I hate Boone Logan. Some say “hate” is too strong of a word, but when it comes to Boone Logan, I just don’t think any other word could justify my feelings about his pitching. Maybe it’s unfair to hate a guy who doesn’t decide when he is brought into games, and maybe it makes sense to hate the guy that brings him into the games. Either way, I am not a fan of Boone Logan and I am not sure how anyone could be.

Logan is the latest in the era of horrible left-handed relievers that the Yankees have tried to make into something they are not. This era of bad lefties started when Mike Stanton left the Yankees for the first time after 2002, and except for Damaso Marte’s postseason performance last fall, it has yet to end.

Logan is the Yankees’ Creed Bratton. No one is exactly sure how he has a job or what his job is, but he manages to hang around despite these things. He wasn’t good enough to make the Yankees out of spring training, but suddenly he is a jack-of-all-trades for the Bombers. If he’s a lefty specialist, shouldn’t he just pitch to lefties? Instead, he pitches when the Yankees are leading and when they are trailing. He faces lefties and righties, and he comes in with men on base and also to start innings. There isn’t a situation Joe Girardi doesn’t like for Boone Logan. The only problem is that there isn’t a situation that Logan likes for himself.

On a night when former Yankee Phil Coke got Randy Winn to pop up with runners on the corners in a crucial spot, Boone Logan showed Coke that he has stepped in and filled the void as “the last possible person you want to see coming out of the bullpen.”  Logan pitched just one inning, but managed to allow a hit, walk two and give up a run that was the difference in the 5-4 loss.

On the Winn at-bat … The Yankees trailed 5-4. There were runners on first and third and one out and Phil Coke was on the mound. Winn had never faced Coke before, so I’m sure Kevin Long went over Coke’s arsenal with him, and I’d like to think the conversation went like this:

Winn: So, what’s he got?

Long: If Boone Logan were any worse, he’d be Phil Coke.

Coke got behind Winn 2-0. The chance of walking prior to the at-bat was 90 percent. After two straight balls (both of which were in the dirt) it had escalated to 100 percent. But on the 2-0 pitch, Winn decided he would become an RBI machine, and he swung at a high pitch that would have produced a 3-0 count if he didn’t swing. And just like that, the eighth-inning rally died.

Up until his trade to the Tigers, I had seen every appearance of Phil Coke’s in the majors. He is as scared of throwing strikes as I am of life without Derek Jeter once he retires. Coke was the least trustworthy pitcher the Yankees had seen since Tanyon Sturtze graced the Bronx with his presence. As a Yankee, he was just another lefty that couldn’t get the job done, and I’m sure over time, Tigers fans will come to realize this.

But Coke isn’t alone. Ron Villone, Buddy Groom, Wayne Franklin and Gabe White were all awful as well. The only problem is that they haven’t even been the worst of the post-Stanton era. When it comes to finding the worst Yankee lefty since 2002, none of those pitchers hold a candle to these three (in no specific order):

Number 34, Sean Henn, Number 34
Ahh, Sean Henn. When you hear the old adage that “lefties will get a million chances and hard-throwing lefties will get a million more,” think of Henn. He could throw in the high-90s. The only problem was no one knew where the ball was going when it left his hand. Once it got to the plate, it usually ended up outside the strike zone or in a gap in the outfield somewhere.

I remember seeing Henn start against the Mets on June 25, 2005 and he had his typical outing, (4.1 IP, 6 ER) in which he gave up three home runs. Two of them were to Cliff Floyd, and the first of the two I honestly thought was going to clear the right-field upper deck and land on top of Stan’s.

When people say that if the Mets released Oliver Perez, 20 teams would be willing to pick him up, it’s true. The only problem is that some lefties, no matter how hard they throw just can’t cut it. Sean Henn should be enough evidence for the Mets to realize that the chances of him going somewhere else and succeeding aren’t worth holding onto him. Henn has yet to have success in the majors, but he is still pitching for the Blue Jays’ Triple-A team in Las Vegas. As unbelievable as it is, he will always have a job pitching for some organization.

Number 36, Mike Myers, Number 36
If you looked at Mike Myers’ numbers from 2006 and 2007, you’d probably wonder why he’s on this list. But if you watched him during that time, you fully understand.

