What's that nasty smell from the Bronx?

The Yankees flat-out stink right now. That's all I can say to describe the preposterous situation they're in. At 13-15 and going into Baltimore for a three-day stint, they face the possibility of becoming the American League East cellar occupants, and trailing the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. And while you can say a lot of nice things about the AL East being tough this year, the Yankees have earned every one of their losses.

At first, I thought it was just the bullpen, which consistently gave up multi-run leads at the beginning of the season. Then the starting pitching faltered. The $15 million batters (there's several...and a few in the $20 million range) are barely batting over the Mendoza line. Tonight Mariano Rivera blew another save and let two guys go deep off of him for the first time in forever.

The Yankees' best hitter right now is Johnny Damon, the very man who brought the curse with him from Boston. Derek Jeter's artificial hip isn't helping him grab grounders at short, and Mark Teixera's famed first base play has been less than flawless. Chubs Molina continues to blow it behind the plate, but that's better than having Grandpa Posada and his gimpy legs and arms anchor the backstop.

Who else? All of them. They all stink right now.

The Yankees are good at one thing right now: taking something good and changing it, for no reason. A couple examples: Joba Chamberlain was the best reliever the Yankees have had for decades, so instead of relying on his heat to anchor the seventh and eighth innings, they brought him into a starting pitching spot, where he's been decent but not great. Meanwhile, Yankees' relievers regularly give up four earned runs a night and walk the bases full every other game.

My other example: you had the world's best stadium, with DiMaggio's ghost in the basement, and you tore it down to build a palace across the street. Fine. But in the process, you happened to create a wind tunnel that helps the other team win (you can't even get your own hitters to pull for right field) and also spread the stinking grandstands out so far that it's no longer loud within the stadium. That's fine, too, because with all the white-collar bums that are "packing" the stadium now in the Berkaloungers down near home plate, the only cheering you'll get is, as John Lennon would say, rich people rattling their jewelry.

Argh.