Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Aug 29, 2007 
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It turns out Johnny Damon can still play and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-3.
Mike Mussina is out and Ian Kennedy is in.
You know what the best of the Joba Rules is? Let him throw his slider. This notebook also has word on the arrival of Chris Britton, a milestone for Derek Jeter and a famed golfer on hand to watch.
working hard for the money pete! 3am!?!? geez.. haha.. I hope today brings another yankee win!!!
Halle-freaking-lujah. The Mussina demotion should have happened weeks ago.
Peter– I hope for your sake that a night editor at LoHud made that post instead of you. A flight from Detroit AND an all-nighter?
Demand a raise.
I am so excited about Ian Kennedy and Chris Britton that I can hardly contain myself. If anything, their promotions were a bit overdue. I kept waiting and waiting for Mussina to turn in a solid performance, it just never happened.
These moves now put things in place. It’s now up to Torre to manage the lineup and bullpen correctly.
Andy Pettitte is 8-1 in 10 starts since the All-Star break. His past 3 wins have followed Yankee defeats making him 69-33 in such situations with the Yankees.
excellent moves by the yanks sending henn down and bringing britton up – they should have brought britton up months ago and kept him up. The kid can throw and has been dominant.
Even better more bringing up kennedy. We all realiize he is at just about 30 inning over his career high but this kid has pitched in extreme pressure situations in college which probably put much more strain on an arm than most innings. I think he will be fine if he pitches up to 165 innings or so. Pitchers are babied and we dont really have much room for that in a pennant race right now. Im sure he will be fine.
And this team is extremely exciting now that we get to watch the future pitch two out of every five days and joba every other day. With Hughes, Wang, Chamberlain and Kennedy as four out of five starters on this team, we can focus on spending a ton of money on the pen, offense and an ace. I can imagine Santana, Hughes, wang, chamberlain and kennedy in 2009 with a closer as an eighth inning setup guy – maybe Joe nathan and a 150 million dollar offense.
Well I got my tickets, not exactly great seats, but i’m in the house. I think I might need to take an oxygen tank thats how high up I am. LOL
Anyone know if I can trade the tickets in for better seats?
Whats the word on a roster move for Ian? They need to make a move before Saturday so he can pitch in the post season.
He was there earlier in the game!!
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....anks?pg=28
This is great news. Seattle seems to be folding as well. Would be sweet if the Joba rules could be relaxed as this is a huge game today.
Jennifer – get to the game early, go thru the gates (use your ticket) and go to the advanced ticket window inside the stadium… there are two on the main level…one around section 7 or 9 and the other across from the food court on the left field side. Ask for an upgrade…they usually have something… of course you will have to pay the difference.
Yep they had a 5-0 lead after one. But our good Ole buddy Jeff Weaver gave us a present.
Maybe his brother can give us one as well.
Obviously these tickets were bought in advance. ANd I know day of game the prices go up. Will I pay the difference between advance? or day of game?
Jennifer – unfortunately you will pay day of game prices for the upgrade.
That stinks
Can I just try to upgrade in the same tier? Just move closer to home?
56: Do the Yankees then resell the original seats? Or do they just count it as a seat sold and move on?
Jennifer – you can upgrade to any section where seats are available… so you can try moving closer in the same tier. I do that all the time… usually trade outfield main box seats for main reserved seats closer to home.
Pete, how does the postseason roster work with respect to Ian Kennedy? He won’t be called up until Sept 1st, can he replace a player on the DL or would a current player have to go on the DL for Ian to be eligible?
I would almost like to see Kennedy pass Hughes and become the 4th starter, however there are only two more 5th starter starts scheduled this year. One in Boston, one in TB. I can’t imagine Joe doesn’t give Moose one more try.
Interesting to see how Kennedy is handled after this start. With his “innings cap” and all, depending, of course, on how good or bad his outing is.
Phil – they resell them. Ticket technology is pretty immediate… they scan the barcode on the tickets you return to them and they immediately become available in the ticket sales system.
Ok cool, I think that is what I will try to do.
