Yanks To Report 30 Minutes Early Tomorrow For Team Meeting !

I just got a phone call, on a private line, from an unnamed source within the Yankee organization.

Word is: Joe Girardi has asked the team to come in at 10:00am tomorrow for a team meeting. The scheduled time for the team to assemble tomorrow is 10:30am.

So this gathering is off the record and not accessible, of course, to anyone but the team, the coaches, Brian, and "Ownership,"

should they choose to attend.

The Yankees only had two "team " meetings during the season, both of which were at the instigation of certain players. They were held first when the Yanks went on a bad run early, and the second meeting occurred during the disastrous September losing streak.

While I have no comments from anyone in the Yankee organization to either confirm or deny, I did speak with Bobby Valentine, and Dave Johnson, both former managers who are in town for some charity work.

" I think this shows more than a normal level of concern, " commented Bobby V. " But it can help a team re-focus when it is on the brink of losing confidence. I respect Joe for this, if it is true, and think he is just doing what he believes needs to be done."

Davey Johnson, by way of contrast, had this to offer; " I wouldn't do that at this point in the season for love or money. It is disrupting to the players' psyches and unlikely to be productive. In any case, no one will ever know if it helped or hindered. The team is either going to pitch better and bust out offensively, or go home."

We shall see.

I know that all the major media reporters will feed off this story, and we'll soon learn what they can dig up once they have some pre or post game access to Joe and or select players.

In that regard, I believe that Bill Madden of the Daily News has a live interview already scheduled with Boone Logan, so we'll see if that happens. Watch DailyNews.com for any available coverage.

I believe it is cocktail hour in North America.

The tension builds.