George King of the NEW YORK POST notes today that Joe Girardi told WFAN-AM in New York yesterday that he now wants to wear #28:

(Is it all about the team? Or the manager?)

Yesterday, on his WFAN gig, the manager strongly hinted he will wear No. 28 next season to signify a push toward winning back-to-back titles.

“Y’know, that’s something I talked to Brian Cashman briefly about [yesterday] and I want to talk to him about it more [today], but, I think I will,” Girardi said. “I’ve got to talk to Shelly Duncan to see if he allows me to wear it. I think I’m gonna make a number change.”

Duncan is a fringe Yankee player who wears #28. Somehow I have a feeling he’ll grant the request. Maybe he’ll get a box of Twinkies in return.

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As I type this, workers in New Jersey (yes, New Jersey) are working furiously like Santa’s elves, cobbling together the many floats that will be used in Friday’s Yankee victory parade. Route is the Canyon of Heroes to City Hotel, whatever that means, and post time is 11 a.m. Please do not feed or approach Joba Chamberlain.

Obviously the parade route passes by the Bank of New York, because that’s where these two ladies felt compelled to show their team spirit during the last Yankees victory parade, in 2000. By the time it was over they had completely stripped, and somehow found a blanket, with which they flashed the crowd — sort of like naughty smoke signals. Link to all of that following the jump.

But the bigger question: Will LeBron-bron and his infamous Yankees cap be in attendance? The Cavaliers are in town to play the Knicks tomorrow, after all. Photos of him at the parade — or better yet, in one of the floats — should go over really well in Cleveland. Read more…

TMZ has video of Reggie Jackson outside a New York hotel yesterday that is more than a little embarrassing, regardless of the circumstances.

The piece starts out lame and actually peters from there, until Joe Morgan shows up at the end to do something he’s never done in over two decades of broadcasting: provide entertainment when there was none. Read more…

The commemorative World Series hats worn by the Yankees last night certainly were eye openers. Talk about the perfect model!

(Reconditioned Bachelorette Party hat?)

Hat that is. Of course.

With Hideki Matsui your World Series MVP, the mad search is one for photos of Matsui’s wife.

Why so? The unintentionally amusing depiction of her he presented to reporters after his marriage in 2008. I was sent a couple photos last night that may well be her. Scary part: The illustration may actually give us confirmation.

Pics after the jump. Read more…

Life had been good for Brad Lidge and the Phillies last night. Well, if not good, certainly improving; Pedro Feliz had just hit a home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 4, and Lidge had dispatched the first two batters of the Yankees’ ninth inning without incident. Then Johnny Damon hit a single to left on a full count, and the Phillies put in a massive defensive shift to account for the dead-pull Mark Teixeira at the plate.

(Feliz: “Not good not good not good not good.”)

That shift put shortstop Jimmy Rollins well on the other side of second base and our hero from earlier, concrete-shod third baseman Feliz, nearer to the bag. So when Damon took off on a steal on the very first pitch, it was Feliz’s job to cover the bag, and that turned into a rather substantial problem - especially when Damon was the first person in the entire stadium to realize that there was nobody on third. Video, if you missed it last night, is after the break.

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Well that was fun.

(Always tirelessly keeping up appearances)

Ryan Howard’s reax didn’t let us down either, according to Arthur Staple of New York NEWSDAY: Read more…

Scott Miller of CBSSports.com reports that George Steinbrenner’s health must be seriously failing if the treatment he received at Yankee Stadium for the World Series was any indication.

When Steinbrenner exited the stadium after Game 2, elevators were shut down (without warning!), stairwells were locked and …

Mechanized gates dropped suddenly from the ceiling to confine some officials to certain areas of the corridor — including some surprised major league baseball officials who were not told beforehand and were suddenly trapped — and keep them away from the vehicles transporting Steinbrenner. Temporary curtains were quickly set up as well to block views.

Oh, and it gets worse. Read more…

Much has been said and written about Alex Rodriguez’s mighty ego, but did we ever think that it would reach, literally, mythic proportions? In the greatest item I have read today, US WEEKLY tells us that a former Rodriguez girlfriend says that the Yankee had two portraits painted of himself as a centaur, and that they’re hanging over his bed. Enjoy that nightmare fuel, America.

As we know from our mythology, the centaur is a half-human, half-horse composition caught between the two natures, often pestering other gods such as Hercules. The ancient Greeks tell us that it was born when the god Centaurus mated with a horse. Yes, there’s a lot of that going around, even to this day. At least if you live in South Carolina. Read more…

Sometimes, the best scientific breakthroughs come from the unlikeliest of sources. Isaac Newton discovered gravity when he saw an apple fall. Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he accidentally left a petri dish open. And Einstein invented space while tripping on LSD*. But we never thought we’d see the day when Major League Baseball revolutionized the way our bodies work.

(Whoa!)

That, above, is the Yankees version of the PHITEN Aqua-Titanium necklace that plenty of players have been wearing on the field recently. You can buy it right on the MLB Shop webpage, and there are versions for other teams. As the blurb says (worth mentioning again: this is actually on the MLB website without a disclaimer), the necklace will “regulate the body’s natural electric currents through cell ionization” and “[promote] muscle relaxation, pain and stress relief, fatigue reduction, blood circulation improvement thus helping prevent injury.” That, if it were true, would be the single greatest breakthrough in medicine since forever.

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