Kuzul

WFAN’s Evan Roberts tweets everyday on his Twitter page. Most of his tweets center around the Nets and baseball.

One would think his Twitter page would about the Knicks’ surprising win against the Hornets last night. It was a signature win they were looking for. Instead, he wrote about the Red Sox acquiring Adrian Gonzalez. That was his first tweet of today.

Unreal, but that should be expected from a NY sports talk show host. All the talk show hosts on WFAN and 1050 ESPN Radio talk about for 365 days is baseball. It’s embarrassing. The Jets have a crucial divisional showdown with the Patriots Monday night, and the Knicks have a good start for their standards, but all the talkies want to talk about is baseball.

We have 10 professional teams in town. It can’t be that hard to come up with a topic about those teams. It represents laziness from the hosts. They do not work to do their homework. To Roberts’ credit, he at least talks about the other teams in town.

The rest of the talkies should be ashamed of themselves. Craig Carton has no business in sports radio, especially after his embarrassing interview with Mets manager Terry Collins the other day. Joe Benigno knows nothing about sports. Mike Francesa has been overrated for years, and he was only good when Chris Russo worked with him. Steve Somers should be in retirement.

ESPN Radio 1050 isn’t any better either. Neither stations have any interest in talking sports period. For being the flagship station of the Jets, the hosts do a terrible job covering the Jets. They spend maybe 10 minutes per show talking about the Jets, and move onto the Yankees.

Being the flagship station of the Jets, coverage should be better. But it isn’t.

WFAN’s Mark Chernoff and 1050’s Justin Craig mention the public likes baseball more than any other sports. This is hogwash. Yes, baseball is big here, but so is football and basketball.

The Giants and the Jets have good fan bases. Go to sports bars or read the message boards, and the passion can be felt from there. For the general managers for their respective flagship stations to say there is not much interest in football is insulting.

The Jets are playing for homefield advantage, division and respect Monday night, yet the talkies focus on the contract negotiations of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. It’s a waste of a topic. Everyone knows Jeter and Rivera were not going anywhere, so it’s pointless to talk about it. It’s remarkable why both sports stations went overboard on it, but whatever.

It’s sad though. Decades ago, fans would get quality sports talk around here. Hosts would talk about anything in the world of sports. There was plenty of football talk back in the day. In the ’90s, it was Knicks talk all winter long, and even in the summer. That’s a thing of the past now.

Even if the Jets win the Super Bowl, don’t expect the hosts to start being interested in that team. The Giants won the Super Bowl few years ago, and they only got a day’s coverage. There was not much talk about them during their playoff run.

It’s embarrassing. Sports radio shows in other towns talk about other sports. Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis and other good sports towns don’t spend all of their energy talking baseball only. They talk about other topics in town. Heck they even talk about what goes on in national sports. What a concept.

That should put both sports stations in town to shame. Either the stations are not creative enough to talk about other sports or the hosts have no clue.

It’s hard to blame football fans for using Sirius XM Radio for their football fix. Nowadays, fans use podcasts from bloggers to get their sports fix. One would think both stations would get a clue, but that doesn’t been the case. They believe the formula of talking baseball works.

It’s hard to argue with that strategy, but it gets old. This listener does not listen to sports talk radio anymore. There is no point listening to a talkie ramble on a sport 365 days a year. It’s boring and stale.

New Yorkers complained for years, but with no results. It’s remarkable why their comments are being ignored. Sports radio does not exist without the fans. Talkies do not become famous without listening to the public. There is this arrogance where sports talk format can survive without the fans. It doesn’t work that way.

The newspapers are no better either. Read the back pages of the Daily News and the New York Post, it’s all Yankees all the time. There are more stories about Cliff Lee than there is with the football teams. Coverage for a guy that may not be a Yankees gets more priority than couple of Super Bowl contenders. This is ridiculous.

Only in New York, this happens. It’s hard to know why. There is nothing special about baseball. It gets redundant after watching it for six months. At some point, a fan deserves a break from all this.

It’s ridiculous a newspaper has to waste its budget on covering the winter meetings. Most towns are not even going to do it. Only in New York, this happens. There’s no reason to do this.

We get the Yankees because of their brand. We know they always buy players, but it should not merit four or five pages from different baseball writers.

Then, there are the regional sports networks in town. SNY feature three sports talk shows in Daily News Live, Wheelhouse and Loud Mouths. The topic revolves around baseball, and being that they are the regional sports network for Mets baseball, it shouldn’t be surprising. To their credit, they manage to incorporate other sports in their discussions.

It would be nice if we go one day without talking baseball. It’s not too much to ask. Baseball is life here, but there has to be a balance, right? As fanatical as Boston fans are, even they know too much baseball is overload.

It’s another good reason why this New Yorker hate the Yankees. Because of them, he is subjected to baseball year round.

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Bartolo Colon won the AL Cy Young award in 2005. His 21 wins impressed the writers. It didn’t matter to them Johan Santana was the best pitcher that year.

Sabermetric bloggers mocked the writers for that selection, and this started the war between mainstream media and bloggers.

