Let’s get right to it:

• FOX Sports’ Jason Whitlock isn’t too happy with SI’s Selena Roberts:

According to Roberts’ new book and her interview blitzkrieg, Rodriguez used steroids in high school, tipped pitches to opposing batters, tipped Hooters waitresses a paltry 15 percent, was nicknamed “Bitch Tits” in the locker room and is caught up in being perfect because his father abandoned him as a child.

Her sourcing for the most damaging allegations, by her own admission, is either anonymous or non-existent. She wants us to trust her, and her New York Times– and Sports Illustrated-highlighted résumé.

Unlike Bob Costas, the producers at ESPN and the steroids-obsessed baseball journalists, I don’t trust Roberts or her book, and I expressed some of my reasons in a Kansas City Star column that ran on Sunday.

. . . Never trust a publication. Hell, the more prestigious the publication, the more pressure there is for the writers to cut corners in pursuit of a good story.

Place your trust in the writer. And Roberts’ reaction to the exoneration of the Duke lacrosse players calls into question her credibility. By refusing to acknowledge her mistakes in the Duke case, she creates the impression that her agenda trumps the truth.

• Doug Glanville examines the latest alleged controversy surrounding A-Rod:

So, according to the latest story, Alex is connected to some pitch-tipping scheme in which he relayed signs to the opposing hitter (if he was a friend) or for someone who would return the favor when he was hitting. This was supposedly done in one-sided games where, in theory, one team had no chance of catching up. Alex was said to be in cahoots with a lot of middle infielders. Allegedly, there was some sign he would relay to the hitter — a movement with his glove or his feet — to let the hitter know what type of pitch was coming and where.

Although I have never heard such a rumor about Alex, this may be one of the most egregious charges one can make against a player, and a rare one at that. Should a player know that someone in his own dugout is helping the opposing team, I would venture to say that all-out Armageddon would ensue. Imagine if a pitcher knew that his pitches were being given away to the opposing hitter by his own teammate no less. This spy would have to watch his back.

How would this scheme have been missed for Alex’s entire career? We all know that every time he plays, the camera zooms in on him. Opposing teams watch him obsessively, studying film endlessly. The “A-Rod cam” is on full tilt all the time. So, over a period of years, did the best in the business, the brightest analysts and teammates, miss that he was doing this for his roommate from the year before, or maybe for his cousin’s favorite player? Or did they know it but were afraid to come forward? Is it possible that all of these experts had their heads in the sand?

A more likely scenario for how he may have been tipping pitches: he was sending signals to his own team, something that could easily be stolen by a sage opponent. Just as we knew when certain pitchers were throwing a curveball (based on their glove habits, or the way the catcher crouched), or throwing home instead of picking off to first (the pitcher may have turned his front foot inward, or widened his base).

• Ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte gets profiled by ESPN’s Rick Reilly:

His name is Pat Venditte, he’s 23, and he’s pro baseball’s only ambidextrous pitcher. This living piece of history is more than a YouTube star; he’s throwing almost daily for the Charleston RiverDogs, the Yankees’ Single-A club. And he’s not just throwing: He’s blowing through hitters like a Cub Scout through Skittles. At one point in April, the closer’s ERA was 0.00 in 6 1/3 innings, and he hadn’t blown a save in five games.

Last season, he had 23 saves for the Staten Island Yankees, with a 0.83 ERA. And best of all, the kid can relieve himself!

He wears a specially made six-fingered Mizuno glove with two thumbs. (His Dominican teammates call him Pulpo, Spanish for “octopus.”) When he warms up, he throws four pitches righty and four lefty. You should see the opposition when he does it. It’s as if they had seen a ghost. Wait—did you just see that? If a righty is up, he throws righty, and vice versa. Whenever Venditte switches sides, everybody in the Charleston ballpark is encouraged to switch seats.

• Tyler Kepner comments on the “atmosphere” of the new Stadium:

. . . it sure seems that the new Yankee Stadium lacks any semblance of the atmosphere that made the original so special. When you saw a game at the old place, you felt like part of a community of fans. The prices were very high, and it wasn’t the kind of place the average working man could take his family very often. But if you got in, everyone was part of the event, no matter where you sat. There was buzz.

The new park does not have it, and is not set up for it. Everywhere else the Yankees play, fans congregate behind the dugouts for autographs, straining to get just a little bit closer to the players. Not here. Not in a ballpark with a concrete moat encircling the first nine rows or so, almost from foul pole to foul pole, patrolled by a fleet of security guards.

. . . In the Bronx, the vast reach of the walled-off area extends way too far down the lines, and the empty seats are a reminder of how significantly the team seems to have miscaluclated the demand for that kind of ballpark experience.

• Could there be a Brett Tomko sighting in the near-future?:

Tomko is not on the 40-man roster, but that is not the reason he remains in the minors. Tomko has dealt with a mild oblique strain this week and the Yankees want to make sure he is healed.

“We’re happy we have Tomko, and I’m sure you’re going to see him soon enough,” Brian Cashman said. “He’s doing everything he can do and he’s a big choice for us. If we make that choice, we just want to make sure he’s ready to go. I’m sure he’ll be fine rather soon.”

• Will Carroll has a prognosis for Jorge Posada’s hamstring injury (note: I forgot to include this in the original version of today’s post … sorry!):

The Yankees pushed Posada to the DL after a recurrent hamstring strain (above, but close to, a previous recent strain) showed enough damage on the MRI that the doctors were worried about the integrity of the area, and a possibly significant tearing/re-tearing risk. If that sounds bad, that’s because it is, but it’s a short-term bad. As the muscle repairs itself, the recurrence risk should diminish as it becomes closer to being fully healed, so this time off is a key factor. . . .  Posada should be out a little longer than the minimum, so let’s call it three weeks and see how he progresses.

• Pop quiz: The Yanks have now lost their 4th straight at the Stadium.  What’s the franchise record (at least since 1954) for consecutive home losses within the same season? (answer at bottom of post)
• A couple of Yankee fans have started a campaign to get Nick Swisher written onto the All-Star team.
• Humberto Sanchez has been re-signed by the Yanks.
• On this date in 1966, after only four victories in the first twenty games, Yankees manager Johnny Keane is fired and replaced by the team’s general manager and former skipper, Ralph Houk.
• On this date in 1999, Hideki Irabu of the Yankees opposed Mac Suzuki of the Mariners in the first match-up of Japanese starting pitchers in major league history.
• Quiz answer: 10 – by the 1986 Yankees from May 26 to June 29.