(Baltimore’s Miguel Tejada, hitting a grand slam in the 2nd inning)

With the Yankees sinking to 4-8 following Kevin Brown’s miserable 2005 debut against the Orioles, Mount Steinbrenner errupted after the loss. From the Associated Press :

“Enough is enough. I am bitterly disappointed, as I’m sure all Yankee fans are, by the lack of performance by our team,” Steinbrenner said in a statement issued immediately after the game. “It is unbelievable to me that the highest-paid team in baseball would start the season in such a deep funk. They are not playing like true Yankees. They have the talent to win and they are not winning. I expect Joe Torre, his complete coaching staff and the team to turn this around.”

It is really unbelieveable to George that Kevin Brown still sucks? That Bernie Williams is one year older? That the juiceless Jason Giambi is no match for the juiced Jason Giambi? That after 5 years of heavy use, Jorge Posada looks like he could use a week off? That New York’s idea of a youth movement was to bring back Tino Martinez and sign Tony Womack? Under whose supervision did the Yankees sign the old and aching Gary Sheffield a year ago? Whose money is paying the salary of 41 year old Randy Johnson?

Having a $200 million salary is all good and fine, but even with the huge margin for error that allows, the all-universe Yankees are old, old, old. And it isn’t as though the Red Sox or Orioles stood pat, nor are the Blue Jays likely to have as shitty a year as they did in 2004.


(in between the time this picture was taken and the ball hitting Doug Mirabelli’s mitt, one could consume 3 Fenway Franks, 1 Hood Sport bar, write a negative review of “Fever Pitch” and burn a CDR of the new Kylesa album).

Watching major league hitters flail away at Tim Wakefield’s knuckler never gets old. Pretty entertaining, then, watching the Devil Rays struggle with it, too. Not the best of days of days for former Mets product Scott Kazmir, which indicates that Al Leiter is still learning the finer points of voodoo (stabbing the Scott doll in the eyes would be rather blatant, chewing on the elbow, however, might produce the desired results).