Game 2 - Wang Pitches Batting Practice

Whoa, I just realized I had a case of dyslexia the other day when I wrote out my season projections. I meant the Yankees would win 49 games, not 94. The Baltimore No Names have totally outclassed the Yanks in the first 2 games. The ghost of Yankee Killer Past, Kevin Millar must have visited them. In the meantime, the Yankees front office needs serious plumbing work. If anyone knows a good plumber, please call Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner brothers. So far, in first two games, 2 out of the 3 major free agent signings seem like the Yanks have flushed $340M down the toilet and it is clogged pretty badly. Sabathia was terrible and Mark Teixeira looks absolutely lost at the plate. AJ Burnett goes tomorrow to try and salvage something out of the Baltimore series.

Meanwhile, the Yankees starting pitching, which was thought to be seriously addressed in the offseason, is not living up to the hype. Chien-Ming Wang looked like he was throwing batting practice to the Orioles tonight. He lasted 11 outs while allowing 12 base runners. If his sinker ball isn't dipping, batters are going to tee off on that flat fastball that finds the heart of the plate every time. Nick Markakis had a field day, going 3-3 with a single, double and 2-run HR.

Though the Yankee hitters made the 7-5 loss look respectable, after initially falling behind 7-1, they are still exhibiting the same terrible symptoms that plagued them throughout all of last season. Once again, I had to witness the Yankees strand a base runner on third base with no outs. Cano reached third base in the 6th inning on a wild pitch after he doubled in Posada. Nady lined out to short and Ransom, the man that's suppose to make us forget about Madonna's ex-boyfriend, Arod, popped up on a pitch down the middle of the plate. These guys have immediately made my list, joining Jeter, who failed in Game 1 in a similar situation. Tex has gotten a case of the Cano, popping up 3 times. Matsui has got to stop bailing out every time he swings a bat - he looks like a scared little leaguer. Will someone please teach Japanese hitters to step towards the pitch and not bail out?

To compound matters, the Yanks had a visit from another ghost of seasons past - they still cannot beat a pitcher they have never faced before. Who is Koji Uehara? He didn't last past 4 innings all spring, yet here he was, slicing through the Yanks lineup. I was beginning to think I was exaggerating this phenomenon, but Yankee announcers confirmed my observation. What's frightening is the fact that I've seen rookie pitchers with ERAs over 7.00 mow this team down. Who, for the love of God, is doing the scouting for this team? Is this why they pay their players well? There's no scouting? I bet Uehara gets lit up in his next start.

Cano, who last season was the King of the Pop Up, has shown early signs of life again, going 2-4. Unfortunately, he's passed his dreaded pop up disease from last season to his first base counterpart. Jeter has also gotten off to a good start, going 5-9 in the first 2 games. Perhaps he's trying to make us forget he can't get to any grounder to his left. The Yanks bullpen also performed brilliantly, pitching 4+ innings of no-hit ball. Too bad Wang had already ensured the game was out of hand before he departed. Last year, I read an article on SI.com that the Taiwanese economy performs nearly 20% better when Wang has a good start. I'm sure the Taiwan market crashed today after that dreadful performance.

Last year, the Yankees bullpen pitched the second most innings in baseball. It seems like they are determined to come in first this year, and that is NOT a good thing.

This just in - there was a Mark Teixeira sighting. He finally got his first Yankee hit and RBI in the 9th.

Yanks Record:  0-2