WITH APOLOGIES TO ALANIS MORRISETTE

Everyone is still talking about the Yankees weakness in the starting rotation, which the huge injury to Wang has so magnified. but if you look at the times the bats let down the starters just this month, you are looking at the difference between a first place club, believe it or not, and what they are (i.e. bums). Giese should have won one he lost, Rasner two, and Mussina tonight. They are currently 5 games over 500. Switch those games and they are 13 over and tied with the Sox if not the Rays. In the game they lost for 'rasner in cincy, they put 18 men on base and brought not a single one home, thereby confirming themselves as world class gag-meisters. They just lost two games in a row, in which they only got 1 run and 4 hits in each against 2 of the crappiest pitchers in baseball. The Red sox are way overrated this year, but at least they eat guys like Feldman and Perez for breakfast, instead of choking on the opportunity. And once again you hear nothing from the new Joe but the same old. "well, we had our chances..." You know, I don't expect him to rip the likes of Geise or Ponson or even Moilina or Betemit. But when you let your stars let the team down in the clutch night after night, I expect him to light a fire under them, the burning sensation of shame. Right now, he's acting as torpid as the old Joe in his last days.
Here's the weird thing: if the Yankees' bats were as good as advertised, they could probably make it to the playoffs in a year when parity reigns in the AL. And if they made it to the playoffs, they'd be in a better position to win it all than at any time since at least 2004, maybe 2002. They would at last have a power number 1 (Joba), a battle tested and suddenly rejuvenated number 2 (Pettite) and a fully rested number 3 (Wang). On the other hand, as things currently stand, no improvement in their supposedly awful starting pitching would make much difference. Santana would probably be 7-7 just as he is with the Mets, and I don't think sabathia would fare all that much better. This is lppking more and more like the lost season it was always cracked up to be, but the names on the futility are Cano and Jeter, Posada and Abreu, Molina and, most of all AROD, who has quietly continued his penchant for getting the hits when they need them least and, as the reigning superstar, has cast the entire team in that mold.