Jeez, tough crowd.

Do we have to go through this every April?

This April, it's Rivera; last April, it was Jeter; every previous April, it was Bernie (though this year, he really might not break out of it). Stats shouldn't even be mentioned until the batter has 150 at-bats and the pitcher makes 10 starts.

Yesterday was a bad game for the Yankees (the only team that can't hit Tim Wakefield), but it's still only one game.

The Yankees are suddenly too old and lethargic instead of the Fat Cat Red Sox, the Yankees aren't playing up to their salaries, the Yankees stink and ARod is the #1 stinker of the stinkies.

(The good news is that the Yankees are still clinging to a one-game lead in the Battle for New York.)


George King even seems to think that "Seven games hardly make a season, but that's all we have to go on at this point, and it's ugly early."

Exactly the opposite. Baseball is always unpredictable in the short term but evens out in the long run. Always. It's why I know Pat Burrell is not going to lead the NL in RBIs ... even though, after seven games, it's "all I have to go on."

If that's really all you have to go on ... if you're admitting that you're intellectual capacity is that limited ... then maybe you should go back to the Belt Parkway Community College and finish up that course in Creative Thinking.


John Harper chips in with this inane analysis of ARod's contributions to Yankee losses:

"Wednesday

With the Yankees leading 3-2 in the ninth inning and the bases loaded, Manny Ramirez hits a double play ball at Rodriguez, who fumbles it and is unable to get even one out on the play as the tying run scores. The Red Sox go on to score four more runs in the inning and win 7-3.

Friday

With the Yankees threatening to get back into the game in the eighth inning, Rodriguez grounds out with the bases loaded to end the threat, capping an 0-for-5 night - each at-bat with runners on base. The Yanks lose 12-5."

Etc., etc.

(By the way, I looked up the at-bat on Friday night. Harper forgets to mention that the score was already Baltimore 11, Yankees 4. The Yankees load the bases in the bottom of the eighth with two outs, down by seven runs, and Harper thinks that's "threatening to get back into the game." Even if ARod hits a homerun -- not even Babe Ruth hit a homerun every at-bat -- the Yankees lose that game.)

The Yankees lose a game 8-1 ... the Yankees score 1 run on only 6 hits ... and it must be ARod's fault.

It's just a dumb way to look at things. If you go looking for baseball players to fail in individual games, in specific at-bats, you're going to find mostly failure.