It will be very exciting to see Kennedy pitch on Saturday and hopefully next year but to be realistic the Yankees are going to need a 6th starter at various times next year because they aren’t going to let Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy throw 200+ innings. Hughes never threw more than 146, Kennedy is near his cap at 150, and Joba has thrown around 110… just look at overworked young pitchers Prior, Wood, the Marlins rotation from last year
56: Thanks…I had no idea you could upgrade inside the Stadium. I usually trade up with scalpers. I’ll try the inside windows on Sunday.
Jennifer – I will be there on Saturday too!!! (I am assuming that you are referring to Saturday’s game)
I”m going tonight, and Sunday. I wish I had tickets to Saturdays game. I’ve been hearing about this kid for a while now and would have liked to see him pitch.
I get a kick out of all the “innings cap” talk.
Since the Yankees don’t make their innings caps available to the public, how does anybody know what the innings caps are for these guys? Just because somebody speculates on what they are in a story, doesn’t mean they are correct.
Until Brian Cashman himself announces publicly what the innings caps are for these kids (which he has no intentions of doing) everyone is just guessing. They don’t know for sure what the caps are.
If the Yankees were that concerned about his innings cap, they wouldn’t have called him up. Its an aggressive move, just like what they did with Joba.
Again, differing from what they have done with Hughes and other young pitchers over the years, they are not babying these kids. They are throwing them right into the fire.
I can’t remember the last time the Yankees have been this aggressive with prospects. You are talking about LAST YEAR’S first round draft choices who are now in the majors! That’s amazing.
If Kennedy pitches well, it won’t be a “one and done” start. Again, if this move was designed simply to give Mussina a break for a start, they could have called up Igawa or Steven White to make one start and not mess with the 40 man roster or start Kennedy’s service time clock.
Let’s not kid ourselves, they called up Kennedy in the hopes he can be a factor in September.
If he pitches well, he is staying in the rotation.
I agree SJ. If Kennedy pitches a brilliant game there is no way they will pull him from the rotation. But if he gets bombed, than I don’t see him staying. I’m so glad it isn’t Igawa.
SJ44, the standard is increase of 40 over a year. Unless there’s information to indicate something to the contrary, that’s where we’re basing our “speculation”. Now, do you know anything that gives you ground to assert that “If he pitches well, he is staying in the rotation.”, despite the fact he’s about 45 innings over what he pitched last year, other than the Yankees aren’t babying him?
I’ll tell you guys what, I think that squirrel is to the Red Sox what Babe was prior to ’04 and the black cat and the goat are to the Cubs. That squirrel is money.
Pete, any word on who will be DFA’d or waived to make room for Kennedy on the 40 man roster?
I love this move, but let’s not kid ourselves: you don’t bring up a rookie starter in a pennant race unless forced to out of desperation. The future is bright, and I love how Cashman and Co. have rebuilt the young pitching in this system. Just watching Joba last night gave me chills. But this team still has a mountain to climb, and a month’s worth of critical games to play.
Say, Pete. Any reason your mobile site is down? I’m getting an error message == opening and closing tag mismatch — rather than the page.
And given that I’m doing jury duty all week, this is an emergency of the first order.
“Halle-freaking-lujah. The Mussina demotion should have happened weeks ago.”
really? why should it have happened “weeks ago”?
from May 27-Aug 11, he gave the Yankees 85 innings at an era of 3.81.
he seems to have lost it now, but for 2 1/2 months he had about 2 bad starts out of 14. it wasn’t pretty some of the time, but it makes zero sense to say he should have been “demoted” before that game against Detroit on 8/16.
checking lohud yankees from the cell, love it!
There’s one common denominator that Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy all possess…. mound presence and confidence. None are easily rattled and are beyond their years for baseball maturity. Highly focused with one intention. Getting hitters out.
Joba, Hughes and Kennedy….after a few years with dollar cost averaging they will offset Kei, Moose and Pavano.
The scary thing if you are an AL GM is that the flow of young arms is hardly done yet….more on the way. I hope Betances works out as he could be a #1 if he develops.
Funny how our collective moods all change in 24 hours. I think we could go on a long sustained run now. The Angels and Detroit have our number, so we crapped out on that road trip. Boston, Seattle and the rest of the AL in September will not be so fortunate. I think a sweep vs. Boston is very possible.
