NY Yankees -- Making my brown eyes blue

Many years ago, Country and Western singer Crystal Gayle had a song called, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

That song should have been written for some of us New York Yankees' fans like myself (yes, my eyes are brown) who are slowly watching the Yankees make fools out of themselves by letting some reliable players walk away or retire, while, basically, getting zilch in return.

One of the players I'm talking about used to wear No. 46 for the pinstripes -- Andy Petitte.

I guess it doesn't matter to George Steinbrenner that Petitte was one of the most reliable pitchers the Yankees had. He even had more than Steinbrenner favorite, David "I don't need to be in shape" Wells.

I guess it also didn't matter that manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemeyer liked Petitte, or that Yankees' fans could always be sure if some other Yankees pitcher, like Mike Mussina couldn't do the job, they could always count on Andy Petitte and Mariano Rivera to get the pitching job done.

Now, however, the Astros have rolled out the red carpet and after offering hometown boy Petitte everything except the governorship of the state of Texas to come home and play for them.

So how did the Yankees say thank you to one of their most reliable members of their pitching staff?

Did they say "thanks for the great pitching you did for the Yankees over the years, Andy, we'll miss you," or even a "Wait, Andy, we made a mistake. Come back and we'll give you whatever you want and then some."

No. Instead it was more like, "Thanks for nothing Andy and try not to miss that flight to Houston."

Personally, I wish Andy the best of luck with the Astros. He'll ALWAYS be a part of the New York Yankees to me, and I will wear my Andy Petitte New York Yankees' tee shirt when Houston comes to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers.

Just when Yankees fans thought it couldn't get any worse, the Yankees are getting, "Mr. Personality," Kevin Brown, from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In return for Brown, Jeff Weaver is getting a one way ticket to pitch for Los Angeles and the Yankees will get a pitcher, who, although he won a World Series with the Florida Marlins, is known for not getting along with the media, or anyone else for that matter.

(Note to Brown: If you think the reporters and late arriving Dodgers' fans in Southern California were hard on you, welcome to New York City. Oh, and try not to stink out the Bronx with your high earned run average because New York fans and media will make you wish you had exercised that no trade clause in your contract.)

Personally, I just don't get it.

To think the Yankees didn't want to dish out the megabucks for a pitcher who basically was raised in the Yankees farm system along with Rivera, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams?

Most teams are trying to win a World Series. The Yankees will still be there come playoff time, but with all the craziness coming out of the clubhouse, the Yankees are really living up to the nickname, "the Bronx Zoo."

It's enough to make my brown eyes blue.