A-Rod out longer

I saw this last night, but wasn't around long enough to post it. Good thing I missed the game too. This team is flat-out boring.

Alex Rodriguez is progressing slower than expected and will miss at least the rest of this week (including the always overblown Subway Series).

Rushing him back is the reason why his injury became more severe, so it's good to see that they are at least being more cautious this time around.

To say that the Yankees are desperately missing Rodriguez is an understatement. For every game that the lineup puts together games of six or more runs, they play three more games where they score three or less runs.

The Yankees are playing uninspired baseball at this point, and it's amazing that they are 19-20 through 39 games this season. The Yankees were 18-21 at this point in the season last year, but this was before a losing streak that found them sitting at 21-29 after 50 games. Keep in mind that Rodriguez was just coming off that crazy April where he won two games with his bat in the ninth inning.

All is obviously not lost. While the Red Sox are seven games above .500, they are only four games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East standings. As we learned last year, nothing is decided this early in the season. Rodriguez can sit out this week to recover, but he will start to be a concern if he's out any longer.

They can win with Rodriguez in the lineup while Jorge Posada is out. Jose Molina and Chad Moeller are fine once Rodriguez is back. However, while both Posada and Rodriguez are out with injuries, the lineup is anemic.

This season has given Yankee fans a glimpse at what life without Rodriguez would have been like if he didn't re-sign this off-season. Hopefully they will now appreciate Rodriguez and what he brings to this lineup.