Treading? Sinking? Anyone?

            I really didn't want to look.  Sometimes you know when you're staring at a case of going to the well once too often.  The missus and I were walking past The Kettle Black, a bar on Third Avenue in Brooklyn in which you can clearly see the flat screen from the street.  I could see that the game was on, and it was nearing 10pm, so I figured it was probably towards the end.  We had just finished up a sneaky mid-week outing.  My mother-in-law was baby-sitting, so we decided to hit Areo, the pride of the fleet of restaurants on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge.  A weekend reservation is usually out of the question, so if you're going to do it you're better off in the middle of the week.  I had gotten off the subway a stop early and met the missus on the corner of 86^th St.  And from there I couldn't have been dumber.  I went with the Spaghetti al Cartoccio - spaghetti with prosciutto, shrimp and cream, baked in foil.  As an appetizer.  Then I went with the sausage, steak, and chicken sautéed with potatoes in some sort of magic "savory sauce."  Talk about not man enough.  Dude, I was not man enough.  If that wasn't bad enough, I finished it off with a raspberry tart filled with vanilla and raspberry custard.  I was staggering the entire way home.  I'm still feeling a bit weighed down.  My fingers aren't moving nearly as quickly on the keys. 

As I said yesterday, asking Wang to pick up the pieces every single time he goes out there is not going to work.  He's largely gotten it done, but the problem is when he runs into the wrong matchup.  A game like this is much more damaging to the Yankees than the win is beneficial to the Indians.  A win is a win, and you need to close the deal with your stud on the mound.  It would have been nice for the Yankees not to have wasted Wang against Cliff Lee, because we're not going to see Wang again until Sunday.  I would much rather have seen him face Carmona, who didn't make it past the fifth yesterday, or Paul Byrd tomorrow.  But this is what we were stuck with.

            This loss, unfortunately, should come as no surprise.  The Yankees can't hit.  They can't hit anytime, anywhere.  Allie Rodriguez is out and Posada is out, but that's not even half the story.  The story is that on a night like tonight, the Yankees trot four starters out there who have batting averages under .220.  You just can't do that.  It's not just that the Yankees are missing Allie and Posada.  It's that while those guys are out, Cano and Giambi are hitting in the .150 range, which is almost hard to do.  The replacement guys have been almost as miserable at the plate.  Allie's replacement, Morgan Ensberg, is at .226, and Posada's replacement, Molina, is at .219.  And if you're looking for another alternative, Shelley Duncan is at .192.  How are all of these guys hitting in the one-hundreds?  In May?  I don't know that I've ever seen this before.  This lineup is nothing but holes.  It's Mother Theresa.  Holy.  No end in sight, either.  Allie and Posada are a long way off, and the Yankees can't hit a lick.

            In fairness, you can argue that all they need to do is stay afloat.  Maybe.  Last year, obviously, the lost the AL East in May, when Boston charged out to a double-digit lead as the Yankees tanked to 21-29 on May 30^th.  Not sure why, but the Yankees always collapse in May.  Awful month for them the last few years.  If they can stay afloat for a while, they can certainly make a run when everyone is healthy.  But again.  That's a long way off.

            I was following a bit of the Red Sox game on the MLB.com gamecast as I tapped the keys.  Papelbon blew the save and the game in the bottom of the ninth as the Red Sox discovered what goes around comes around.  They've been coming from behind, winning with walk-offs and circus-finishes.  Tonight they were on the wrong end.  It happens.  Truthfully, though, this is why guys like Papelbon and Joba will never be Mariano Rivera.  Those guys are conventional pitchers.  They throw heat and benders.  They are usually good at finding the plate.  Great.  But neither one of those guys has what Mo has.  He throws a unique, one-of-a-kind, devastating pitch; one that you simply cannot hit no matter that you know it's coming every single time.  I don't know that we will ever see another like him. 

            Brnxbomb 2, I don't think Joba was testing out his starter-type stuff.  I think he couldn't get the fastball over.  He had that problem with his other loss as well.  He was throwing bender, bender, bender, because he couldn't throw the fastball for strikes.  One man's opinion.

            A 1pm start tomorrow.  At least they get a break for getaway day.  Then to Detroit, where the smart money all over the league is on the Tigers to knock Kei Igawa right back to Scranton.  There hasn't been a more frightening match-up since Toronto would send an entire lineup of lefties against the 40-year old version of El Duque. 

Seannie!  Your boy's up!