BALTIMORE — Careful what you wish for, is what the millennium-old cautionary tale tells us, and you have to wonder if the Yankees are paying heed. CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, the two free agents who were seduced by the scent of the Steinbrenners' millions, have already discovered how steep the celebrity tax really is in the Bronx.

The Yankees, of course, have opened the 2009 season by getting smoked at Camden Yards, which means everything in their universe feels uneasy today. It's not panic, but the organizational temperature is clearly a few degrees hotter than when the team broke camp a week ago.

Suddenly Sabathia is fending off rumors that he's hurt. Joba Chamberlain had to answer to the embarrassing video footage of his DUI arrest, released by The Smoking Gun on Tuesday. And Teixeira keeps making outs in a steady, embarrassing blur, feeding the army of local haters who'll hold a lifetime grudge against the slugger for taking the Yankees' money.

Was it worth it? Sabathia and Teixeira say yes — they were prepared for the scrutiny. But chances are, neither man had to deal with this kind of turbulence before.

The crowd at Sabathia's locker was five-deep before Wednesday night's 7-5 loss to the Orioles, all because the left-hander was seen using a heating pad during his awful opening day start on Monday. The alarm was sounded for two reasons: first, because Sabathia has a history of oblique muscle-related injuries. And second, because he failed to strike out a single batter in 4$ innings.

Sabathia insists he's fine, he's cool, no reason for anyone to freak. The pad, he said, was applied to his midsection, not his arm, and only because he was cold. "I'm going to keep using it until it gets really hot," he said with a reassuring smile.

That's what Sabathia says today. But what if he struggles through the rest of the month, as he historically does in April? Considering he's pulling down $161 million through 2015, the questions will be pointed, the headlines more accusatory. And then we'll learn just how easy-going the big man really is.

Sabathia and Teixeira both say they were prepared — and prepped — for the low-level hysteria in these parts. "I'm OK with it," the left-hander said in a private moment. "I know the deal here. When I signed with the Yankees, I knew there were going to be days like this. I wouldn't have come here unless I thought I could deal with it.

"The people who know me know that I always use (the heating pad). But I'm new here, so I expected the questions."

When it comes to handling Yankees-generated pressure, everyone uses the same standard of success (Derek Jeter) and failure (Randy Johnson). It took The Big Unit all of one month in 2005 to realize he couldn't stand New York notably its noise and its pushiness.

Johnson figured he could use the Yankees to piggy-back his way to the World Series, but without any emotional investment in his teammates. By the end Johnson hated his team, and his teammates; the feeling, of course, was mutual.

Sabathia and Teixeira are more grounded and socially mature than Johnson, but in some ways their path will be even more difficult. Teixeira, after all, will earn $180 million over the next eight years, which makes him everyone's enemy outside of the Bronx. He says he's ready for that, but the reaction in Camden Yards has been nothing less than vicious, even as he snapped an 0-for-8 slump with an RBI double in the ninth inning.

Teixeira says he "loves" the fans' "passion." He's either fibbing or else he's awfully naive. Either way, Teixeira had better get used to the ugliness and not just when he's in Baltimore. A few more empty at-bats, and the Yankees' fans will start booing him, too.

To this, Teixeira says: no problem.

"I look myself in the mirror and say, 'Let's get it going,"' Teixeira said. "I have no problem with fans getting on me if I don't produce. One of the reasons I wanted to be a Yankee was because the fans and the media are so passionate. I actually think it's pretty cool."

Just wait, his day is coming over the course of a 162-game season, every Yankee will eventually be sacrificed to the controversy beast. If Andy Pettitte was swallowed up, surely no one is safe.

Certainly not Chamberlain, who apologized for his behavior and the comments he made about New Yorkers and Yogi Berra while being arrested by a Nebraska state trooper last December.

Joba called Yogi to make amends and, true to his lovable nature, Berra forgave the Yankee right-hander. But you have to wonder if Chamberlain has really learned much. He's young, he's gone from near-poverty to instant wealth, and has a history of alcohol and drug abuse in his family.

The Yankees would like nothing more than to believe this was the first and last mistake Chamberlain has made with drinking, but this much is certain: from now on, he won't be able to go out in public without someone watching, someone snapping his photo on a cellphone camera, someone calling Page Six with a scoop.

It's a suffocating reality, but it's not like any of it is a surprise in greater New York. "It comes with the territory," is what A.J. Burnett says. It helps when you're winning, but, with the season off to a dreary start, the Yankees can't even say that.