Damn right, AB. Let's Go Yankees.

Aw, when did we start getting commercials again? I miss Pac-Man!

CLippard is coming! Abraham that he was pulled after pitching 1 inning today.

Braves just released Craig Wilson. Can we say backup catcher on the cheap?

3 Not sure its a good idea, he is still walking too many batters (17 in 40 innings)

5 i honestly don't care. I'm looking forward to watching him pitch.

Farnsworth voices my opinion about Clemens (from Lohud)

6 So am I. I mean Id rather have him than chase wright

Minky saves an error on Jetes.

4 I doubt it. He last caught in 2004 (4 games). Didn't do too much in Atlanta, I wonder if his time in NY was a sign of things to come?

DeSalvo doesnt look sharp today.

10 you are right, i didn't notice that most teams since pittsburgh have transformed him out of the cather role. However, the way nieves has been panning out for us, not being a catcher since 2004 seems like an upgrade. lol

6 For sure? That's awesome - I can't wait to see him pitch!

13 looks likely but not definite.

Damn, Garland throwing a no-no?

Wow, that sucked.

Were those fireworks? Are you kidding me?

My God these White Sox announcers ruin the game.

15 Did you just mention that Jon Garland is throwing a NO HITTER? I'm glad someone brought it up!

Gameday just had an "injury delay". Who was hurting, DeSalvo?

I put them on mute. I'd rather listen to my music/silence.

18 they really do; i just turned off the MLB.TV video and switch to WCBS radio... just can't stand these idiots.

It's a can o' corn!

19 Posada needed eyedrops. I can't hear anything, so I don't know why.

Looks like another uninspired effort (and a loss).

I imagine Torre is stewing right now: single, homer, walk, walk. I think DeSalvo ought to get the chance to work it out.

DeSalvo is collapsing.

DeSalvo does not have it today.

5-4-3 triple play coming up.

7 If Farnsworth wants a family plan, he can have one too...the only difference would be he doesn't actually have to come back.

Don't worry guys, Vizcaino in the bullpen...

22 Thanks yankz. Can't blame you at all for muting the Hawk. I was so glad the second game last night had the YES feed on EI.

How many pitches for Matt?

I think Vizcaino's nickname should be the Towel...so, when Torre brings him in, we could say, Joe is throwing in the Towel.

Nice! Now the hard part, getting hits...

Are there any more depressing words for a baseball fan than "the damage has already been done"?

32 I like that. I also liked Sliced Bread's "VizcaiNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".

33 I almost forgot that Jon Garland is still throwing a NO HITTER.

If Jeter's AB is any indication, the Yankees are not a good bet in this game to score much.

36 Why would one at-bat be any indication?

Arod needs a big hit here.

36 I woudl say that the Yankees are not a good bet to score much in ANY game lately...

Does the umpiring look as bad on TV as it does on Gameday? There have been quite a few called strikes that were way out of the zone (at least out of Gameday's zone).

Like the first pitch to A-Rod. Gameday had it at clearly outside the zone, yet the ump called it a strike.

37 Because Jeter has been hot and he took one of his worst swings of the season.

2 for his last 25? Start the booing...(JK).

35 Nice work, Shaun P ;-)

looks like we got something going now. Matsui had a nice liner to left but right at the fielder... same thing 10 feet right would be cool now...

41 Come on, you know there are way too many factors to predict an entire game off of one pitch. I mean, I agree, the offense sucks big time lately, but Jeter's one bad swing isn't some kind of metaphor.

Yeah, but the guy is still hurling a shutout.

At least we got that nonsense over with

44 Or 50 feet back...

43 Thanks, Bklyn. All credit to yankz though; he noticed it first in 15.

46 Excellent point!

Is the director of performance enhancement to blame for the power outage?

Wow, that sucked

45 It tells me that Garland has very good stuff, so much so that one of the few Yankees who has been swinging swell took a feeble hack. Sure enough, Matsui just took a similar swing. Garland's command combined with the Yankees ineptitude seems to be a recipe for yet another loss.

How is it possible that our offense can be so inept considering the people on the roster? Its really amazing.

46 The bigger concern is probably keeping the Sox from scoring more. Games like this represent the peril of relying on rookies.

52 I bet I could search through any of Jeff Weaver's starts this year and find one good pitch. Doesn't mean he threw a good game.