There was a time when the Yankees just started recycling the garbage from the Red Sox bullpen. And it just so happened to come after the ALCS loss in 2004. Don’t want Mike Myers? We’ll take him. Don’t want Alan Embree? We’ll take him. The Yankees became the dump for unusable Red Sox talent and even Mark Bellhorn (who magically came alive in Games 6 and 7 of the 2004 ALCS) managed to get in a few games in the Bronx. I’m still waiting for Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz to get their Yankee contracts.

Myers had one job with the Yankees: Get David Ortiz out. He was as good as this job as Isiah Thomas was at his with the Knicks.

If I could sum up Mike Myers’ time with the Yankees in one game it would have to be May 19, 2007 against the Mets. Darrell Rasner started and allowed two hits on nine pitches before getting hurt and leaving the game. Myers came in and allowed both of Rasner’s runners to score, and then gave up four earned runs of his over two innings. Unable to stop the damage and prevent further damage. That was Mike Myers.

Number 61, Billy Traber, Number 61
Before Billy Traber ever put on a Yankees uniform, he had a 5.41 ERA in 76 career games. Why wouldn’t the $200-million Yankees want him to be their left-handed specialist?

Traber only appeared in 19 games in 2008 for the Yankees, but that was enough. The newest edition of “the lefty the Yankees signed solely to get out David Ortiz” needed just 16 2/3 innings to allow 23 hits, post a WHIP of nearly 2 and an ERA of 7.02. Traber pitched at least a full inning 10 times with the Yankees, and only once did he do so without allowing someone to reach base.

For once, the Red Sox decided to take some of the Yankees’ bullpen trash, and Traber got into one game for the Red Sox last season, and it was against the Yankees. His line: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 12.27 ERA. At least the Yankees got back one of the many wins Traber cost them the year before. Good old Billy Traber.

When Andy Pettitte left Wednesday’s game after the fifth inning and 77 pitches, I thought I might have seen No. 46 walk off the field for the last time ever. Hearing “tightness in the elbow” with 37-year-old lefties who have been mulling retirement for four years is like hearing “broken leg” for a fallen horse at the Derby.

Hopefully the inflammation in Pettitte’s elbow is just that and a missed turn in the rotation will be enough to get him back on track and let him continue the best start to a season in his career. If not, then there’s a problem for a rotation that includes the incompetent Javier Vazquez who is being skipped over on Friday because of a mental injury and not a physical one. But we’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it.

Pettitte’s injury, coupled with the minor injuries to Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada has the Core Four suddenly being the Sore Four and people are just waiting to see what type of injury Derek Jeter will come up with. And all of this is apparently because the old guard appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It’s obvious that the Sports Illustrated cover jinx is to blame for the injuries, and not the fact that Pettitte is 37, Rivera is 40 and Posada is 38.

I believe in the Sports Illustrated jinx and all curses as much as I believe in the abilities of Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan. I don’t understand the whole no-hitter or perfect game jinx thing either. How can someone watching the game at home on their TV who says “no-hitter” during one change the outcome of a pitch thrown by someone who doesn’t know they exist? Did no one in the world say “it” when Ubaldo Jimenez threw a no-no on April 17? Doubtful.

But the same way I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy at one point in my life, I did believe in jinxes and curses, or at least one curse. A few games in October 2004 changed that.

This weekend the Yankees have a chance to do something they haven’t had a chance to do since 2006: Go to Fenway Park and end the Red Sox’ season. And in 2006 they didn’t get that chance until August.

Sitting five games up (six in the loss column) with two games in hand, the Yankees have a chance to bury the Red Sox in the AL East and make “run prevention” just as evil to say in Boston as it to say “Bucky Dent” or “Aaron Boone.” The Yankees have a chance to officially make the AL East race a two-team race (if it isn’t already) and push the Red Sox back under .500, where they have been treading water since the start of the year.

Yes, the Red Sox are winners of four straight, but those four were against the awful Angels (losers of seven straight) and who might be just as bad as the Orioles (who swept the Red Sox last weekend. I guess Mike Scioscia isn’t looking like much of a genius these days with that 12-18 record. The Angels are a mess, but at the same time, it looks like the Red Sox might be coming out of their month-long coma. If that’s the case, it’s time to pull the plug and make sure they don’t wake up.