On this day, the stat freaks won out. They campaigned Felix Hernandez all year to win the Cy Young award, and yesterday, they got what they wanted. The Mariners ace won the AL Cy Young outright with David Price being the runner-up and CC Sabathia being third.

The voters made the wrong choice in 2005, but they did the right thing this time around. This was a no-brainer.  Hernandez was the best pitcher in baseball this year. Watching him pitch this year, he stood out as the most compared to Price and Sabathia.

Hernandez led the league in ERA and innings pitched, and he was second in strikeouts. Plus he pitched well against the elite teams this year by going 7-4 against them. He was 3-0 against the Yankees this year, and he held them to one run in 26 innings with 31 strikeouts.

That’s all he had to do to impress this writer. The other stats that fantasy geeks want to talk about mean nothing.

Just because Hernandez did not get that many wins, no one should think any less of him. It’s not his fault that his team stunk or his team did not give him many runs.  If anything, it’s a complement to Hernandez that he won 13 games despite anemic support.

Fortunately, that did not matter. It’s about time. The number of wins is fine, but if a pitcher is decent at best by winning 17 or more, it doesn’t mean that pitcher is Cy Young worthy. There are other stats that matter in winning the award, and Hernandez beat Sabathia in other categories that matter.

Sorry, folks. Sabathia was not deserving of that award. He was a mediocre pitcher at best this year when thinking about it. He showed that in the postseason.

Last year, anyone can make a case for Sabathia being a Cy Young winner. He was a dominant pitcher. He went deep in games in the regular season, and that helped him handle the load in the postseason. His ERA and his ability to handle the pressure in New York made him worthy of it.

It didn’t happen this year. Yes, he won games, but he went through a drought at one point when it came to wins. He was hit hard, and he never could establish any dominance out there. Teams were not afraid to face him anymore. He struggled to protect leads.

His inconsistency came back to haunt him in the postseason this year. It wasn’t an accident voters voted him third. If anything, he should have been awarded fourth place with Jon Lester being ahead of him.

Sabathia received consideration because he pitched for the Yankees. He pitched in a market where he would get all the attention. People would know about him from watching him on highlights every fifth day.

It was interesting several New York writers campaigned on his behalf this summer. Even though, he was not the ace the team paid him to be.

The consensus felt Sabathia would win the Cy Young because of the market he was in. It would have been easy to write Sabathia in because of the number of wins. Fortunately, the writers understood this time.

It showed they paid attention to what Hernandez did. They did their research on all the pitchers. They looked at Hernandez’s strengths rather than look at the losses.

This is how voting should be done, not voting based on popularity contest or how many wins. It was refreshing to see this get right. If only Santana would have gotten that break in 2005.

This is a victory for small market teams. Normally their players get screwed because of lack of attention in the national media. If a team is bad, what a player does is irrelevant.

It’s good to know small market teams matter in this situation. Maybe now this will make players realize playing for a small market team is not a bad thing.  It’s also nice to realize ESPN is not in charge of voting, and that their influence with the writers means nothing.

Don’t think Hernandez knew that. He was emotional when he heard the news. This award clearly meant a lot to him. If players discount that, they are lying. Most players play the game for accolades and winning.

He had to be sweating if he was going to be screwed. After all, not many people were talking about him on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight or on the MLB Network. The discussion was either Price or Sabathia. Hernandez received only a token of mention.

Fortunately for him, justice prevailed. The only people that are complaining are Yankees fans which is hilarious, yet sad.

Yankees fans shouldn’t be crying here. After all, they get all the breaks as it is. This is a moment that should be about Hernandez’s development, not about how Sabathia got screwed.

This has nothing to do with anti-Yankees bias. Voters don’t vote for agenda purposes despite what Michael Kay thinks.

Fortunately, it won’t be a debate in the New York papers today. There’s no need to either. This reader would rather read a preview of the Giants/Eagles game or the ineptness of the Knicks.

Look at the bright side, Yankees fans. Felix will be pitching in the Bronx one day, and maybe, we’ll hear complaints about Hernandez being screwed for being a Yankee.

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The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee selected 12 candidates to be in the Hall of the Fame. The winner will be decided sometime in January along with the candidates being voted by the sportswriters.

George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin stand out the most on the list. It certainly will get people talking. There will be critics and supporters speaking out on those two candidates.

This writer does not mind if Steinbrenner is in the Hall of Fame. Sure he destroyed baseball by escalating salaries, but he should be in the Hall of Fame for giving coaches and players second chances. He cared for their well-being.

Martin is another story. He has no business being in the Hall of Fame. His conduct was an embarrassment to baseball.

This is a guy who killed himself because he was so into drinking. There goes a lack of credibility right there.

Talk about what a great manager he is. Talk about how he knew how to win. Talk about how he got the best out of his players.

Those are fair points, but let’s not forget some of his transgressions. The guy was fired often because of his behavior. This is a man who liked to spite his boss. He promoted fighting in baseball by having his pitcher throw at batters.

The man was a racist. Look at his treatment towards African-Americans. Ask Reggie Jackson and he will tell you what a bad man Martin is. Jewish players dealt with the same treatment.

