Puts things like yesterday's game back in perspective.

Only bummer for me is now the late starting games.

1) Bobby Abreu was simply awful in the OF yesterday. He completely misplayed Barajas' triple and then made two awful throws to the plate. Combined with his now horrific slump, I am being to wonder if this is the Abreu that so many Phillies' fans wanted to ride out of town?

2) The turning point of that game was the Arod misplay during the run down. It seemed like the air went out of both the team and the fans after that gaffe.

3) Wang really didn't pitch poorly at all. In addition to the aforementioned misplays, Cano also should have held onto the ball on the Lofton SB, which would have taken that run off the board.

4) How much longer will Torre go with Henn? With Villone tearing up Scranton and his May 15 opt out approaching, I wouldn't be surprised to see a change.

5) Can Vizcaino get any worse? If I was Torre, he'd strictly be a mop-up guy until he proves he can throw some strikes.

6) Amid all the optimism of the past week, the Yankees still managed to ONLY go 4-3 on a home stand that featured Texas and Seattle. If the team wants to get back into the race, that simply will not cut it.

7) These next two games with Rasner and DeSalvo are huge. If either or both craps out, things could start getting ugly once again. With Clemens and Hughes at least 3 weeks away, the Yankees still have at least 8-10 games in which Raz and the Strangler need to pitch.

8) Finally, the Red Sox remain on a roll and are now 7 games up. As I mentioned yesterday, it might be more worthwhile to keep an eye on Detroit and Cleveland.

9) I am now 0-4 when I go to YS. What's worse, the team has been outscored 46-21!

The Cuban sandwich and plantain chips sounds like a fine idea. Maybe next homestand.

If you want to feel good about the Yanks future, the NJ Star Ledger has a good piece about the Trenton Thunder pitchers who have been tearing it up lately. No Maas has a link up.

Will Hughes, Rocket, and Igawa all be working out together in Tampa? How long before Vizcaino joins them? Viz needs rehab. He needs to be sent far away from the Yanks bullpen at this point. Best thing for him. Run and chill with Hughes, Rocket and Igawa.

If so, I can't see Vizcaino getting sent out as that would require a DFA, I think. Maybe a DL stint though?

Villone does appear to have worked his way back.

2 I know how hard the "I was right" urge tugs. But it is way too early to set sights on the wild card. As many said, if the Sox lose players to the DL, they're in trouble. A 3-7 stretch can push the race around quite a bit.

Having said that, the team hasn't looked good on fundamentals. Even Jeter pulled an absolute brick the other day, throwing to the wrong base - completely and obviously wrong - to let Kinsler get to second.

The conditions were set for us to win and win big, and it would have been a huge boost to send us out to the West Coast, where we ALWAYS struggle. And just look at the TURD we dropped...5 hits off McCarthy--even after yesterday his ERA is STILL 6.89!! Just an atrocity--a horrible, embarrassing effort.

The only good thing is that Wanger went into the 7th, which was needed after we sat Mussina down after just 80-SOMETHING PITCHES!!!! WHY!?!? What are we SAVING him for!? The man's ALMOST FORTY!!! We squeeze everything out of him this year and MOVE ON. This is insane!

Now we're stuck in Seattle while Boston has to "struggle" with Baltimore. We're toast, and you know what? We DESERVE to be.

It had become too depressing for me to see the team that I loved turned into a ball club that didn't function as a team any longer.

It smells to me like this year we are going to watch the palpable corruption that the mighty dollar has on people.

When it comes to baseball it seems that the best team wins, not the best group of individual players ... so when will the Yankees come together as a mutually supportive team? or how will they find that collective consciousness?

Certainly hiring the Rocket at $7,500 a pitch is beyond sad and laughable.

What does a fast ball matter when you don't have a team to back it up?

tell me please

is Blogcat right? do the Yankees DESERVE to be toast?

It's like the insanity in Iraq - we support the troops (like the Yankee players) it's the business (George S./George W.) that pays them to kill and profits off of their back when they die.

When are we going to get down to what's really going on around here?

Why is it that sports and politics are not supposed to mix?

thanks for letting me get that out there

I am sensing the pattern of a stretch of really good fundamental ball, followed by a stink bomb. Kinda like a lot of last year... Remember the game vs. Washington, and the Chacon start vs the Indians? (it was the indians, right, something like 19-1?)

This isn't overreaction to one game, this is reaction to a 16-17 start, when our opponents have been mostly sub-.500 with the exceptions of Cleveland and Boston, against whom we're 4-4.

Remember the good old days when people were worried Abreu couldn't hit home runs anymore?? The man can't even hit, PERIOD, nowadays. We've got just three .300 hitters in our supposedly dominant lineup and a pitching staff that can barely get into the 6th inning most nights. And Clemens ain't gonna help on that front, folks. This team is in serious, serious trouble.

just buy an outfielders mitt to make sure the webs big enough for a softball. i dont know big your hands are but id get like 12.5in - spend like $60 range and you can get a decent glove.. make sure you geta something adjustable and avoid velcro (buckles are better IMO)(i bought my most recetn 3rd baggers mitt online) balls are easy- theyre ususallyin a bucket at city sports... bat depends on your size as well... ask someone at the store.. hope that helps.

Bats: so you've looked, and you've seen the prices that you thought might be a joke or have a decimal point misplaced, right? Just get a looooooong bat and swing it in the store to make sure you're comfortable with it.

Oh, and I say: let's get a lot of great individual performances and let Minnesota play as a team.

22 Seriously, have you checked eBay? You might find a good used bat there.

first time i played softball in a league was trial by fire when my friends needed a repalcment player in the playoffs.. i was catching with an unbroken-in infielders glove... there must have been like 1000 passed balls. it was wicked embrassing.

As for gloves, 12.5" might be too small for softball unless you are playing 2B or SS. 13-14" is probably more suitable. Also, $60 will buy you a decent glove, but I'd recommend spending a little bit more if you'll use it a lot. I spent close to $200 on my last glove, but it has lasted me four seasons in two fast pitch leagues. The better quality is definitely worth the price.

I've thought about getting in to rec. softball, but everytime I watch them play, its always a whole bunch of 30-40 year old guys who take it way way way too seriously. I always thought softball was played Simpson's style rules...

31 i hope you are right about little league. My wife and I are looking to play together particularly because she is concerned about stinking too badly and not having support on the team. I am kind of nervous about ending up on a team that takes itself too seriously. It does seem that that varies from what i've read.