No starting pitching? No bullpen? Yes, for yet another season the New York Yankees are plagued with the same old problems. They always seem to be able to whip out the big bucks for the sluggers, but fail to do so with equally important pitchers, who hold the whole defensive burden of the team on their shoulders. Very recently the Yankees shelled out $25,000,000 to acquire right fielder Danny Tartabull (formerly of the Royals), but ignored many prime pitchers who opted to be free agents over the winter. They have also naively seemed to turn a blind eye on all trade propositions when it is blatant that they are in dire need of pitching. How can they be so ignorant?

This is very easy to explain. Their whole front office has been in turmoil, and more important, they have had general partners (managing shareholders) like George Steinbrenner. I remember in the old days; the much feared Yankees would take on other teams with an obvious and very intimidating air of superiority. This was what won ball games, and this was what took them to their last World Series against the Dodgers in '81. Since then, this hunger and drive has diminished, and left us with the Yankees of today, a fifth-place team. But on the bright side, we Yankee fans (or I hope the most of us), have hung in through tough times with that eternal "Yankee Pride" which will be with us until we're pushing up daisies (and who knows, maybe even longer). So I would like to make a plea on behalf of myself (and many other disgruntled fans who I am sure feel the way I do), please Yankees, give us a team we can be proud of so we can prove to those darn Mets that we are New York's only major league baseball team. Who else won 36 pennants and over 20 World Series, huh? n