If he did not like a player, he would treat the player like an outcast. He would do everything possible to humiliate that person. Jackson endured that painful memory. It’s something that won’t be forgotten.

This is a man that assaulted his players. Ed Whitson and him got into a fight in a bar, something that expedited Whitson’s departure. In an incident like this, Whitson should have charged his manager with assault.

This is a man that found a way to humiliate Steinbrenner at every opportunity. He would not listen to orders from his boss. When he was told not to drink, he did anyway. When he was ordered to bat Jackson cleanup, Martin defied him. He would rip Steinbrennber publically in the media.

It was one thing or another with this insecure egomaniac. It’s remarkable how Steinbrenner hired him back so many times. He had a soft spot for a crazy person.

Of course, Steinbrenner loved winning. Martin won, so that’s why he came back so many times. Still, it was not worth bringing him back.

Any manager could have won with the talent the Yankees had. Steinbrenner was buying players back then too, so he could have hired Dick Howser or Yogi Berra back then too.

Martin never cared about Steinbrenner. He was only worried about himself. He took advantage of an owner for his own fame.

For Martin to consider himself a great Yankee, it’s a joke.

Does this manager seem Hall of Fame worthy to anyone? Not for this guy. Besides, he should have won more championship with the Yankees to merit being in the Hall of Fame.

Joe Torre is going to be in on the first ballot. He created a dynasty with the Yankees in the 90s and he knew how to work with Steinbrenner. Something Martin can’t say.

Cooperstown should be about what’s good for the game. Guys who enjoyed playing the game. Guys who displayed class and strong moral values.

If Martin is voted in, the Veterans Committee might as well put Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and other steroid users in the Hall of Fame.

Yankees fans love Martin. They love him because he won. They will like serial killers as long as they win. If a Martin critic rips Martin, they will get defensive.

These are the same folks that adore Steinbrenner. Never mind how he screwed Howard Spira and Dave Winfield. Never mind he made people’s lives miserable.

With New York, it’s about winning. If an athlete or coach wins, that’s all that matters. It’s a sad reflection on our society.

Fortunately, the only vote that matters is the veterans committee.

It’s hard to believe Martin will be voted in. It will be because of his behavior. It wasn’t like he was beloved in the baseball industry back in the day.

Those folks in the Committee have long memories and will certainly remember it when it comes down to voting. If Martin just managed, all of this would have been forgotten.

It will be shocking if he wins it. Even the Martin family would be hard-pressed to think that’s going to happen.

It’s too bad his off-the-field incidents overshadowed what a good baseball mind he was. The man can manage. If only he could handle other people’s egos, he would have been a better manager.

This is something he created and he has to live with the consequences.

The Committee would get it right by not voting for Martin.

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With baseball announcers getting old in recent years, it shouldn’t be surprising to see them dead. Baseball lost Bob Murphy, Harry Kalas, Herb Carneal and Ernie Harwell to death.

Yesterday, the sport lost another one. Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus passed away yesterday afternoon. No one knew how he died.

This loss is not only devastating to the Mariners and the state of Washington, but baseball is going to feel the loss of this announcer. This death was like losing a best friend or a good confidante. Niehaus proved to be an influence to a good fanbase.

It’s not going to be same listening to Mariners baseball on the radio or television next year without Niehaus. That’s just the way it is. Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims can call a great game, but it’s won’t replace the enthusiasm Niehaus displayed.

Whenever this baseball fan took in a Mariners game on the Internet via MLB.TV, he enjoyed the voice of Niehaus late at night. There was nothing soothing than hearing the Mariners announcer on his way to bed.

He called a great game every night. Unlike most sports announcers today, he did not need to draw attention to himself. He let the game do the talking, and he painted the picture well in describing what was going on.

He made his colleagues better when he was working with them. He had a great chemistry with Rick Rizzs, Ron Fairly and Dave Blowers. That’s hard to do when one realizes the lousy personality Rizzs, Fairly and Blowers had.

He had his catchphrases, but it was infectious. Whenever he said “Fly Away” or “My Oh My,” he said it from the heart. He was like a fan that enjoyed what was going on.

Rarely folks see opposing team’s announcer praise the other team, but that was not the case with Niehaus. He talked up about the other teams all the time, and he raved about the talent of the other player.

He wasn’t a cookie-cutter announcer. He spoke with emotion. He drew people to watch Mariners baseball. During seasons when the Mariners stunk, he was the only reason to watch baseball.

He had a way with people. He wasn’t aloof. He wanted to get to know others as people, and he took the time to talk to others.

That attitude is missing with people nowadays.  If people can learn something from Niehaus, it’s having an infectious personality. That personality can rub people off well.  It certainly did for this writer.

Here’s what stood out about Niehaus as an announcer. Even in his 70s, he was effective at what he did. That’s impressive when one realizes it’s hard to be at the top of their game when they get older.

Niehaus’ work and personality made him an icon in the Pacific Northwest. It also made him a Hall of Famer in Cooperstown.

Talk about all the great Mariners players the franchise had, but Niehaus was the franchise. Players come and go, but not this announcer. He was there from the day the franchise as born, and he never left his job. He earned that status.

