Part of my job every night is choosing the five best plays of the night for the MLB.com home page. On Monday night, I went with Aaron Rowand in the top spot. The White Sox center fielder made two amazing grabs, back-to-back, in the first inning against the Yankees.

ESPN, though, went with Rowand’s teammate, Scott Podsednik, who went into the stands to make a sick catch.

What do you think? Watch the plays and let me know: Rowand | Podsednik

Alex Rodriguez is an incredible player. I think he’s the best all-around player of my generation. But man, he does some bush-league things at times.

Last year in the ALCS, he got slappy with Bronson Arroyo. And on Monday night against the White Sox, A-Rod pulled another fast one.

With Gary Sheffield on first base in the bottom of the fifth, A-Rod — who hit his AL-leading 32nd homer in the first — launched a deep drive to right-center. Jermaine Dye crashed against the wall to haul in the smash. it looked like the Pale Hose had Sheffield doubled off, but the throw back to the infield hit Rodriguez — who basically allowed the throw to hit him. Because of that, Sheffield returned safely to first. Watch the play and see for yourself.

The White Sox pushed for an interference call, claiming Rodriguez intentionally stayed in the path of the throw. But home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt ruled Rodriguez’s actions were unintentional and allowed the call to stand.

I have a great deal of respect for what A-Rod’s done in his career. But many players are getting sick of A-Rod’s hijinks. So cut the bush-league stuff out, dude.

Pirates rookie southpaw Zach Duke has been amazing this year. He tossed 30 consecutive innings without an earned run, and became just the second starting pitcher in team history to win his first five decisions.

Duke has made seven starts, and he’s 5-0 with a miniscule 1.54 ERA. Not bad for a guy who was a 20th-round pick in the 2001 Draft.

MLB.com’s Pirates beat writer, Ed Eagle, wrote a nice piece today on the rookie phenom.

I have watched Duke pitch a few times this summer and I like what I see. He won’t blow you away, but he’s got amazing control for a 22-year-old. The sky’s the limit for this youngster.

Woke up today and went to see "The Dukes of Hazzard." Surprisingly, it was pretty darn good.

I was a big fan of the "Dukes" TV show back in the day — I had a Daisy Duke poster in my room and a General Lee toy car. I didn’t expect the movie to be any good, though.

Well, my expectations went out the window. It’s a funny, well-made film. The car scenes are incredible, and the references to "Super Troopers" and "The Usual Suspects" are hilarious. Seann William Scott — AKA Stifler of "American Pie" Fame — and Johnny Knoxville do a nice job in their roles as Bo and Luke Duke, respectively.

And of course, there’s Jessica Simpson. But this is a family site.

It’s not the funniest movie I have seen this summer — that distinction belongs to the instant-classic "Wedding Crashers." But "Dukes" is worth a trip to the theater.

Yankee fans everywhere are holding their breath right now.

Randy Johnson experienced back spasms on Saturday night and Sunday morning, making it uncertain whether the southpaw will make his next start on Thursday against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium.

“His back is barking,” said manager Joe Torre.

Meanwhile, Carl Pavano was scheduled to pitch for Double-A Trenton on Monday in what was believed to be his final rehab outing. Instead, Pavano is headed to Birmingham, Ala., where he will visit with orthopedist Dr. James Andrews. The doctor, who performed elbow surgery on Pavano five years ago, is one of the best surgeons in the country. He has performed countless Tommy John surgeries during his career.

The Yankees’ rotation has been a mess this year. If Johnson does indeed miss a start or two, and Pavano remains out, the Yankees won’t be in the playoffs. The lineup is stacked, but the Yankees desperately need their pitchers to get healthy.

I have never really been a fan of David Eckstein. He kind of annoys me. We call him "The Flea" here in the bullpen.

But the lil’ sparkplug has been something else for the Cardinals this year. Eckstein hit his fourth career grand slam and the second walk-off home run of his career on Sunday, giving the Cardinals a huge 5-3 win over the Braves.

