Tyler Kepner does not take the bait from Charley Steiner today

Charley goes through Yankee happenings, brings up Clemens, his condition, etc. He concludes saying Clemens can be viewed as a 4th or 5th starter. Fine, whatever. Then he gets to his main job, taking a deep breath and with relish,

• "This is where the Yankees are different from EVVVVERYYYBODY else..." referring to the salary being paid to a 4th or 5th starter. Charley assumes Kepner will join in with such a choice morsel tossed his way--ie, Yankee bashing, especially Yankee payroll bashing.

BUT...CURSES! Tyler Kepner doesn't take the bait, saying in part,

• "Well....Chien-Ming Wang is being paid the minimum," Kennedy and Hughes are obviously cheap, etc. This shows character on Kepner's part, ie, not surrendering to herd mentality.

P.S. Joel Sherman was with John Sterling for 9 innings at last night's Toronto game on Yankee radio. Conversation is worked in between pitches and action on the field with the interest of listeners in mind. This happens very well with Sterling and Waldman, and was fine for the 1 game Sherman subbed for Suzyn's night off. Mention was made of key Yankees needing to be re-signed for next year (for example Mariano, Posada, and Arod), and Sherman said, fortunately "the Yankees make a lot of money," and he's correct.

• This is different from the ESPN/MLB platform mantra, which is to bash the Yankee payroll. The spending is what got $100 million extracted from the Yankees and paid into thin air--no one is required to say how it was spent. Sherman's view acknowledges the potential available in the largest market--it's not automatic that a team in New York makes the most, spends the most, or even loses the most money. But the market provides that potential and in the case of the Yankees, they do earn a lot. It's also true they don't put the money in their pocket, but have an owner who's more concerned about winning.

Not that Joel Sherman alone will change existing baseball culture, but he gets credit for being accurate instead of going along with 24/7 Yankee bashing. This shows character rarely found in today's "guardians of the game."

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