It would have been nice if he saw the Mariners win a championship or go to the World Series. The Mariners had their chances in 1995, 2000 and 2001, but they didn’t get it done in the American League Championship Series.

Still, this does not taint the career he had. He saw the team grow up from their expansion year in 1977. He called many playoff games for their franchise. He received an opportunity to cover Ichiro, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

He was in the Mariners Hall of Fame. He won awards as a sportscaster in Washington.  He threw the first pitch in the opening of Safeco Field in 1999.

Anyone would be willing to trade places with him in a heartbeat. In fact, Niehaus would tell people this is the best job he ever had in doing play-by-play.

He had fun in doing his job. Imagine that. Rarely, folks talk about the time they have at their job. To them, it’s just them trying to get by and pay bills.

Anytime someone has fun doing their job, it makes their job easy. The passion and the knowledge come automatically when someone enjoys their job.

There won’t be an announcer like him. Times changed. Most young announcers are thought to be bland instead of showing emotion. Often times, baseball telecasts are known to be public relations of that particular team. That’s not how it should be.

Most announcers are better off paying attention to how Niehaus did his job. Of course, it’s easier said than done. The personality has to come through for that to happen, and sadly, that doesn’t happen anymore.

Vin Scully is the last breed of fine announcers, and who knows how long he will live? Baseball fans should appreciate him more than ever.

Watching the Mariners games this year will not be the same. Every time this viewer watches a Mariner game, his mind is going to focus on Niehaus. The memories of that fine man will creep into his mind. It’s a good bet Seattlites will have that same feeling.

Niehaus lived a good life, and now he’s in a better place. For the rest of us, we are in mourning of a fine person and a fine announcer.

It’s just another day where another great announcer dies.

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Longtime Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels is suspended indefinitely for betting on baseball, and he is under investigation by the NYPD and the Queens District Attorney.

This is so Met-like. How could anyone be surprised? At this point, Mets fans have become numb to this stuff. It never ends.

At some point, the Wilpons have to be tired of this. There is nothing worse than having incidents tainting this organization. This has gone on too long.

One hopes the hiring of Sandy Alderson will change things. What this team needed was a baseball man that was going to clean the stench of this organization from on the field to off the field. They haven’t had that guy since Frank Cashen left.

Look for Alderson to get rid of those employees who have served the organization for years. It’s time. This team needs a fresh start from the bottom.

This team is better off with new faces for the sake of change. Any time an organization can hold on to guys from the past, it’s not a good thing.

It’s a reminder of how bad things were, and this is not what the franchise needs. What they need is new blood that can help people forget what took place forever.

Is it fair to see longtime baseball people lose their jobs especially in this economy? No, but when is sports fair? What have these guys done to stay on?

Changing people would mean a new sheriff is in town. It means the new guy is not kidding around.

Considering how Wilpon’s employees have been known to get in trouble, what have they done to deserve the benefit of the doubt? Also, what success did they had for all these years?

It just seems this team has had incidents one way or another from Wilpon’s employees.

Who can forget Steve Phillips and Bobby Valentine taking shots at each other in the media?

How about when Mets managers feud with the media going back to the Jeff Torborg days?

How about when Kirk Ramdonski sold steroids to players?

There was Tony Bernazard losing his temper by taking his clothes off and going after players.

Don’t forget team doctors botching up the medical report of the players.

Players such as Oliver Perez, Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo have become more of a bad influence with their nonchalant attitude.

It just goes on and on and on. It’s not a coincidence anymore these incidents correlate to losing. This is what happens when teams hire bad people.

It’s just so tiring to read this type of stuff. It’s getting old when folks laugh at the expense of the Mets. Sports organizations should be fan friendly. That means being a franchise that folks can be proud of.

This is an organization where people should want to play for. It should be representing everything that is good.

Heavens know the Wilpons have done their best in getting this organization to be controversy-free, but it still follows them.

This is why hiring a no-nonsense executive was a must. An organization needed a baseball man not only build a team, but he wanted to run an organization in a professional manner.

The great organizations don’t get involved this type of stuff. When was the last time the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Rangers, Braves, Giants or Phillies were involved in incidents? It’s too far to remember.

This is the task Alderson is being paid to do.

Getting rid of Perez, Castillo and Beltran is a start. Beltran has some value to an American League team. He can be a good DH for a team that needs one, and the Rangers or the Angels could use one now that they need one.

Perez has to go. He does not want to be here. He enjoyed doing nothing all year while he was getting paid. He refused to go to the minors knowing full well he was no longer needed.

Castillo is another guy that can go. Why keep a guy who will do nothing?

The Wilpons don’t want to pay the two of them to sit at home, but that’s on Alderson to tell Wilpons those two guys are no longer needed. The two of them would cause more harm than good by continuing to stay.

The last thing Alderson needs is his program being undermined by three guys who don’t want to be here.

Samuels needs to go. You don’t want a guy who is involved in controversy. Betting on baseball is a no-no period, and who knows what else he has done

It may be time to get rid of all of Minaya’s scouts and staff members. Those guys brought bad people to the organization, not to mention bringing guys that have done nothing in the organization.

