Figure Something Out

A month ago, everything was going so well. The Yankees weren't losing, and if they did, they rallied after that with another two or three wins in a row. They played eighteen straight games in a row and in a period of twenty or so games, the starting pitching had only lost two or three of those games.

Then the team ran into a Boston Red Sox team that it still can't beat, and everything fell apart.

The team isn't playing good defense, and, more importantly, it's not hitting. Not even a little. Certainly, not when it matters, or the players that the Yankees need to produce.

Instead, as we saw last year, double plays and first-pitch swinging is again rampant, as I sit here and watch the Yankees lose their third game in a row.

What is going on?

Out of nowhere, it seems, the entire team has gone into a slump.

I know teams slump, players slump, etc., but this is beyond ridiculous. Earlier in the season, when the Yankees lost it wasn't so bad because the team fought, game after game after game. Where has that fight gone? It certainly hasn't come to south Florida or Atlanta.

I know Tommy Hanson is supposed to be the next big thing for the Braves--and therein is the Yanks' critical problem: An inability to hit (good) young pitchers whom they've never seen.

I don't know why that is, but I do know that any team that aspires to the World Series can't shrug their shoulders and give up when a young pitcher takes the mound. Is it an issue with scouting? With the Yankees' batters? With someone else?

It's become such a big deal now because it's only gotten more pronounced over time.

These guys can't face Livan Hernandez every night.

They have to figure something out.

Yankees Outpitched in Mo-Town; Slip below .500

Over the weekend it could be argued that the Yankees got themselves beat, especially in the first two games of the series.

Tonight, however, it was much simpler: Justin Verlander pitched better than CC Sabathia.

It wasn't that Sabathia pitched poorly--in fact Sabathia pitched all eight innings for the Yanks in one of his best performances on the young season--but even the 1998 Yankees would have had a hard time beating Verlander's gas.

It's not that the Yankees didn't have their chances.

On more than one occasion, the Yankees had men on base with no one out, but they did not score a single run until the ninth inning, and by then it was simply too late. Jorge Posada came up as the tying run, and as if personally sticking a dagger in the hearts of Yankee fans, bounced into a double play.

The loss wouldn't really be so hard to take if the Yankees hadn't already lost their three previous games. As far as losses go, this one wasn't a bad loss-not in the way that Friday's or Saturday's was.

There were some bright spots.

Ramiro Peña had two hits along with some quality glove work; Robinson Canó is doing a very good job of atoning for last year, and no on in the "firestarter five" (thank you PeteAbe) had to come into pitch.

On the other hand, Damon just looks really sore and Teixeira is still not quite right. A couple of the deep fly balls he hit would have been home runs if he was locked in and healthy.

Although Toronto is, for the moment, losing, Boston looks as though they may never lose another baseball game ever again.

With the Angels coming up after this series, things look kinda bleak in Yankeeland in the early goings of the season.

Still, the team's still missing their best offensive player and one of their starters. It's not really time to be calling for Girardi's head just yet.

Sox Sweep; Yankees Reel but Melancon Stellar (Postgame Notes 26 April 2009)

This is not the first time the Yankees have ever been swept.

Nor, I would gather, is it the first time that they have been swept at Fenway.

Still, this weekend was especially painful.

Today's heartbreaking moment came in the fifth inning, when Jacoby Ellsbury created a straight steal of home. Alas, as much as us Yankee fans would like to forget about the steal, it will probably be replayed on ESPN five billion times, so we'd best get used to it.

The irony, of course, is that had the Yankees gotten this pitching effort yesterday, they would have at least won yesterday's game. Four runs isn't anything to write home about, in terms of pitching performances, but it's certainly enough to give your team a chance to win.

Except, this time, only the second game this season, the Yankees could not muster anything offensively.

Was it a product of having Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera and Angel Berroa in the same line up? Probably, though I kow there are some that will starkly disagree.

The Yankees had hit Masterson well in the past, but tonight, they simply couldn't get any hits when they needed them.

There was, however, one bright spot:

Mark Melancon.

The reliever made his major league debut tonight, and gave Yankee fans quite a taste. In the bottom of the seventh he set the side down in order, 1-2-3, and in the eighth, after loading the bases with no one out, Melancon got out of the inning without allowing a single run.

It certainly caught my attention.



Anyway, the Yankees now head to Detroit, which will be no walk in the park as the team is much better than it was last year. The good news, however, is that Armando Gallaraga pitched today so the Yankees won't have to face him. And the Rick Porcello-Joba Chamberlain pitching matchup on Wednesday will either be really, really good, or really, really bad. You know it.

O-ffensive (Postgame Notes 1 August 2008)

If the offense doesn't care, why should I?


Sidney Ponson pitched the best I have ever seen him pitch. Can't have asked him for more than that.

The Yankees have to stop using Mariano Rivera in tie games.

It's now up to Darrell Rasner and Mike Mussina to avoid a sweep.