Little Boss Ain't the Big Boss

"This is going to get turned around," Steinbrenner said. "If it's not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too."

That was the topper to the conversation Hank Steinbrenner had with the NY Post's Kevin Kernan yesterday. Like the rest of us, the little boss isn't happy with the Yankees play and in Hank's case, not happy with the players not performing up to salary.

"We've got to forget about all the injuries and start playing our butts off," Steinbrenner told The Post. The Yankees were buried by the Rays on Monday. These are difficult days for Joe Girardi's club.

"The bottom line is that the team is not playing the way it is capable of playing," Steinbrenner said. "These players are being paid a lot of money and they had better decide for themselves to earn that money."

"There's no question we need to turn it around and we have the talent to turn it around. We've got the team in place, and now they just have to go out and do it.
"This is going to get turned around," Steinbrenner said. "If it's not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too."

"We have good professional hitters and I have a lot of faith in them," Steinbrenner said from Tampa. As for the team in general, he noted, "I'm not saying they are not giving the effort, but they need to be playing harder."

Hank, you're not Dad. Your words don't carry your Dad's weight. And hopefully you realize your Dad never once motivated his teams with his words in the media.

He then paid the much-improved Rays a compliment, saying, the Yankees have "got to start playing the way the Rays are playing. (The Yankees) need to start treating it like when they were younger players and going after that big contract, like they're in (Triple-A) and trying to make the majors. That's the kind of attitude and fire the players have to have.

Okay Hank, you just made your own point. Except for a handful of players, these are not kids on the Yankees. They're not trying to make it in the big leagues. They're already established players and your the one who put them there.

Hank is also unlike his Dad in another way, in the same breath he also threw out some compliments. He praised Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang, Darrell Rasner, and yes, Mike Mussina, whom he ripped several weeks ago. Hank also defended Joba's emotional outbursts on the mound.

"He's a great kid and I'm behind him 100 percent and he's not the only pitcher to do that," he said, citing Boston's Jonathan Papelbon. "Joba is special to me and he means no malice by what he does."

So slow down there Hank, the season is just one-quarter gone. Yes, things do have to turn around. But the Yankees need A-Rod and Jorgie back so they can cut some of the dead weight from this team.

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