toss to second on a grounder up the middle despite having plenty of time to make a routine throw and record the force out. Instead, New York’s Nick Swisher was safe at second and moments later safe at home on Jeter’s base hit. Another RBI single from Damon extended the lead to 4-2 and put the Yankees in control to close this game out and put themselves closer to a World Series title.

“I’d lie if I said I wasn’t going to go home and think about it all night,” said A.J. Burnett, who will get the ball for New York. “You dream about it. This is what you talk about growing up. I’m going to do my best to take full advantage of that.”

All I can think of is Cardinal first baseman, Albert Pujols, himself under suspicion of being a steroid abuser, breaking every batting record next season through McGwire’s enhancements, er, I mean, coaching.

Then, last night, in the Bronx at The New Yankee Stadium, the House that George Steinbrenner and The YES Network and New York City Tax Abatements Built, it was pretty funny to hear Joe Girardi in his post-game press conference speaking affectionately about the 79-year old team owner, George Steinbrenner, referring to him as “Pops.” Pops Steinbrenner? As in, “we really want to win one for Pops.” It has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it. Sort of like when Ronald Reagan, the actor, not the President played George Gipp, the great running back from Notre Dame in the movie, Knute Rockne All-American. As you may recall, Gipp told his teammates from his death bed (tearing up, here), “win one for the Gipper.” 

So now it’s the Yankees who want to win one for Ol’ Pappy Steinbrenner. It conjures up images of Walter Brennan (for those of a certain age) playing the character of Grandpa Amos in The Real McCoys television show. But, for those of you who are history revisionists, Steinbrenner wasn’t always Pops to his friends and to his adversaries in or out of the baseball world. He was a tough, manipulative tyrant of a man who didn’t always play by the rules.

Who can forget the time when the man better known as “The Boss”  was suspended from baseball for a little transgression, when he made illegal payments to the Richard Nixon for President campaign in 1974. Steinbrenner was indicted and later found guilty and suspended from baseball for two years. Upon returning to the big show Steinbrenner proved that he hadn’t missed a step in his absence and promptly signed Reggie Jackson after the team won the American League pennant in 1976. Many fans still feel that the brilliant move to sign “Mr. October” was largely responsible for back-to-back World Championships in both 1977 and 1978. Unfortunately, the trend was short-lived after New York’s initial success in purchasing free agents eventually led to a tendency to overstock the team with superstars to the point where there wasn’t room for them on the payroll or in the lineup. The end result was a series of disastrous acquisitions in the early 1980s and a steady trend of departing superstars escaping from what had been dubbed in the papers as “The Bronx Zoo”. From 1979 through the end of the next decade, the Yankees won only one more pennant and the 1980s ended as the first decade since the 1910s in which the Yankees did not win a single World Championship title.

Pops Steinbrenner also got thrown out of the sport when he bribed a low-life character named Howie Spira to the tune of $40,000 to spy on Dave Winfield, who at the time was Steinbrenner’s best player. Spira was later sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for attempting to extort $110,000 from the Yankees organization while Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball for conduct unbecoming a once and future “pappy.”

Now, the days and years have passed into the deepest recesses of our memories and Boss Steinbrenner has been transformed into Pops Steinbrenner. Mark McGwire has come full-circle as well, from the tall, gangly kid off the USC campus to the monstrously-sized Bruise Brother along with Jose Canseco to becoming a beloved, Maris-family hugging record-breaker for most home runs in a season to finally being outed by Canseco for steroid abuses. Now, the Bruise Brother will begin his national press tour of American cities to rehabilitate his reputation and his career in baseball. Who knows, the next stop for McGwire could even be the baseball Hall of Fame.

Speaking of forgiveness, where is Pete Rose, these days? We are a very forgiving society, you know.