First four games have had it all

Just four games into this young season, and Yankee fans have already seen everything.

First, the good.

You like solid pitching? We got that, twice. Thanks to Mr. Wang and Mr. Hughes, and Joba-Mo and the Relievers (well, most of the relievers..... raise your hand if you suck, LaTroy Hawkins), we've seen the Yankees' ability to hold leads and, more importantly, their resolve not to implode when the freezing temperatures and a teeny strike zone take away the corners.

Does timely hitting give you that happy feeling? We've even had some of that, though not much, but it is still the first week of April. A-Rod has a home run, as does Melky Cabrera. Giambi is swatting away and will start getting hits to show for it. Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu look like they're going to have hot starts. The hitting has been spotty, but far from horrific.

Good defense, that's your bag? How about five double plays on Wednesday, and a nimble Giambi at first base saving Jeter from two throwing errors? A-Rod, Cabrera, Giambi, Robbie Cano -- and even Jeter -- have made some terrific turns with the leather. And pressed into three starts behind the plate, Jose Molina has been rifling some terrific throws down to second.

Now, the bad, and the ugly (all rolled into one, because I can't take analyzing them separately).

Bad pitching got you down? Me, too. It looks like LaTroy Hawkins and his 10-plus ERA at Yankee Stadium (before this season) had less to do with the fact that before 2008 he was always facing tough Yankee lineups, and more to do with the fact that he is, well, LaTroy Hawkins. Even a math moron (you're reading one right now) could look at these numbers -- 2.0/8/7/7/0/0 -- and, well, have a stroke, because even an idiot would know that those numbers add up to a big fat ZERO, which is what Hawkins has been in two pathetic outings.

He's not alone. Kyle Farnsworth, at least Friday night, was back to being Kyle Farnsworth. Maybe Hawkins was contagious. Maybe it was manager Joe Girardi and his "I'll sleep this one off on the couch" bug that made this most recent game look so sickening. Who knows? But Ian Kennedy was nearly unhittable -- only because most of his pitches were nearly uncontrollable. He'll be better, but he can't wait too long. But Hawkins and Farnsworth? Pardon Yankee fans if they'll need a lot of convincing before ever feeling good with these two on the hill in a tight game.

As Cano goes... Okay, so maybe my pre-season touting of Cano as this season's league MVP was a tad premature, but he's looked nothing but uncomfortable in the six hole. Maybe he's just not a cold-weather guy, and things will change come May or June (they did last season), but until then Girardi may have to move Cano back down to the eighth slot. Will that damage a young player psychologically? No idea, but soon Cano is going to damage Yankee fans, optically. How many more weak at bats do we have to witness?

And Johnny Damon? His four-game strikeout streak -- and none of them have been pretty -- is bothersome (as is the gray hair plainly visible, whenever Damon is sans chapeau, in the dugout). The double and the triple were nice, but a .143 average and 162-strikeout pace aren't what you put off retirement for.

What does it all mean?

Taken as a whole, the 2-2 start is better than 1-3 or 0-4, and we shouldn't get too worked up over one 13-4 drubbing, in early April, to a young team with a chip on its shoulder. But a pitching implosion, led by one of the rookies and carried on by two scary relievers, is what Yankee fans have dreaded, and Friday night was a realized nightmare.

Everything that's happened over the first four games will probably happen again; it's been the best and the worst, and every Yankee has played a part. But Yankee fans have to hope that it's a lot more of games one and three, and a lot less of game four, that defines the arc of this promising season.