Playa Hatin the Rest of the AL.

It's obvious that a group of sportswriters makes a living just playa hatin the Yankees (Rocca, Lupica, Olney, etc.).  They barely hide their contempt for the team.  But they go too far when it warps their own ability to analyze baseball.

After picking the Yankees to miss the playoffs for two years in a row, Rocca now is convinced that the Yankees are far worse than they really are:

"He's spent $183 million on a club that might be an underdog in a five-game series against the Twins, Rangers or A's if it were to start today."

Or Olney, whose "analysis" is merely reciting every possible worst-case scenario for the Yankees:

"Javier Vazquez is struggling to get some life on his fastball and has a 7.29 ERA in July; Kevin Brown is on the disabled list, and may or may not be activated later this week; Mike Mussina reportedly suffered a setback this weekend as he played catch, aggravating his sore elbow; the 39-year-old Orlando Hernandez has pitched well in three starts after missing last year; Jon Lieber is pitching but has trouble maintaining arm strength; and Tanyon Sturtze injured the pinky finger of his right hand in Saturday's fight and can't throw his changeup."

 
I have no idea who'd win a five-game series, any team vs. any other team.  That's baseball.  Sure, the Yankee starting staff is quite shaky without Mussina and Brown, that kind of goes without saying.  No team in baseball is five deep in their starting staff, much less seven deep.

But imagine for a moment if these sportswriters applied the same type of cataclysmic analysis to the pitching staffs of the Yankee opposition in the AL.

Do  they seriously trust Kenny Rogers in a big spot?  Can Rocca even name another starter on the Rangers besides Rogers?  Can anybody?

Do they just think Zito will magically return to form and Hudson's injury is no big deal (even though Mussina's injury must be a big deal)?

What's Pedro's ERA in July?  (It's 6.53, I checked.)  That's not a problem, but the new stat "July ERA" is a problem for Vazquez for some unexplained reason.  Didn't Schilling just get shelled by the Yankees?  Pitched worse than Jon Freakin Lieber.

If Contreras should worry Yankee fans, should Terry Mulholland and Seth Greisinger worry Twins fans?  Or will the Yankee lineup be completely intimidated by the Unhittable Brad Radke?

What it boils down to is that "Yankee winning" is a boring story.  "Yankee losing" is news.  But Yankee hatin is getting quite tired ... and downright stupid.