Yankees Need An Alarm

I don't know who told the Yankees that it was okay to snooze through series with the Nationals and the Marlins.

Because they have, they're now four out of first and once again in third place.

It's as though something happened when they got swept in Boston. Everything had been going swimmingly well, and then, boom, not any more.

The weather hasn't helped, but they are losing now on the road as well as at home. It can't be the excuse for everything.

The hitters right now aren't hitting, and look suspiciously like those of the 2008 team. It's not just that Alex Rodriguez is mired in an awful, awful slump, or that Canó's fallen off to the point that Paul O'Neill's noticed, or that Jorge Posada hasn't been doing much with the bat, either...it's that all of these things are happening at the same time.

The starting pitching has been the best it's been in a while, which would be even better if the offense could do something. Losing CC Sabathia today is especially worrisome given his tough-as-nails reputation.

There's no question that the blame for this game lies on the bullpen's shoulders, but it should have never gotten to that point, if the offense could have done its job properly.

Now, it's only June, but of the past six games, going 3-3 would have seemend a disappointment. 2-4 borders on an unmitigated disaster.

Next the Yankees go to Atlanta, and Atlanta has some great young starters--the kryptonite for this Yankees' team.

It might be a long road yet.

Yanks Get Early Lead, Hold Ground versus Fish (Postgame Notes 19 June 2009)

By the end of the third inning, the game felt like a blow out, even though it was only a four-run lead.

Still, that is what early hits--nine in the first three innings--can do for a team, especially one coming off of a performance where, let's face it, they were simply going through the motions against the league's worst team.

Once Angel Berroa and Andy Pettitte had back-to-back doubles in the second (yes, you read that right), however, the game was firmly in the Yankees' hands, and the only question would remain how Pettitte pitched.

Pettitte allowed three hits (including a solo HR) over seven innings, struck out seven and walked no one. It was one of his best starts this season, and came at a time when the Yankees needed an effective start.

Brian Bruney pitched an excellent eighth inning, which the Yankees really, really need, and Brett Tomko had a nice rebound outing in the ninth.

The one real blemish here was that the Yankees left 11 men on base, though some of this has to do with being in an NL park and losing both the DH and A-Rod's bat (as A-Rod will be taking the first two games off since he's slumping something awful), but I think the key here is that when the Yankees had to get the runs, in the beginning of the game, they did. Had the Marlins played a better game on their end, I'm not sure the Yankees' bats appear to get so lacksidasical at the end.

Derek Jeter is still limping a bit--I guess tomorrow we'll see if there are any lingering effects.


****

I'm headed to Citifield tomorrow with my friend Robin, who is a Mets fan. I'll get to see Johan (probably not that) up close and personal. I will actually be rooting for the Mets--because they're playing the Rays.

It's Always About A-Rod (Yankees at Marlins, 19 June 2009)

6.12 PM: Well, the best way to summarize what's going on: Alex Rodriguez has been slumping something awful. Last night he asked to be taken out of the line up today, but was in the original line up. After a conversation that involved Brian Cashman, he's out of today's line up and tomorrow's as well.

Ayayay.

Anyway, the line up:

Jeter
Damon
Teixeira
Posada
Canó
Swisher
Cabrera
Berroa
Pettitte (NL parks for nine straight days, oh joy!)

You should all check out this post from RAB about the offense's struggles in June.

7.15 PM: Lead off doubles are cool. Now, score.

7.20 PM: Teixeira and Posada hit back to back singles, Jeter scores and the Yanks have a run. Jeter's limp is a little concerning, though.

7.30 PM: Pettitte retires the side in order and Jeter seems to be all right in the field. Life is good.

7.35 PM: Maybe Girardi isn't as stupid as so many think. So who was complaining about Berroa in the line up again?

7.37 PM: I didn't remember that Pettitte could do stuff with a bat. But apparently, he can. 3-0 Yankees.

7.40 PM: Someone got to the Yankees after yesterday's game...4-0 Yankees in the second, all on 8 hits.

7.52 PM: Girardi and Donahue raced out as though there was something wrong with Andy. Pettitte waved them off, but his last couple pitches have been awkward.

7.55 PM: And then Pettitte gets the K anyway.

7.59 PM: To hit a HR here you have to absolutely crush it. Melky Cabrera did just that. 5-0 Yankees.

8.21 PM: Nothing doing that inning, but that happens when your pitcher leads off...

8.31 PM: This game has fallen into a rhythm and I'm only semi-conscious of what's going on. In that case, that's a good thing as the Yanks nurse a four run lead.

