May All Over Again: Angels 18, Yankees 9

Every time the Junkees do well, I'm too mad to blog. But then you have games like the last two against Anaheim, and you realize that life ain't so bad after all, and my dream of a Yankee-free October may come true after all.

When they were playing .750 ball, I thought, that's it. These guys are going to win the World Series. But a closer look at that run reveals that a lot of the games were blowouts where Old York scored a ridiculous number of runs, which, as we know, is not the way to win pennants.

In other words, the starting pitching is still spotty, and Mike Mussina is pitching exactly the way I thought he would. Giving up 7 earned runs in less than two innings gives him a hefty 5.22 ERA. His signing this past offseason may have been the worst in baseball.

Then the Yanks pull within two, scoring four in the third to make it 7-5. But Ron Villone and company gave it right back, and now we can see what the pitching situation is;

Mike Mussina: Done.

Chien Ming Wang: Been struggling lately. Is prone to giving up a lot of hits, gtes out of them with double plays, but has been lousy starting with the Toronto bombing. His ERA has gone from 3.49 to its current 4.10.

Clemens has looked old at times.

Phil Hughes has shown that his six no-hit innings against the Rangers was a fluke. He has gotten shelled in three of his last four starts.

And that leaves us with Andy Pettitte, who has been pretty good for the most part, despite a WHIP of 1.40.

So come playoff time, the Yanks have Pettitte, and no one else they can count on. So maybe all those blowouts weren't so bad after all.

Flunkees Fail Big Test

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the series against Chicago, the Mets, Boston, and the Angels would tell us whether these Yankees can win this year.

Well, a 4-8 run tells us all we need to know. After George's comments and getting swept by the Angels, the Yankees are a game out of the cellar. This is not April anymore. The season's about 1/3 of the way done, and this team stinks.

Damon refuses to go on the DL and will remain a part-time player. Coco Crisp never looked this good (and he had quite the web gem today). But even if the Yanks sidelined Damon, Melky Cabrera (.219) is not an option. Abreu has bounced all around the lineup, and still can't hit. Cano (.375 in the last week) looks like he's doing better. A-Rod (.227 in the last week) does not.

The Yanks pen is still in bad shape. Proctor blew it today, and Luis Vizcaino is not helping Cashman's job security.

The Red Sox and Mets sweep, making it a great weekend. The Yanks-Sox series seems like a million years ago, as the deficit is now 12.5 games. And Beckett is coming back.

When it comes down to it, this team can't win. The outfield is terrible, 1B is a joke, and the '06 A-Rod is making a comeback, as is the '04-'05 foot-in-mouth Jason Giambi.

- The Blue Jays looked done when Halladay and Ryan went down, but they've got a better record than the Yanks. With Clippard and DeSalvo pitching two games, they've got a pretty good shot at taking two of three.