Monday, June 2, 2008

Sputtering (Postgame Notes 2 June 2008)

Of all the types of baseball games one can play, ones like tonight's are by far the most frustrating to watch.

Every inning (or almost every inning), it seemed, the Yankees took the lead, only to lose it in the bottom half of the inning. Both the pitching and offense are to blame--as neither could pick up the other--even if, on the surface, it looks like the offense had a good showing.

As seemed to be the case for the entire month of April, the Yankees were able to get runners on base without a problem, but then unable to bring them in to score. Multiple innings they had runners in scoring position with less than two outs, and they could never build a lead larger than two runs.

Andy Pettitte, who has built a career around being a "stopper", is not having the best season of his life. While he is a second half pitcher, it can't be ignored that Pettitte's inability to provide some stability in the rotation is hurting the Yankees.

Kyle Farnsworth, simply, did not have a good outing. If the Yankees are looking to make any move in the coming days, one has to hope that they can find someone that can fill the bullpen void that Farnsworth seems to be unable to do. An 8th inning pitcher does not have to be Joba-good, but he has to be able to get three outs before giving up the tying run. It doesn't seem like it should be a hard thing to do...


OPTIMIST TAKE: Alex Rodriguez looked great at the plate; Jeter looks like he is finally coming out of his slump.

2 comments:

  1. I think that the loss was clearly on Andy Pettitte. He blew 3 leads. If he holds the lead the Yanks win and Farnsworth and the Yankees leaving runners on base wouldn't have mattered.

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  2. Farnsworth isn't ste-up man material. He never was. I'm not sure where Girardi got the notion that the guy with the most hittable fastball in all of baseball would be reliable in the 8th. Has Joe been watching the same games as the rest of us? The ones where fly ball after fly ball go sailing out to the warning track?

    Farnsworth is who he is. Joe and Cash need to realize this and make adjustments.

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