So, 8 games into the 2008 season, the Yankees are 4-4 (3 behind first place Baltimore in the loss column) with two losses to Tampa Bay and a loss to Kansas City. There have been some great pitching and a couple of clutch hitting performances. But overall, the vaunted, powerful offense has been very flat.

Positives:

• Chien-Ming Wang has looked great. The Yankees need him to be an ace at the top of an otherwise shaky rotation. He has delivered so far, going 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in 2 starts.

• The Joba Chamberlain-Mariano Rivera combination has continued to be extremely effective. Neither has allowed a run yet in 7 combined innings over 3 games.

• Mike Mussina hasn’t been awful, and that’s a positive! He is 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 2 starts. Again, not terrible. He was excellent the other night against Tampa Bay. He just needs to try to keep the Yankees in the games he starts.

• Bobby Abreu has gotten off to a hot start which is welcome after a really bad early part of 2007. He is at .379.

• Hideki Matsui is hitting pretty well too at .357 with 2 hr and 6 RBI.

Negatives:

• Other than Abreu and Matsui, the whole offense has been sluggish. Some of it could be blamed on cold weather, but that’s not really a good excuse. Cano is at .188, Damon is at .200, A-Rod is at .276, Jeter is at .208, Posada is at .176, Giambi is at .071. Yes, I know it is early and some of these averages are going to jump around for the first 30 games or so. But it still looks ugly.

• Injuries have reared their ugly head. The Yankees got out of Spring Training relatively healthy compared to recent years. But now Posada has a “dead arm” and Jeter’s leg is banged up. Both could end up on the D.L., which is bad no matter what month it is.

• Pettitte was very shaky in his one start, which I guess should have been expected.

• Ian Kennedy looked like he was not quite ready for prime time in his one start against the Rays last weekend. 2.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 6 earned runs. Let’s see how he does tonight in K.C.

• Phil Hughes was great in his first start, shaky in his second. He’s only 21 and is the second youngest player in the majors. Maybe inconsistency is going to be his trademark this year.

It is very early and there are so many games left to play, but every game counts, even in April. I’m hoping Jeter and Posada don’t miss too much time and the Yankees get on a roll soon.