Lay off my New York Yankees

I told myself I would not write this column. At least not this early in the season. I mean, c'mon, it's not even May yet.

And yet, all around me, talking heads are trying to intimate that the Yankees' season is already doomed, and George Steinbrenner has begun his search for more overpriced players and over-the-hill talent.

Here's my message: Chill the f—- out.

The Yankees are going to be fine. When the dust settles in October, the Bombers will once again hoist the World Series trophy, and Red Sox fans will immediately look to next season as their year to end the Yanks' dominance.

Baseball fans resemble President Bush more and more by the day. Just like our unfit Commander-in-Chief, everyone seems unwilling to look at the past and learn from it. Let's look really far back into the past. Let's take last year.

On May 1, in the wake of Derek Jeter's early-season shoulder injury, the Yankees were struggling to get back to .500. The pieces seemed to be in place for the sport's then-highest-paid team in history, but the bounces (or whatever you want to say the problem was) were not going the Bombers' way. The Red Sox, meanwhile, were flying high, with a five-game lead over their hated rivals. They were nearly 10 games above .500, and dreams of ending an 85-year drought danced in Bostonians' heads.

This was last season.

The dream, of course, would eventually end when Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in the game a few batters too long, and Aaron Boone savagely stomped on Tim Wakefield's knee-knocking knuckleball.

All that after I had been told a thousand times in April that the Yankees were through.

Fast foward one entire year. Tomorrow will be May 1, and, heading into last night's game, the Yanks were a game below .500. The Red Sox, on the other hand, have been coasting. Not only has the squad taken six of seven games against New York, they currently sit atop the AL East with the best record in all of baseball.

Why must I listen to this nonsense for a second year in a row? There are a million reasons why The Best Franchise Ever will once again be fine come autumn. Let me enlighten those of you who have written them off.

The baseball season lasts 162 games. Most teams have played 20. That is the equivalent of having played two games in an NFL season. Do you remember who was 2-0 after the first two weeks of this year's NFL season? The mighty Buffalo Bills.

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Drew Bledsoe was throwing the ball the way he used to in New England, and the defense was being annointed the heir apparent to Tampa Bay. On opening day, in fact, the Bills trounced the Patriots, 31-0, in the most humiliating moment for Boston since No No Nanette opened in 1919.

Anyone care to venture a guess as to what happened next? Well, the Bills pulled the el foldo and finished the season on a 2-12 skid, placing a distant last in the AFC East. The eventual Super Bowl Champions? Those same Patriots that suffered the 31-point loss on September 7.

So let's not jump to too many conclusions this early in the year. Baseball history as well as examples in other sports show that the first part of the season is generally a poor and useless indicator as to what will happen.

That being said, there have been specific questions raised about Yankee personnel that must be addressed.

The most glaring problem of the young season has been hitting. Heading into this week's Oakland series, the Yanks were batting a meager .217. Jason Giambi has been hitting below the team clip, as has Bernie Williams. And in the midst of a career-worst 0-for-32 slump, Jeter's average has dipped into the range of a healthy cholestoral count.

But let's be serious. This team is not going to struggle the entire year. Although A-Rod's numbers are down, and I think the pressure of New York is obviously getting to him, he is one of the best hitters in the league and will continue to perform that way. He has raised his average over 100 points in the last two weeks, and he is beginning to find his power stroke again.

Giambi has also shown signs of busting out of his slump, as he went 3 for 4 on Wednesday with a home run, two runs and two RBIs. Perhaps most importantly for the first baseman who hit a mere .250 last year, he is starting to spray the ball more. Teams use a crazy defensive shift where three infielders play on the right side of the infield as a result of Giambi's propensity to pull the ball. But this week, Giambi seems to have begun to recognize the need to become more of a contact hitter. He has gone to left field a few times and is forcing defenses to think about playing him more honestly. If he can do that, he will then open up that right side again, and his rips up the middle won't be snagged by a third infielder playing where he shouldn't be.

In terms of Jeter and Bernie, these are guys that every Yankee-hater loves to hate. People will call them washed up. To those people, I say, "kindly remove head from ass." These guys are clutch hitters that come through in the playoffs and when the team needs them. They have done it for eight years and will do it again. Neither of them have ever relied on power, so age isn't really a concern. Contact is their strength. Everyone goes through slumps where they don't see the ball well, and once these two break out, their numbers will climb to where they always end up. Another flash back to last season: After coming back from a six-week shoulder injury Jeter struggled through the All-Star Break. He ended the season with a .325 average. Get off his back.

In terms of pitching, no one doubts New York's bullpen. "Flash" Gordon, Paul Quantrill, Gabe White and Mariano Rivera give them the deepest group of late-inning pitchers in baseball.

But many still question the starters. I'll be honest, the Yanks do not have a bona fide No. 5 starter at the moment. Neither do most teams. With Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina and Javier Vasquez, at least 23 other teams that I can count would trade their starting pitchers for New York's. Mussina is finding his groove again, despite what some may say. Give him two more starts, and he will be the Moose of old.

No more ranting. I didn't want to write this thing anyway. You all tire yourselves out saying how bad the Yankees are, and I will stick with what I've been saying all along. The Yankees are the best team in baseball. I will not waiver. I will merely smirk when Boston loses another heartbreaker and turns its attention to 2005 while the Bombers are mopping up another World Series.