Now It IS Worse: Changes Must Be Made

First, on Friday night, a rainout. Then, on Saturday afternoon, Andy Pettitte doesn't have it, and the Yankees cannot get enough runs against a Johan Santana who pitched like considerably less than the all-time great that Met fans trumpeted him as. Now, on Sunday night, Chien-Ming Wang's Sinker of Doom doesn't work, the bullpen gets shelled, the Yankees let Oliver Perez embarrass them, and we lose 11-2.

This is the first time in the 12-year Interleague experiment that The Other Team has taken two games of a series at Yankee Stadium.

That was the most disgusting display of baseball ineptitude in the history of the grand old ballpark.

Against the Red Sox in June 1967, getting pounded by bats, beanballs and fists? Understandable, considering how bad the Yankees were at the time.

Against the Blue Jays in May 1978, the first game I ever saw live, blown in the 9th against a second-year expansion team? Well, it was only 4-1.

Against the Indians in September 2004, 22-0? The Yanks took the next 2 from the Tribe, making it all but meaningless.

Against the Sox in October 2004, the end of the Curse? As hideous as that was, at least they were trying, however poorly, and it wasn't against a .500 team as the Mets have been for almost a year now.

This? Bad enough it was against The Other Team. But it wasn't even the drubbing. It was the weakness. It was like in Major League, when Bob Uecker looks at his scorebook, and says, "That's all we got, one goddamn hit?" This was 3 hits, against Oliver Perez (Oliver Freakin' Perez?!?), and the Met bullpen. When they bring in Scott Schoenweiss, they're pretty sure they can hold a 9-run lead.

This is the New York Yankees. No opponent's lead should ever be safe.

They didn't even sufficiently respond when they got a gift on Carlos Delgado's "foul ball." Yes, Matsui hit a 2-run homer, but they could have at least tied it up that inning. Instead, they got no closer than 4-2, and it ended 11-2.

Absolutely unacceptable.

Time for some changes.

A-Rod coming back on Tuesday isn't enough, especially since he might be a little tentative for a while. Will even Posada coming back be enough?

Dave Eiland must go. He is as good a pitching coach as he was a pitcher, which is to say unacceptable. And who, exactly, is the hitting instructor? Kevin Long? I'm guessing it's Claude Rains. Get it? "The Invisible Man." Either that, or, as Rains said in "Casablanca," his heart "is my least vulnerable spot."

Kyle Farnsworth must go. Now. Immediately! And so must Ross Ohlendorf. Where'd this guy get his invitation to the major leagues, as the prize in a Cracker Jack box?

Can't blame this one on Jason Giambi, but I think he has to go as well.

Jose Molina needs to go. Chad Moeller is no worse in calling a game, and roughly equal with the bat. I'd rather have him until Posada gets back. Molina couldn't do squat -- figuratively or literally -- against the Mets. Unlike, say, his brother Yadier. (Speaking of whom, as bad as he made Aaron Heilman look on that drizzly night at Shea, Farnsworth looks worse than Heilman ever has.)

So the time has come to ask: Was Joe Girardi the right hire? Or should he be targeted for termination?

None of this is up to me. It's up to Hank Steinbrenner. Well, if this was up to George in the 1980s, we'd be seeing the headline "BILLY'S BACK!" by the time the Yanks took the field in the next game Tuesday night.

The other day, a Met fan offered me a trade: Randolph for Girardi. I wouldn't take it then.

Now? In the words of the immortal Jack Benny, "I'm thinking it over!"

(UPDATE: If you had told me at this time that Giambi would leave the Yankees at the end of the year, I would have been grateful. But if you had told me he would still be playing in the majors 6 years later, I never would have believed it.)