What's gone wrong

How have the Yankees gone from one of the most feared teams in baseball to a club that is seriously considering a start from this guy? Let's give the quick list.

1) Injuries- Posada and Matsui, who average 96 and 107 RBIs per 162 games have missed most of the season. Jorge was not only a force in the lineup, but a leader in a clubhouse that is in need of direction. Matsui, who is finally back in the lineup tonight, was tearing the cover off the ball before his injury.

With those two players out, we saw significant at bats handed to Chad Moeller, Justin Christian, Brett Gardener and Jose Molina.

2) Situational hitting- This to me is the biggest problem all season. They're batting .272 overall as a team, which ranks better than the best in baseball Angels, who are hitting .264. They also have a significantly higher on base percentage and slugging percentage as a team. But with runners in scoring position the Yankees have been flat out brutal.

.260 as a team with RISP, and .252 with RISP and less than two outs. They're not getting the job done in the clutch, and that's why they've struggled. Rodriguez, Cano and Giambi have been the worst culprits.

3) Melky Cabrera- After a great April and drawing comparisons to a young Bernie Williams, Melky was abominable as a hitter. Maybe he starting trying to hit homeruns too much, maybe he started pressing once he got into a slump, but for 65% of the season, the Yankees had an automatic out in centerfield. The fact that he's now in Scranton is not a surprise. Despite his excellent defense, he's going to need to rediscover his hitting if he wants to get back to the big leagues.

4) Hughes, Kennedy- Injuries played a big part with Hughes, arrogance a big part with Kennedy. Either way they have not gotten anything near what they were supposed to this season. I pictured Hughes' stats to be somewhere around where Mike Pelfrey is this year.

Kennedy is just not a very good major league pitcher. He has to work on commanding both sides of the plate, and needs an out pitch.

5) Wang, Chamberlain- These injuries have been the most devastating to the team's psyche in my opinion. Despite Wang's struggles before getting hurt, he was dependable for solid starts and eating up 200 innings.

I don't need to say anything about Joba. He was the ace the Yankees haven't had for years, and watching him come out of the game in Texas holding his shoulder definitely impacted the rest of the club.