It will be a while before Yankee pitching defines itself

Corey Kluber pitched a "Meh,"
And Yankee haters all said "Heh!" 

Okay, shoot me, but this is what the real madness of March does to peace of mind. In each outing, players redefine their entire spring. Yesterday, it was "Comeback Corey" Kluber, who'd looked so impressive thus far - a veritable Travolta for career-reviving appearances - and then... Battlefield Earth.

Now and then, you see a box score like this, and it hits you that the Yankees' No. 2 pitcher - who turns 35 on April 10 - has thrown just 36 innings over the last two years, and that at any time, in any situation, he might call out the trainer, wiggle his arm, march to the dugout and announce plans to be a fulltime dad. 

Want to know the grim reality of the 2021 Yankees? It's mirrors, reflecting mirrors. Look at them one way, and you see a team that should win the AL East by 10 games. Turn your head, and you see them battling Baltimore for last place. 

And it's all because of pitching. 

Yesterday's Exhibit A: Kluber, whose velocity is said to be down a tick from the glory days, three years ago. Yesterday, against the mediocre Tigers, he played rope-a-dope for nearly four innings - yielding three walks and three hits, but no runs. It's the kind of start that keeps you in the game but devastates your bullpen for the series. The Yankees can probably live with Kluber throwing five-inning starts. But if he can't survive the fourth, that's Travolta in Two of a Kind, the 1983 fantasy comeback pairing with Olivia Newton John, in which he plays an angel sent to save humankind, and frankly, shouldn't.   

Of course, every game is nothing more than a mess of meaninglessness... that is, until it's not. Kluber used to be one of the game's great workhorses: For five straight seasons, he threw more than 200 innings. Now, he needs bubble-wrap, and the Yankees must heat him up slowly, like the frog in the boiler. 

But no matter how he pitches, the reality cannot change: He is one tweak from disaster. That's the gamble the Yankees chose to take. In for a penny...

PS: Mike Tauchman gets two hits yesterday, raising his spring average to .269. I cannot help but believe he brings a higher ceiling than Jay Bruce. But we'll see. They are, after all, the Yankees...