In the span of a month, Eckstein has hit a walk-off suicide squeeze — on July 22 against the Cubs — and a walk-off homer.

By the way, the winning grand slam was the Cardinals’ first since Tommy Herr beat the New York Mets on April 18, 1987, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Randy Johnson continued his maddeningly inconsistent season on Saturday afternoon in Toronto. Johnson allowed six runs (five earned) in just four innings as the Yanks lost, 8-5, to the Jays.

The Big Unit has allowed four or more runs in 10 of his 24 starts. Last season, Johnson was hit for four or more runs just six times in his 35 starts.

The outing was his second bad start in a row. He allowed six runs in 7 1/3 innings against the Angels last Sunday.

Johnson allowed one homer — to frickin’ Frank Menechino. He has allowed 24 taters this year, tying him with Jose Lima and Brad Radke for the most allowed in the American League.

The Yankees need Johnson to turn things around — or they won’t be in the playoffs.

After the Giants’ 3-2 loss to the Rockies on Wednesday night, talk-show host Larry Krueger (right) of KNBR — the team’s flagship radio station — ripped the team and its "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly."

Krueger also said: "You have a manager in Felipe [Alou] whose mind has turned to Cream of Wheat."

Krueger’s remarks are disgusting. The radio station basically slapped him on the wrist, suspending Krueger for a week. Krueger apologized on the air Thursday and offered to apologize to the team — but Alou says he won’t accept an apology from Krueger.

As a Hispanic, I am appalled by Krueger. He should be suspended a month, and should watch his mouth from here on in.

Oops, he’s done it again.

Gary Sheffield’s mouth always seems to get him in trouble. And of course, it’s the media’s fault.

In a New York magazine article that hits newsstands Monday, Sheffield discusses a variety of topics, from the leadership on the Yankees to a lack of chemistry on the team due to the overwhelming amount of media.

Allegedly, some of Sheff’s comments are aimed at Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.

“I know who the leader is on the team,” Sheffield is quoted. “I ain’t going to say who it is, but I know who it is. I know who the team feeds off. I know who the opposing team comes in knowing they have to defend to stop the Yankees.”

Sheffield is also quoted as saying that the media portrays A-Rod and Jeter “in a positive light and everyone else is garbage.”

Before Friday’s win over Blue Jays, Sheffield denied the quotes, saying he would never dis A-Rod and Jeter. Sheffield blasted writer Stephen Rodrick, saying that Rodrick told him he wanted to do a positive story about Sheff, only to turn around and take shots at him in the final version.

“There are a lot of things in there I didn’t say. There’s a lot of things in there he made up to juice the story,” Sheffield said. “It’s just whatever to make me look bad. That’s what they want to do.”

Gary, Gary, Gary. Stop blaming the media and grow up. You are a great player, and you carried the Yankees last year. You’re having another fine campaign this year.

But please, let your bat do all the talking.

Lee Mazzilli  deserved better from the Orioles. He had this team exceeding expectations through June. No one thought the Orioles would contend this year. But on June 15, they were in first place in the AL East, three games better than the defending world champion Red Sox.

Of course, the wheels came off the bus.  The Orioles enter play Friday night 10 1/2 games behind the Sox.

And because you can’t fire players, Maz becomes the fall guy. Which is interesting because:

It’s not his fault Erik Bedard got hurt.

It’s not his fault Rafael Palmeiro decided to use ‘roids.

It’s not his fault Sydney Ponson stinks.

It’s not his fault the two-headed GM monster of Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan couldn’t pull off the deal for A.J. Burnett.

According to ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, Mazzilli is the first manager since the Yankees’ Gene Michael in 1981 to be canned during a season in which his team was at any point 14 games over .500.

Kurkjian also reports that Maz was never a favorite of owner Peter Angelos. Then why did Angelos authorize his hiring? If you don’t like a person, don’t hire him.

Maz says he will take some time off and hang out with his family. He definitely deserves another shot at managing a big league club.