8.48 PM: Yanks get 2nd and 3rd, no out, and then the Marlins stick in a reliever who's got legit nasty stuff to face the bottom of the Yanks order. No, the Yanks didn't score there, but it's not as bad as it looks, considering.

9.46 PM: Wow, has it really been an hour? Yanks have left 11 on, but still lead 5-1. Now it's up to Bruney, and, if there's any trouble, Mo.

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #14

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The Florida Marlins

If there's ever been a team the victim of poor ownership and fan indifference, the Marlins certainly seem to fit the bill.

It's a team whose entire payroll is less than that of A-Rod's yearly salary, and just as they're about to win it all, they are broken up and shipped out. Hard to believe it was only five years ago that Beckett and Pavano won rings together.

This year's Marlins will have to do without franchise star Dontrelle Willis and power bat Miguel Cabrera, but they did receive two young, highly valued talents in return--Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. While most seem to think that, for now at least, Detroit came off better in the trade, I'm going to go ahead and say that if not this year, than in a feew, the Marlins will have gotten the better end of the deal.

It's likely that just as last year, the Marlins will be fighting the Nationals to stay out of the NL East basement.


Threat to the Yankees: Green, proceed normally.

While I still haven't forgotten 2003, I do have to thank the Marlins for a) giving us Joe Girardi, and b) taking Hanley away from Boston.

You learn Something New Every Day, Last Friday of the Semester

(A thanks to Jay Destro for the idea, and to Baseball Reference for being the G-d of baseball statistics!)


Right, for this week's YLSNED, I thought I'd take a look at some historical teams that had started a rotation with three or more pitchers under thirty, perhaps as some food for thought given the Yankees' probable rotation next year.

First of all, you have what I consider the 'classic, best scenario example', the 1993 Atlanta Braves, with John Smoltz, Greg Maddox and Tom Glavine.

Maddox and Glavine were both 27 and Smoltz was 26.

The Braves won 104 games. Glavine was 22-6, Maddox 20-10 and Smoltz 15-11. The Braves only made it to the NLCS that year, but the year before they had made it to the World Series, and in 1995 (with no WS in 1994), they won it all.

I consider the Braves the classic success story because of the fourteen straight chances at a World Series, and the team they were able to build around their 'big three' that lasted nearly all of the nineties and into the beginning of the new millennium.


Right. Next example:

The 2003 Chicago Cubs. They are a great example of having something great...and then having it go way, way astray.

Kerry Wood, at 26, was 14-11. Mark Prior, at 22 was 18-6. Carlos Zambrano, at 22, was 13-11.

The team went to the NLCS, and if not for a fan's interfering with a foul ball (and a curse of some sort of goat thingie) would have likely met either the Yankees or Red Sox in the World Series (THAT would have been some series!)

Of those three starters, however, only Carlos Zambrano now still pitches on a regular basis, having just signed a massive $90 million contract extension. Wood has not won more than 10 games since, and Mark Prior has battled serious injury concerns, going just 1-6 in 2006.

The culprit? Overuse of the young pitching arms, which has had almost immediate effects with other teams across the league, which for Yankee fans will be familiar with two words: "Joba Rules"


Third example:

The team that beat the Cubs, AND the Yankees in 2003. Also known as 'why Loria will never be my friend'.

The Florida Marlins in 2003 won the World Series with a pitching rotation that included Dontrelle Willis, Mark Redman, Josh Beckett, Carl Pavano and Brad Penny.

At 21, Willis went 14-6. At 23 Josh Becket was only 9-8, but came up huge in the postseason. At 27, Carl Pavano was 12-13, but the next year 18-8. At 25 Brad Penny was 14-10.

The rotation was largely kept in tact through the 2004 season, but by 2006 Dontrelle Willis was the only one still left, and as you probably know now, he has been traded to the Detroit Tigers.



So, as you might have guessed, there is no way to tell exactly how a rotation of young studs could pan out--for every Maddox, Smoltz and Glavine, there's a Mulder, Hudson or Zito, or Wood, Prior, Zambrano.

There is no question that Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy have the talent to be a Maddox, Smoltz, Glavine (or, who knows, even better...), but there are so many unknowns as well.

So, basically the message regarding the Trinity/the Three Musketeers is thus: hope for the best, but keep your feet on the ground.