Should we worry about the fact that the Scranton Railriders now have used position players to pitch in two straight games, and Matt Thornton is doing well in Washington?

I recognize that Triple A games don't matter, that Scranton-Wilkes Barre doesn't really exist, and that the real key to International League play is to never ask a pitcher to take one for the team. When a staff is tired, compromises must be made. I'm all in. Still... two games in a row?

Last night, here's the Scranton box score. Keep in mind: Jose Gill is a catcher.

The previous night, in a game that went 13 innings, the farm club trotted out Taylor Dugas, an outfielder, to pitch with the score tied. 

Check out the names here. The starter was Pat Venditte, the famous switch-pitcher, who surely will never set foot in Yankee Stadium, unless it's with another team. Next came Jeremy Bleich, a former high draft pick who was out of baseball for a while. The others are veteran bullpen arms. 

Not only is the Yankee staff falling apart, we can't even field a rotation in Scranton? 

Again, I hear you: I realize that it's complicated. You need to protect young pitchers - (actually, I'm not any of the above qualify for that category). But two games in a row?

Meanwhile...  

Early last week, the Yankees unceremoniously ditched Matt Thornton in a waivers deal, a rare cost-cutting move. They signed Rich Hill, who has been a disaster. Maybe it's coincidence, but our bullpen has stank for the last week. I'm not saying Thornton could have made a difference - we were overpaying him horribly - but he had started pitching well. Since moving to Washington, he's thrown three scoreless games:

The moral here: When things go wrong, they go really wrong. And things seem to be going wrong for the Yankees everywhere.