I am excited to see Kennedy, but it will be on TV. I regret to admit that I donated my tickets for Saturday to Big Brothers/Big Sisters. But I hopefully some needy kids will go and get to tell the story how they saw Ian Kennedy pitch his first major league game. I’m pretty sure I just helped create 2-3 Yankee fans for life.
Pete, in the small article on Mussina and Kennedy, you say, “ironically” Kennedy is often compared to Mussina. This is a common error in sports journalism: it’s exactly _not_ ironic that Kennedy is comparable to Mussina, if he’s being picked to replace him.
SJ44 are you still talking about how they babied Phil Hughes? Did I not give you sufficient information yesterday which disproved your babying of Phil Hughes theory? Do I have to repost what I posted yesterday? Don’t make me do it! lol
SJ44 I guess you think it was in the ‘plans’ all along to have Kennedy called up this year, right?
On another note, I hope the kid does well on Saturday. I don’t think they’re looking at having him on the postseason roster. You really only need 4 starters in the postseason and they’ll have five already because I highly doubt they’ll leave Moose off of it. Maybe with a couple of weeks off Moose will come back stronger. Who knows…..
Do you need the internet on your phone to access it?
Jeff NJ, does Detroit really have our number? Did we not just beat them 3 out of 4 when they came to the stadium. Not to mention 2 of the 3 games we lost to them in Detroit could have gone either way, the extra innings game and the 5-4 loss. Anaheim on the other hand…….
SlickBomb
August 29th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Halle-freaking-lujah. The Mussina demotion should have happened weeks ago.
Because his 4-0 record before this 0-3 slide was cause for a demotion. Right?
Brain dead.
SJ you are like a broken record with this innings thing and Hughes. How is a 21 yr old in the rotation being baby’d?
Give it a rest already.
They have their first round draft picks from last year on the team. That’s not aggressive?
I am not saying this was the “plan” for Kennedy or Chamberlain. I am saying, this type of aggressive promotions are a departure, a radical one at that, from what they have done in the past. Specifically, with pitchers.
The fact this wasn’t in the plans this year points to my contention that they are developing these kids much differenly, and much more aggressively, than they did with Hughes. That’s all I am pointing out.
Kennedy and Chamberlain started in A ball this season. When was the last time the Yankees had guys starting in A ball and ended up on the parent team in one season?
It hasn’t happened in at least 30 years. Maybe longer.
Last year, there was a lot of talk of bringing up Phil Hughes for September. Basically, he was in the same boat as Kennedy is right now. Had a great year, was healthy, pitched around 130-140 innings, and they could have used another starter for September. The Yankees chose not to do it. We heard the same stuff (innings cap) that we heard as to why Kennedy wouldn’t be called up this year.
Chamberlain and Kennedy have been in the organization for less time than Hughes and have less pro experience. Both also have more of an injury history than Hughes. Yet, here they are, pitching in meaningful September games.
How can you not think that’s a departure from what they have done in the past? Its obvious that it is. If it wasn’t, Hughes would have been in the rotation last September.
Think about it. They didn’t call up Phil Hughes last September, despite folks crying for it, and kept Jared Wright in the rotation.
This year, they take out a borderline HOF pitcher, admittingly struggling his last 3 starts but, who had been 4-0 prior to his struggles, for a kid who wasn’t even pitching in the minors last year.
You don’t think that’s a radical change in philosophy when it comes to development?
CC,
why is it not ironic that a man is being replaced by someone who is said to be like him? usually you’re replaced for something different, correct? so its ironic to be replaced with something the same.
I don’t think it’s a radical change in philosophy per se, since they haven’t been dealing with this kind of readily accessible high quality talent available in AAA for a long, long time, at least not to the extent that they have 3 major league ready pitchers ready for the Show.
And whether or not it’s a radical change in philosophy doesn’t prove jack about the fact that Kennedy seems to be approaching his innings cap.
“If Kennedy pitches well, it won’t be a “one and doneâ€? start. Again, if this move was designed simply to give Mussina a break for a start, they could have called up Igawa or Steven White”
I think its a one and done, the reason why they are going with Kennedy is because he is their best option to win a game during the pennant race. If it were June or July, they would have gone with Igawa, but its coming down to the wire…imo
That must have been a tough conversation for Torre. Moose may be done but the guy has been a major leaguer for 16 seasons and won nearly 250 games. To tell him that he no longer fits into the team plans had to be crushing although not unexpected.
