CAN'T BUY ME FUNDAMENTALS; OR UNSOUND

AT ANY PRICE.
With the Yankees payroll, one would expect that the rudiments of the game at least would be well attended to: you know bunting, the hit and run, putting the ball in play, hitting the other way, taking the extra base and, oh yes, lest we forget, FIELDING YOUR FUCKING POSITION.
The state of the Yankee starting rotation and their anemic offense has so far occupied us that we have forgotten a major bugaboo of Torre: The Late Years. I refer of course to their awful glovework. Putting Melky in center on a regular basis had amended matters some, but tonight was proof that they are still able to lose games entirely on their ineptitude in the field. The box score will say that Ian Kennedy failed to hold up again, but if Damon doesn't misplay a flyball in the most amatuerish manner possible and if Abreu doesn't allow his wall-phobia to prevent from tracking down an eminently catchable ball in right, Kennedy takes his lead lead into the 6th and maybe beyond, the Yankees don't have to rely on their pathetic middle relief--send Albajendo back down, please--but can go directly to the back end, and they probably win the game. Instead they get Tiger-swept in the Stadium for the first time since 1966, which may well be an index of exactly how crapulent this team can be if they really apply themselves.

Bad fielding is always a demoralizing proposition, but when you have young inexperienced hurlers (Kennedy, Hughes, Chamberlain, Ohlendorf), supersensitve pitchers (Mussina, Fahrnsorth), control-put the ball in play pitchers (Pettite, Wang, Mussina)--well that's everyone but Mo--then poor fielding is fatal, even when the offense is as good as the Yankees' reputation (as opposed to their performance).

People are stupid moment of the day: Many Yankee haters are already crowing in the wake of theHughes injury, that they should have shipped him off for Santana. This piece of obtuseness overlooks 2 salient points. First, the Twins were unwilling to trade him for Hughes even up, or even for Hughes and Cabrera. They wanted Hughes, Kennedy and Cabrera, which would have left the Yankees with a huge hole in center and in their rotation. Second, this team isn't good enough for Santana to help, particularly if the woeful Damon were in center. Santana is only 3-2 with the Mets, a much better team than the Yankees, particularly relative to their competition. His ERA is over 3, which is over 4 translated into AL stats, andn the Yankees are typically not getting 4 runs a game anyway. Santana would have been wasted on this team; better he should be where he can do some good, and the Yankees keep a purchase on the future. They have none on the present regardless.