Yawn

            "Brownie or cake Big Joe?"  Big Joe was settled into my couch in the basement.  He could barely hear me over the Celtics/Cavs game on TV.  "Big Joe!" I called.  "Brownie," came the reply, muffled through the reclined part of the sofa he was on.  We were hanging out downstairs tonight as the girls were upstairs babysitting the boy.  After the ballgames we were on to the NBA playoffs, watching LeBron going over Kevin Garnett's head.  And all the while we were taking down the leftover brownies and cake; remnants of yesterday's Mother's Day festivities.  Snacks and baseball.  What else do you need?  Fortunately, the snacks were delicious.  I wish we could say the same for the baseball... 

            It's getting bad.  You know it's getting bad when there are no texts, no phone calls, no buzz.  And a distinct lack of comments on the BPS, I would add.  Today was a damp, dark, cold day in New York City.  We're in the middle of a bit of a cold snap, it seems.  Appropriate for 2008 baseball in this town thus far.  The Yankees in past years have gone through their woes, but they were a bit streakier.  A devastating period; a string of wins....  This stretch strikes as a bit more of a malaise.  Not sure which concerns me more, actually.  There is no life coming out of the Bronx these days.  Or at Shea.  There aren't a lot of thrills, not a lot of fight.  Not a lot of big comebacks.  Not a lot of huge collapses.  You win a few.  You lose a few.  Not too high.  Not too low.  It's enough to really make people lose interest.  Nobody is excited about anything this year.  Sure, there are injuries on both sides of the house.  Big names.  Allie.  Jorgie....  Pedro...  It's tough.  Cano and Giambi are hitting in the .150's.  David Wright is hitting in the .260's.  Jose Reyes is hitting in the .240's.  The lack of excitement is striking.   The good news is that the talent is there.  Or will be there, eventually.  Something's got to give.  So tonight we got another downward swing.  And I bet you they win tomorrow behind Wang.  You want good news?  The Yankees still have the best road record in the AL East.  But it would be nice to put together a nice winning streak.  No two ways about it.  This "just tread water" stuff has one major downside.  It's boring.  No excitement.  No long losing streak to infuriate people.  No waiting to see them snap out of it.  You win; you lose.  You look good; you don't look so good.  You get shut out; you hit.  People are bored to death around here. 

            I'm not so worried about Pettitte.  He did this last year, too.  He got rolling eventually.  My concern is that the Moose won't be able to keep up the pace when Pettitte gets right.  I'm hoping Darrell Rasner will give us the Aaron Small formula.  Throw strikes, let them hit it into play, go deep into games, and give the bats a chance to get you a win. 

            So Kei Igawa got clobbered.  Shocking.  Sorry.  Kei Igawa is not a major league pitcher.  Period.  You want to put him in the bullpen?  Fine.  He's not going to work there, either.  Guys, here is how this works.  There is an economic phenomenon called the sunk cost.  It means money spent that isn't coming back no matter what.  Call it the cost of doing business.  So you dropped 40 million on Kei Igawa.  It's gone.  That's that.  Don't compound the problem by throwing him in there regardless of the fact that he can't pitch in the major leagues.  It's gone.  Let it go.  JD is right.  They should have let the poor guy go pitch in the National League.  Maybe that would have worked out.  It's not really the major leagues anyway.  He's not a good fit here in New York. 

              A few weeks ago I said the Tigers look like the class of the American League.  Most say they look like a bunch of high-priced, overpaid parts that don't fit together very well.  Maybe I should reconsider...

Remember when the talk was of the Yankees getting Miguel Cabrera to replace Allie Rodriguez?  Or when the Yankees signed Wilson Betemit as insurance if Allie left?  Hey, it's not going to matter, right?  We're going to have all this pitching to blow people away.  We're not going to need Allie.  Well, we're getting to see what life would have been like.   Anybody still think that would have been a good idea?

Reid!  Love to see you back.  And JD and Mike F.  Keep the comments coming guys.  Gives us all something to look forward to. 

Wang wins tomorrow.....