When I think of Japanese Schoolgirls, I think of petite young women on the cutting edge of fashion. Most people who follow fashion are aware of the trendsetting, often flaky styles favored by teenage girls in the Land Of The Rising Sun. Yes, these girls would be considered flaky by traditional ...

Tom Klackley is the clubhouse manager for the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees AA affiliate. In 1997 his wife's sister was murdered by her husband in "the most senseless, tragic act of domestic violence." After grieving for some time he decided to take action to help bring about an end to this type ...

Last year I was intrigued by a story I read about baseball being played in Ghana. Well, it turns out that it's not only being played in Ghana, but in other African nations as well.

Recently, I met and had a very lively conversation with a young man named Awasum Junior. We didn't always see ...

The Brewers have made an offer to CC Sabathia. It's rumored to be in the $100 million range. It might as well have been in the $200 million dollar range because they have no intention of signing him. They squeezed every bit of juice out of him in 2008 and will toss his rind to that big-market ...

There's an essay on ESPN.com today by Scoop Jackson about Rays Centerfielder BJ Upton, about how he's the new face of "urban" baseball. As an African-American woman who is concerned about the decrease in numbers of African-American players in MLB, I understand excactly what Scoop Jackson is talking about in this essay. But, I'm not sure if BJ Upton is The Chosen One...

The House That Ruth Built closed its doors last night. As I watched, I thought about my personal memories of The Big Ballpark In The Bronx:

Manny Ramirez's tenure in Boston reminds me of an episode from the Twilight Zone:

Have you heard of Pat Venditte? He pitches for the Yankees Class A affiliate in Staten Island, NY.

Big deal, you say? Uh, yeah! Pat Venditte is a switch pitcher. He pitches both right-handed and left-handed. He made his professional debut Thursday night when he came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th inning against the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets Class A affiliate:

Wang will miss at least his next start and, worse case, he could miss the rest of the season. So that means a replacement is needed, and the name going around baseball is, of course, CC Sabathia. Here's my take on a deal for CC Sabathia:

It's happening again. Every time he goes into a mini-slump it starts, but this time he isn't even in a slump: Melky Cabrera grounded out in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded to end the game against the Royals yesterday. Now he's persona non grata among Yankee fans. Trade him! they cry. Bench him! they shout. He's all glove and no bat, they say. Even the pros are joining the chorus.

Melky Cabrera is batting .270 this season, with 6 HR and 27 RBIs. He has a .322 OBP and a .386 SLG. He's hit safely in his last 7 games. I'll admit the OBP and SLG could be higher but, can someone tell me what's wrong with the other numbers?

The problem here is that Bernie Williams is still fresh in the memories of Yankee fans. Compared to Bernie, Melky is a scrub. He doesn't have the power numbers Bernie had and it's possible that he never will. But why is it so important for the Yankees Centerfielder to be a big offensive threat? Doesn't anyone remember Mickey Rivers?

The chorus has a solution: Brett Gardner. His numbers down in Triple A Scranton: .295 average, 3 HR, 25 RBI, .414 OBP and .448 SLG. Pretty impressive. But does Melky Cabrera's performance this year warrant benching or trading him just to have a look at this kid? Absolutely not. I'm not joining the chorus. I'm a soloist, and I'm singing: "Lay off Melky!"

The Lady

When it was announced that Joba Chamberlain would enter the starting rotation sooner than later, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. All I could think about was the big hole he was leaving in the bullpen. But after Ian Kennedy was placed on the DL, I didn't think there was any other choice:

He's not using it as an excuse, but Phil Hughes's night vision problems have at least a little to do with his poor start this season:

...and he's backing up A-Rod, not Canseco.

Manny Ramirez had his way with Yankee pitching again, until Krazy Kyle showed up:

Mike Mussina pitched beautifully last night but he acted ugly: