Let’s get right to it:

• Hello Mitre, Goodbye Tomko:

Needing to clear roster space for Tuesday’s starting pitcher, Sergio Mitre, the Yankees designated Tomko for assignment, likely ending his time with the club. Tomko, a 13-year veteran of eight big league teams, posted a 5.23 ERA for the Yankees, pitching just 20 2/3 innings — many of them in lopsided games — over the span of 2 1/2 months.

“A lot of it was circumstance,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We played in a lot of tight games, and we went with the guys that we were using in those innings. He didn’t pitch a lot. There were times when he had a lot of days off, and it can be hard to stay sharp that way.”

Tomko hadn’t pitched since July 11, giving up runs in five of his final eight appearances with the team. After earning a callup thanks to a strong Spring Training showing and some sparkling Triple-A numbers — namely a 0.64 ERA in 10 games — Tomko began to crumble with irregular use around mid-May.

• No Halladay in the Yanks future, it appears:

A Blue Jays official involved in the Roy Halladay discussions told The Post that both New York teams are not serious pursuers of the ace right-hander.

The official confirmed what several Yankee executives already had told the Post: That since an initial phone conversation about two weeks ago between Brian Cashman and his Blue Jays counterpart J.P. Ricciardi to let the Yankees know that Halladay is available there have been no further discussions. Yankees executives have told the Post that the finances in adding Halladay don’t work, especially if it means giving up the best of their farm system, also, which is what keeping Halladay in the AL East would necessitate.

• Loosey-goosey Matsui?:

Out of the corner of his eye, Hideki Matsui caught the sight of several teammates frantically using their arms to make a tossing motion. The gestures seemed foreign at first. But as Matsui jogged toward the plate, moments after slamming a walk-off homer in the Yankees’ 2-1 victory against the Orioles on Monday, it all started to make sense.

“I was just going to step on home plate, normally,” said the typically reserved Matsui through his translator. “But they told me to throw my helmet so I threw my helmet. I’ve never done it before, so in that sense, it felt a little uncomfortable. But I like to follow whatever the team rules are.”

So, Matsui fired his helmet into the air the way a newlywed bride would toss a bouquet. And Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada — the three giddy teammates who waved frantically at Matsui — all leaped after it like a group bachelors at a wedding reception diving after the garter belt.

• Will Carroll on CMW:

Between the foot, the hips, and now the shoulder, Wang has undergone a full-system breakdown in just a year. That’s very unusual, and points strongly to some sort of mechanical issue. With all the money the Yankees spend on things, you’d figure they’d be at the front of everything, including biomechanics, but they’re not. They used to have a real edge in how they managed rehabilitation, especially with Tommy John recoveries, but while they’re still very good, the rest of the league has caught up. . . Wang seems to be done for the season, with the question being whether this is a permanent or temporary stop.

• Eric Hinske credits Kevin Long with his hot start to his Yankee tenure:

Eric Hinske is 5 for 15, with four home runs, in his five games for the Yankees. He had one homer in 106 at-bats for Pittsburgh before the trade, and credited the hitting coach Kevin Long for a mechanical adjustment.

“The first thing he said when he saw me was, ‘You’ve hit everywhere you’ve gone, but there’s more in the tank,’” Hinske said.

Hinske said he had always concentrated mainly on his hands during practice. Long emphasized hip rotation and keeping the head still. By doing that, Hinske said, the hands follow naturally through the hitting zone. The less there is to think about, he said, the better it is for a hitter.

“It’s been a great ride so far,” he said.

• Yankees do the right thing during “HOPE Week“.
• A scary and amazing story about former Yankee Aaron Small:

“It was Saturday, June the 5th, when I picked up a virus,” said Small, who was at the Stadium on Sunday for Old-Timers’ Day. “I got a haircut that morning and then I did a pitching lesson at my baseball school, The Baseball Barn. But around 6 o’clock that night I started to go downhill, I started losing it. I don’t remember much about anything then. My wife, Macy, found me in the bedroom with a towel over my head and she said I said to her, ‘I don’t feel good. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.’ I don’t remember saying that, though.”

Small, 37, was too ill to attend church services the next day, and that’s when Macy realized something was wrong with her husband. Macy Small called Aaron’s father and brother and eventually after a frantic 911 call, an ambulance was summoned to take Small to the hospital. But it was a struggle. “Macy knew I was messed up,” Small said. “She told me it took my father, brother and the ambulance crew to wrestle me down and sedate me because I was so combative,” Small said. “They said I was wild, like a wounded animal. But they finally got me to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where I stayed for eight days in a medically induced coma. I didn’t know anybody or anything.”

A battery of tests followed and the final diagnosis was that Small had contracted encephalitis, an inflammation and swelling of the brain caused by a virus. Small finally emerged from his coma on June 13 and asked Macy, “What am I doing here?”

But Small still had a trying recovery ahead.

“I had to learn to walk again, I had lost my motor skills,” Small said. “My breathing wasn’t good, my talking wasn’t good because I had a big tube stuck down my throat. I had to learn how to use my vocal cords again. Then I was on a walker for a couple of weeks and had a feeding tube for a while. But I thank God, man, He healed me. He’s still healing me. It was a very rough time.”

• Scott Sanderson turns 53 today.  Sanderson had an excellent 16-10 3.81 ERA campaign for the ’91 Yankees (when they went 71-91), then he dropped to 12-11 with a 4.93 ERA in the following season.
• Cliff Johnson turns 62 today.  Johnson compiled a line of .239/.353/.463 in 3 seasons with the Yanks in the mid-70s.  Perhaps most infamously, he got into a clubhouse tussle with Goose Gossage in April 1979, and Gossage broke a thumb, ending up on the shelf for three months.
• Sparky Lyle hits the big 6-5 today.

[My take: Will he sit butt-naked on his own cake, as he used to others in the Yankee clubhouse?]

• On this date in 1954, manager Casey Stengel switches players in an effort to get more power in the Yankee lineup. Phil Rizzuto plays 2B and Mickey Mantle plays SS, the position he manned four years prior in the minor leagues. Mantle wins the game 3-2 against Chicago with a 10th-inning HR.
• On this date in 1989, the Yankees trade popular 3B Mike Pagliarulo and Don Schulze to San Diego for pitcher Walt Terrell and Fred Toliver. Toliver won’t report to New York till September 27 and Terrell will sign with the Pirates on November 29.
• On this date in 1998, the Yanks pummel the Tigers, 13-2, to run their record to 71-25 (.740), a major-league record winning percentage after 96 games.