There is enough trouble in the division right now with the Rays winning every day and Tampa Bay apparently not an option on the injury bug’s GPS. The last thing I need is the Red Sox coming around the corner like Super Saver. Let the city of Boston focus on the NHL and NBA playoffs and trying to keep their water clean. The Yankees need to further distance themselves from the Red Sox this weekend, and here’s how:

The Heart
When was the last time A-Rod dropped an A-Bomb over the Green Monster and onto the Mass. Pike? I don’t know either, but I am ready for him to revisit Lansdowne Street this weekend. I am still waiting for the best 3-4 combination in the league from 2009 to show up in 2010.

Tex has come alive in May, as expected, (7-for-20, five RBIs in five games), and with Nick Johnson showing a pulse on Wednesday, all the Yankees need is for A-Rod to find his power stroke to get the heart of the order to start beating again.

At some point in the near future, Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli are going to stop raking (at least I think they will) and the Yankees are going to need Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez to be Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. Why not in Boston?

The Phranchise
Series sweeps and series wins come with your Game 1 starter, and in this case it happens to be Phil Hughes who gets the ball on Friday night. Hughes has made everyone forget about the deal that would have brought Johan Santana to the Bronx, and Johan has done his part (Thanks, Phillies) in helping everyone forget as well.

Hughes is 3-0 and could be 4-0 if Boone Logan and David Robertson weren’t so good at making leads disappear. His counterpart on Friday will Josh Beckett and his shark-tooth necklace, who is carrying around a 6.31 ERA with his new $68 million extension.

Hughes has allowed just 10 hits in 24 innings so far this season, and if he can do what he has done in his first four starts then it will make for a good night and a great start to the weekend.

The Bridge
Right now when the bullpen door opens, only bad things seem to happen. I’m not worried about Mariano Rivera’s health, but I am worried that he hasn’t pitched in a game since last Friday and is now available against the Red Sox in a place where he has had the most trouble in his career. After Mariano, the level of trust falls fast. Here is the pecking order of trust after Mariano:

Alfredo Aceves

Joba Chamberlain

David Robertson

Sergio Mitre

Damaso Marte

Boone Logan

Joba has yet to fully gain back my trust, but he has looked better of late. As for David Robertson, I think he left his deceiving fastball in 2009. If Sergio Mitre has to pitch this weekend, then you can forget a sweep. And if he has to pitch twice, then you can forget about a series win too. You should never be able to trust Mitre over any other pitcher on your team, let alone both the lefties in of the ‘pen.

I am still waiting for an explanation as to why Boone Logan is on the team because being a lefty just isn’t cutting it. He has put seven people on base in three innings, and the Yankees are 2-3 in games he pitches in, and were almost 1-4 thanks to his walk-a-thon in the ninth inning on Wednesday. I pray that the starters go at least seven, and then Boone can stay where he belongs: on the bench.

Is it too early in the season to get on tilt? I don’t think so.

Up until Joe Girardi took out Phil Hughes with two outs in the sixth inning, I was feeling good. Then Boone Logan (who wasn’t good enough to make the team out of spring training but was now being asked to pitch in a one-run game) was called upon to be the “lefty specialist” for the day and retire Luke Scott. Six pitches later, Scott was on first base, and four hitters and a pitching change later and the Orioles had put three runs on the board and suddenly led 4-2. Phil Hughes’ gutsy 5 2/3 inning of work over about two hours was erased in about two minutes.

That’s how things have gone for the Yankees over the last five games. Joe Girardi has been putting out fires with gasoline, and any button he pushes seems to be the wrong one. The Yankees are supposed to get into other teams’ bullpens and put up crooked numbers, not the other way around.

So why has the bullpen become a minefield to Mariano? Maybe it’s the Baseballs Gods making up for Joe Girardi getting three innings of one-hit relief from Chan Ho Park at Fenway Park in the third game of the season. Because let’s be honest, nearly every out in those three innings was a home run. The bullpen has reverted back to its old ways and the only guy I currently trust to get the job done is Mariano, and he never gets to pitch. I feel like the only time I have seen Mariano Rivera this season was when the President Obama acknowledged him on Monday.

