Facing the Orioles Not Such a Laughing Matter

Let's look at the highlights of Friday and Saturdays games:

- Jaret Wright proves that he is another Leo Mazzone wonder kid. When will teams learn? Every time a pitcher leaves Atlanta (with the exception of Jason Schmidt), he stinks up the joint. Denny Neagle was awful, Millwood was supposed to be a #1 guy and had to sign a 1-year deal with the Indians to prove that he's decent, Steve Avery was nowhere to be found for years until he turned up as a Tiger a year or two ago.... And the list goes on. Okay, okay, it's one start, but there's no track record to prove that he's going to be great. He had ONE GOOD YEAR, last year, and before then, he was lousy.

- Randy Johnson got knocked around pretty good on Saturday. Again, can't get too excited because he was good on Opening Night, although even then, he wasn't his crisp self. At 41, it's very possible that this is his dropoff year, and he has another two years to go (at $16 mil per!), so we'll keep an eye on that.

- In general, there doesn't seem to be a Yankee mystique (not that there ever was one), and even if they don't turn into the '04 Mariners, they look very beatable right now.

All in all, it's a good time to be a Yankee Despiser!