“There were years Jeter would get hit every day, it seemed, for no reason — and certainly A-Rod would be in that same position — and nothing was ever done about it,”-Hank Steinbrenner

We're getting to know Hank Steinbrenner and hopefully someday we'll dislike him the way we disliked his dad. Which is to say, oddly enough, that we'll enjoy and even come to like him as a character in the great play that is baseball.

In the last few years something has been missing in the Bronx. Listening to Hank talk I realize what it was. "The Godfather" attitude. From "the boys (re consigliaris) in Tampa", to "Torpedo Joe" Girardi, to clueless Shelley Duncan ("You want I should spike him, boss?") the arrogance is returning.

Which brings us to Joe Girardi, but more pointedly to Joe Torre. Steinbrenner's quote about Yankee batters getting hit without retaliation is the clearest single expression of why a four time world championship manager no longer has a place in the Yankee dugout.

Forget about any public discussion of wanting to bring Torre back. Steinbrenner wanted him gone. "Big time".

So what about the chin music? Casey Stengel, another long running Yankee manager, used to say "You can look it up." So I did.

Over the last four years, when the Yankees failed to get to the World Series, they had 40 more hit batsmen than Yankee pitchers hit. Outside of Randy Johnson and Javier Vazquez, no Yankee pitchers hit as many as 10 batters in a season. And yes, Derek Jeter usually got hit about a dozen times a season.

Does this mean Torre took the cannoli and left the gun?

Some things you must consider. Alex Rodriquez and Derek Jeter are new school hitters. Strap on the body armor and lean over the plate. Between them, they will get hit 40 times a season. In the bygone days of Billy Martin that Hank Steinbrenner often references as the rationale for Joe Girardi taking over the family operation, they would have been hit even more.

If you're playing CSI HBP you'll also have a hard time proving motive with Randy Johnson. This is a guy who once killed a bird with a pitch. Was Johnson backing up Yankee hitters or just throwing very hard with movement?

Flip side of this arguement is the Messina-Pettitte corollary. In 17 years Mussina has hit only 52 batters, Pettitte 37 in 13. If the HBP deficit makes Torre a milquetoast then what about Mussina and Pettitte? When they took the mound after seeing Yankee hitters knocked down why didn't they do something about it? And will they now under Girardi?

When Torre won three world championships and five pennants in six seasons, Yankee batters got hit 52 more times than their opponents. Roger Clemens was good for double digit retribution and David Cone before him. But their were many unpaid debts during the glory days.

I don't think Joe Torre is lacking in nerve. Then again, he was never exactly Mr. Excitement. Torre had the horses to phone in a division championship and he managed that way. When the RedSox arrived on the scene the AL East changed. Torre didn't and now he's a Dodger.

So what does it all mean? Will there be war in the Bronx?

The easy thing to do is be rational and think this is all just talk. But the "New" York Yankees under Hank Steinbrenner and Joe Girardi have a chip on their shoulder. When Derek Jeter or ARod goes down, someone will pay. And when the RedSox come to town they may pay twice.

Like the movie title says "There will be blood".