The Yankees are in last place in the AL East — six games behind the Red Sox — and have the third worst record in the American League. Worse than that, though, the seem to have no potential signs of life; the bets made on the young starters have busted (so far), the lineup is banged up and old and no even even looks all that alarmed that they lost two at home to the Mets. You can't even get worked up about Hank Steinbrenner's cute yet vaguely disturbing attempts to do Larry David-esque impressions of his father.

But hey: You can always ask Joe Girardi a question.

It's just odd to see Yankee Stadium go out like this, right? The last home game of the season is September 21 against Baltimore. The Yankees still have another week of games after that. Imagine the Yankees, already long eliminated from the playoff chase, drifting through Toronto and Boston as their stadium in the Bronx sits there, waiting to be destroyed. Welcome, Joe Girardi!

Yankees' manager Joe Girardi disagrees, however. And Don Zimmer disagrees with the disagreement.

So there was Zim Sunday, saying he was "dumbfounded" to hear that Girardi had taken exception to the way Rays rookie Elliot Johnson had bowled over Francisco Cervelli at the plate on Saturday, a collision that left the Yankees' catching prospect with a broken wrist. "What happens if our man slides in with the plate blocked and breaks his leg?" Zimmer said. "Their guy blocked the plate and our guy bowled him over. What's that got to do with spring training? That's the way you play the game."

Girardi had said on Saturday that the play was "uncalled for" in spring training. But instead of whining about it, catchers should be proactive and start wearing spiked shin guards.

Joe Girardi's Stance On Collision Stuns Mentor And Tampa Coach Don Zimmer [New York Daily News]
Where's The Line Between Playing Hard And Playing Dangerous? [AOL Fanhouse]

We hope Girardi has an idea as to who will play third base.

A source tells 1050 ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand that the Yankees have officially offered the job to Joe Girardi. He is expected to accept it and the official announcement may come as early as today.

This morning, Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Don Mattingly and Tony Pena that they will not be offered the job. Girardi was in the Denver for the World Series, he is expected to fly to New York for the announcement, which could come as soon as tomorrow.

Mr. Girardi, do enjoy this brief moment of slight, quick good feeling. Your honeymoon will last about two-to-three days, and that's probably pushing it. All you have to do now is replace a legend, help rebuild a team that seems helplessly behind their historic rivals and, oh yeah, not get fired because you can't get along with the owners. (Again.) Have fun with that.

Yankees Offer Job To Girardi [ESPN 1050]

Buster "Please Don't Make Me Do Anymore Fake Press Conferences" Olney is reporting that Cubs president Andy MacPhail is leaving Wrigley to head Camden Yards way. This means, most likely, that diminutive manager Sam Perlozzo is out the door, probably in favor of Joe Girardi, whose people skills served him well in Florida. The team has been fed up with Perlozzo for a while, and we still kind of wonder if he only got the job because they thought he'd bring best pal Leo Mazzone with him. (All references to Leo Mazzone must include light rocking back and forth; do it with us now.)

Anyway, we're not sure what this means for the Cubs. We think we all know who should be running that team anyway.

O's Hire MacPhail, Eying Girardi [ESPN]
Sam Perlozzo, We Hardly Knew Ye [The Smittblog]

(UPDATE: Baseball Musings says Tom Trebelhorn will manage. We missed that guy.)

(SECOND UPDATE: It's Dave Trembley, not Trebelhorn.)