The Yanks are off to a bit of a slow start after the first week of the season. One thing that Yankee fans know, though, is that April is far too early to panic. Keep repeating to yourself: small sample size…small sample size. After all, do you think those powerful Detroit Tigers are worried yet about their poor start? The Yanks have been through this before. Going into Monday night's game against Tampa, the Yanks are 3-3, one game better than their Pythagorean record.

That being said, it isn't too early to offer a few observations from the first week.

Sure, Ian Kennedy looked overmatched in his first start of the season last Friday against Tampa. You have to expect a lot of peaks and valleys with Ian and Phil Hughes this year. It's not that kid pitchers won't be successful in 2008; they very well could win 13-15 games each. But GM Brian Cashman is building a foundation for the future…Keeping the kids in pinstripes is really about solidifying the starting staff for the first decade of the New Yankee Stadium.

When you curse Ian out this year for not being dominant from the get-go, just pause and remember that 303-game-winner Tom Glavine went 7-17 in his first full season with the Braves. John Smoltz was 2-7 and Steve Avery was 3-11. In Greg Maddux's first full year with the Cubs, he was 6-14.

Taking lumps is how the kid pitchers learn. The question is whether Yankee fans will be patient enough. 

For those seeking immediate gratification, take heart: As poor as Kennedy's performance was (IP: 2.3, H:4, ER:6,  BB:4, K:2), that's how effective Hughes was in his first start. (IP: 6, H:4, ER:2,  BB:1, K:4).

The Phil Hughes that many Yankee fans saw last summer when he came back from his hamstring and ankle injuries was NOT the phenom that was advertised. (See above paragraphs.)  Hughes told reporters, however, that there was another reason for his lackluster 2007 campaign. "I never really trusted my leg," he said, "after my hamstring injury."

This year Hughes is a different animal. He is letting loose and driving off the leg without worries. He's able to finish his pitches and expects better results.

When Hughes is healthy, he combines the best of two worlds. He strikes people out and does not walk them. That, my friends, is the simple recipe to success.
Case in point: Baltimore's fascinating Daniel Cabrera. He has one of the best fastballs in the league. He also can not throw a strike. He's a modern day Steve Dalkowski; he baffles and frustrates the Oriole faithful.

Ok, Back to Phil. Unlike Cabrera and Dalkowski, his minor league numbers suggest consistently excellent K and BB ratios:

Year	Level	Team	W	L	ERA	IP	K/9	BB/9
2004	Rook	GCL Yanks	0	0	0	5	14.4	0.0
2005	A	Charlst	7	1	1.97	68.2	9.5	2.1
2005	A+	Tampa	2	0	3.06	17.2	11.0	2.1
2006	A+	Tampa	2	3	1.8	30	9.0	0.6
2006	AA	Trenton	10	3	2.25	116	10.7	2.5

The fastball ranges between 92 and 95, and he throws it 62% of the time. That beautiful sharp-braking curve ball greets batters about 20% of the time. Credit Nardi Contreras with helping Hughes develop his curve. He worked with Hughes on the Charley while convincing him to can the slider.

What else about the new season? Again it's too early to talk about "batting slumps" so Cano and Giambi's woes will have to wait for another day.  But it's amazing to me how bad Hideki Matsui looks in the field. When Melky was serving his 2-day suspension, Damon played center and Matsui was penciled in at left. Matsui is virtually immobile defensively. Anything hit in front of him will fall in for a single. Basically, the ball has to be hit right to him. His range is non-exist. He even looks shaky fielding basic singles.

In a future article I plan to look at defensive metrics for the Yankee fielders, but I haven't worked up the courage yet. Let me call in my xanax prescription first.

At the plate, however, Matsui is looking like the perfect DH. He's 7 for 20 with 2 HRs. He's driving the ball so well, Girardi moved him up to 5th spot on Sunday.

LaTroy Hawkins Greeted Rudely

There's no question that LaTroy's appearance Friday night for the Yankees was a clunker: It will take a good part of the year for his ERA to recover from his 6 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning shelling. When the boo birds rained down upon Latroy, however, they were chastising him for wearing number 21, last worn by the beloved Paul O'Neill.

Who are these people? Sure, O'Neill was a great Yankee. But his number is not retired, nor should it be. The Yanks have too many retired numbers as it is. If Paul's number is retired, then Tommy Henrich and Charlie Keller's numbers should also be retired. When does this stop?

The Yanks waited seven years to issue #21, and Hawkins decided to wear the number in tribute to his boyhood hero, Roberto Clemente.

Only a moron would boo Hawkins for wearing 21, a moron who's living in the past.

Outside of Hawkins, the Relievers Continue to Dominate

Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bruney, Billy Traber, Joba Chamberlain, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth and Jonathon Albaladejo, who was sent down to Scranton when Andy Pettitte was activated from the DL, have combined to give up just two earned runs in 201/3 innings. Most impressive is the 25 Ks and only 1 BB. If Bruney and Farnsworth can actually throw strikes, this could be the deepest bullpen in baseball. The potential is there. For his career, Chamberlain has never allowed a hit with a runner is scoring position. Batters are 0-19 against him with RISP.

	IP	ER	BB	K
Ohlendorf	4	1	0	3
Bruney	2.2	0	0	4
Chamberlain	4	0	1	4
Traber	1.1	0	0	2
Albaledejo	2.2	0	0	4
Rivera	3	0	0	4
Farnsworth	2.2	1	0	4
------------------------------------------
	20.3	2	1	25

Wang in Mid-Season Form

And that's better than playoff form, smirking Yankee fans may say….But who wouldn't sign up for 2-0 1.38 in the first week? No one in baseball has won more games than Wang in the past few years.  He is reclaiming his role as ace of the staff, a role that was tarnished by his starts in the 2007 ALDS. 

Celebrating Useless Information

If you've haven't tried this yet, you're in for a treat: The Baseball Reference Oracle can match up just about any six players so you can see how they are associated through the proverbial Six Degrees of Separation. Now that we have a fiery manager, or at least a guy who won't fall asleep in the 7th inning, I wanted to see how he connected to one of my all time favorites, the inimitable John McGraw.

· John McGraw played with Hughie Jennings for the 1895 Baltimore Orioles
· Hughie Jennings played with Ty Cobb for the 1907 Detroit Tigers   
· Ty Cobb played with Jimmie Foxx for the 1927 Philadelphia Athletics    
· Jimmie Foxx played with Granny Hamner for the 1945 Philadelphia Phillies    
· Granny Hamner played with Fred Norman for the 1962 Kansas City Athletics   
· Fred Norman played with Andre Dawson for the 1980 Montreal Expos   
· Andre Dawson played with Joe Girardi for the 1991 Chicago Cubs
 
So it took 6 steps for Girardi to connect with McGraw. But it only took former Yankee gritmeister Bubba Crosby 5 steps to connect with Babe Ruth:

· Babe Ruth played with Ben Chapman for the 1930 New York Yankees   
· Ben Chapman played with Early Wynn for the 1941 Washington Senators   
· Early Wynn played with Tommy John for the 1963 Cleveland Indians   
· Tommy John played with Al Leiter for the 1989 New York Yankees  
· Al Leiter played with Bubba Crosby for the 2005 New York Yankees

Go have fun: http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/