Will Torre be retained?  —  Support for manager may be growing in New York  —  Some Yankees decision-makers have been paying close attention to the reaction of players and fans, and a few people close to the situation are actually beginning to wonder whether Joe Torre is as gone as Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he would be.

Steinbrenner relinquishes control of Yankees  —  N.Y. owner's sons Hank, Hal reportedly to do day-to-day running of team  —  NEW YORK - The George Steinbrenner era is apparently all but over.  —  According to a report in the New York Post, the "Boss" has handed over control of the New York Yankees …

It's clearly time to put ineffective Eric on ice … The Red Sox [team stats] had the right idea when they decided to gather a couple of talented youngsters named Kason Gabbard [stats] and David Murphy and use them as currency in their search for a veteran relief pitcher.

Dusty Baker  —  Sometime in mid-August, I had a bizarre conversation with a mid-40's check-out clerk at Safeway who saw my Reds hat.  He said that he was not a Reds fan, but asked what I thought about the Reds' managing situation, and said he thought that Pete MacKanin had done a heck of a job.