The Boss plans to be in New York for the All-Star game later this month.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said Thursday he will be in attendance for the July 15 game, which is one of the featured events during the final season at the current Yankee Stadium.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Steinbrenner said at the Yankees’ spring training complex.

Steinbrenner has kept a lower profile in recent years, and turned much of the Yankees’ daily operation over to his sons, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. But he still is involved with his team, normally working in his Tampa office four or five days a week.

Steinbrenner will celebrate his 78th birthday Friday with his family in Florida.

Now that's a squeeze play!

Madonna yesterday strongly denied reports that she and Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez have been cozying up at the unhappily married Material Mom's Upper West Side pad.

But even as the aging pop star and free-swinging slugger cried foul over reports of clandestine canoodling, a source told Us Weekly that A-Rod visited Madonna's Central Park West digs the night after his long-suffering wife, Cynthia, gave birth in April to their second daughter.

Full Article from the NY Post HERE.

Yankees broadcaster Bobby Murcer is receiving medical care in Oklahoma after treatment for cancer forced him to curtail his schedule this month.

The 62-year-old former star outfielder had surgery in December 2006, four days after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He returned to the broadcast booth last season. His March biopsy showed no cancer, and Murcer broadcast his first game of the season May 2.

Murcer is also recovering from shingles. His family released a statement Monday through the team saying he is getting help in his hometown of Oklahoma City and has shown “some measured improvement in recent days.”

“Bobby remains hopeful that he will be able to resume his broadcasting work down the road, but for now, is appreciative of the thoughts and prayers of his fans, and wants them to know that he is aware that he is in their hearts, as they are in his,” the family said.

Murcer played 17 seasons in the majors with the Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs from 1965-83. He batted .277 with 252 home runs. He has been a Yankees broadcaster for 23 seasons.

The Yankees are top dog when it comes to weiners.

Yankee Stadium tied for first place with Wrigley Field for best stadium hot dog in a national survey.

Baseball fans from around the nation tapped New York and Chicago dogs as best, according to the poll released by the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council.

And spectators watching the Subway Series heartily endorsed the survey's scrumptious results.

"They're delicious!" said Stephanie Gavigan, 24, from Forest Hills, who said she picks up a dog at every Yankee game because "it would be sacrilegious if you didn't."

Out-of-towners agreed, putting Yankee Stadium dogs - they sell Nathan's Famous - above frankfurters from their hometowns.

"I think they're pretty good," said Seth Muller, 21, a deejay from Florida in town for the Subway Series. "They're better than in Florida, that's for sure."

While the Red Sox won the World Series last year, they trailed the Yankees and Cubs when it comes to hot dogs. Boston's Fenway Park came in second in the poll, followed by Detroit's Comerica Park and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

"Nothing goes hand-in-hand like a baseball game and a hot dog, two of America's most treasured icons," said Tom Super of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council."

Mets fan Lauren Mayer, 22, of Patchogue, L.I., was able to put her team allegiances aside long enough to enjoy her hot dog yesterday.

"The hot dog was awesome," she said after polishing one off at Yankee Stadium. "It was very juicy."

But was it better than a frankfurter from Shea?

"Nothing's better than in Shea," she said.

cmelago@nydailynews.com

With Rich Schapiro

The Yankees have to hope the result of a single game doesn't determine the fate of their season. If it does, Sunday's has the potential to haunt them.

How would they feel looking back on it and knowing they lost to a sub-.500 Mets team with Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano all given the day off?

Manager Joe Girardi took a calculated gamble in assembling an almost entirely righthanded lineup to face starter Oliver Perez. He'd used the Bombers' conventional lefty-heavy batting order against the Mets' southpaw on May 18 and it managed only two runs. Noting that Perez was holding lefthanded hitters to a .167 average, he benched several regulars to create a batting order in which Johnny Damon was the only lefty.

It failed even more miserably, managing a single run on just three hits in seven innings against Perez in a 3-1 loss at Shea.

Full Article from the NY Daily News HERE.

Dropping Carl Pavano into the Yankees clubhouse might prove to be too much of a challenge, but there is a chance the "American Idle" could be ready to pitch before Phil Hughes.

"I haven't asked, but it's possible," GM Brian Cashman said last night. "Pavano should be ready by August and Hughes in August."

Considering Pavano, who is trying to rebound from last year's Tommy John surgery, is throwing curveballs off a mound and Hughes (fractured rib) isn't even on a mound, Pavano would be considered ahead of Hughes.

"The rehabs are different," Cashman said. "Phil Hughes will start throwing from flat ground, but it won't be as long (as Pavano's)."

Pavano is in the fourth and final year of a $40 million contract that has been dominated by injuries that have limited him to 19 games and teammates not believing he was as hurt as he said he was at times. Pavano appeared in two games at the start of last year and hasn't pitched since.