Somebody has to "fill the hole" in the pitching staff ... get it?

Whenever David Wells pitches, the headlines either proclaim "all's wells" or "all's not wells."

Whenever Jaret Wright pitches, the headlines either proclaim "all's wright" or "all's not wright."

Very clever.

But I shudder to think what the headlines will read when Chien-Ming Wang pitches for the Yankees this Saturday.


As for the content of George King's article, I would like to point out that filling in for Jaret Wright should not be too difficult. If Wang can manage an era of 9.14, he'd be pitching better than Wright.

Also, let me ask you a question, loyal reader: Do you know a single person who believed the Yankees would go post to wire in the AL East this year and cruise through October?

I think the Yankees are still slight favorites to win the World Series in 2005, but nobody thought the Red Sox were just going to disappear.

George King remembers differently. He knows many of these imaginary prognosticators:

"After last year's ALCS meltdown against the Red Sox, the Yankees made rebuilding their rotation the No. 1 offseason priority. The price tag for Randy Johnson ($57 million), Carl Pavano ($40 million) and Jaret Wright ($21 million) totaled $118 million and had many believing the Yankees would go post to wire in the AL East and cruise through October."

Look, the Yankees have played poorly through 19 games. The Yankees will always have higher expectations due to their payroll and, to some extent, their history of success.

But now King is not only judging the Yankees against unrealistic expectations ... he's judging them against imaginary expectations.