Now, if it happens for several batters, then you have a point. It has, so like I said, I agree that the offense sucks big time lately.

53 Well...for starters, the bench and 1B combo is awful. Then, factor in older guys like Giambi and Damon with nagging injuries and the possibility that Abreu is in decline and the league has adjusted to Cano. That pretty much leave an offense of Posada, Jeter and Arod. Should one of those three slump, well...the team simply isn't going to score.

Nice...Joe is throwing in the Towel.

At least he's hustling off the field...

Vizcaino gets 2 K's to end the inning! I belive!

%$#)@)$##@$()#)($()#$)(@#)($)(*#@$j

(Long string of curse words not suitable for a family-oriented site.)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What happened? Game day said Erstad grounded out to short. But all of a sudden he's on second and DeSalvo is out?

What the?

The Towel is really pounding the zone.

Well, clearly Joe has given up on this game already with Viz in...

Someone explain to me why Vizcaino has to be brought in to intentionally walk someone. DeSalvo isn't capable of doing that on his own?

59 Gameday isn't there yet. Glad you said it happened, though - I almost gave up!

Yeah, this team just blows, I'll be optimistic when I see a reason to. Maybe Jeter can bat .400...

guess it's time for Torre to drop The Deuce on this game

64 Yeah, I HATE that. It's difficult enough for Viz to find the strike zone. But now you have him warm up by tossing four intentional balls.

64 That confused me too. I think it was just wishful thinking.

64 He only threw an intentional ball 4 after missing on the first three pitches by a combined 10 feet.

59 Oh, now I see. You were really talking about what you wanted to happen.

Let's note that this is EXACTLY what happened yesterday. Starter ineffective, Torre brings in VizcaiNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO, the Towel lets the runs in.

Well I think we all know how this will end. And with the Sox already winning one today, this could pretty much end the division. The possibility of 9 1/2 out and facing the Muts and Boston...yeah...

i sure missed having a Run Fairy, i'm so glad we found another one for this year's team ...

What's the over/under on Vizcaino's DFA? 10 days? Put me down for $100 on the under.

70 Im just trying not to give up.. Its hard though

I have to jet, which is probably a good thing. I hope to get shocked later.

73 50 on the over. They're too in love with him...

Just out of curiousity...it's ealry July...the Yankees are 10 games under...double digits out...how lively do you think the Banter will be?

Pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong this season, from Joe's managing, to injuries, to Boston's start, to the BP, to starters, to regressing offense. Pretty much every single red flag has borne itself out. Even some flags that weren't actually there...Man, can we just call a mulligan on the season?

Yanks don't DFA vets, normally. Not in their practice. They'll trade him for a bag of balls instead.

76 I'll be here. The late 80's/ early 90's suckitude didn't stop me from reading every article I could get my hands on in the Ledger and the Times, back in the day. This pales in comparison.

73 I think the Yankees refusal to make some changes is pretty much sending a message to the team that there is no urgency. Nieves and Vizcaino are two examples of players who deserve to be released, yet they are kept on board.

If you had to select one goat for the season, Cano would be a VERY good candidate.

Big spot for Abreu

i'm afraid it might be time to start referring to bobby as "abre-ewwww"

The guy looks downright impotent. Kind of like Knobby with the throws. Very painful to watch such a smooth athlete look so off balanced.

76 79 Me too.

80 The problem with releasing Nieves is, who replaces him and is an improvement? Raul Chavez? Not without PEDs. I suppose Omir Santos could be looked at, but there's no guarantee he'll be any better than Nieves.

I have no problems with Vizcaino being DL'd, or demoted a la Igawa. I'm not sure I'd want him released - someone else would pick him up, and watch him turn it around.

I'm sure the Mets and Red Sox are eagerly looking forward to driving a few more nails in the Yankees coffin. It wouldn't be a shock to see the Yankees lose 4 or 5 of those 6. If that happens, the season is over for all intensive purposes.

you gotta have faith. I believe the Red Sox were 8 games back at the end of JULY in 2004, and we know how that turned out.

This team is too good to sustain this for the entire season, regardless of what you see on the field today. If things need to be shaken up, rest assured that Cashman will make a deal at the deadline (or before) that makes a difference. There's just not a lot out there at this point in the season to justify a trade (nobody's trading anything worthwhile yet, and we don't exactly have all-star replacements for 1st, catcher, or the 'pen in our minor league system).