Before Tuesday’s game in Baltimore the Yankees were 12-6. Now they are 12-7, which isn’t all that different except they have lost four of five. The Orioles had to win a home game at some point this season, and Kevin Millwood is good veteran pitcher, so I can understand only getting two runs off him in the first 5 2/3 innings. But to not score again until the ninth when the Orioles brought in a recent Triple-A call-up to audition to be their closer? That’s hard to digest. And what makes it even harder is that the Yankees had the heart of their order up against Jim Johnson in the eighth inning, and all they got was a single from Robinson Cano, the only guy who seems to be hitting during this team-wide slide.

This is Jim Johnson we’re talking about. JIM JOHNSON! Aside from Chris Ray and Arthur Rhodes, there is no reliever I like to see coming into a game more than Jim Johnson. Jim Johnson means runs and a lot of them. There are two things I do when Jim Johnson enters a game: (1) Laugh and (2) Get comfortable for what is sure to be a 20-minute inning and a possible bat-around inning. But Johnson retired Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada to work around the Cano single in what was easily the best inning of his career.

When the Yankees were 11-3 everyone was getting a kick out of the fact that the team was winning every game despite the fact that Nick Johnson and Mark Teixeira weren’t hitting and that Javier Vazquez wasn’t pitching. But at some point the players carrying the club were going to slide as well, and you just hoped by then the already slumping players would be out of their funks. Well, that hasn’t happened.

This isn’t an attempt a reverse jinx. At least I don’t think it is. Considering my reverse jinx of Javier Vazquez got him a win in Oakland and then a beatdown in Anaheim and a public beating from Curt Schilling, and my reverse jinx of Nick Johnson got him his first in 18 at-bats and then a place on the bench with a bad back, I think it’s time to stay away from the reverse jinxes for a little. But we’re 19 games into the season and the Yankees are enduring their first slide of the season, so while it might be time to move away from the reverse jinxes, it’s a good time to start pointing fingers.

Javier Vazquez
The Yankees have lost seven games. Javier has lost three of those. He is single-handedly responsible for 43 percent of the Yankees’ losses. So yeah, I’d say it’s OK to point a finger at him. The only thing keeping me from turning my back on Javier is that Curt Schilling had to go run his mouth about Vazquez’s performance. I was pulling for Vazquez to do well before, now I am going to try to will him to do well in spite of Schilling. Vazquez has a big start on Friday night at home, coming off a disastrous loss, facing his old team and his old manager who called him a coward. Right now Ozzie Guillen is smiling and telling the world “I told you so” about Vazquez’s abilities in the American League. Javier has a chance to pull off the trifecta on Friday night: shut up the Yankee Stadium boos, Ozzie and Curt all on the same night.

Nick Johnson
Like the sun coming up in the morning and setting at night, Nick Johnson had a stiff back over the weekend. Yawn… I still believe that sometime in the near future Nick Johnson is going to go off and just start raking at an unbelievable rate. But that’s only because he has no other option but to now. Nick is hitting .135 with one hit in his last 23 at-bats. Yes, he has 10 walks over that time, but he also has scored just two runs in his last 10 games. He came here to be the ultimate No. 2 hitter and table setter, and he has been setting the table to some degree, but now it’s time to swing the bat as well. But some of Nick’s problems are due to …

Mark Teixeira
When Nick Johnson gets on base he usually doesn’t score, and that is because Mark Teixeira likes April as much as I like the Mets. I have been waiting for May just as long as Tex, but come on. At what point does this mega slump become a concern. I’m not going to say I’m concerned just yet since I don’t think there is any way that Tex doesn’t have similar numbers to last year, but I don’t think I can pick on Nick Johnson for not hitting and not include Tex. I sit up at night and pray that these hard-hit outs and walks are a sign that he is coming out of his funk. We all know he is a bona fide slow starter and eventually will play to the back of his baseball card, and if you didn’t know that, Michael Kay will remind you. But if the rest of the team is going to slump, it’s time Tex stepped up. He has had enough time to slump, and it’s time to give someone else a chance.

David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain
Robertson needs to be the most important arm in the bullpen after Mariano and Joba. Actually you could make the case that he needs to be the most important arm after Mariano given Joba’s recent struggles. I am a huge David Robertson fan, and when he was working out of bases-loaded no-out jams in the postseason like David Copperfield or David Blaine, he helped solidify himself in my mind and gain my trust and confidence in big spots. Maybe he hasn’t found his groove yet this season, but Robertson has allowed six runs and 10 hits in five innings. His strikeouts are still there, but Robertson needs to be a guarantee when he comes in because there are too many other question marks in the ‘pen.

