Yankees notes from last place

The 2008 New York Yankees reside in the cellar of the AL East. The news surrounding a team that leads the sport in payroll and expectations is dour. Here are some depressing notes:

• "Andy Pettitte is 0-4 with an ERA of 6+ in his last 5 starts" (SNY.) The pressure on ace Chien-Ming Wang is off the charts. He is in the position of having to win and go deep every start. Good luck with that.
• Kyle Farnsworth gives up his 6TH dinger in 20 innings. The SNY booth comments, "He took the mound with gasoline in his pocket... he has a reputation of being temperamental and volatile."--Keith Hernandez
• Listening to a Yankees game on Met's channel SNY presents a different perspective then the home cooking of YES. Analysts Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling were bewildered about the lack of a lefty in the Bombers' pen, "It's inconceivable that you wouldn't have that option." (paraphrased.)
• Rudderless ship? "there's no exact timetable" for shifting Chamberlain out of his critical setup role.
  Girardi said that the club's needs would dictate any move, and added that, "I feel we have enough starting pitching" to compete. General manager Brian Cashman said Chamberlain is "a reliever right now," because "that's where he's needed." (Newsday)
• SI reports on the Bombers' brass, "Hank blames Cashman for everything." Cash responds, "The Steinbrenners are the custodians of the greatest franchise in sports history. When things don't go well, there's uncomfortableness. And it's my job to deal with it." Here's Cashman dealing with it, "We're a good team playing poorly. We're not a misjudged team." Of course not, if they were "misjudged" it would lead to more "uncomfortableness" on Cash's part. Politics is clearly in this guys future--the sooner the better.
• A step in the right direction: "We've been telling these guys we want to be more aggressive."--Bobby Meachem

Photo/Newsday