The Yankees look lost. Watching them tonight against Boston, the most expensive team in sports can't seem to do anything right. They are getting shaky starting pitching. They aren't hitting. They missed two fly balls in the outfield. This looks very much like a .500 team right now.

The number one concern is starting pitching. Mike Mussina is 1-4 and has given up 55 baserunners in 28.1 innings. Yikes! Jose Contreras should not be starting as his two years in the majors shows that he doesn't have what he needs to start. He could be great in relief as he was last year in the playoffs, but he shouldn't start. But who else is there? Vazquez and Brown will be fine, but there is big trouble after that.

Key Yankee batters have started off very slowly. The entire team has started the season batting .229. Bernie Williams is batting .191. Derek Jeter is batting .209. Gary Sheffield is only batting .268. Jason Giambi is batting .227. Alex Rodriguez is batting .206. All of those players have proven track records and will bounce back and end up where they usually do.

The Red Sox announcers mentioned that Kenny Lofton hasn't been a good fit in the Bronx. That is no surprise. He has never been a popular player and you have to wonder if Steinbrenner overruled someone to get an old centerfielder who is on the downward side of his career. Williams doesn't look physically healthy enough to play out there yet. Bubba Crosby should be given a shot despite his major gaff tonight.

You can bet that Mr. Steinbrenner is not a happy man.

In similar situations to the Yankees are the Phillies and the Angels. Both teams joined the Yankees in spending a lot of money in the off season and starting with high expectations. The Phillies are 5-9 and are already five and a half games behind the Marlins. The Angels are at .500 so far. The Phillies should be able to untrack a bit playing the Expos this weekend.

The standings have some surprises so far. The Twins lead the AL Central. The Reds are only a game back of the Cubs in the NL Central. The surprising Dodgers are on top of the NL West with the Padres right behind. The Giants and Diamondbacks are 6-10 and 5-10 respectively and look in deep trouble. It's going to be an interesting season.

The Fan is playing Fantasy Baseball for the first time this season. Being in New England, some of the folks at work thought it would be more challenging to be in a National League Only league. The Fan is enjoying the experience so far, but there is one problem. Sometimes there is hesitance to talk about some up and coming or surprising performances so far this season. My opponents in our fantasy league read this space and could get tips and use them. Hmmm... What's more important: Writing about what I love or winning a fantasy league? No question its the former.

One of those players is the Arizona third baseman, Matt Kata. He has opened the season batting .371 and is starting to get a lot of playing time. Mr. Kata might be one of this years box score heroes this year.

Barry Bonds is batting over .500 so far with 20 RBI. There is a lot of speculation why Bonds is getting more to hit this season and the most plausible reason seems to be that the Giants are playing poorly and have been behind early. There is less of a reason to walk Bonds if you are already ahead in the game. Bonds getting pitches to hit is good for baseball. Bonds walking three times a game is terrible for baseball.