I am really excited to see what Kennedy can do.
Joba looked nervous for the first time last night but seemed to settle down after getting Ortiz.
Great clutch win by Pettitte, can’t say enough about how valuable he has been.
Very interesting matchup tonight with Beckett against his boyhood idol.
SJ44 I think you fail to realize that Hughes was a high school pitcher as I’ve been saying all along and it’s much easier to rush a college pitcher to the show than a high school pitcher. It’s why Oakland has been drafting low ceiling high probability college pitchers for years because there’s less development time involved. As I’ve been saying all along you do not develop high school and college pitchers the same way. No team would rush a high school pitcher through three levels of the minors in one year because that would be a recipe for failure. The Yankees were able to be more agressive in terms of rushing Kennedy and Hughes through because they had college level experience. Do you not understand that?
It’s hot and hitting the streets of NYC and all of Yankee Universe. It’s the JOBA LOOK !!!!
No curvature in the bill of the cap. Only a Yankee cap is required.
i really don’t think the flat brim of the cap is a new thing…
Ray. You may not think Detroit has our number and yes the Yankees could have won 3 of 4, but I am glad we don’t play them again this year. If we have to deal with them in October, we’ll do better than last year, but I wouldn’t wager we would win the series.
Speaking of October, we could have a postseason rotation with all new starters vs. ’06 except for Wang. Think about it, last year it was Wang, Mussina, Johnson and Wright, this year could be Wang, Pettitte, Clemens, Hughes. Don’t get me started on the improved bullpen. Cashman should get exceutive of the year.
Andrew,
I guess it’s a matter of interpretation to what extent Kennedy actually is similar to Mussina. But I also don’t know on what grounds you say replacements are usually different. The “re-” suggests that the replacement is more similar–a repeat–than different to what was in place before.
Pete’s usage wasn’t a particularly bad example, but I can’t think of any way a replacement for Mike Mussina would strike me as truly ironic… maybe if it were a player he was once traded for, or promoted over, or something.
Michael Kay is much worse with the “ironically enough” when the circumstance is something exactly what you would expect. “Ironically enough, Alex Rodriguez also hit a home run on this date last year.”
I didn’t mean to strike through the words “a repeat” in my message… interesting feature.
the most common mistake wrt irony is calling coincidence irony.
Kennedy up and Britton down. Per Gammons.
j/k
It’s like rain on your wedding day, a free ride when you already paid. Isn’t it ironic? Actually Alannis, no.
Don’t think it is one and done for Ian. Who gets the next start? Moose who has been awful? Igawa? Awful too.
No, it makes no sense to replace Ian, if he is good with Moose or Igawa or DeSalvo, White, etc. all who have been terrible or have not pitched in the MLB and are not highly thought of.
You can’t bring Moose back b/c he was an ace in 2001 or Igawa, b/c he was an ace in Japan.
Gee that’s ironic.
Why would you bring Ian for one start and start the boras clock earlier….? That doesn’t make sense which means he is here for 3 or more starts.
I don’t think there is any model that Cashman is following, other than the one Gene Michael put in play in the early 90s. As we all know, the run of championships began as a result of the “kids” that Michael was able to assemble while George was suspended. By the time he was reinstated in 1993, the plan was in place for 1994 and beyond.
After the success of the late 90s, the “Tampa-ers” in George’s “inner circle” incorrectly assused that they needed the “star power” of high-priced free agents. We all know that that approach only works to augment the base-line home-grown talent. Assets were concentrated on FA, not amateurs.
The 2006 draft was the first one that Cashman directed, as opposed to the “Tampa Braintrust”. It’s a case of “under his direction”, but, clearly, he has been to the Gene Michael School of Dynasty-Building.
The last time I remember a late season call-up having as great an impact on the pennant race was when Mel Stottlemyre was called up in 1964. I remember how he energized an aging pitching staff and turned the pennant race around. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much help going forward.
In the “bad-timing” department, some of you may recall that the Amateur Draft was instituted in 1965, which was designed to create some parity and equal opportunity for the non-NYY teams. Up until that time, the Yankees out-scouted, out-hustled and out-signed all the other MLB teams in the amateur player department. Apparently, the organization has come full circle, which, is a very, very welcome development.
