"Dillon Gee suffocated the Yankees over 7 1/3 innings en route to a 3-1 win for the Mets, which means that the Yankees have dropped all four games to the Mets, which means that the Yankees have now lost seven of their last nine.
While getting swept by an otherwise middling team like the Mets in a rivalry series is bad enough, the larger concern for the Yankees is that they may regressing to reasonable expectations. How long could they continue to thrive on the dubious backs of Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner and Lyle Overbay? Perhaps not beyond the month of May, as it turns out.
Presumably, the Yankees will get healthier, but the problem is that aging warhorses like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez -- as great as their careers have been -- carry no guarantees. Actually, it's quite possible Jeter and Rodriguez will resume their declines, with both bat and glove. To boot, the schedule isn't going to get much easier (remaining opponents have an average winning percentage of .510), and the AL East is, of course, a tough loop."
The second wave of injuries -- Nunez, Cervelli, Youkilis, and Pettitte -- should not be overlooked.
Wells, Overbay, and Hafner may very well regress to reasonable expectations.
Jeter and ARod carry no guarantees -- no player carries guarantees. But, in order to improve the team, the returning Yankees simply have to outperform Romine, the recently-departed Francisco, and Brignac. These clowns have a combined batter average of around .100.
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