Before the season, I thought we could have and should have made some changes (catcher, 1st, starters) but I never expected our top 3 to go down for April, and I never expected our bullpen to suck this bad.

DFA'ing Vizcaino, Nieves, or anyone else does nothing for us now or later. The prudent thing to do is wait until a deal is there to be made. It sounds like Cashman has been working the phones (rumors about Molina) but teams would be silly to give up this early.

71 Yeah, but after the Mets and the Sox, they only have to face the Angels...

I'm not worried about this team - because I've gone straight past worry to resignation. They've got enough talent to have a 22-6 sort of month any time, but until they do, I'm not expecting anything.

87 Never mind who's actually available right now - what sort of deal did you have in mind? What's the player you'd be looking for?

86 Sorry to be a pedantic jackass, but the phrase is "intents and purposes," not "intensive purposes."

89 bullpen help, BUC, 1st base, infield bench player.

Put Phelps, Cairo, Nieves, Vizcaino, Farnsworth on the market (throw in Chase Wright and anyone else in the minors not named Phil Hughes or Matt DiSalvo).

See what you can get back for those positions.

Maybe make a run at Todd Helton for 1st base (with Minky as late inning defensive replacement).

Find a backup catcher that can hit higher than .200.

Find any middle relief you can.

If you want to get radical, put Abreu on the market now & eat some salary - play Melky every day and go hard at Andruw in the off season. Abreu seems to need a change of scenery (worked last year when he came here, may work again this year). Helton taking the place of Minky and Melky taking the place of Abreu should help things.

Our starters are not great but they should be fine if we can hit consistently.

Remember when Matsui was clutch?

GIDPs make the baby jesus cry

90 But if a guy walks or gets a hit between the "intents" and the "purposes", it can't officially be considered striking out the side...

90 You're correct...although unintentional, I actually like intensive purposes better.

That inning was a disgrace...it really looks like this team has collectively lost interest.

The Mets just capped an amazing comeback...that should give them all the momentum to stomp of the Yankees' lifeless carcas.

On offense, there is Derek and Jorgie and not much else.

Can we just give Boston the title and end this horrific nightmare of a season already?

94 That was hilarious, Knuckles!

And here comes Villone.

95 Man, you are down. Take a break from baseball for a couple of days, dude - you sound like you need it.

91 Helton is supposed to be a great fielder, making Minky completely expendable.

Now that the 2005 rallying cry is by the boards, I guess that leaves us with 1978. Something tells me this team doesn't have the same personality as that edition.

96 A-Rod is 2 for 2 with a BB. Too bad Matsui keeps GIDPing.

88 If I could take a break...I would. I suffered throught the 1990 season even though it was clear the team sucked from the onset...you can imagine what the frustration of this season is going to do to me.

williamnyy23, we get it.

All of the negativity is killing this board for me. I'm a realist, and I can get with the next guy in complaining about a person/play/situation, and I'm not oblivious to the fact that we're rapidly losing ground on the front runners, but it's getting kind of relentless now. I'm about to the point where I'd rather wallow in Yankee suckitude alone than get bludgeoned over the head with it in every other comment on this board. Even with the Womack situation, it at least seemed like there was a touch of humor in the comments. This year the comments are just depressing.

99 Maybe if they started fighting with each other in the dugout or showed ANY kind of fire, I'd have reason to believe 1978 could be a rallying cry.

This team seems way too relaxed and content with losing these types of games. I almost can't bring myself to watch anymore, but I keep turning the game on because of some sort of masochistic OCD habit I suppose...

100 Didn't realize that Alex was hitting. Good. Now if only Matsui could start to hit.

88 Yeah, I agree. The Yanks have been "trying" to overhaul the team, but there's really little they can do. They are locked into aging players many places. Even where they aren't, there aren't any real internal options. The positions they "could" open up are: 1B, RF, 3B, C. They are locked into RF, CF, SS, 2B, DH. There is really no one inside the system to make an impact at any of those four positions. And none of those 4 positions are either tradable or worth trading.

