Bullpen-Decimated Yanks Swept In Tampa Bay

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I work for Hal Steinbrenner,

not George, so I can never be fired!"

As Brian Cashman was busy trading Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller, 2 of the 5 best relief pitchers in baseball, for the pathetic failure Adam Warren and 7 guys who may never see the major leagues, the Yankees went down to St. Petersburg for a 3-game weekend series with the last-place Tampa Bay Rays, a team from whom even a weak-hitting, bullpen-decimated Yankee squad should have taken at least 1 game.

Friday night: Ivan Nova falls behind 2-0 in the 1st inning, and 3-0 in the 3rd, and it feels like the game is lost. The Yankees got 10 hits, but only 1 run. Unacceptable.

Rays 5, Yankees 1. WP: Jake Odorizzi (5-5). SV: Alex Colome (23). LP: Nova (7-6).

Saturday night: Nathan Eovaldi didn't pitch badly, but he threw 104 pitches in 6 innings, and Joe Girardi didn't trust him to pitch the 7th. And because of Cashman's idiotic trades, Girardi no longer had Dellin Betances to pitch the 7th and set up for Miller in the 8th and Chapman in the 9th, so he put in Anthony Swarzak, and the game was put out of reach.

Rays 6, Yankees 3. WP: Drew Smyly (3-11 -- that's right, the Yankees lost to a pitcher who came into the game 2-11). SV: Colome (24). LP: Eovaldi (9-7).

Sunday afternoon: Michael Pineda was fine for 3 innings. Then he fell apart. Carlos Beltran hit his 22nd home run of the season -- and maybe his last as a Yankee -- but it wasn't enough.

Rays 5, Yankees 3. WP: Blake Snell (3-4). SV: Colome (25). LP: Pineda (5-10).

*

The Yankees are 52-52. There are 58 games left. They have no more bullpen. They may be about to trade their only 2 reliable hitters (Beltran and Brian McCann).

Tonight, we're gonna party like it's 1966. Except Alex Rodriguez is no Mickey Mantle, and CC Sabathia is no Whitey Ford. (Not anymore, at least.)

And now... we have to play 4 games against the Mets! Who just got proactive instead of radioactive, and traded for National League RBIs leader Jay Bruce. True, he could turn out to be the next Jason Bay. He could also turn out to be the next Mike Piazza, minus the steroids and the stupid mustache!

This could be the longest week of our baseball lives.