Mark your calendars for July 16, 2007 – that’s the next time the Yankees play the Jays. A-Rod’s first At Bat in that game could be interesting.

Going to watch the post-game now. I’ll be back if I have more to add to this entry.

The last time the Yankees were in last place on May 29th: 1990

The last time the Yankees were 14+ games back of first on May 29th: 1984

The 1984 Yankees had one of the worst starts in the last quarter-century of Yankees baseball. The 1990 Yankees were one of the worst teams in franchise history.

Yes, in 2007, we’re seeing Yankees suckage at a level that’s hardly ever seen. Don’t blink boys and girls – you may miss history in the making!

Now, on to this contest tonight.

So, the Yankees take full “infield” before the game today, around 6:14 pm ET, for what may be the first time in something like (at least) five years. (And, it’s not just the infielders made to work here – it’s the outfielders, catchers…the whole team.)

What happens in the game?

Jeter makes a stupid throw in the first to allow a runner to get into scoring position. A-Rod makes a bad fielder’s choice in the first to allow that runner to score.

In the seventh, the Yankees infield fails to pay attention to a runner on third – and he steals home – giving the Blue Jays a lead in the game. Pettitte, A-Rod and, to an extent, Phelps had a hand in the botched play. (Another failed fielder’s choice between A-Rod and Josh Phelps set the runner up on third before the steal of home.)

In the eighth, A-Rod grabs a bunt that’s heading foul and elects to go for the out – allowing a base runner to advance (who will eventually score the winning run).

Boy, the team really responded to that infield practice, huh? Just another sign that Torre has lost the attention of this team.

Oh, and, the Yankees hitters pulled another no-show and wasted a fine effort from Andy Pettitte. Same old, same old.

We play today, we lose today – Dat’s it.

Sure, maybe it’s a chicken and the egg thing – meaning that your attitude is better when you win and terrible when you’re playing like the Yankees now. But, bottom line, regardless of the root cause, you have to change your attitude when it is like the one the Yankees have now. (And, that’s why Torre called the failed meeting today – to try and address their attitude issue.)

After all, the Yankees need to do something. It’s not like they can take some players out of the starting line-up…because they have no bench whatsoever and there’s no one at Triple-A (or even Double-A) who can join this team and be a spark for them. There are no trades to be made at this point of the season.

Basically, the Yankees are in a terrible losing funk now…and it’s become a losing state of mind. And, when someone has a mental situation like this, the only way to stop it is to break the pattern. It’s the same as when someone starts to go down a mental path that’s not good for them, but one that they’ve been down before and have been repeating (as a response to their situation). Maybe they have to get up and go for a walk. Or, maybe they need to get control of their breathing. Or, maybe someone has to slap them or throw cold water in their face. But, there has to be some shock to the system to get their attention away from repeating that bad mental state.

You’ve seen this pattern-breaker happen for baseball teams in the past. Maybe it’s an on-the-field brawl that will wake up a team. Or, maybe it’s a big trade – moving someone who they team never thought would be traded. But, most of the time, it’s a matter of firing the manager.

At this point in Yankeeland, it’s time to strongly consider letting Joe Torre go – in an attempt to shock the team and break the pattern that this unit has formed this season.

It might work – or, it might do nothing. In any event, it’s the only thing left for the Yankees to try now. Perhaps someone “new” (read not someone on the current staff) can be a spark for this team to start winning some games and get back into the wildcard chase?

Put it this way: How much worse could things get with a change? There’s probably little downside to letting Joe go, and, maybe, you might get lucky with the move.

The Yankees are not a great team. But, they have some talent. It’s not like they’re the Devil Rays, Royals or Rangers. Even with their flaws, they should at least be a few games over .500 at this point. The fact that they’re playing this poorly, when they need (in the worst way) to show some life, is a sign that they have flatlined.

It’s time for team management to break out the defibrillator. Again, maybe it’s too late? But, you have to at least try now. Inaction will only lead to no change in the Yankees current state. Taking some action, in an attempt to break the pattern, albeit not a guarantee of solution, at least shows that the Yankees don’t want this state to continue and are willing to try and stop it.

It’s a Hail Mary pass type move, sure. But, it’s better than what’s happening now – which is the Yankees just taking a knee.

It’s time for Big Stein and Cashman to huddle up between now and May 31st and get a new, fresh, guy at the wheel to start the month of June.

Four months should be enough time to make a run at the wildcard – if the Yankees can get back to a better state now. But, that’s not going to happen without a change. It’s time for the only change possible at this point: Let Joe go.

