Brewers 4 – Yankees 3

MILWAUKEE – At this rate, the Yankees will be sellers, not buyers when the trading season swings into full bloom.

If the Yankees can’t beat the Royals and Brewers in consecutive starts by Randy Johnson, who can they be expected to topple?

Nine weeks into the season, the reality of the Yankees’ plight is this: They are as bad as they have ever been under Joe Torre.

And while the Yankee bats are the biggest reason they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Brewers last night in front of 34,627 at Miller Park, Johnson is expected to be better.

“Right now it’s frustrating,” said Johnson, who allowed four runs, seven hits, walked three, hit a batter and fanned eight in six innings. “I expect a lot from myself. I came here to win ballgames and it hasn’t happened at the rate I expect.

“I want to come here and end losing streaks like I am capable of doing so people turn to me and ask, ‘When are you pitching again?’ That responsibility is what I live for.”

The loss dropped the Yankees under .500 at 28-29, was their eighth defeat in nine games and dropped them seven lengths behind the AL East-leading Orioles.

Johnson, who is 5-5 and has lost three of his last four starts, gave up three runs in the first three innings but was provided a mulligan in the fourth when the Yankees scored three runs.

However, the Men Without Bats collected four hits against three Brewer pitchers who tried to hand the game to the visitors.

With the score tied 3-3 in the fifth, starter Doug Davis opened the inning by walking Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez. But Jorge Posada fanned on a 1-2 pitch and Jason Giambi banged into a 4-6-3 double play.

Not until Bernie Williams drew a leadoff walk from Derrick Turnbow in the ninth did the Yankees have a baserunner after that fifth-inning walk to A-Rod. By that time, Junior Spivey had homered in the sixth for a 4-3 Brewers lead.

“We don’t give our pitchers a lot of breathing room,” Torre said. “That puts extra pressure on them.”

In the eight losses, the Dead Bat Society has hit a pathetic .206 (55-for-267) overall and .155 (9-for-58) in the clutch. They have scored 18 runs in those games.

The Yankees had a chance in the ninth against Turnbow when Williams made second via a wild pitch while Turnbow worked to Robinson Cano with no outs. But Cano failed to move Williams to third when he fanned. Pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra grounded to third. That left Derek Jeter as the last hope.

Jeter, who singled in his first two at-bats, laced a liner toward the right-field corner that appeared on its way to tying the game. However, Geoff Jenkins speared the ball with a running catch and the Yankees were done.

“It looked like it was going to go over his head,” Torre said of Jenkins’ grab. “He made a great play.”

If you believe what football sage Bill Parcells says, the Yankees are losers because they are 28-29.

“You are what your record says you are,” is one of Parcells’ favorite cliches.

Applied to the Yankees, it means they have a big hill to climb. And it’s not early. Tonight is their 58th game, Johnson isn’t close to being the Hall of Fame pitcher George Steinbrenner invested $57 million in and the bats are dead.

“We are certainly going to earn our money to turn it around,” Torre said. “Because it’s not fun right now.”

Now it’s about survival. When Johnson loses to the Royals and Brewers in consecutive starts, that’s the only thing left.

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Swing error

Gary Sheffield can’t believe he has struck out in the seventh inning last night against the Brewers, but that paled to the Yankees wasting a bases-loaded, nobody out chance to break last night’s game open in the fifth against Doug Davis. Here’s how it unfolded:

Batter — Result

Hideki Matsui — walked

Gary Sheffield — walked

Alex Rodriguez — walked

Jorge Posada — struck out swinging

Jason Giambi — grounded into double play