Rieber: Fiery Posada can be compassionate

There's a fine line between being an emotional player and being a hothead. Jorge Posada has straddled that line for his entire 16-year career.

The hotheaded Posada was on display Wednesday night. He was ejected in the eighth inning of a 4-3 game for arguing a called third strike. The call was bad - the pitch traveled directly over the inside chalk line of the opposite batter's box - and Posada went from zero to 60 on the anger meter in a matter of seconds.

With Francisco Cervelli out of the game, the Yankees would have been left without a catcher for the ninth inning if they hadn't called up Chad Moeller earlier in the day when rosters expanded. But it's hard to imagine Posada had the calendar in mind when he went wig city on umpire Dana DeMuth.

"I don't know," Posada told Newsday's Mike Gavin Thursday when asked whether he factored in Moeller's presence. "It really doesn't matter."

In a sense, he's right. It doesn't. At age 39, Posada is not going to change now. And in a season in which the Yankees have begun to phase him out - there's no nicer way to say it - Posada, if healthy, once again will be behind the plate for every game A.J. Burnett doesn't start in the postseason.

"Jorgie is an emotional guy and that's one of the things we love so much about Jorgie," manager Joe Girardi said. "He brings that intensity every day. Sometimes with all that great intensity that he brings to the field every day, sometimes things happen. But I don't want to change what he's doing most of the time because his personality is important to this club."

So is his bat. Posada hit a second-inning home run Thursday. For 51/2 innings, that was the only run in what became a 5-0 win over the A's at Yankee Stadium. In 98 games, he's batting .265 with 17 home runs and 51 RBIs. Still dangerous.

The Yankees see more in Posada than just a hothead, of course. Always have. They see the leader who pushes his teammates by pushing himself. They see the family man who does more than just lend his name to his charity, The Jorge Posada Foundation.

Posada and his wife, Laura, recently released a book called "The Beauty of Love: A Memoir of Miracles, Hope, and Healing."

It's about their struggles and triumphs with 10-year-old son Jorge Jr., who was born with a congenital skull condition called craniosynostosis.

Jorge Jr. had eight surgeries in a six-year period and will need one more for cosmetic reasons.

"He's doing well," Posada said. "Thank God for that."

Joba Chamberlain was reading the book in the clubhouse the other day. "Wow," he said. "Unbelievable."

Posada has been doing the talk-show rounds this week, including "The Today Show" and "Fox and Friends."

"My wife wants to go on 'Oprah,' " he said.

Posada appears on TV smiling in a suit and tie, not screaming in a pinstriped uniform or sweating after catching a one-hitter in 90-degree heat, as he did Thursday. It's a side of him fans rarely see.

"It's been fun," he said. "I just hope that the book does well. I think it's going to help us with our foundation. What we've been through has been tough. We are telling every detail and are really happy about how the book came out."

Oh, and about DeMuth: That had a happy ending, too. Posada said he and the umpire smoothed things over in a conversation Thursday.

"He's a class act," Posada said.