On Thursday, the Detroit Tigers finished their invasive three-game sweep of the New York Yankees — in the Yanks' own confines nonetheless. The Bombers find themselves in a highly unfavorable and uncertain position. Swept at home by Detroit for the first time since 1966, New York was outpitched and outslugged, failing to right their own ship, while serving as a spring board for a turnaround by the previously struggling squad from Detroit.

The Yankees were outscored 20 to 8 in the three-game bludgeoning at the Stadium and were unable to take advantage of another ineffective start by laboring Tigers' pitcher Nate Robertson in the third game of the series on Sunday, getting blasted for eight runs while struggling mightily to hit with men on base.

24-year-old pitcher Ian Kennedy was pummeled once again, giving up 4 runs in 4.2 innings, upping his ERA to a staggering 8.37 and, most alarmingly, his WHIP to an abysmal 2.03. When Kennedy isn't walking people, he is displaying a total lack of command in other ways, serving up meatballs over the fat part of the plate, while failing to demonstrate even the slightest sign of ascertaining any semblance of the form that he was projected to embody.

Combined with the Yankees' veteran hitters' continued struggles with men in scoring position — managing a meager four runs on ten hits Sunday, three of which came on a Bobby Abreu three run shot — the Yankees displayed that they are breaking down on a fundamental level. Whether this is due to injuries, misevaluated talent, or a combination of both, the result is a team showing a concerning lack of the components necessary to achieve the levels of success traditionally demanded by the Steinbrenner enclave.

At 14-16 as of Thursday, the Bombers are battered and struggling. Even with their losing record, the Yanks find themselves only 3 games behind first place Tampa Bay, but the mounting problems with injuries and instability in their rotation are threatening to cripple every attempt at a positive turn around that the Yankees attempt to mount. While it is true that New York also struggled mightily early last season — also due to an excessive amount of injuries — the difference between then and now is that even when the Yanks do get a healthy rotation together, the growing pains of their young pitchers may be too much to overcome, even with their prolific offense that will inevitably return to form.

The most glaringly obvious catalyst of the team's problems is the Yankees disabled list which seems to grow exponentially by the day. Alex Rodriguez is out at least 15 days, strangulating an offense in dire need of his 50 plus home run power. Without the presence of A-Rod's bat, the lineup lacks the strength and production that only a true power hitter can provide — a classification that no longer truly fits Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, or Hideki Matsui.