ANAHEIM -- The Weekend Buzz while you were wondering exactly what John Edwards could have possibly been thinking ...

1. Yankee doodles, not so dandy: The most astounding occurrence of 2008 is not Tampa Bay's rousing success, Josh Hamilton's storybook summer or the way the Cubs are slicing and dicing every opponent that dares come through Wrigley Field.

Ian Kennedy's demotion to the minors doesn't make it any easier for the Yanks' depleted pitching staff. (AP)

That fact was magnified again this weekend when Kennedy received his latest blistering, this one Friday night in Anaheim, 10-5. Then the weak Yankees bullpen imploded Saturday, then they couldn't get a key hit Sunday and, after "first baseman" Wilson Betemit watched Chone Figgins' slow-motion bouncer roll by him in the ninth, the Yankees were swept -- and in a world of trouble.

They've lost five of their past seven games and stand 8½ games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, as far back as they've been since July 7.

"You can sit and try and analyze it ... but the bottom line is, we need to win games," shortstop Derek Jeter said.

"We're starting to put ourselves in a bad situation," pitcher Andy Pettitte said. "We've got to figure out a way to win, that's all there is to it."

"Every game is a playoff game from now on," vowed third baseman Alex Rodriguez. "We've dug ourselves a huge hole."

The Yanks are bewildered, clutch hitless and snakebit.

"About a 10-hopper through the infield," was the way manager Joe Girardi described Figgins' hopper that leaked into shallow right field between Betemit (who, inexplicably, opted to jog over to the first-base bag instead of go after the ball) and second baseman Robinson Cano, who was shaded toward the second-base bag.

"A 75-hopper off of Mariano (Rivera) to win the game," A-Rod said.

However you score the bouncing ball, the Yanks are taking on water and time is running out, and there is a direct correlation between the disappearance of Kennedy and Hughes this summer and the Yanks being in very real danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

After 13 consecutive Octobers, tying Atlanta's major league record at 14 this season is looking exceptionally problematical, what with Tampa Bay refusing to wilt, Boston owning better overall pitching (and in Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, better young pitching, especially) and the Yankees banged-up and pitching-thin.

Nobody expected Hughes and Kennedy to be in the Cy Young Award discussion when the back-to-school-shopping time of the summer rolled around. But the expectation of even a handful of wins between them was reasonable and realistic. And had you told Girardi this spring that August would hit before a victory for either one of them ...

"I would have been shocked," the manager said. "I would have said I don't like your prediction.

"Obviously, we didn't expect them to be Cy Young candidates, but we expected them to compete at a high level. It's been a tough year for both of them. But the year isn't over."

It just felt that way to Kennedy, whose Friday disaster earned him a ticket back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. The Yankees recalled lefty Billy Traber in another all-hands-on-deck plea for help to a gassed 'pen one day after the Angels crushed them with an eight-run eighth in Saturday's 11-4 shellacking.

The bullpen was charged with another loss Sunday, though if Betemit had the range of, say, even one of the monument plaques back at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees and Angels might still be playing the series finale.

Anyway, the search for pitching continues -- particularly for relief help to boost a bullpen ranked 10th in the AL with a 3.94 ERA. That the Yankees are 52-1 in games in which they've led after seven innings speaks largely to the continued dominance of the masterful closer, Rivera.

But with four key Yankees on the disabled list -- catcher Jorge Posada (shoulder) and pitcher Chien-Ming Wang (foot) are out for the season, outfielder Hideki Matsui (knee) is out for the foreseeable future and pitcher Joba Chamberlain (shoulder) is scaring the bejeezus out of everyone -- Girardi just hasn't been able to locate any continuity.

Jeter, Cano and outfielder Bobby Abreu are down offensively, no small part of why the vaunted lineup ranks only seventh in the AL in runs scored. But pitching is why the Yankees have been so dominant over the past 13 or so years, and pitching -- or lack of it -- is why they're playing catch-up with the Rays and Red Sox.

The Yankees are 3-12 in games started by Hughes and Kennedy this season -- 2-7 in games started by Kennedy. Hughes, who missed three months this season with a stress fracture in his rib, is slated to pitch Tuesday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees are greatly relieved that Chamberlain (rotator cuff tendinitis) avoided surgery, but he's unlikely to return to the rotation before early September.

So the Yankees are left to plug the holes with Dan Giese, Darrell Rasner (expected to start in place of Kennedy on Wednesday in Minnesota) and Sidney Ponson (3-1 in seven starts with the Yankees despite surrendering 46 hits and 17 walks in 40 innings).

Chamberlain has not picked up a ball since walking off the mound in Texas last Monday, though he is expected to begin a throwing program in New York on Friday.

By the time he returns, if these Yankees don't shape up, he might get a chance to do something no Yankees pitcher has done since 1993: Pitch in meaningless September games. Currently, the Yanks are 2½ games behind Minnesota and four behind Boston in the AL wild-card race.

"Ain't nobody going to feel sorry for us," noted Pettitte. "We've got to grind it out and find a way to win games."

