Good news from the front.

They're beginning to sweat in New York City.

There are several occurances in the city I've come to identify as barometers of the Yankees' success - the most prominent being my "Yankees hats in Time Square" test (amount of Yankee hats in midtown=level of on-field success).

A more accurate but lesser-used test is the "Jeff the Yankee Fan" examination - a close friend of mine from college is a dyed-in-the-wool Yanks fan, and his level of confidence or frustration generally echoes the sentiments of the Evil Empire as a whole. I placed a phone call to him this afternoon and was greeted at first by cursing, then a reminder that football season is only 100 or so days away. He then asked me where he could buy a Kansas City Royals hat so he could be spared the indignity of wearing his "NY" in public. These are all very good signs, for those of you scoring at home.

The kicker, however, was when I told him that my father suggested that the ten-game Sox lead gave me more than enough leeway to talk a little trash to my I start to talk a little more trash to my pinstriped bretheren. Jeff, long familiar with Tom in Boston's rooting habits, replied "Your dad is confident? Oh man, we are in trouble.

Yes, sports fans, things are bad in the Big Apple and starting to look worse. Especially when contrasted this weekend against a scrappy and talented Mets franchise, this year's Yankee ballclub is in desperate need of some shaking up.

The Mets, who this week shaved their heads in a show of team solidarity (a little early to "cowboy up," metropolitans), have already outclassed their listless crosstown rival twice this weekend. Where the Mets lift each other up and play exciting team-oriented baseball, the Yankees are devolving in front of our eyes; this is the downside of operating such a cold, corporate, and mercenary franchise. Team chemistry is a concept that is thrown around far too often and regularly blown out of proportion, but one would think a more condusive work environment would light at least a little bit of a fire underneath the Yank's collective behinds. (Maybe that's what Roger is for? Nah...)

And sure, part of this listlessness also must be attributed to the devestating rash of injuries the team has endured, including today's injury to Darrell Rasner. I'm sure seeing a different teammate go down on a weekly basis takes the wind out of your sails, but its the kind of thing all teams experience. The 2006 Red Sox suffered a similar fate, and it effectively derailed their season and kept the playoffs out of reach - and we can only hope the Yanks' suffer a similar fate.

And the fans are ready. If you want a bit of a chuckle, head on over to the Yankees' fansite nyyfans.com. The "We had a great ten-year run" threads are starting to crop up, much to the dismay of the more experienced and levelheaded bloggers who have noticed that it is still, in fact, May. We all know the Yanks will make a huge splash before the trade deadline - they didn't shill out $22 million for Roger to have him pick up meaningless wins in September. Teams with $200 million dollar payrolls do not pack it in before high school graduations have finished up. The Yankees will be sticking around for a while.

But if the fans are running up the white flags, I won't be stopping them. After all, they need to start preparing for football season.