For all of this stain to go out, these are the things Alderson must do.

The one is on the Wilpons to let him do his job and stay out of the way.

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Let the negotiations begin.

The Yankees and Derek Jeter’s camp haven’t talked to each other, but they are talking through the media about what Jeter’s value should be.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner told WFAN’s Mike Francesa and 1050 ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay that he is not going to overpay for Jeter’s services. Casey Close, Jeter’s agent, talked about how Jeter’s value can not be overstated.

Jeter wants to get that last payday. He reportedly wants an overpaid six-year contract. He also wants to be one of the top paid players in the game.

Obviously, this guy is in fantasy land. He still thinks he is one of the best players in baseball. Never mind, he has been average at best in the last couple of years.

He had to know he is not the player he used to be. This is not going to stop him. His ego does not allow him to accept reality.

Someone has to stand up to him, and that’s Steinbrenner. He needs to live up to his talk about running a fiscal franchise. Handling Jeter is a good test to see what he is all about.

The Yankees are in the driver’s seat in this situation. No team is going to overpay an aging shortstop. Plus, Jeter is not going to go to the other teams to finish his Hall of Fame career.

The Yankees will pay Jeter in their terms, and at some point, Jeter and Close will realize that. Don’t think Steinbrenner does not know about it. Why else would he talk in bravado about running a business? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know who he was referring to.

In a perfect world, Jeter wouldn’t be coming back. He is nothing more than a fringe player at best.

Sure, he hits well in the postseason. Guess what? Any role player can flourish in the postseason. This year’s World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria, proved that theory well.

What the Yankees need is a shortstop that has a good throwing range. They also need a shortstop that can hit consistently. That used to be Jeter, but that’s no longer the case.

In the last few years, teams started to hit in the left part of the field. They know Alex Rodriguez and Jeter don’t have the athleticism to go catch or make a grab. Hitters can somehow beat the throw for an infield hit.

Jeter has been dropping the ball. That’s un-Jeter-like, but that’s what happens when a player is in his late 30s.

Want to know Jeter is not living up to his high standards anymore? He has become an automatic out. It’s easy for an opposing pitcher to get a strikeout on Jeter’s expense. No one fears pitching to him. He doesn’t beat the throw anymore.

That’s why Yankees manager Joe Girardi moved his shortstop up and down the lineup. For all the criticism Girardi gets for tinkering the lineup, this is one move he got it right. It goes to show blind squirrel can find an acorn.

If his name is not Jeter, he would be moving on. Since he is an icon, the Yankees have no choice but to bring him back for public relations. This is nothing more than a team showing generosity to a washed-up player.

Jeter is a fan favorite here. He deserves it for what he has done in his career. He is one of the reasons why the Yankees won championships in the ’90s. If he did not make that ridiculous throw to Jorge Posada in getting Jeremey GIambi in the 2001 Division Series, the A’s would have swept the Yankees.

That play turned that series around, and New Yorkers never forget it. After all, they see that replay all the time in commercials.

Folks want to see him retire with one team. The Yankees want to see that happen. It’s rare these days to see a great player finish his career with one team only anymore. Part of it is a player moves on free agency and another part is the team like to replace him with more athletic player.

The Yankees want to see Jeter achieve several more milestones in a Yankees uniform. The YES Network can’t have enough of him achieving it, so that he can be on Yankeeography in an updated version.

This is why the Yankees are not going to be cold-blooded in handling this decision. It does not mean they should give in to his demands.

That’s not happening. The Yankees know it, and Jeter’s camp knows it.

Right now, both guys are going to presents offers. That’s standard procedure for negotiations.

It will be interesting how long this lasts. It’s hard to believe this is going to be lasting a long time. If this goes on until January, then someone is being in denial.

At this point, Jeter shouldn’t be worried about getting a payday. He is financially secure. He plays for an organization that will always contend for a championships, so he will always get an opportunity to have his typical Jeter moment in October. He plays in a great sports town.

His ego can’t be that big, right?

If the Yankees are stupid enough to bid themselves against others in keeping their shortstop, they deserve to be ridiculed. Don’t expect that to happen.

Hopefully, this will be quick and painless. No one needs to see the drama between Jeter and the Yankees.

A three-year deal to Jeter sounds right.

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Last year’s World Series was tough to watch. The Yankees spent money to buy a championship in the 2008 offseason, and it paid off. The message was, if you spend it, championships will come.

This is what made Monday night special. A middle market team won a championship by doing it the right way. The Giants drafted well in the last few years, and it resulted in a championship.

It’s refreshing to know a baseball team can win a championship by actually building a team. With strong scouting, the Giants made it happen.

Giants general manager Brian Sabean hired two assistants that knew what they were doing. Dick Tidrow and John Barr scouted young players from the college level, and they got it right in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner.

Those four youngsters played an integral role in leading the Giants to a championship. They started a renaissance after several down years that started in 2004.

