Today's article from the New York Times on the current plight of the Yankees. Will the arrival of the Oakland A's be just the tonic to solve the Yankees losing trend?

Devil Rays 6, Yankees 2
Not Much Left to Say for Last-Place Yanks

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By TYLER KEPNER
Published: May 6, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 5 - Derek Jeter remembers the glory days, an era in Yankees history that seems to be gone forever. The Yankees of that generation hardly resemble this team, a collection of faded stars who have crash-landed in the basement of the American League East.

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Scott Audette/Reuters
Manager Joe Torre has held three team meetings since April 17, but the talks have not inspired better play.

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Into the Basement

Yankees Notebook: Zimmer Expects the Worst if Slide Lasts (May 6, 2005)
Fans Aren't Charged in Sheffield Incident (May 6, 2005) The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the rookie Chien-Ming Wang by 6-2 on Thursday night, sending the Yankees staggering away from Tropicana Field. The teams are tied for last place, Tampa Bay with its $29 million payroll and the Yankees with their bloated, $200 million tab.

Jeter, the captain, knows why. Asked if there was a sense of disbelief that a team with so many stars had played so badly, Jeter did not hesitate.

"You don't win with star players," he said. "You have to have a good team. I don't care what you've done in the past. This is always a game of day to day. You don't win just because you've been successful in the past. You have to go out and play. Just because you've hit well in the past, they don't say, 'Here, take first base.' "

Even if they did, the Yankees may not know the way. They look lost, dropping their last three games to the Devil Rays, who are usually their favorite elixir. The Yankees have not had a lead since Monday.

Nothing is working. Manager Joe Torre called another team meeting Thursday, closing the clubhouse for 15 minutes before batting practice. It was at least the third meeting the Yankees have had since April 17, but the talks have not inspired better play.

"We're out of things to say," Jeter said. "What else can you say? You just have to get the job done."

The last time the Yankees were in last place this late in a season, it was June 20, 1995, and Jeter was playing for Class AAA Columbus after a brief trial in the majors. That team recovered to win the wild card and start a 10-year playoff run, but the streak may be in jeopardy.

Torre, who started with the Yankees in 1996, told the team to ignore the standings and forget what had happened. He said he was not mad at the team, as he was after a sweep in Baltimore last month, and he has stopped short of publicly questioning its effort. But Torre does not want the team to be satisfied.

"We can't try to talk ourselves into feeling good about this, because there's no reason we should feel good," he said.

With an 11-18 record, the Yankees are on pace to go 61-101, the reverse of their record last season. The Yankees have not lost 100 games since 1912, two years before Joe DiMaggio was born.

In their 10 series so far, the Yankees are 2-7-1. They went down meekly against the Devil Rays on Thursday, with their final 11 hitters making outs.

Bernie Williams, who will have a magnetic resonance imaging test on his ailing right elbow Friday, had one of just seven Yankees hits off starter Mark Hendrickson and reliever Lance Carter. Hendrickson worked seven and a third innings for his first victory, and the Tampa Bay leadoff man, Alex Sanchez, went 3 for 3 with two bunt singles, a home run, two stolen bases and four runs.

It was too much for Wang, who had made an impressive debut last weekend. He worked six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out three.

A replacement for the injured Jaret Wright, Wang was an unlikely option to stop a losing streak, and he could not do it.

"He's trying to pick us up, and it's not fair to have him be the one trying to do that," Torre said.

The Yankees have no other options. Sean Henn was overmatched in his cameo Wednesday. At Class AAA Columbus, opponents are hitting .308 off Pete Munro, the starter with the most major league experience.

And the Yankees apparently can forget about trading for Houston's Roger Clemens this summer. Clemens is probably too expensive, anyway, and the Astros' owner, Drayton McLane, recently told The Sporting News, "There are no conditions under which I would do that."

There may be no saving the Yankees, unless the stars align and summon their past heroics. Their next chance will be Friday at Yankee Stadium, where the fans who bought some of the 3 million tickets sold before opening day will be restless.

"You get what you earn," Torre said. "We understand what goes with playing this game in New York for a team that's supposed to win. You can't go hide. You have to go out there and take your lumps and look forward to the day we turn this thing around."

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