The humiliation of the final loss in San Francisco comes from watching a $200 million team starting Melky Cabrera, Miguel Cairo, Kevin Thompson, and Wil Nieves. It comes from the desperation that saw Roger Clemens enter the late innings in relief, only to give up another run. Is this the kind of team that $200 million buys? The Yankees are experiencing the same 2007 that the Red Sox endured last season. One of the sport's highest priced teams playing like a 3rd place plodder. The frustration comes from not being able to put your finger on one major problem. It's endemic.
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I'll never give up on the season. There's a lot of baseball left, and we've seen what this group is capable of, but I think the 2008 Yankees need to look a lot different than this team. Even if, by some miracle, the Bombers win the Series this year, the signs are all there. You can't count on a team of aging players to stay consistent. They are just as talented as they were in their salad days, but they are old. They can't do it everyday anymore. Consistent are A-Rod, and Jeter, and Posada. The rest, not so much. The pitching is especially guilty of this, but you can hardly blame a pitcher for getting old.