let me clear my throat!

(Joshua Masayoshi Huff)

As much as I hate the Yankees (come on, it's either love them or hate them), I have to admit I have a tremendous amount of respect for Joe Torre, their manager.

Today, George Steinbrenner, the most outspoken man in the history of the world (and, you know, the owner of the Yankees), said that Torre would probably be fired if they didn't make the ALCS.

That's a pretty tall order, considering this Yankees team was 16 games out not two months ago. Then again, though, they've spent 1.23 billion dollars in the seven years since they last won the World Series.

Yeah, $1,230,000,000.

That much. Since 2000.

Of course, the Yankees won, even though their starter, Roger Clemens, who makes 1 million dollars for every start he makes (once every four days) was pulled after 4. Torre threw wunderkind Joba Chamberlain (who played in Hawaii) even though he probably didn't need to...just to make sure that they would win the game.

A few weeks ago, Torre said that he wanted to coach the team next year. When asked today, he said that it was "another question for another conversation for another day".

I have so much respect for this man. He's made the post-season every year for the past twelve years, and yet he's always on the hot seat. His comments made me like him even more. He knows that every team out there wants him as their manager, yet he's been the manager of the most storied team in all of sports for what seems like forever.

He doesn't ever complain and he always speaks respectfully of Steinbrenner. I have no idea how he does this--any other man would have quit years ago.

Torre? "For a player that never played in the post-season, I'm really enjoying it".

Touche.

I would say that I wish Torre would grow some balls and leave, but he has the biggest balls for staying. Seriously. And as much as I hate the Yankees, I'd take this man to manage my O's in a heartbeat.

As we found out with Chelsea, it takes a special coach to manage an All-Star team every game. Steinbrenner can say he's gonna fire Torre all he wants, but he doesn't have the guts to do it. Maybe he's sensible and knows that no man can control this team the way Torre does. And, more than a few players on the Yankees roster have threatened to leave the team this off-season if Torre isn't the team's manager next year.

I hate the Yankees, but I love Joe Torre and I love the way the players stick up for him and "won one for the skipper" tonight.

As serious as I am about my respect for Torre, I can't believe I just said all of that. I think I feel my dinner coming up into my mouth.

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(and my picks for the World Series...the Cubs and the Angels...are already out. That's why ESPN will probably never hire me as a baseball analyst... Buster Olney, your job is safe. Tim Kurkjian, I don't know about yours--stop pausing so often and taking such weird gasps of air...I always feel like you're a fish that has run out of breath in its lungs/gills/whatever and is about to flop around on the ground for the last time)