Yankeetorial: The West Coast and our farm system bring little hope

This I believe:

3. In the lost time zones of LA, we apparently won a game we should have lost and lost a game we should have won. Thus, business as usual. It's mirrors reflecting mirrors that we're still in this fake wild card race, but hell - let's enjoy it. In 2008, we fell out of contention in late September - who can forget Robbie Cano waving at that slow roller into right field, waving goodbye to our season? Right now, we're one three-game losing streak away from irrelevancy. A butchered trip to Tampa, and it's farewell. 

4. The saddest aspect of 2013 has been the apparent stagnation of our farm system. We spent last winter touting the Slade Heathcotts and Tyler Austins - but none have produced this year. Nor did anybody break out. If you look at Boston's system - an ever-flowing tap of talent - you can't help but wonder why we're so dead in the knickers? Is it some systematic failure in scouting, or coaching, or something? Why are we so snakebitten?

Do we - the Yankiverse - heap too many expectations on these kids? I'm not throwing in the towel... yet. (Thank God we didn't trade one for Michael Young.) But it would be nice to have somebody down there who generates hope. For four years, imagining Jesus Montero hitting Yankee home runs pulled me through dark moments. Yes, he's a bust - probably Pineda, as well - but Jesus, he made those times bearable. Right now, we have nobody to focus on and say, "He's the future!"

To be a diehard Yankee fan today is to be a brooding, tortured soul; it's a dank, dark, wearisome place. I can almost understand Penn State fans from 2012.