The Yankees are now six games below .500 (on the season). They’ve lost three in a row, seven of their last ten, and ten of their last fifteen games.

New York now trails Boston by 12.5 games in the A.L. East. (This is their largest hole since 1995 – when they were 16 games back in August.) The Yankees are also 8 games back of the A.L. Wildcard – with seven teams in front of them.

The Yankees, this season, have found every way possible to lose a ballgame. No starting pitching. No hitting when they get starting pitching. Or, maybe, like today, it’s no hitting, good starting pitching, and the bullpen that fails.

At this point, in terms of the Yankees season, well…

The dream is gone,
and I have become,
comfortably numb.

I have to say, in the first couple of innings, it looked like Worm Killer Wang was going to serve up a laugher for the Angels. But, he came around and did a very nice, overall, job.

Today was one of those “My wife was right” days.

At the start of the bottom of the ninth, we had this exchange:

Me: The Yankees are going to win this game in their last At Bat.

Her: No, this is no longer the same team.

Me: No, when I went to my first game, the Yankees won the game in the bottom of the ninth. It’s only right that they do it again on our kid’s first game.

Even when Giambi and Cano opened up the bottom of the ninth with punch-outs, I was still thinking/rooting positive. And, when Damon and Cabrera reached with two outs, I was really feeling it. But, Abreu went down and the game was over. Yanks lose, 3-1, and, a bummer of a game for the kid’s first time in the Bronx.

My wife is right: This is no longer the same team.

I guess it could have been worse. We were sitting in Section 6 of the Main Reserve. The section next to us (Section 4) must have been the Angels comp-tickets section. There were at least 150 Angels fans sitting there. They fell into the following groups: Blonde Valley-Girl types, Hoochie Mama types, or the extended family members of Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Molina and Kelvim Escobar. (I say the latter because there were a ton of Guerrero, Molina and Escobar jerseys there.)

They were a pretty polite group. They cheered – but not too loud. And, they did not try and rub anything in the faces of the Yankees fans around them. I’ve seen fans of other teams act much worse at the Stadium…lots of times.

I heard on the radio post-game, on the way home, that Torre was pissed with the umps for the called strike on Abreu in the ninth. Suzyn Waldman said it was the first time she could recall hearing Torre blame the umpires for being a part in costing the Yankees a game. Sounds like Joe and his boys are starting to get frustrated. I think they know it’s a sinking ship and the water is rushing in hard. They’re grabbing for anything at this point…if they want to blame the ump for blowing one called strike.

Just look at the Yankees record this season. New York is playing like a bad baseball team. That’s why they’re losing games. That’s it – and it alone.

I want to give Matt DeSalvo a buddy pass on this one tonight too. It’s been eight days since he last pitched in a game. That’s too long. Of course, for a guy like him, he’s not going to have any command with a lay-off like that one.

Luis Vizcaíno? Well, I’m beginning to believe he’s a cat person – because he’s been “putting out the fire with gasoline” just about every time out.

I’ll be at the game tomorrow. I hope the Yankees give a little better effort in that contest.

Here’s a fact for you: The Yankees will have to win every game left in May to have a record over .500 on June 1st. (All those wins would put them one game over the mark.) The last time the Yankees were not a .500 team on June 1st? That was back in 1995. However, that season was not a full season. The last time the Yankees were not a .500 team on June 1st – when it was a full season – was 1991.

The Yankees finished 1991 with a record of 71-91 (which left them 20 games out of first place).

And, as much as I want to say “I told you so” and point to Mussina’s oreo performance tonight – crunchy start, sweet middle, crunchy end – and blame Moose’s hits and runs allowed for this loss, at the end of the day, it was the Yankees weak bats against a weak pitcher which makes Mussina’s failure today a moot item. (And, yes, I know about the blown call in the seventh on the Crisp steal. Sorry, that doesn’t give Moose a pass for allowing all those hits in this game.)

This loss sets-up an interesting match-up tomorrow. Will Curt Schilling win and put a huge nail in the Yankees hopes to get into the A.L. East race? Or, will Andy Pettitte perform CPR for the Yankees and allow New York to prove that their overall streak of poor play in 2007 is coming to an end?

Five days ago, I made the following prediction: “If, at the close of business on May 23rd, the Yankees are 13.5 games out of first (or greater), there will be an organizational meeting in Tampa on May 24th and Joe Girardi will be managing the Yankees on May 25th.”