My point being, that this could be a very long season. A very overpriced team playing well below its ability without much of a chance of seeing them just turn it over to kids...

looks like i picked the wrong season to stop sniffing glue

A loss today and another win tonight by the RedSox (who already won the first game of the double-header-WP Tavares!) puts us out by 9.5. We're past the middle of May here. Unless the AL is going to be like the NL last season where 500 could almost get you into the playoffs I say we throw in the towel-get rid of the curse of the ARod (no wonder he chose #13)for starters. I've always liked him but he has been the curse that reversed the curse. I can't watch another inning. This sucks.

what would happen if the lineup was changed to: Jeter, Arod ,Posada, Giambi (and then mix & match the rest). The top of our lineup then SHOULD be able to plate a few runs, given they would be averaging well above 300. They'd be followed by 5 automatic outs, but if we could strike early. . .

At least Villone looked good!

And i would like to point out once again that not a single player in the White Sox lineup is hitting OVER .267, yet they look like the 1927 Yanks compared to us...

102103 Sorry fellas...but this is a negative season. Just watch.

Posada looks negative now...maybe he needs to see thr bright side?

Melky just looked really bad.

I'm sorry, is Minky our RBI man now?

Well, now we're seeing how this team would have been in April without A-Rod. Its clear now that he basically carried the team through that month. Its time for someone else to step the hell up.

109 Andre, I agree. I can see Torre's idea to get Abreu some good pitches to hit ahead of Jeter, but it's killing them. When this many guys are slumping, you can't tailor the lineup to busting each guy's slump and still expect to score. Jeter, Giambi, Alex, Posada would be the best top 4 IMO for now.

109 117 In theory, I agree with you guys, but I'd throw Matsui in there too. As someone pointed out yesterday, he has a .940 OPS in May (his struggles today aside).

And, come to think of it, rabid stan pointed out earlier today that Melky's line for May is: ".297/.395/.568 in 44 PA this month".

That's 6 hitters.

I also see that Damon is hitting .298/.370/.404 in May, so you might want him hitting leadoff.

Hey wait, that's 7 hitters . . .

Why are things bad again?

118 Can you breakout those numbers excluding Texas?

112 All I'm saying is, we all know it's bad right now. We don't need to read about how bad it is in every other comment. Toss up some constructive suggestions that we can debate about. Tell me that Melky looked ridiculous on that swing. Tell me that we should bring up Joe Blow from Trenton because Moose looks awful. Saying that this team sucks more than [whatever] doesn't do anything to move the "banter" - it just turns it into downer.

According to runs scored/runs allowed - remember, the best predictor of what happens going forward, here are what the AL East standings should look like:

Red Sox 26 12
Yankees 22 16
Orioles 19 22
Blue Jays 18 22
Devil Rays 14 25

I'm frustrated too, but there's no reason to panic or give up on the season.

121 Well there is if we don't get to play Texas 100 more times. Take them out and we've been awful as someone else pointed out.

121 122 or we're the 2006 Indians...

120 Well...other than to say Jeter and Posada are great hitters...there isn't anything positive to say. I guess I could go by the "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all", but that doesn't really go well with a blog.

119 Why should I exclude Texas? Do the Yanks not get credit for playing Texas?

I'm sorry to say I think your sadness is clouding your usually sound analysis. There is no there there, as Gertrude Stein would say.

120 I hear you, but what exactly are we going to suggest that hasn't already been commented about?

This team looks like it doesn't care, and in turn the fans are becoming more and more apathetic as well. Simple as that.

121 The Pythagorean theorem is good for triangles, but I don't think it is the "best" predicator of future outcomes in baseball.

125 Because we DONT get to play Texas ANYMORE! If you are evaluating past performance, fine, leave Texas in...but if you are trying to predict the future, then I think you can pretty much remove them from the equation.

126 I have never understood the whole "the team looks like it doesn't care" thing. How are you guys judging that, based on the looks on their faces? Because they don't go ape-$#!* on the water cooler like O'Neill used to? Because Torre isn't ranting and raving like Martin would have

When the Yanks win, they get called professionals. When the Yanks lose, people says it looks like they don't care.

It sounds like the whole "chemistry" thing to me.

121 Maybe I'm too negative, but if you think there is "no reason to panic", well then you are equally extreme on the other end of the spectrum. There are a lot of reaons to be worried.

128 So what other explanation is there for repeatedly losing games to inferior teams?

Is everyone just having an off year at the same time? If that's the case, like I said, let's move on to 2008 already.

127 Sorry dude, but the predictive effect of the Pythagorean theorem is not only rock solid, but proven many times over. If I can, I'll look up the studies that have shown how nothing correlates better with future performance than runs scored/runs allowed. And Clay Davenport's Pythagenport formula (which BP uses) is even better than Bill James's original.