2. Yankee clippers: Say hello to Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick. He doesn't exactly have the marquee name of Vladimir Guerrero, Francisco Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira, but when he led off the bottom of the ninth with a single against Damaso Marte on Sunday and then scampered across the plate with the winning run three batters later, it only emphasized that he is to the Yankees as termites are to wood decks.

The man whom teammate Torii Hunter predicts will win a batting title one day is hitting .468 (37 for 79) in his career against the Yankees. Of Kendrick's six career four-hit games, four have been against the Yankees (including Friday night's).

Overall, the Angels have won 26 of their past 40 games against the Yankees and 12 of the past 16 against the Yanks in Anaheim. This weekend, they scorched the Yankees every which way, starting with going 18-for-32 with runners in scoring position.

"They're so deep," Pettitte said. "To me, throw offense out the window. They've got offense, speed, everything you'd want. They've got great arms ... they're a good team. They run great starters out there every day, they've got a strong bullpen and they're playing with a lot of confidence."

At 74-43, the Angels are off to the best start in franchise history and own baseball's best record. A club that never has won more than 99 games in a season is on pace to finish with 102. Their current 14-game lead in the AL West is the largest in club history.

3. Tampa Bay's magic number: Right now, it's 71. That's how many wins the Rays own. By late Tuesday night in Oakland, it might be 72. The count is on for the Rays, who, before Sunday's 11-3 drubbing of Seattle, had never won more than 70 games in any season.

They have a 4½-game lead over Boston and they even added reliever Chad Bradford to their bullpen. Bradford, a veteran of playoff games for Oakland and Boston, brings experience and groundballs to a team that can use each.

Rays executive vice-president Andrew Friedman calls Bradford an "extreme groundball pitcher," and how perfect is that description for the X Games-generation of young players carrying Tampa Bay to loftier heights than ever before. Bradford induces 4.89 groundballs for every flyball and, with the Tampa Bay infield defense backing him, the combination might be even better than sunscreen and the Florida beaches.

4. O-Dog bit: Devastating blow to Arizona on Saturday night to lose second baseman Orlando Hudson to a broken wrist. Particularly after the Diamondbacks a couple of weeks ago shipped second-base prospect Emilio Bonifacio to Washington in the Jon Rauch deal. Manager Bob Melvin has little choice now but to go with Jeff Salazar or Augie Ojeda at second. Though Salazar was designated for assignment by Arizona earlier this season and chances are that Ojeda, as one scout noted Sunday, quickly will become overexposed. The heat is on Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes, already searching for an outfield bat in the mold of Seattle's Raul Ibanez, to find a second baseman as well.

5. What do Brian Giles and Manny Ramirez have in common? Neither wants to play for the Red Sox. Giles declined a trade there because he wanted to stay in San Diego to be close to family (he's a native) and because he thinks the Padres can contend again soon, but blind faith also could make him even worse off.

Several people close to the Padres expect owner John Moores' impending divorce to adversely affect the team. California is a community property state, which means Becky Moores -- the soon-to-be-ex-Mrs.-John -- is in play and there already are indications that player payroll will be cut significantly in 2009 (it's just over $70 million this year). That's why the Padres already have worked hard to trade Giles and pitcher Greg Maddux this season, positioning themselves for an early start on the payroll-shedding process.

6. Manny's hair: Still Topic A in Los Angeles. Hey, it's better than the usual, talking about Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

7. Cubs' lair: With Friday's win over St. Louis, the Cubs moved to 44-16 in Wrigley Field, equaling their home win total for all of 2007. And though Alfonso Soriano has spent two stints on the disabled list, the Cubs still go as far as their MVP -- yes, team MVP -- goes. When this weekend's St. Louis series started, Soriano was batting .417 (20-for-48) over his past 11 games. When Soriano starts and leads off, the Cubs are 44-20. When someone other than Soriano leads off, they're 26-27.

8. White Sox despair: Maybe Jose Contreras isn't a No. 1 starter or ace of the staff, but the ruptured Achilles' tendon that ended his season sends Chicago spinning. For now, D.J. Carrasco will take Contreras' spot in the rotation, though GM Kenny Williams is on the prowl for help. John Danks is having a breakout season, you pretty much know what to expect from Mark Buehrle but, after that, with Gavin Floyd fading and a starters' ERA of six-and-a-half over their past 20 games, it's white-knuckle time for the White Sox. And memo to Carrasco or whomever else moves into the rotation: Protecting slugger Carlos Quentin is becoming a priority. He was hit with a pitch for a fourth consecutive game Sunday (he also blasted his 32nd homer), giving him 18 for the season -- five short of the franchise record set by Minnie Minoso in 1956.

9. Marlins remain fair: Just when you think they're starting to head south, they beat the Mets on Sunday to pull to within a half-game of Jerry Manuel's club in the tight NL East race. And hey, Florida just signed Paul LoDuca, so let the charge begin, right?

10. Bonds appears in San Francisco: He looked at the Dodgers' dugout and said, "You heard me, (Joe) Torre. I beat you before, and I'll beat you again. I haven't retired." Ah, the difference between not having retired and having been retired is so subtle. And so obvious.