New York Yankees Report:

This is the first Yankees report for the radio show blog. To put things nicely, the Yankees have not played their best baseball and look like they are trying, in poker terms to see and raise the Mets 2007 epic collapse by a couple of games. The 2007 Mets were the first team in MLB history to lose a division lead of at least 7 games with 17 games to go. The 2009 Yankees had a lead of 9 games with I think 17 games to go. Now the lead is 5 over the Boston Red Sox. Everything the Yankees have done to get the best record in the league has vanished over the last couple of weeks. They are 4-6 in their last 10. In that stretch of games they have lost a series to the Orioles and Mariners, which is just unacceptable. They haven't been scoring runs, other than the 13 run and 10 run outburst they had in their only wins against the Orioles and Mariners in the respective series. The pitching has been extremely shaky. Sabathia has been the only constant. Pettitte has had to miss a turn in rotation due to injury. Gaudin and Mitre are not the answers to the back of the rotation problems, and Joba has been in a huge decline since the Yankees have stopped giving him consistent innings. My answer: Joe Girardi needs to start pushing buttons fast. I don't think they will lose this 5 game lead with 11 to play because if they do he will definitely get fired. They also can't back into the playoffs and division title because I think his seat will start getting hot in New York. He needs to calm down the players and get them to remember just how good this team is. The biggest series of the season will be the 3 game set starting Friday when the Yankees end their road trip and host the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. Sabathia, Chamberlin, and Burnett pitch against Lester, Dice-K, and Byrd. The Yankees must win 2 of 3. The big test will be Chamberlin. If he pitches well enough for a win, and i mean 6 innings of 2 run ball, the Yankees will have to decide if he will be their 4th starter or if he will be in the bull pen for the playoffs. I personally think he should be in the bull pen because games will then be cut to 6 innings if the starters give the Yankees a lead. If the Yankees win 2 of 3 they got the division wrapped up because their last 6 games of the season are 3 with the Royals and 3 with the Rays. To say the least it will be an interesting finish.