The Yankees love to talk about how they won with homegrown players last year, but in reality, those guys made a minimal impact at best. Only Robinson Cano can say he is the homegrown player that made a difference on this team. No one can say the same for Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Brett Gardner and others.

Their other homegrown players have now become old men. They made impacts, but those guys have the experience of getting it done in the nineties. With the Giants, their new guys played well in their first taste of the postseason.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman dreamed of building his rotation of the future in Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. His goal was to build with young pitching instead of throwing money away to free agents.

It hasn’t worked out at all for all three of them. Here’s the scorecard:

Kennedy was a bust.

Chamberlain flopped as a starter.

Hughes has been medicore at best.

If any of those three worked out, why would the Yankees throw money at CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett? Why are they going to overpay for Cliff Lee?

Let’s not kid ourselves about the Yankees trying to develop young talent. It was never going to happen. They were going to dole out money to free agents whenever they wanted. It’s their right, but the Yankees shouldn’t go insult our intelligence about how they win with homegrown players.

Maybe in the nineties they could say it, but not now. They don’t have to be ashamed of doing so. With the market they are in, it’s their right to go out and buy players. The Yankees shouldn’t get defensive, though, when other teams criticize them for their pursuit.

It’s not just the Giants outsmarting the Yankees with homegrown players. They get it right with castoffs, and they have a great coaching staff.

The Yankees can always make a trade in the summer. They did that this year by acquiring Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns. Unlike most teams that have a budget, the Yankees can always expand theirs during the season.

The Giants built their team by getting guys on the waiver wire. No one took a chance on Pat Burrell but the Giants, and it worked out well for him and the team. Burrell posted good numbers in the summer.

The Giants are capable of making unheralded moves. Who would have thought that Cody Ross, Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez would have done more than Berkman and Kearns? It says something about the Giants showing diligence in finding the right guys.

They also get it right with the manager. Yankees manager Joe Girardi loves to tell everyone about how he knows about the game more than anyone. Just watch him act smug in the top step of the dugout or when he reads his notebook binder to make decisions.

Girardi’s approach didn’t work out this year. Giants manager Bruce Bochy showed how it was done. He made decisions based on instincts and feel for the game. This is how a manager manages the game.

Look what Bochy did in Game 6 of the NLCS. He took Jonathan Sanchez out after being rattled early in the game. He somehow used Jeremy Affeldt and Madison Bumgarner to make it work, and the Giants broke a 1-1 tie to take the lead in the eighth inning.

How about when he benched Torres and Burrell for a playoff game? Those two responded with a good performance in the next game.

Bochy knew how to use all of his players. Girardi bailed out on players when things were tough. It’s clear who was the better manager.

The Giants seem to appreciate their championship. That wasn’t the case last year with the Yankees. The Yankees were just relieved to win a championship. It appeared they were bored all year to play a game of baseball.

There’s something to be said about character and personality. The Giants have that. Those guys have fun, and it showed in the playoffs. It’s refreshing to see a group that enjoys the game.

The injustice of all this is that the Giants will likely break this team up, while the Yankees will probably overspend by signing Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford.

The Giants should have an opportunity to defend for their title, but economics will play a role. The Yankees are the only team that can get away with it.

This is why it’s neat to see what the Giants did.

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Something did not seem right about ex-Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland leaving for personal reasons, and now ESPN New York.com’s Andrew Marchand reveals what happened.  This writer suggested that Joe Girardi may have been involved Eiland’s firing, and it sounds like that’s exactly what happened.

Eiland and Girardi had a difference of opinion about how the pitchers were used. This took place right after the deposed pitching coach came back from his personal leave.

One wonders if Girardi felt comfortable working with Eiland in the first place. When Girardi was hired, Eiland was not his choice. He preferred to work with Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey due to their past work together.

With the team falling short of its goals this year, the insecure manager decided to use his opportunity to blame Eiland for what’s going on.

Here’s a question that should be asked: Who made Girardi the general manager all of a sudden?

The job of a manager is to work with his coaches that his boss selected. Most baseball managers do not select coaches these days, so it should be expected Girardi should not have a say in this.

Eiland proved to be a valuable commodity. He did a great job with the relievers last year, and his work with A.J. Burnett is a miracle last year.

For some reason, Girardi made it a point to go credit himself for making it work with the relievers. This is what happens when a manager acts like he invents the game of baseball.

It was clear who won the power struggle between the two of them. This should teach Girardi’s fellow coaches not to cross that genius again. They should follow Tony Pena’s lead by agreeing everything the manager says.

It’s funny how Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is considered ruthless for the way he treated Eiland. If he was really ruthless, he would tell Girardi to deal with Eiland.

It’s clear now Cashman goes by what Girardi tells him. This guy developed a fetish with the Yankees manager going back to 2006. That was the year Girardi won the NL Manager of the Year for getting the Marlins to overachieve.

Would it surprise anyone if Cashman was not broken up about ex-Yankees manager Joe Torre not coming back? He sure did not plead with the Steinbrenner family to bring Torre back. He wanted Girardi to be the new manager.

It’s interesting why Girardi wasn’t interested in any other jobs back then. Cashman convinced Girardi that job was going to be his soon.

