Thursday night as the Yankees were on their way to a 5-2 win at Target Field, TBS was, again, not forthcoming with its in-game manager interviews. The spots, where the manager of each team is stationed in the dugout wearing a headset, were presented as if they were live.

Thursday night, in the top of the fifth, Ron Gardenhire chatted with Ernie Johnson, John Smoltz and Ron Darling.

Since there was no clear indication, either by graphic or a voice, specifying whether the interview was live or taped between innings, viewers were left to make up their own minds. But the guessing game ended when TBS produced its own "smoking gun."

As Gardenhire was speaking, Carl Pavano walked behind him.

This was the same Pavano who was on the mound in the top of the fifth pitching to Jorge Posada. Unless Pavano had cloned himself, this could not be possible.

There was absolutely no need for this jive. Both ESPN and Fox, on national telecasts, do manager interviews. Fox has its voices clearly state the interview was conducted between innings during a commercial break. ESPN does not go to commercial. It usually does the interview live between innings.

TBS' bogus "live" manager thing ain't a crime. Still, why mess up what's been some fine work by running a game on the viewers? It doesn't make sense. Unless whoever is making these kind of decisions has none.