Looking forward to seeing Kennedy pitch. It would be nice to see Hughes give us a quality start soon as well. Wang, Pettite and Clemens for the playoffs is not a bad trio. While Pettite and Clemens are on the Yankees ( I pray through the end of 2008 at least ) the mentoring they can provide for Joba, Hughes and Kennedy will be huge. Here’s to another Yankees victory over the Red Sox tonight and that LAA continues to pound Seattle. What an exciting season this has ended up being after a totally miserable start.
COntrary to the numbers, I think both of Hughes’last 2 starts have been quality.
The one against the Angels he only really gave up 3 runs and then Viz gave up the other 2 with 2 on and one out. Not to mention that Hughes only gave up the first 3 because Mathews rattled him and he walked 2 consecuative batters after the double.
As for the Detroit game, he only gave up 4 hits from what I remember, he just didn’t pitch very smart with runners on and he ended up giving up 3 home runs (even though the Granderson one was dumb luck and I was sure it was going to be foul when he hit it).
The only holy trinity I worship is Joba, Phil and Ian.
I get a kick out of people being stupid…
FACT: Hughes, Joba, Kennedy will not throw 200 innings a piece next year
If you access the site via a cellie, you get Pete’s ‘mobile version’ of the site. Cheerleaders, free food, live music. It’s completely different.
Okay. Actually it’s just the same thing without the graphics.
Anyway, it’s stuck in an error message at the moment. I don’t know if you need internet on your phone to access it, I’m getting there, or was getting there, with an iPhone.
I had great seats to the game…but the vendors wouldnt throw peanuts my way…i LOVE nuts. its unfair, someone gimme cashmans cellie
I rag on guys like this when they are throwing mop-up duty and can’t get anything out. But little blurbs buried at the end of baseball stories like this make me feel for them as a human being (and fellow husband/father) just trying to make a living doing something he enjoys. If I recall, this kid Sean Henn was actually enough a high school prospect to command a decent bonus, so that he wouldn’t go to college. Now he is on the scrap heap.
“It was the fourth time this season that Henn has been optioned back to the minors. The 26-year-old left-hander had a rough road trip, allowing 15 earned runs on 15 hits and eight walks in 6 1/3 innings.
Henn threw 79 pitches over 2 2/3 innings in Monday’s 16-0 loss at Detroit.
The Yankees are giving Henn a few days off to return to his home in Texas. His wife is expecting the couple’s first child. The couple is planning to induce labor on Sunday.”
The guy will, I guess have a story to tell his grandchildren someday like “I remember the last time I pitched in the majors. Your grandmother was home alone, 9-months pregnant with you mother and Joe Torre left me out there to take one for the team. I pitched 2-2/3 innings, gave up 9 hits 5 walks and 9 runs. But I did punch out 4 guys and kept the ball in the park. I got sent to the minors the next day but the team was kind enough to give me a couple days off to see your mother get born.”
Just brutal man.
Last Night’s Squirrel. Too funny.
frits,
He was saying that Joba is popularizing the look, not that he invented it. If the people of NYC start wearing their hats like that, you can bet it won’t be because Shawn Chacon does it.
I am definitely way cooler than that raggedy Rally Monkey the Angels have.
Any chance I can get added to “Roll Call”?
Last night’s squirrel – hilarious.
Quan, etc., people have been wearing their hats like that for years.
If you havent seen a game on top of a foul pole, then u just haven’t lived yet…. or ur body mass just isnt as small as mine…
I get into games for free, free seats, but no peanuts….grrr JUST THROW THE BAG, I’LL CATCH IT I SWEAR!
btw nice try knockin me off my perch johnny boy, hit it a lil higher next time
is it me, or have the yankees not lost a game ever since the lucky squirrel from the foul pole showed up?
Hey buddy…we all know there was only 1 squirell on that pole…which was me, whose this mock immitation? he must be NUTS
We need a four syllable name for you, squirrel. Last Night’s Squir-rel doesn’t have a good ring to it if you’re going to be showing up for every game.
