Yankeetorial: Young bloggers are about to experience their first long-term Yankee meltdown

We butchered five out of six to the Triple A Padres and White Sox. Now, we face the mighty Tigers - with a lineup as strong as the city of Detroit's finances are weak -  and the only question is whether they'll play with their food - go 2-1 - or just gulp us down whole, with a sweep.

Either way, we'll fall below .500 with less than 50 to play, and you can spin numbers until Kate Upton's beautistics resemble Mr. Bean's, but the reality is that the great Yankee run of the millennium-change has ended, and our next tryst with respectability - you know, chasing pennants rather than a one-game wild card gimmick - might not come until 2016.

Listen: I'm old, ancient, decrepit - (but not as bad as Alphonso, heh heh.) For me, one point of interest will be reading mainstream bloggers of the Yankiverse. For many, if not most of the writers and commentators, this will be their first true Yankee meltdown. Oh,  they heard about Danny Tartabull and Mel Hall, but they never experienced it. Now, we'll see.

Let's hope they put pressure on the ownership, rather than whip a bunch of aging players for the crime of having grown old. A-Rod makes a nice, fat, juicy, stationary target. It will be fun to stuff all our woes into his image, and then set fire to it.

The greatest fan moment of the last meltdown era came when Reggie Jackson of the Los Angeles Angels homered in Yankee Stadium, prompting a huge crowd to chant "Steinbrenner Sucks." At some point between now and 2016, I hope the Yankee world will present such a consciousness. Yes, we had bad breaks. But this massive collapse - and the corner into which we've painted ourselves - didn't have to happen. A-Rod did not do this to the Yankees. The Yankees shot themselves.

There you go, young bloggers. From an old-timer.