The Yankees have seemingly perfected the art of babying their young pitchers. But for some reason, they still keep getting injured. So now we have Hank Steinbrenner blaming Wang’s foot injury on the National League. He is even starting a one-man crusade to prevent it from happening again: “It’s not just us. It’s everybody. It probably should be a concern for National League owners, general managers and managers when their pitchers run the bases. Pitchers have enough to do without having to do that.” Um, actually Hank it is just you. You are the only one complaining. And everyone knows the only reason you are complaining is because your pitcher was injured. If Josh Beckett had been injured, would you really be calling upon baseball to change its rules?

After a spring full of highly-publicized running and stretching drills, are Yankee pitchers really so ill-prepared for a run around the diamond?

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When Mike Francesa and others talk about this inevitable ‘run’ that will propel the Yanks into Wild Card front-runners (when did the Wild Card become the mission statement anyway?), they rely largely upon recent history as a guide. Such a run certainly seems within reach. But it also assumes quite a lot - steady pitching and hitting for starters, which is something that the Yanks have not had all season. The theory also assumes a weak AL East, even though it is clearly stronger than it has been in years. It also assumes that no other AL teams are legitimately capable of competing for the Wild Card.

In short, there is the stench of entitlement in these claims. That is to say, the best explanation for the Yanks winning the Wild Card is that it is essentially theirs by birthright. After so many years of winning by rote, the notion is almost understandable. But good luck trying to convince Tampa Bay or any of the other contenders….

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If you needed to know why Darrell Rasner was ineffective last night, YES-men John Flaherty and Ken Singleton were right there to provide some explanations. Maybe it’s just that Rasner is a local with family watching in the seats, opined Kenny. Or maybe it was the high pitch count from his previous outing, posited Flaherty. Neither ever approached the possibility that after some initial success, Rasner is just coming back down to earth. (In his last four decisions he is 0-4.) He’s been impressive at times and you can’t find a more likable guy in interviews. But it’s still too early to tell what the Yanks really have with Rasner, isn’t it? It seems that John and Kenny would like to perpetuate this idea that Rasner is this year’s ‘savior’. But chalking up a loss to family-inspired jitters doesn’t do much to inspire any confidence in the guy. And we aren’t talking about Milton Bradley here. So just tell it like it is, guys.

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Jerry Crasnick of EPSN wonders why so many sluggers are having power outages this season. But some sluggers are not. So post-Mitchell Report, do we have the right to be skeptical about Jason Giambi’s recent power surge? Yankee fans had left him for dead even just a few weeks back. But now that he has matched his entire home run output from 2007, is it time to wonder if desperation could drive a man back to old habits? Or even some new ones?

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The prevailing belief has always been that today’s Yankee fans would not tolerate a mediocre team. But if we are to believe YES’ own boasting, this is clearly not the case. According to Nielsen, ratings are way up for Yankee games this season, meaning that fans are not at all turned off or tuning out on this .500, basement-dwelling team.

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Do Yankee fans still want to dump Jason Giambi? It’s been one of the most discussed topics this season and with good reason, as it so often appears that Jason is little more than dead weight these days. But he has always had that sporadic flair for the dramatic. That being said, yesterday’s drama really showcased the Bombers’ template for success for the remainder of the season: overcome shaky starting and relief pitching by clubbing the other team to death. It is not a good formula for success. But as Damon and company must be realizing by now, it is probably the only reliable path to victory for this team.

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As if to purge itself from the absolute embarrassment of the previous evening, YES turned to its real stars last night, heaping generous portions of unnecessary praise upon the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. But hey, at least these guys are proven commodities. At least they have actually won some titles. It’s pathetic to hear how quickly personalities like Francesca, Kay, and even Gammons have turned on Joba Mania, when they certainly helped create it. Now you hear everyone screaming he should be transitioning in the minors, which is easy to say after Tuesday’s sham. The truth is no one escapes Joba Mania unscathed. Not Girardi for keeping Joba out until the Yanks returned home, when it was obvious he should have started against the Twins. Not Steinbrenner for setting this mess in motion. Not YES for turning the whole affair into a prepackaged, ready-for-Yankeeography prime-time drama. And certainly not the fans for cheering Chamberlain’s every move as if he were a god, when they already have so many baseball ‘gods’ in their midst. Shame on Yankee Universe. The most storied franchise in baseball should have known better. Glory has to be earned, not doled out freely like peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

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What is left to say after a night that began with a standing ovation for a pitcher who had not thrown a single pitch?

1.) The smartest fans in baseball need to cheer about something, if not the actual sub-.500 team.

2.) There is a new Yankee Dynasty. It is the pinstriped hype-machine, by far the most powerful in sports - a legend builder for the ages. Consider last evening its greatest victory thus far. It seems the ‘Yankee Universe’ tag wasn’t a slogan. It was a promise.

3. Recently you’ve probably heard a lot of players and managers (including Girardi) saying ‘It is what it is’. But the 2008 season is what it isn’t. What it is, what no one in Y.U. will ever admit to, is a rebuilding year. Look at the way this team is still blatantly tinkering with its pitching staff (starters & relievers) in June, turning a regular season game into little more than an exhibition. It is what it is, they will tell you. Only, it isn’t.

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• There’s a time and a place to describe one’s performance as ‘unacceptable’ and ’sickening’. For Andy Pettitte, the time was last winter and the place was his ‘guilty-as-charged’ press conference. Not last night against an above-average Twins team. Andy cares. We get it. But this shtick is getting old.

• According to that silly YES graphic of the screaming wild-man pitcher, the Joba era officially begins today. But in actuality, it began last night when he was not there to pitch the eighth, when Farnsworth allowed the decisive run to score.

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