YANKEE NOTES

John Kruk doesn’t think much of Esteban Loaiza. And vice versa.

Kruk, an analyst on ESPN’s SportsCenter, claimed Loaiza quit in the 22-0 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday night, but the Yankee righty dismissed Kruk as an ex-ballplayer with a dubious handle on today’s game.

“No, I never quit,” Loaiza said. “I know John’s an ex-ballplayer, but if he was playing the game right now, heh, it’s a different story playing in the ’80s and the ’90s – when he retired.

“The kids are stronger and stronger. Nobody wants to give up here or anything like that. I don’t give up at all. I don’t know why he said that.”

Loaiza allowed six runs in the ninth on Tuesday on three-run bombs to Jody Gerut and Victor Martinez after two scoreless frames.

On SportsCenter, Kruk compared Loaiza unfavorably to Ed Whitson.

“Esteban Loaiza is worse than that,” Kruk said. “They need to get him out and never pitch him again at Yankee Stadium.

“He quit on them tonight, quit on the Yankees. That’s terrible.”

Loaiza’s batterymate, John Flaherty, said, “Nobody quit in that game” and said if he thought Loaiza quit, he would’ve immediately addressed the situation.

*

George Steinbrenner issued this pregame statement: “Sure, we got punished badly last night, but winners never quit and quitters never win. New Yorkers never quit, and we reflect the spirit of New York.”

During BP, the scoreboards read, “When the goin’ gets tough, the tough get goin’.” The sound system blared the Billy Ocean hit song of the same name.

“It was different,” Gary Sheffield said. “Never seen that before. You think you’ve seen it all and then you see something else.”

*

Joe Torre was told by hitting coach Don Mattingly that Jason Giambi “was good – but good with a limitation.” There’s no timetable on activating Giambi.

Pitchers Felix Heredia and Steve Karsay and catcher Dioner Navarro were activated.