That correlation coefficient, BTW, is quite high.

And it doesn't matter who the team played in the past and who it will play in the future. It works regardless.

128 Tino and O'Neill have both stated it looks as if the team isn't giving a full effort. They are swinging much earlier in the count and not working pitchers. They also can't move runners and score men from third with less than 2 outs. Those are all signs of a team whose concentration level has waned. Maybe I am wrong and they are giving a full effort...if that's the case, things are worse than I thought.

1 out away from being 9 out, sigh.

131 I'm sorry dude...but PT doesn't work well when you take 1/4 season. I am pretty sure all the studies you cited rely on a full seasons worth of data. The reason for that is clear...what the Yankees do against Texas has little bearing on what they do against the Red Sox.

130 "Is everyone just having an off year at the same time?"

Three words:

Small sample size

Some guys are just having a bad few weeks. Don't presume they are going to continue to hit so poorly.

The chief culprits are Cano and Abreu, both who are in horrible slumps. But the good hitting hasn't synched up with the good pitching. These kinds of things happen sometimes. Everything is magnified when it happens in the first 6 weeks. If the Yanks went through a stretch like this in, say, August, it would be considered a blip only because they had played well from April to July.

So, have we officially hit rock bottom, or is there still a few more stops on the elevator to hell? Honestly, I can't really see the team playing worse than it is now, so you would think that this weekend will represent the lowpoint of the season, no?

130 Or the obvious, not enough players are having a good year at the same time. Every season you beat this particular dead horse about the players not caring which never makes any sense. Of course, they care. They just aren't good enough at particular moments. If your opinion is right then only the players on the team that wins World Series care.

135 I was just asking!

136 See Cleveland scoring 19 runs. We can still do that.

I'm sorry to be so negative guys, but I'm just really depressed about this team. Maybe its small sample size, but we just keep falling farther and farther behind both the Sox and the WC. By tomorrow we could be 10 out.

137 Ok maybe 'care' is the wrong word. Certainly a lot of guys aren't taking the right approach, however. It's not about batting average or ERA or run production, because we're clearly not at the bottom of the league in any of those.

There's an intangible quality about this team that's just infuriating, and I wish I had a tangible way to describe it.

134 Then why are people like Rob Neyer already pointing to run differentials and saying, for example, the Cubs and the Brewers about equal?

Why does BP's playoff odds report use their adjusted standings, incorporating runs scored and runs allowed to this point?

No, the beauty of PT is that it works even this early in the season.

And I didn't say I wasn't a little worried. I just said I saw no reason to panic. Big difference.

136 I don't think this is rock bottom because there aren't tangible signs that things will change. If anything, the Yankees strength of schedule is a more foreboding sign. Aside from a being an unabashed optimist, I don't you can expect things to turn around quickly.

139 Yeah, the Yanks might be 10 out by tomorrow in the East. But are the Red Sox really going to keep playing .692 ball?

Just for the record, that means they'll go 112-50 for the year.

Does anyone here honestly believe the '07 Red Sox are as good as the '98 Yanks?

Something tells me even the various Sox fans who come here don't believe that.

I understand the depression, I really do. But its only been 6 weeks. Maybe I'm drinking the optimism Kool-Aid, but why get down? No one wins forever.

141 Worry...panic...for a fan that is semantics.

I guess you can form your perspective based on what Rob Neyer says and what BP's playoff odds say, but mine is being formed by the obvious bad signs on display every game.

143 I guess you might as well go all the way and say, why get so worked up over baseball. If "no one wins forever" was my attitude, I'd probably not spend so much time watching baseball and posting my thoughts about it on a blog. Maybe having that attitude is allowing you to be optimistic?

135 A quarter of the season isn't that small a sample. The scenarios that have the Yankees winning the AL East are moving from "incredibly rare" to "unprecedented in the history of the game" very quickly.

Another two to three weeks of this SNAFU and it's safe to define the wild card the same way.

144 To each their own. I prefer to not trust my eyes (and what they see) when it comes to baseball, but that's just me.

If I were in charge, here's how I'd "fix" the offense. Let Abreu battle through his slump from the two-hole, even if it means batting two lefties at the top of order. Jeter third, Giambi fourth and playing 1B EXCEPT when Wang pitches. A-Rod 5th, then Posada, then Matsui, than Cano, then Melky. Let the 3 regular OFs rotate through the DH slot, with Melky covering the open OF slot.

