Bronx Bums
The Yankees are dead.
I know it is only May 9, and I know they rallied from a 21-29 start last season to make the playoffs, but this isn't a good baseball team. You don't finish 73-39 with a starting rotation that only has one good pitcher - Chien-Ming Wang. Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte used to be great, but they are both 97 years old. Darrell Rasner might be good someday, but isn't there yet, and Kei Igawa is terrible.
The offense isn't anything to write about, either. They are 7th in the American League in runs scored, 7th in on-base percentage and 5th in slugging percentage. A-Rod's still going to be out for another week, and Jorge Posada won't be back until mid-June.
That means lineups like the one tonight, with Melky Cabrera in center, Shelley Duncan at first, Wilson Betemit at third and the immortal Chad Moeller catching.
How bad is New York playing? They are about to lose their fourth straight game to Detroit. Those would be the same Tigers that are 1-7 against the rest of baseball since April 26.
Could they recover? Sure. But I don't see them catching Boston, so they'd have to get the wild card. That's not going to be easy - there are two good teams in the West in Oakland and Los Angeles, and Tampa Bay's actually going to be tough to catch in the East.
And now, just to add injury to insult, they've just lost Jonathan Albaladejo to some sort of physical ailment. I have no idea how serious it is, but if it keeps him out for the next two days, it will at least mean I won't have to try to spell his name on deadline.
The last time the Yankees didn't make the postseason, I was 24 years old. It would nice to see it happen again before I turn 40.