It's still early, of course, but as Yogi Berra would say, "It gets late early out there."

And for this year's Yankees, there's no guarantee that what happens early won't also happen late.

The Yankees dropped below .500 yet again Monday, falling to Tampa Bay, 7-1.

Once, such a loss would have seemed as unusual as it did unseemly. Now? There's no guarantee the Yankees are better than a .500 team, and the Rays might be a .500 team, too.

Tampa Bay set an agressive tone in spring training in an attempt to finally be more competitive. Having won 14-of-19, they've been just that. They sit in second place, a hair behind the Red Sox.

The Yankees of course, have so much talent it's hard to imagine them not eventually overtaking their youthful counterparts if they can get healthy. But unlike past years, the Yankees no longer can just wait for things to settle. The Yankees have to figure out what exactly they have.

That point was evidenced by the news that Ian Kennedy had been pulled 12 pitches into his start for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and would return to the Yankees to start Thursday's game. Kennedy barely had time to unpack in the minors after being sent down to work on some things.

Working on things seems like it will be a season-long project for this Yankees team.

RAYS 7, YANKEES 1: Andy Pettitte failed to reach the fifth inning for the first time this season, Rays starter Matt Garza pitched seven shutout innings and the Yankees fell below .500 again. Pettitte, who had all but owned Tampa Bay with a 14-3 lifetime mark, gave up five runs on eight hits and was chased after a four-run fourth.

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