Yankee Edition. Three headlines from this past week:

New York Post: Trot Turns Down Heat
Providence Journal: Nixon Backtracks Somewhat On A-Rod
Newsday: No Backpedaling By Nixon

The Yankees are publicly shrugging their shoulders about watching the Red Sox get their World Series rings at Fenway. Mike Mussina says: "They won. They can do it however they want." When told the Sox were giving out a total of 500 rings within the organization, he joked, "Are they giving one to everyone who has played since 1918?" ... Hey Mike, as Yankee fans are (were?) so fond of saying, "How many rings have you won?"

On March 7, the Yankees will travel to Fort Myers to meet the Red Sox for the first time since October 21, 2004. Joe Torre says none of his top five starters will make the trip and he may put only "a couple" of regulars into the lineup. It says here that Slappy will not be one of them.