The Yankee team that was waiting for June is now officially waiting for July... and maybe for help from the astral plane

It's happening: The annual May red dot obliteration. This year, it came late.

Don't be alarmed. Drop the gun and step away from the car. It happens every season. Around May, the Empire loses its evilness. One year, Derek Jeter went something like 0 for 40, and they said he was done. Riding high in April, shot down in May... It's a glitch, a zit, a pothole, everybody. Put down the torches.

The official line: Keep calm and carry on... driven by Jeep! Last night's 1-11 debacle changes nothing, aside from Adam Warren's career ERA. Beat Boston today, and we're gonna change our tune, when we're back on top, back on top in June.

Or not. This not the Yankees of the last 15 seasons. This is an organization in the last gasp of a talent surge that began in 1995, and which has no corresponding generation in the wings. (We have three high draft picks next week in the amateur meat auction, but I don't see any John Oleruds out there.) We are at the edge of a dark hole, and whenever this team looks bad, like the last week, everybody rightfully wonders if we just fell in.

Right now, Andruw Wells is painful to watch, and Ichiro - awaiting his 10th RBI - swings like a figure skater. It's reasonable to say that when Phil Hughes goes on the free agent market next season, the human cry to resign him will not drown out the sound of a clam. Brett Gardner is starting to flat-line, and the late-inning heroics of Lyle Overbay and Jayson Nix - which delighted the Yankiverse two weeks ago - seem as far removed as Chad Curtis and Luis Sojo.

This might be the typical slump in a typical Yankee year. But now, we are back to waiting for Arod, Jeet and Grandy Man, dreaming of Pineda - pining for Nunez, Cervelli, et al - and wondering if there will be anything left when they arrive, or it will just be another reunion of Cheers, and we want to see which one is Kirstie Ally.

If we lose today, we have to start thinking of a JUJU INTERVENTION. Understand? An International Juju Intervention. Spread the word.