We have seen glimpses of Reliever Joba but Starter Joba has been making his fair share of appearances this season as well. I am 100-percent sure that Kendry Morales doesn’t go deep on Friday night if the Joba from the “Joba Mania” days is on the mound. And I know that Hideki Matsui wouldn’t have singled off Joba before Morales came to the plate. Maybe I need to accept the fact that Joba Chamberlain won’t be the Joba Chamberlain from 2007 and the beginning of 2008? But I don’t want to accept that and don’t want to admit it either. All I can do is hope old Joba comes back to us and puts an end to all my worries.

I might be creating an all-new All-Animosity Team in the very near future, or at least adding a new member. Kevin Youkilis has held down first base on the team for a while now, but a new form of evil has developed on the West Coast in the form of Kendry Morales.

The Yankees lost their first series of the season over the weekend because of Kendry Morales’ bat. The implosions of A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez changed the momentum in both losses, but it was Morales who put the finishing touch on the Yankees twice in the late innings.

Maybe the Angels were going to win those games anyways. It’s likely if it wasn’t Morales on Friday night, it would have been someone else, and who’s to say the Yankees would have even scored a fifth run on Sunday if they were able to hold the deficit to 5-4? I’m not saying that the Yankees were going to win either of those games, all I’m saying is Joe Girardi left the door open for second-guessing and gave any sports talk shows in need of material a week’s worth of ammunition.

I can let Friday slide because Joba Chamberlain was on the mound and if you can’t trust him, then there is going to be a serious problem with the pecking order in the bullpen this summer. Sure, Girardi could have turned Morales around in that game and made him hit from the right side – his weaker side. We’ll chalk that one up as Joba Chamberlain just not getting the job done.

But after watching Sunday’s events unfold, I thought it was Groundhog’s Day.

Joe Girardi is a matchup machine and I’m surprised he doesn’t change pitchers in the middle of at-bats depending on certain hitters’ numbers in certain counts against certain pitchers. He has a matchup or answer (not always the right answer) for every situation, and no matter what a unique situation calls for, he will always resort to the numbers. So when he decided that on April 25, 2010 he was going to go against his trusty notebook for the first time in his managerial career, it didn’t make any sense.

Why did Joe Girardi put aside the pure numbers for the first time, and why did it end with “Damaso Marte” trending higher than “Justin Bieber” on Twitter? (That actually happened). Let’s pick it up in the sixth inning on Sunday…

With the Angels leading 5-3 in the sixth, the sweet stroke of Robinson Cano found Scott Kazmir again for a solo shot to cut the lead to 5-4. In the seventh, Alfredo Aceves retires Maicer Izturis on a line out to Cano. Aceves is pitching for the first time in 8 days and has retired all five batters he has faced on just 15 pitches. But with one out in the inning and Bobby Abreu due up, Joe Girardi calls on the lefty Damaso Marte to go after the lefty.

There are two Damaso Martes. There is the Damaso Marte that is lights out and makes you wonder how anyone ever gets a hit off of him, and there is the Damaso Marte that could stand on the mound all day and not throw a strike once. There is no middle ground for Marte. He can’t enter a game without his best stuff and battle through to get the job done. Whoever created the old cliché “you either have it or you don’t” was certainly talking about Damaso Marte. When he has it, it’s a thing of beauty. And when he doesn’t, I’d rather watch YouTube videos of the old Stadium getting demolished. We saw Marte No. 2 on Sunday.

When Marte is on, you can land a plane in center field or have the stadium PA system start playing Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” in the middle of Marte’s windup and it won’t faze him. But when things don’t go according to plan, he gets the look of a lost child in a department store. The key to handling Marte, or at least what I believe to be the key, is to quickly identify which Marte you have on a given day, and then make a decision off that. Don’t leave him out there and hope he finds a rhythm because that isn’t Damaso Marte.

Marte gets behind Abreu 2-0 before walking him on five pitches (all fastballs), as Abreu never takes the bat off his shoulder. Then, after getting ahead of Torii Hunter 0-1, he drills him to put two on with one out and Hideki Matsui due up. At this point, it’s evident that Marte No. 2 is in the game. He has thrown just two strikes in seven pitches and has walked a batter and hit a batter.