Plus, it’s interesting the Yankees general manager was quick to endorse the manager’s return after the Yankees were eliminated. If only Torre got that type of support in the years the Yankees were out in the first round.

What did Girardi do to earn the benefit of the doubt by his boss? It’s not like he is a great manager. If anything, he is a mediocre manager at best. With a payroll like that of the Yankees, anyone can get the team to the ALDS.

Girardi has no idea how to use pitchers, period. When a starter or a reliever is in a jam, he is quick to get that pitcher out of there. How is a pitcher going to get better when a manager has no trust?

The Yankees manager should take a hit for Joba Chamberlain’s regression. This is a guy who had no idea how to use his phenom. He limited his pitcher out on the mound by pitching him for few innings, and then he would take him out when he gives up a walk or hit.

For all the credit Girardi received for his handling of the bullpen last year, most of his relievers had no idea what to do out there this year. He put them in a position to fail because his binder told him to use them in a spot they shouldn’t be in.

One wonders if he listened to Eiland much in the three years they worked together.

The next pitching coach becomes tricky. Why would any great pitching coach want to work with Girardi? With the manager being a control freak, it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Say goodbye to Curt Young, Leo Mazzone or any other great pitching coaches out there. Marchand’s report did the Yankees a disservice.

Odds are, Harkey or Scott Aldred will be the new pitching coach. How is that an upgrade? Harkey had no answers when the Yankees struggled to pitch, and Aldred is an unknown.

Does that inspire confidence? Yankees fans will listen to whatever Girardi and Cashman are going to say like gospel.

These are the same folks that actually believed Eiland left because of his personal issues. This did not make sense from the beginning, especially when he was fired after the Yankees bowed out in the ALCS.

Now, we get an answer thanks to brilliant reporting by Marchand.  Of course, Yankees fans will blindly support Girardi.

Good luck to the next pitching coach who has to deal with Girardi everyday. Being a member of his staff is not a job people should envy.

Eiland learned it the hard way.

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The Yankees opened up their new palace last year. There was something lacking at their new stadium.

Sure, the food over there is awesome. No one can escape watching that enormous jumbotron at the stadium.

With that said, something did not add up. We saw many empty seats in the field level. It was detectable watching no one behind home plate.

Fans couldn’t afford to pay tickets at a ridiculous price. Most of the crowds were either visitors from other parts of the country or corporates.

This citizen has friends that could not afford to go to a game at Yankee Stadium. They have been priced out from going to the games. They rather prioritize their money to other things such as paying bills, which is a reasonable thing to do.

The only reason why this writer went to couple of games at Yankee Stadium this year was because he received free tickets from a cousin’s friend. If not for free tickets, he would have yet to go to a game at the new Yankee Stadium.

This shouldn’t sit well with the Yankees. It shows the Yankees need to do a better job of trying to attract people from middle class to go to the games. A stadium experience should be about fans that are either poor or making minimum wages to go along with the rich folks.

Most diehards stems from fans that can’t afford to games. The corporate or visitors can care less. They are not baseball fans. They are just fans that need to have a good time.

That’s one reason why the passion is not there at the Stadium. That’s on the Yankees to change that.

Fans that go to the games need to do a better job of getting into games. Too many times, fans go just to be seen and heard. They don’t pay attention to what goes on. All they do is take pictures or call someone in the cell phone. Either that or people go out and get drunk.

Just because fans wear their Yankees gear does not mean they are into the game. It means someone who is seeking attention and nothing more.

A fan that is into the game is a fan that knows what’s going on. A fan shouldn’t be relying on the jumbotron to get them to cheer or boo. When has New York become a small-market town where fans don’t know how to react on a play or get the team going?

In the old Yankee Stadium, it would never happen. If the late George Steinbrenner was alert, he would never allow this type of gimmick. It just shows George’s sons have long ways to go until they know what a baseball atmosphere is.

This place has become too corporate. It hasn’t been fan friendly. It hasn’t been the home-field advantage the Yankees once enjoyed at the old Yankee Stadium. It showed this season, especially in the playoffs.

This is unacceptable.

When Nolan Ryan and his wife are chuckling and having the time of their life, this shouldn’t sit well. This also shouldn’t sit well when the Rangers felt comfortable in the three games played at the Bronx this week.

It isn’t just the Rangers that felt comfortable. It was basically any visiting teams that felt like they can do anything they want over there.

Only time fans get involved is when the Red Sox come to town, and that’s it. These young people only care because of the history the Yankees have with the Red Sox. If the Red Sox had a history like the Rays or  the Rangers, no one would care.

That’s sad. It shows Yankees fans of today just don’t get it.

When an opposing team is on the road, they need to be booed and heckled. They need to be harassed. They need to be miserable. They need to be begging to go home again.

This is not the South, West Coast or the Midwest where it’s all hunky-dory. East Coast sports fans have a reputation for being intense, but unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore here at the South Bronx.

Either those folks need to get better or sell their tickets to fans who would die to go.

The Yankees don’t need any fans that seem disinterested. What they need is genuine support and love.

Only way the Yankees can change that is to go scale down the ticket prices. They act like their ticket plan is a success. No, it’s not.