Last Night’s squirrel-
It was me, sorry buddy just trying to give you some props!
migames: Its not just you..I actually had a lil pow-wow wit the boys before the game. I told them, “listen I’ll be on that pole, just hit it to the left of me and behind me and we will win this game” Jeet and damon we’re listening…
All good man much love, I’d shake ur hand but i dont got many thumbs…or fingers for that matter
….how about TO-NIGHTS SQUI-REL
no no no that stinks. We are yankee fans, we will come up with something better.
for those wanting to see video and much more on last nights lucky squirrel and where he has been in the past go here:
http://migames.wordpress.com/
does anyone know who kennedy is comparable to? rather, what kind of stuff does he have?
can’t wait to watch his start!
LU-CKY SQUI-RREL would work, no?
your a genious frits…
im a fan of LU-CKY SQUI-RREL, yes, that could work
i mentioned it in an earlier thread, but thanks for the pics migames. made my morning.
Migames the post about Jeff Bagwell on your website is pure comedy.
“does anyone know who kennedy is comparable to? rather, what kind of stuff does he have?
can’t wait to watch his start!”
89-92 MPH Fastball.
Major league quality change up and two off speed pitches being Curve and Slider.
He’s a finesse Right Handed Pitcher painting corners so I guess you can compare him to young Mike Mussina, though young Moose had a better fastball.
my favorite picture on migames is the one of him attacking schilling.
SJ44,
In one of last night’s posts you said there were some scouts who thought Kennedy is better than Hughes. I have read nothing like this, so if possible, could you link or tell me which scouts said so? Thanks
Hope to see Betances at the Big New Ball Park in 2009.
Global Warming, just don`t compare him to Al Gore!
I love that Betances kid. I’ll tell you what – with Brackman and Betances we have two 6’9-10″ RHP!
“We’ll skip (Mussina’s) one start and see what we see,” Torre said.
Does this make anyone else nervous? Why is he even being considered to start in his next start. He is not going to regain 6mph in a week. We have to dl him and trade him to the n.l. in the offseason. It is not fair to put added pressure to Kennedy in making him think that he has to be flawless to keep his job.
Mussina had his chance to prove that he can bounce back after a horrid start. But instead he has the yanks looking up at the wildcard standings when we could have been on top of it and closer in the division race.
Time to send a message to all aging vets. If you want to keep your job, you need to produce in the present. Like the saying goes, ITS NOT THE NAME ON THE BACK, ITS THE NAME IN THE FRONT OF THE JERSEY THAT MATTERS.(I know yanks dont have names on the backs).
What is everyone getting all excited about? Baseball is a game of strategy. It’s also one of going with your gut feeling. But what seems to be important to most of you guys, it’s 20-20 hindsight, second-guessing, finger-pointing, and you-said, no-you-said game.
SJ is right we are being agressive with our young pitchers, but only because our other options have not only failed, but failed miserably.
He may or may not be right about the babying of Hughes. Pitching out of high school, you err on the side of caution.
Joe said that Mo wouldn’t be used to get more than 3 outs, but he was. Because the situation dictated it. Joba rules were mandated and will eventually be broken, because the situation will dictate it.
It’s just so funny when you guys get on each other. We should get along and focus our energies on making fun of Youkilis or laughing at Beckett who looks like that squirrel with nuts in his mouth.
IS everyone actually working right now? No one is really posting.
Hey, Jennifer
Was it you who posted about Yahoo score updates text messaging?
i’m with you mel
YES MEL
Just go to text message and type 466453. message is new york yankees score.
and poof you get it.
I’m actually not at work, I dont have to work…The privelges of living life on the run. If yoou were wondering… I found an iPhone on the street thats how im posting.
I can talk to all my squirrel buddies all over the world! great invention…
Actually you do have to work. Shouldn’t you be collecting your nuts for the winter, instead of posting on a blog or watching a baseball game? You are going to find yourself in alot of trouble come the winter months!! The squirrels in my backyard are already collecting nuts for the winter!
Or do you just expect the peanut guy to hand you nuts?
I will just cross that bridge when i get there…. I’ve been slackin on the nut collecting this year I must admit. Which is why i am more upset with the peanut vendor. How can he under-estimate my nut catching skills…its like my second job
btw…do you know where the squirells in your yard are keeping the nuts….not like i’d come and steal em or anything, just curious is all
I don’t know, all I know is they are leaving huge piles of shells on my deck for me to clean up!!
They are just trying to show you whose boss