It is time for force...

It is bad enough that the game last night was aired by ESPN. Their coverage is so incredibly awful that it is almost painful to sit through. To have to watch the Yankees perform the way they did last night, losing 11-to-2 to the Mets, was more than even I could take. I admit it: I turned off the tube and went to bed in the eighth inning. To even imagine that the massacre would have been so much greater if the officials had actually not second-guessed the home run by Delgado is unspeakable. The Yankees performance last night was absolutely pathetic... and something needs to be done.

It is time for Hank to be "forceful". I, of course, am referring back to his recent comments about the team:

"This is going to get turned around," Steinbrenner said. "If it's not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too."

But my advice to Hank would be not to wait until next year. Something needs to be done now. I am getting a little tired of hearing about how our line-up is hurting. A-Rod and Posada are not going to fix what is broken here. I am not going to sit behind my computer monitor and pretend that I have the answers because I don't. Nor should I. That is not my job as a fan. But the Yankees better use this off day well. They better figure out what they need and get it. It needs to start at the top and it needs to happen today.

7 Train De-rails 4 Train in Subway Series Opener

There wasn't too much to get excited about during yesterday afternoon's 7-to-4 Yankee loss to the New York Mets. What started out as a good game with a 13 pitch, 3 strike-out first inning performance by Pettitte and a two-run lead by the bombers, quickly turned sour... probably at the moment when Damon was called out sliding into home on a Bobby Abreu double. That call at the plate seemed to be a turning point in momentum for the Yankees. Pettitte returned in the fourth to an incredible struggle that seemed to last forever resulting in 3 runs for the Mets.

As if that were't enough, Fartsworth came in during the 7th inning to give up 3 more runs (from 2 homeruns by Reyes and Wright). The Yankees tried to rally with a couple of home runs by Giambi and Abreu but with no one on base at the time, and little else happening with the Yankee offense, a recovery of the lead just wasn't in the cards.

I did almost have to opportunity to be on tv but that too didn't come to pass. Although I convinced the roving cameraman to pose for a quick snapshot with me, the lens passed up me and my buddies in section 627.

So the Yanks reach a season low of 3 games below .500 and Willy Randolf's job as manager becomes slightly more secure (if you believe all the hype by the media regarding the subway series pressures). Tomorrow night's match-up of Wang against Perez will last game of this abbreviated series because of Friday night's
rainout.

Here are the standings (as depressing as they may be) as of 5/18/08:

A Beneficial Rainout

I am not quite sure why the Yankees waited until 7:18pm and had fans trek to the stadium before calling last night's game against the Mets. It had been raining the entire day in New York and all the forecasts called for the rain to continue through the wee hours of the next day. I had several friends who showed up at the stadium last night only to turn around before even getting to the front of the beer line.

Despite its inconvenience to fans though, this rain out is clearly an advantage to the Yanks. Because the game will not be made up this weekend (mostly because of TV line-ups, believe it or not) and can not be played on Monday's off-day because the Mets already have a double-header scheduled for the following day, Friday night's makeup will likely occur next month sometime. This means that a match-up that otherwise would have been played without Posada and A-Rod, will likely include those sluggers later this season.

The other nicety that comes from this rainout is that Pettitte will now face Santana instead of Rasner. I do believe that Rasner can continue to prove himself as a quality starter for the club but, all things considered, I feel more comfortable with Andy Pettitte on the mound for this game. Better still, I will be at the game today!