AL East

Much is being made about the New York Yankees’ terrible start to the season, specifically the epic fail of their top two pitchers in their opening series against the Baltimore Orioles.

I get that the Yankees are the flagship franchise of Major League Baseball, so their struggles become instant ammunition for angry white journalists to fire off in prematurely-damning columns.

But is this really a question of the overpaid Yankees being that terrible, or the Baltimore Orioles being a much-improved club?

CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira had two horrendous opening days, but are you honestly going to start freaking out about them? I hope not.

Their performances yesterday were nothing like what these players are used to doing. Sabathia walked five batters yesterday, and he averaged 2.1 walks per nine innings last season. Teixeira went 0-for-4 with five runners left on base, and Teixeira drove in 121 runs last season.

Major League Baseball instituted a new rule allowing the umpires to watch instant replays of controversial home run calls last season. I’m wondering if that rule has carried over into 2009.

Last season, Alex Rodriguez hit a home run that looked like it was easily fair at the time, but the umpires took an extra five minutes to check it out.

So, how was your cool, damp Friday night?

Good?

Mine was better.

After six stifling hours of class, subsisting on cheap sushi and stuff you get out of the vending machine, my friend Brent and I headed to the New Yankee Stadium to catch the exhibition Cubs-Yankees game.