The age-old rule that says you have a lefty face a lefty doesn’t apply to Hideki Matsui. Matsui is 4-for-12 (.333) against Marte, but Girardi sticks with him anyways. Marte gets Matsui to hit a grounder to A-Rod and A-Rod steps on third to force Abreu out. Now, Hunter is on second and Matsui is on first with two outs and Kendry Morales due up.

Here are two things we know about the potential matchup of Kendry Morales vs. Damaso Marte at the time:

1. Kendry Morales is hotter than the sun. He is already 2-for-2 with a walk in the game, and in the previous five games he is 10-for-19 (.526) with two home runs and seven RBIs, including the bomb he hit off Joba on Saturday. Girardi’s notes on him should say: DO NOT LET THIS MAN SWING THE BAT. DO NOT GIVE HIM A PITCH TO HIT. WALK HIM. WALK HIM. WALK HIM.

2. Damaso Marte is pitching like Sean Henn. He has walked a batter, hit a batter and was fortunate Matsui wasn’t able to pull back his half-hearted swing and instead induced a ground out. He has thrown nine pitches and six of them have been out of the zone, and one of them nearly put Torii Hunter on the DL. Marte is doing his best to tell Girardi he doesn’t have it, and Girardi seems to finally realize it.

Or so we all thought.

Girardi calls for an intentional walk of Morales with David Robertson warming up to face Juan Rivera. So, Marte throws an intentional ball to Francisco Cervelli. 1-0. Then, for reasons unknown, Girardi changes his mind and decides to have Marte pitch to Morales. Girardi goes against the unwritten rule (maybe Dallas Braden can fill him in on what an unwritten rule is) of going against your first instinct. Girardi had picked “A” and now he had erased it for “B” even though he had his notes right in front of him telling him to choose “A.” The same notes he has based every other decision of his managerial career on.

On the 1-0, pitch Marte misses way outside and Hunter steals third base creating a recipe for disaster given the man on the mound. There are now runners on the corners, Marte has thrown eight of 11 pitches for balls and is behind the Angels’ hottest and arguably best hitter 2-0 with runners on the corners. Hunter just stole third base with Marte not paying attention to him. The “lost child in the department store” look has now taken over his face, and the entire setup of the at-bat and the inning has completely changed on one pitch. Having lost all control of the situation and visibly rattled, Marte misses the outside corner on the 2-0, and is now just one pitch from loading the bases for Rivera, which was the original plan anyways.

At this point, Girardi might as well have intentionally walked Morales. If the idea was to pitch around Morales in the first place, Marte had already done that, getting behind Morales 3-0. If Girardi was originally worried about moving a runner to third base with an intentional walk, he doesn’t have to worry anymore since Hunter stole his way there.

So on the 3-0, Cervelli calls for a pitch to be just outside the zone, but with Marte No. 2 on the mound, he misses his spot completely. When Marte is going like this, he can’t even throw a ball when he needs to and instead throws an 89 mph meatball down the heart of the plate. Morales, sitting patiently and given the green light, unloads on the present from Marte and hammers it over the wall for a three-run bomb to blow the doors open on the Yankees.

Friday night wasn’t as bad since it’s hard to say Girardi shouldn’t have used Joba there, and even if it was statistically wrong to let Morales hit from the left side on Friday, he proved on Sunday that he has no problem dropping bombs from either side. Sunday, however, wasn’t so simple since Girardi telegraphed his initial instinct to intentionally walk Morales and let Robertson face Rivera with two outs. By displaying his original thought to the world, he had already created an alternate ending for a potential disaster. If Plan B failed, Girardi had unlocked the door for second-guessing and criticism. And once it did fail, the media and fans just had to open the door he had unlocked.

So the Yankees lost their first series of the season, and two games in which they led. But the team is 12-6 (statistically have won each series sine the sweep of the Rangers and loss to Angels cancel out), and have the 3-16 Orioles next with Phil Hughes, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett lined up. It’s hard to complain.

I’m just happy the Yankees don’t face the Angels again this season, unless they meet in October, and no games against the Angels means no more Kendry Morales. No more Kendry Morales means less times Joe Girardi has to make a tough decision, and that’s a good thing.