The Yankees head to AT&T Park, formerly SBS Park, formerly Pacific Bell Park, to play the San Francisco Giants this weekend. The Bombers hope to overcome their recent Western Time Zone struggles and break their losing streak.

The Yanks may have trouble with The Giants’ Friday starter: young fireballer Matt Cain, who has a 3.15 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 91.1 innings this year. The other two pitchers the Yankees will face are curveballer Matt Morris and Noah Lowry, a lefty with pinpoint control. Both have ERAs under four. The Giants, even with that great pitching, sit at last place with a 30-41 record. Possibly because, according to Baseball Prospectus, they have the second oldest lineup in the history of baseball: 1)D Robers, CF, born 5/31/1972= 35 years old

2)R Winn, RF, born 6/9/1974= 33 years old

3)B Bonds, LF, born 7/24/1964= 43 years old

4)R Durham, 2B, born 11/30.1971= 36 years old

5)B Molina, C, born 7/20/1974= 33 years old

6)R Klesko, 1B, born 6/12/1971- 36 years old

7)P Feliz, 3B, born 4/27/1975= 31 years old

8)O Vizquel, SS, born 4/24/1967= 40 years old

The average age of a Giant hitter is 35.87. This team should be in a retirement home, not a baseball field. To put these ages into perspective, Yankee announcer Joe Girardi is 43. Yankee bench coach Don Mattingly is 46. Luis Sojo is 42, and Yesnetwork broadcaster David Justice is only 41. Baseball players tend to improve from the ages of 16-26, they hit their peak at 27-31, and decline from 31-40. Some players are genetic outliers like Julio Franco or Roger Clemens, but the vast majority of professional baseball players fit this statistical pattern.

Although the Yankees have plenty older players on their team, they also have a farm system that in recent years has produced future stars Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, and many others still in the minors.

This Giants team should serve as a warning of what could happen when the farm system is neglected and the team is build only through Free Agent acquisitions.