So, what does one say after a week like the Yankees have had? Glad it didn't occur right out of the gates such as it did for the Sox and Rays? It's taken both those ballclubs over a month to crawl from their wreckage of awful starts. But the Rays are now in first and the Sox have climbed over the .500 mark (thanks in no small part to the Yankees) and are now in a virtual tie for second with the Yanks. Better still a total meltdown such as what is going on in the Bronx didn't happen in September. But where does that leave the club?

The surprisingly good starting pitching is still a question mark. CC will be better of that be certain, but what can really be expected from AJ? No one, not the pitcher himself or Rothschild, the pitching coach brought in primarily to straighten out the uncertain righthander can tell you what the whole season will bring. Nova is a two-steps forward, one-step back guy right now, but that could easily be reversed. And we will have to wait and see when Hughes comes back what he has got. Colon and Garcia, ostensibly starters five and six have really done the job. They've kept the Yankees in nearly every game they've hurled even if they're not what you would call innings-eaters. The bullpen has been up and down and may just be that way -- outside of the ever-steady Mariano Rivera -- and without some help (both from the starters and maybe from outside) that is how it could be all season long.

But it is mid-May and some teams are already looking forward to next year. At some point Cashman is going to have to step up and do that part of his job that he gets paid for -- bringing in a big arm or a big bat that can really help this team. Liriano from the Twins did I hear you say? I wonder if Andy Pettitte has been working out back home with the family in Texas.

The lineup hasn't clicked on all cylinders yet this season and in some ways that bodes well. Unless pretty much the entire 1-9 has below average seasons this team is going to hit - and more than just homeruns. I give A-Rod a pass; I think he's been playing in pain with the oblique injury for some time, but with Chavez on the DL and Nunez butchering as many plays in the field as he makes, what are the options but to put him in every day and leave him in the clean-up spot? It's not like Cano has made it easy for Girardi by stepping up and we see what happens when the skipper tries to move a Yankee great down in the line-up, don't we?

So, the season is a quarter over. The Yanks had had enough to win leading into this past week, but now with both the Sox playing as early season pundits predicted and the Rays really exceeding expectations (that Crawford for Fuld "trade" a great one for TB) the Bronx Bombers are going to need to re-group and start hitting and fielding closer to capabilities. You're never as good as when things are right and as bad as when they are not, but another 120 games will prove that out-- one way or ther other...

Cheers,
Brian