Farnsworthless strikes again

Surprise, surprise. Kyle Farnsworth didn't show up again.

The hopeless right-hander needed just five pitches to cough up tonight's finale against the Twins. Double, sac bunt, double. Both extra-base hits were rockets that reached the right-field wall.

It's doubtful the Yankees will wait much longer before beginning to examine outside options for their eighth inning problem ... and it is a problem. The fact that they even thought Farnsworth could fill the role after Joba left the 'pen is downright laughable. Hopefully Joe Girardi is close to understanding why Farnsworth was firmly entrenched in Joe Torre's doghouse last season. You know, because he frigging sucks.

Brian Cashman was asleep at the wheel in not strengthening the bullpen in the offseason. This team has zero chance at reaching the playoffs without having a strong bridge from their veteran rotation to their veteran Hall of Fame closer. And here's what gets me: Cashman said all along that the plan was to move Chamberlain to the starting rotation at some point this season. Isn't it common sense that you would have a plan in place for the bullpen after your dominant setup man exits? Apparently, this important nugget slipped Cash's mind, and now the Yankees are wide open for a season of blown games by a collection of hopeless journeymen. Blown games blow series, blow momentum, blow seasons. It's a complete joke that the mighty New York Yankees, they of the $240 million payroll, are in this position. Poor management, poor bullpen, poor results.

Yeah, it's safe to say the official Kyle Farnsworth Threat Level has reached SEVERE.

Around The Horn: The Yankees were atrocious with runners-in-scoring-position today, leaving a whopping 25 men on base. Five runs off 15 hits is no bueno. Cano (1-for-5, 5 LOB) and Abreu (0-for-5, 4 LOB) were the main culprits. ... Like Chien-Ming Wang two days before him, Andy Pettitte did not get the job done on Monday. The left-hander was given three leads and he coughed up each of them. With Farnsworth following him, I suppose it's unlikely it would have mattered anyway though. ... Local coverage of the Minnesota Twins features former big leaguer Ron Coomer providing "expert analysis" from inside the Twins dugout. Al Trautwig would have died to rub elbows with Melido Perez and Andy Stankiewitz during game action. ... Alex Rodriguez belted his 526th career homer in the first inning, leaving him 236 dingers away from de-tainting the home run record. He needs to average 34 homers over the next seven seasons to pass Bonds. This seems highly possible.