A loss tomorrow would put the Yankees 11.5 games back of Boston at the close of business on May 23rd. As such, I do not think a loss tomorrow will cost Joe Torre his job. However, if the Yankees lose tomorrow and then split their next 6 games, or worse, you still might see that organizational meeting – just a week later (being held on May 31st).

The Yankees play Boston again on June 1st – in Fenway for three games – including a FOX game on Saturday and an ESPN game on Sunday. I would have to think that Big Stein would want the ship to be right by then – or have a new skipper at the wheel (if Team Torre has another bad week).

It’s a good thing Andy Pettitte has broad shoulders. There’s a lot riding on them tomorrow. Of course, if the Yankees bats pull another no-show, even Pettitte may not matter.

We’ll start with the traffic report. It took me 90 minutes to drive 55 miles into the game today. But, that was with me leaving at 4:15 pm for a 7:00 pm game. Had I left later, I’m sure it would have taken longer – considering how many empty seats could be found inside the Stadium during the first inning or two this evening. Going home was a little better: 80 minutes to travel 52 miles. However, I had a couple of breaks there. First, I stayed until the last out of the game – and many, many, people left before that. Secondly, I drove out of the parking garage against the direction arrows and that led me to an exit that everyone seemed to forget…and I saved a ton of time that would normally be wasted sitting, snaked in line, trying to get out of the garage. (I also drove a tad over the speed limit on the NJT and GSP – given it was so late in the night as I was driving home.) So, other than the price I’ll pay for leaving work early, overall, it was not all that bad coming and going today – even with it being a Sox game.

I attended this game with frequent WasWatching.com commentor “MJ” – and that also made going to this game a pleasant event. “MJ” is an astute and zealous Yankees fan. And, what’s not to like about going to a game with an astute and zealous Yankees fan?

Lastly, on top of the favorable traffic results and top-notch game-mate, and, before I forget to mention it…the Yankees won!

Looks like I got the hat trick.

There were so many positives in this game. A-Rod’s homer in the first primed the pump. Wang’s whiff of Youkilis in the second took Jeter off the hook. Cano’s two-out triple in the fifth was clutch. Bruney getting Manny on strikes in the seventh was a huge moment. Cano’s play on Lugo’s grounder in the eighth saved the day.

I was surprised to see Torre have Wang come out to start the seventh – given his pitch count. And, during the seventh and the eighth it seemed like Torre had the reliever-go-round running on full steam. Most importantly, from the fourth inning until the last out, this game had a nervous feel to it…as it seemed like Boston was too close for comfort, in terms of the overall score.

But, in the end, the win is the only thing that matters. The Yankees needed this win. I knew it. “MJ” knew it. The polite Boston fan sitting in front of me wearing the “Wakefield” road uniform knew it. The concession stand vendors throughout the Loge who told me the Stadium was out of hot pretzels by the sixth inning today knew it. The many, many, young drunk fans at the game tonight knew it. The nuts involved in the half-dozen (or so) fights which broke out in the stands this evening knew it. And, the Yankees knew it – as did the Red Sox.

This is now two big wins in a row for the Yankees. Can they make it into three? We’ll know for sure in about 24 hours. Until then, enjoy this one Yankees fans. Enjoy the stuffing out of it.

Clippard was entertaining to watch. He was more animated out there than I recall seeing from him in the past. Not like Mark Fidrych or Pascual Perez – but, he was pumped for this game, for sure. And, Tyler had a great sense of timing too – waiting until after The Sopranos to get his first big league hit.

When you factor in Clippard, Hughes, DeSalvo, Karstens and Chase Wright – the Yankees, without question, have some very good young arms that should be peaking at the big league level just in time for the new Stadium.

Nice to see A-Rod go deep for the second game in a row. And, it appears that Abreu may be coming around. The Yankees will need them with Boston in town now.

This game was a big win for Torre. Even if he just wins one game against the Red Sox this week, Joe should be safe for a while. But, if he lost three against the Mets and then two (or more) to Boston, it would have been bad news for him.

I’ll be at the game tonight. Funny, I’m more nervous about getting there in time for the first pitch, because of work and traffic, than I am about the game itself. Being 10.5 games back will do that to you, I suppose. Actually, I do have some fear about the game: Tim Wakefield. If he’s on, he could put the Yankees hitters (who appear to be coming around) back into a funk. Let’s hope that his knuckler is flat tonight. According to the forecast, the winds will be SE at 6-15 MPH this evening. That means they will be blowing out to right-center and not all that strong. That should help. A strong wind from the north-west would help the knuckleball dance more. Let’s hope the weather man got this one right.