Yankees Barely Win Weekend Series Against Marlins, Gay-Rod Still Sucks

The Yankees just barely won the weekend series against the Florida Marlins, a team whose total payroll is slightly under $15 million. That's 13 times less than the Yankees' total payroll, and the Yankees were just barely able to win the weekend series.

I remember hearing a crazy statistic at the beginning of the year when the Marlins came to town and played the Mets: The Marlins are so inexperienced, with so many rookies on their team, that former Marlin (and current Met) Cliff Floyd (who played with the Marlins for 5 1/2 years and a total of 637 games) had played more games for the Marlins than the whole roster of this year's Marlins combined. This is the team the Yankees struggled against this weekend and were almost embarrassed again, similar to last weekend in Washington.

Had it not been for a two-error, three-run first inning committed by the Marlins Friday night, they most likely would have won the game. Then, on Saturday, D-Train pitched a hell of a game, but wound up on the losing end, 2-1. Sunday night: Giambi made two errors (no surprise - that guy just plains sucks in the field) and the Marlins' Reggie Abercrombie stole home. When was the last time you saw that? Oh, and Gay-Rod was the only hitless batter in Sunday's doubleheader, going 0 for 7 and hearing a lot of boos from the turncoat Yankee fans.

So, congrats Yankees fans! Your team was able to squeak out a winning series against....the $15 million, rookie-laden Marlins - a team that was only a few hits away from sweeping the series from you in front of your loud, obnoxious fans.

As a Yankee fan, the notion that you were almost swept by the Nationals, didn't play that well against the Phillies, and played even worse against the Marlins must not make you feel too confident. Add to that your bullpen is in shambles and your offense is missing Matsui and Sheffield and can't even take rookie pitchers to task. To make matters worse, the Red Sox and White Sox keep winning and your team can't make up any ground in the standings. In fact, you are worse off than before the weekend started - 2 1/2 games out in the AL East and 6 games (!) out in the Wild Card standings. You have the slumping Braves coming to town tonight (which I wouldn't be surprised if they start to turn it around on the Yanks) and then the Mets, the most loved team in New York, this weekend. I see the Yanks sliding even further down in the standings. Hopefully that will spark Steinbrenner to freak out. I live for that.

The biased, egotistical Yankees fans need to realize that winning teams regularly beat losing teams like the Nationals and Marlins handily, where the games are not even close and are blowouts and snoozefests. The Yankees have a different team this year - one that is unique from all the teams since 1995. The difference: This year's team will be watching the postseason from home.