nobody's panicking over America's team

[franksolich]

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/04/for_new_york_yankees_too_early.html

No way; plenty of time to go before one panics, as the season's young.

For New York Yankees, too early to panic but not too early for changes

DETROIT -- The Yankees will play their 20th game of the season on Tuesday. And no matter what the results have been so far, it's clearly too early to panic. Despite some of the "sky is falling" comments on the blog the last few days, I prefer to believe that most of you agree that it's foolish to be worried about early results.

But it's clearly not too soon to start tweaking the lineup, which we're starting to see.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that his decision to go with Melky Cabrera over Brett Gardner is simply a matter of playing the hot hand. Girardi said he will make decisions on playing time on a day-to-day basis.

"Gardy's hit the ball hard," Girardi said. "But Melky's been a little bit more productive and we're going to stay with him right now."

Is it just me, or does it sound like the Yankees center field job is open again?

The question with Gardner has always been whether his bat will play in the big leagues. And through the opening stages of the season, Gardner has done little to erase those doubts, posting a line of .220/.254/.271 in 65 plate appearances over 15 starts in center field.

On April 14 against the Rays, Gardner had perhaps his best offensive game. He doubled twice, knocked in a run and went 3-for-5. But in the 10 games since then, Gardner is hitting just 5-for-32 (.156) with nine strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Cabrera has made the most of his scattered chances, hitting .297/.366/.622 despite making only eight starts this season spread over all three outfield positions.

So, it's easy to see why the switch has been made. And give credit to Cabrera, who has made most of his chances. But is anybody convinced that either is the answer?.....

[thundley4]

Panic? Why?  Most people enjoy the frustrations of Yankees fans. 

[NHSparky]

I'm not panicking.  Quite the contrary--I'm enjoying watching them melt down immensely!

[BlueStateSaint]

I'm not panicking.  Quite the contrary--I'm enjoying watching them melt down immensely!

Same here.  I have loads of people at the office going nuts over their ill fortune!  Plus, my brother, who was quick to email me about the Mets' problems at the end of last week . . . he's been awfully quiet now!