Here lie the Yankees: Old and beat up, to be resurrected this summer

Teams have, at least once or twice in the last century, made up a six-game deficit with 118 to go. With largely the same cast of characters, the Yankees went 72-39 from June onwards last season.

Sure, they'll miss Roger Clemens' accountability (cough!) and Joe Torre's openness to change (cough cough cough!), but the AL hasn't lived up to its preseason billing. If the Yankees win 60 percent of their games from here on out -- certainly within the realm of possibility -- that gets 'em to 90 by October. That should be plenty.

Girardi may have an, uh, "unconventional" way of meting out playing time, with Sunday night proving the latest and weirdest example (no Duncan, whose Yankee existence is premised on his ability to mash portsiders, against lefty-vaporizing Ollie Perez?). At the same time, he has had less to work with, in terms of healthy bodies and rotation options, than any Yankee manager in the last 13 or so seasons.

Girardi's commitment to getting the team in shape -- after Damon and Abreu showed up doughboy-plump in February 2007 -- is long overdue and should benefit the players in the long run, even if all they have to show for it so far is a spate of quad pulls and achy breaky shoulders.

As for those quads and shoulders, it's been said that the Yankees losing A-Rod and Posada is equivalent to the Red Sox losing David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

Me, I'd argue that it's much worse.

Teams can find fill-in solutions at DH and in left field; the options are far fewer at third base and catcher. Here's how bad it became a few weeks back: The Yankees were praying that Chad Moeller, who began the season as the organization's 18th option behind the plate, would clear waivers and return to their fold. Insert "$200 million don't buy what it used to" gibe here.

The irony of it all? Following last October's loss to the Indians, the Yankees enjoyed their first rational off-season since 2000. They didn't throw gobs of cash at Kyle Lohse and assembled a semifunctional bench, eschewing Torre catnip like Luis Sojo and Ruben Sierra for versatile guys like Morgan Ensberg.

Most essentially, they adhered to Brian Cashman's developmental plan. Had they not, it could've been disastrous. Over the last two weeks, seemingly every billionaire-owned pauper franchise has inked its top young players to long-term deals.

As best as my limited grasp of economics allows me to understand, this means that these players won't be floated in trades when they hit their arbitration years ... which means that the days of Cabrera/Willis-for-the-entire-Detroit-farm-system are done ... which means heated competition for the smaller number of stars that reach free agency. Basically, that's a long way of saying that the Yankees got on the developmental bandwagon at the precise right moment.

But that's yesterday's news. Or tomorrow's. Today's story, alas, remains that the Yankees are terrible and bad and slow and old and soooooo overpaid.

Expect my "Yankees are back!!!" epistle on July 13.