DETROIT -- The New York Yankees are plummeting to earth faster than Felix Baumgartner. Judging from the fan and media ire after seven postseason games, Alex Rodriguez is finished, Nick Swisher can't leave town soon enough, Curtis Granderson is a left-handed Rob Deer, and Robinson Cano is too disinterested and unclutch to share the same double-play air space with Derek Jeter, much less merit a $200 million contract. In the midst of failure this pronounced, judgment in the big city can be both quick and merciless.

Justin Verlander is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in two postseason starts this year. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Here's the scariest part: Compared to what the New York hitters are about to face, the first two games of the American League Championship Series might feel a lot like batting practice.

The Yankees are hitting .192 with a .584 OPS as a team against Doug Fister, Anibal Sanchez and the Detroit Tigers' bullpen, and the numbers would be even grimmer if not for Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez providing a brief spasm of resistance with two-run homers off Tigers closer Jose Valverde in the series opener.

Now the degree of difficulty is ratcheted up exponentially. Trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, the Yankees will line up and take their hacks Tuesday against Justin Verlander, an elite pitcher at the top of his game. For opponents in search of optimism, he's a living, breathing antidote to hope.

Verlander might well lose out on his second straight Cy Young Award to Tampa Bay's David Price, who went 20-5 with a league-leading 2.56 ERA. But his season has been impressive nevertheless. Verlander made his fifth All-Star Game, passed Jim Bunning on the Tigers' career strikeout list, and flirted with his third no-hitter in May before allowing a ninth-inning single to Pittsburgh's Josh Harrison.

On a more downbeat note, Verlander's streak of consecutive starts of six innings or longer finally ended at 63. He lost 4-1 to Boston on July 31 in a game that was called after five innings because of rain.

When we last saw Verlander, he was churning out a performance that ranked up there with the best in the Bob Gibson, Jack Morris, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz power righty postseason catalogues. After the Oakland Athletics erased a 2-0 division series deficit to Detroit with back-to-back victories at O.co Coliseum, Verlander walked into a hostile environment and put the clamps on the home team's euphoria. He struck out 11, walked one and allowed only four hits in a 6-0 shutout that left observers grasping for superlatives to describe his dominance.

The Tigers, of course, are downplaying the notion they have the Yankees right where they want them with Verlander, Max Scherzer and Fister lined up to pitch the next three games at Comerica Park. Manager Jim Leyland told reporters Monday that the Yankees simply have too good a lineup not to break out here soon. And general manager Dave Dombrowski, who is paid to worry, refused to acknowledge that he's confident with the situation, much less comfortable.

"We came out of [New York] as well as we could possibly come out," Dombrowski said. "We're up two-to-zero. But that doesn't mean anything. It takes four. So no, I'm not relaxed at all."