NYY = NFL ... NOT MLB

[Green Jets & Ham]

Wayne Franklin is about to findout what so many others have learned before him ... the hard way

That being, when you play for the Yankees you are not playing in MLB ... you are playing in the NFL

NFL ... N-F-L ... as in, NOT FOR LONG if you can't get it done

Life is VERY SHORT LIVED in Yankeeland when you blow 1st Place and surrender bombs with the game on the line

NFL ... NOT FOR LONG ... that's the deal on Steinbrenner's Yankees, where the leesh is VERY SHORT for losers like you who piss their pants in big spots

Nice knowing you pal ... don't let the door hit you in the @$$

Hey, maybe you can find a job on the KC Royals ... in MLB ... but on the NY Yankees {i.e. THE NFL}, you already sealed your fate

In other words, I wouldn't purchase any ripe banana's if I were you ... unless you wanna leave your teammates with a parting gift?

CYA ... LOSER!!!!!!!

[Green Jets & Ham]

Told you so

One day after blowing that game in the 8th, Wayne Franklin was promptly placed on the Columbus Shuttle

Do I know the team I root for like a book, or what? 8)

[Green Jets & Ham]

After the Yankees lost Ruben Sierra to an injury on Monday night, Manager Joe Torre and General Manager Brian Cashman discussed several options for filling Sierra's spot on the roster. That is the usual procedure; Cashman respects Torre's input and seeks it before making a move.

But that is not what happened after Tuesday's game, which the Yankees lost on a two-run homer by the Rangers' Hank Blalock off Wayne Franklin. Just after Torre told reporters that he would have no problem using Franklin again, Cashman called Torre to tell him Franklin would be going to Class AAA Columbus.

Torre had no say, which almost certainly means that George Steinbrenner, the team's principal owner, ordered the move. Another left-hander, Alex Graman, was recalled from Columbus.

"I have a great deal of respect for Brian," Torre said. "When he calls me to say, 'This is what we're doing,' that's what we're doing."

When asked if he would have been fine with keeping Franklin on the roster, Torre said, "I work for people like everybody else."

Torre said that the veteran Buddy Groom, whom Torre passed over in the eighth inning on Tuesday, would be his preferred left-hander out of the bullpen. Torre said he did not know how he would use Graman until he talked with the pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

"Graman fits as a long man for us right now," Cashman said. "That's how he fits. He's a left-handed starter who's been in the pen for us at Triple-A."

Asked what role Steinbrenner had played in the Franklin-Graman decision, Cashman did not answer. "Graman is here for that reason," he said without elaborating on whether the reason was Steinbrenner or the team's need for a long reliever.

Steinbrenner's publicist, Howard J. Rubenstein, said he could not reach Steinbrenner for comment.

In one sense, it would be hard to blame Steinbrenner for losing patience with the Yankees' left-handed relief. Franklin, a 31-year-old veteran of four teams, pitched in five games for the Yankees this season, allowing nine hits in three and two-thirds innings with a 12.27 earned run average. He is the latest in a long line of left-handers who have failed to stick with the Yankees.

Since the Yankees cut ties with Mike Stanton after the 2002 season, they have used and let go 10 left-handers who worked more than one game in relief: Randy Choate, Franklin, Chris Hammond, Felix Heredia, Sterling Hitchcock, C. J. Nitkowski, Jesse Orosco, Donovan Osborne, Stanton and Gabe White.

"I think everybody's struggling to find left-handed relievers," Cashman said. "We're going to keep looking in the meantime, and we'll see what we see. Hopefully, we'll run into something that makes sense for us."

The Yankees' lack of a reliable left-hander has especially hurt them against tough left-handed hitters like Johnny Damon and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. But, generally, left-handers are a luxury for the Yankees because of the way their bullpen is structured.

Unless he is resting certain pitchers, as he was on Tuesday, Torre knows in advance which relievers will pitch the late innings. Tanyon Sturtze owns the seventh, Tom Gordon the eighth and Mariano Rivera the ninth, no matter who is hitting.

"Left-handers really haven't had a lot of opportunities to be of a major impact here," Torre said. "That's the best way to say it, only because of our late guys, with Sturtze and Gordon. I thought Franklin did a good job. I really did."

Graman, 27, had two rough starts for the Yankees last season and pitched one game in relief. He made 16 starts for Columbus this season, going 4-5 with a 3.38 E.R.A.

Graman made his first relief appearance for Columbus on June 29, the day after the Yankees' organizational meeting in Tampa, Fla. In seven relief outings, he went 1-1 with a 1.64 E.R.A., allowing 13 hits in 11 innings, but striking out 16