Get back to where tickets are affordable for a blue-collar worker. Do that, and maybe the stadium will be rocking like the old place. The blue-collars are much more into sports than white-collars.

All white-collar people do is drink champagne, check on their cell phones and do things that should never take place in a baseball game. Some don’t even show up when we want to.

Sorry, but Donald Trump, Spike Lee and other celebrities don’t get worked up about Yankees losses like a blue-collar do. Is this what the Yankees want? It seems like it’s that way.

That would be the wrong approach. If anyone watched the playoff atmosphere at Arlington, Philadelphia and San Francisco this October, they saw fans screaming at every play or pitch. They saw fans getting involved.

That’s what baseball should be. Not folks approaching baseball as a soap opera.

It makes this New Yorker sick. It should make the Steinbrenners sick too.

Just exactly what are the Yankees going to do about it? This is an issue they have to address and not take this lightly.

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Who said the Yankees change how they operate now that George Steinbrenner died?

Sure the manager and the general manager gets to stay despite falling short of winning a championship, but it doesn’t mean any other people are safe.

Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland found out the hard way today. He was fired for personal reasons. Count this fan for not buying this baloney.

Eiland took a leave of absence for his personal problems his year, but please don’t buy this idea that his issues played a role in his firing. It’s funny how his issues have become a story after the Yankees were outplayed by the Rangers.

Maybe what the Yankees are saying is true, but this organization has a tendency to be disingenuous. It started when Steinbrenner claimed he would not be involved when he brought the team. Since then, it has been all lies from the people that run the organization.

Somehow if the Yankees won a championship, Eiland would be here. Case closed.

Obviously, there’s more to this story. Maybe Cashman felt Eiland’s philosophy does not mesh with his philosophies. It’s funny how Cashman has gained so much knowledge about the game in recent years.

That has to be the reason why a change is made with the pitching coach. Cashman feels Eiland has not done enough to maximize the talent of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. It’s no secret Cashman’s reputation is based on his two underachieving starters, so he is desperate to find a pitching coach that can make it work.

Problem with that thinking is pitching coaches can do so much. It comes down to the pitcher. It’s up to them to figure it out.

Chamberlain has been a mess ever since the Yankees changed his role around. He should have either been a starter or a reliever. Now, he may not recover again.

Who knows about Hughes? He has talent, but he still has ways to go, especially when it comes to hitting teams. Often times, he tends to be skittish when he is in jams.

Good performance by pitchers make pitching coaches looks good. It’s the same as the hitters with hitting coaches.

Many times, everyone blames or credits hitting coach, pitching coach or a manager when things go right or bad. In sports, it’s what a player does on the field, ice or the hardwood that matters come game time.

Did Eiland tell guys to go give up home runs and hits? Didn’t think so. It’s hard to believe a new voice will do much. As great as Mike Maddux is at his job as Rangers pitching coach, the Rangers pitch well because their pitchers are good not because of what Maddux says.

Honestly, he wasn’t the problem. He was the least of the team’s problems.

It’s not his fault that the manager decided to be complacent by resting his guys. It’s not his fault the manager made decisions based on spreadsheets and what the binder told him to do.

Would it surprise anyone if Girardi betrayed Eiland by speaking stuff about him to Cashman? It wouldn’t. Girardi is cold-blooded and insecure. He wants his guys only. Eiland was the organization’s guy not Girardi’s. If the Yankees manager has his way, it would be Mike Harkey as his pitching coach.

It probably will be Harkey as the new pitching coach, and that would be a mistake. If the Yankees are going to fire Eiland, they better replace him with a good pitching coach. That means either Leo Mazzone is the pitching coach or they fork up big bucks to poach a pitching coach from another organization.

It’s hard to believe Harkey can be any different as the pitching coach. He took over for Eiland this year for awhile, and the pitchers pitched awful.

If anyone thinks firing Eiland is going to change things, they have another thing coming.

Eiland will not make Girardi any smarter. He will not make Girardi forget using spreadsheets to make decisions.

If the Yankees are going to be better, it will come either with a new manager or new infusion of talent. It won’t be because of the new pitching coach.

Only way the Yankees can say the change will work is if Hughes and Chamberlain have success, and that’s if both guys stay next year. Odds are both guys won’t have success anytime soon.

Eiland should bounce back. He will get offers from other teams, and he will be a pitching coach. The Yankees can tarnish his reputation all they want, but it will not preclude other teams from hiring him.

How sweet would it be if the Red Sox hire him as the new pitching coach? They have an opening now that ex-Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell took the Blue Jays managerial job.

For Eiland’s sake, the Yankees should disclose their reasoning rather than making folks speculate. The Yankees like to talk about how they value their fans, so if it’s really true, they owe it to the fans to go out and say something.

It’s the least they can do after firing a man who put time into his job. Maybe fans won’t care. After all, Yankees fans blindly will support anything an organization can do.

Obviously, Eiland knows why he’s gone. He should explain the Yankees decision instead of folks coming up with conspiracy theories.

For the sake of disclosure, an answer must be given to what happened.

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