I'd banish Minky - Giambi's bat is too valuable to take out late in games. In his place, call up Kevin Thompson, or maybe Shelley Duncan (dude is mashing).

I'd banish Cairo, and let Phillips come back and be the backup 2B and 3B. Andy has more hitting ability than Miggy. A-Rod plays SS in an emergency. If that doesn't work, see what the Attorney General can do.

If Nieves continues to not hit, send him down and let's see what Omir Santos can do.

And finally, troll AAA for a BUC and BUMI (back up middle infielder). Solid glovework and slight ability to hit (including some patience) a must for both.

Oh - and DL Vizcaino with some lame injury, and call up Britton. I think the pitching staff is finally fine, but the Towel needs a wash: he's infected with Tanyonitis, a severe disease that causes Joe Torre to overuse him in the worst possible situations.

Realistically, optimistically, the Yankees have a good chance at the Wild Card if Clemens pitches well and the hitters heat up.

146 A couple years ago at BP, someone looked at the season in reverse - that is, starting with the last day and winding down to Opening Day. It was fascinating to see how different one's perception of each team was by just changing the time frame through which the season was viewed.

145 No, my optimism is entirely grounded in the large amount of talent the Yankees have on hand. Talent almost always wins out. "No one wins forever" is what keeps me from being depressed.

And believe me, if I didn't care about the Yanks, I wouldn't have made 9 posts in the last 50 minutes. My optimism and my perspective are not indifference, just realism.

To add further insult to this loss, Kyle Farnsworth (of all people) is trashing the Clemens 'family package'. Kyle can say whatever he wants. This is America and he can use his First Amendment rights. Let's not follow the gov't down the path of censorship. The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already detain protesters, ban books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and shut down Imus. With that being said, Kyle, shut up, we have enough problems on the Yanks without you adding more.
Last link (before Google Books caves to pressure and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0

143 Sure, the Sox will start losing some more games, but they'll likely keep winning at a .600 clip or so. I don't feel like doing the calculations now, but something tells me that means we'd have to play close to .700 ball or so to catch them (prolly a little less), and we're under .500 (and not 1 game under)

look, the naysayers are acting like we're going to be a .400 team: we're not. that ain't the problem. we could be a .550 team though, and that'd give us basically 0% chance at a playoff spot. being a Yankee fan is emotionally weird--how should you feel when realistically a .550 season is a disaster?

A little about Roger's act:
http://tinyurl.com/37hl2a

152 There's Jeter's cliche coming back to haunt us all again.

IMO, a .550 season is not a disaster. The ultimate goal (winning it all) went unfulfilled, but that alone doesn't make the season a disaster. Unsatisying (is that a word?) but not a disaster.

A disaster is when the team loses more games than any other in baseball, when it comes agonizing close to losing 100 games, gets the first pick in the draft - and a couple years later, said draft pick blows out his pitching arm in a bar fight.

That's a disaster.

The '07 Yanks finishing at 89-73 is a shame, but not a disaster.

Unsatisfying. Sorry.

And not making the playoffs might give some of the vets on the team the kick in the pants some folks think they need. A little motivation can't hurt, right?

155 I feel you on the fortitude, Shaun, but I don't think 89-73 will motivate some of these guys. There's got to be some life from someone in the clubhouse, and from our vantage point it's not there. 89-73 only means some guys don't get signed on again, or get traded over the winter for whatever's available. I don't know what's preoccupying their thoughts, but it doesn't seem like the game is on their minds. They're scared of something, or really mad at someone. Only time will tell. Let me ask you this: Has there been anything fundamentally and substantially stable about the team these past few years (and particularly this year) that players can actually count on to spur them on? The huge rash of injuries, the pitching meltdowns, the gloating media, the War Of The Roses in ownership and the GM acting like a train engineer frantically pulling levers to avert a major disaster, while the manager does the opposite and imitates the Royal Guard. I don't know what to make of it, man, but it's not worth tying myself into a knot about. What's really at stake for this team? And most important, are they really a team or just a bunch of part-time suckas? I hope not. C'mon fellas, please settle your baggage now and play ball.

156 woah, I think you are reading way too much in to things. Sometimes teams don't gel and I would guess that in most cases the reasons are not tangible at all.

157 I hope you're right. It's obviously not as simple as it seems.