On the plus side, these trends are meaningless since each season is a separate animal. On the minus side, the Yanks are closer to the 2002 and 2005 versions than the 1997 version in that they simply don’t pitch well and have a lineup of ARods, Sheffs, and Giambis who walk, hit homers, and strike out, all with tremendous regularity. And when they’re not doing the first or second, they’re only doing the third. This lineup is being put to bed early, just like last year, 2002, and 2005.