This one had all the earmarks
In a word, this one was pathetic. I told my son in the fifth inning when it was 2-1 that this was one of those games that the Yankees would find a way to lose. At that point, I believe that the Yankees had about 10 hits and five or six walks and only two runs to show for it. When you waste that many opportunities to score, you will inevitably lose. I went to bed in the 10th and was not the least bit surprised to find out that the Yankees had in fact lost 4-3. I looked at every story I could find this morning and could not find one mention of why Joba was not used last night instead of David Robertson. I for one, am not buying Robertson’s “escape artist” reputation. The fact is that he was inconsistent last year and has been inconsistent this year. That is not the mark of a good reliever. I still would be interested to know why no Joba if someone could enlighten me. Terrible, terrible performance by almost everyone not named A.J. Burnett and he wasn’t exactly stellar with his lack of control.
Nice win
This one was a pleasure to watch. A well pitched 3-1 win with no Yankee HR’s, just two timely hits. All of the “experts” make me laugh. They have repeatedly criticized the Yankees for hitting too many HR’s. What? It makes no difference how you score runs, as long as you score them. Today I read an article that criticized the win last night because the Yankees didn’t get enough hits other than the two decisive ones by Jeter and A-Rod. What a load of bull. Again folks, the team is in first place. That’s all that matters. Wins and losses are what counts. Everything else, at this point is just drivel. Freddy Garcia pitched great again, Joba was awesome as was David Robertson and Mo was Mo. Celebrate the win, don’t find reasons why it wasn’t good enough.
Over Analysis anyone?
Over the past few weeks, I have read numerous articles on the struggles of Derek Jeter, Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Rafael Soriano. I have a news flash for all of the “experts”. The season lasts 162 games. It is May the 10th. All of the above players will have hot and cold streaks over the course of a 162 game season. It is perfectly normal. Analyze them later in the season. It is still way too early. Each and every player in ML baseball will have hot and cold streaks. Analyze the team as a whole. How are they doing so far? They are tied for first place. Everything else is irrelevant. Every player that has been scrutinized that is mentioned above has had games where they contributed to a win. In combination, they have put their team in first place thus far. Case closed. Talk to me in August or September about what kind of season a player is having. Right now, the only thing that matters is what the team is doing.
A decent end to an ugly ugly road trip
Make no mistake, even with yesterday’s win, this was a very ugly road trip. The baserunning was atrocious, the defense was terrible and the offense was putrid. To finish off at 3-4 was very fortunate indeed. To break out late in yesterday’s game was nice to see, but it in no way made up for the way this team played this past week. They were way too non-chalant and did not play smart baseball. I believe that on defense and on the bases, it was a basic lack of concentration that was the culprit. No other reason can explain the dumb things that occured this past week. Eduardo Nunez’ play in the field is just unacceptable at this point. It’s nice that he can hit, but your backup infielder is in there primarily to play defense. If he can’t do that, he doesn’t belong in the big leauges, period. There are many more that could be named here, but let’s just suffice it to say that this team can thank it’s lucky stars that they didn’t go 2-5 or worse and that they are still tied for first. I know 16 games in as many days is a grind, but this team needs to be a bit mentally tougher than what they showed this past week.
Three straight and defense joins offense
Make no mistake, a three game losing streak is going to happen over the course of the 162 game season. It’s not the losses that bother me, it’s the way they happened. The offense still can’t get out of it’s own way and has been struggling for a couple of weeks now. This team needs to score at least 4 runs a game to be successful and they just aren’t getting it done. The pitching has been pretty good over the past couple of weeks, but in this series the defense and poor base running did them in. They have got to play better than this over the weekend in Texas or they will find themselves looking up at Tampa when they go home.
Offense struggling a bit
So this is one of those stretches that you hope won’t last too long. Although the team has lost only two in a row and still has a two game lead in the division, the bats have definitely gone cold. The good news is that there’s another game this afternoon and they are a few swings away from turning things around. That’s the beauty of the baseball season. So it’s up to Ivan Nova to shut down Detroit this afternoon and hope the bats wake up to gain a split of this four game series. There is a huge psychological difference between splitting a four game set and dropping three of four. Then it’s off to Texas and another tough road series. This is the first real test for this team this year. Let’s see how they respond.
Where have all the haters gone?
Before the season started, virtually all of the so-called “experts” were drooling all over themselves about how good Boston was going to be and how the Yankees were in serious trouble. Well one month into the season, one thing is clear. Boston will not run away with the AL East. Another thing that has become pretty clear is that the Yankees will be pretty good. Now I realize it is a long season and Boston will play better than they did in April. The Yankees will have some bumps in the road, just as Boston did this month, but from what I have seen thus far, this Yankees team will be right there in the end, battling it out for the division title. And oh, by the way, Tampa still looks better than Boston. I went on record more than once as saying that Boston had added very little in the off season that would make them better than they were last year. Sure, they added Gonzales and Crawford, but they also lost Beltre and Victor Martinez. As far as I’m concerned, that is a wash offensively. They will be good, but almost certainly no better than last year.
Also, the NY beat writers were trying to bury Ivan Nova after a couple of rough April starts. He has looked better lately and again, I stood by him. I predict he will have some growing pains, but will prove to be a very good ML pitcher. He has great stuff and has succeeded at every level. Keep in mind that he is a rookie. As far as I am concerned, his April was a success in that it gained him some valuable experience and he will continue to get better as the season goes on.
A couple of tough losses
OK Yankees fans, first things first. The sky is not falling. With a bit of luck, the Yankees could have won either of these two games. They are in a bit of an offensive slump right now, but this offense will bounce back. With a little luck last night either A-Rod’s or Cano’s hit would have dropped and the Yankees would have won. No such luck. The one thing I am a bit disturbed about is Rafael Soriano. Now maybe he will turn things around and have a great season. I know it is early. But thus far, I just don’t like his demeanor on the mound. It almost seems like he doesn’t want to be out there. The missed popup on Monday that led to the second run? Maybe it was an honest mistake. In my mind it was Soriano just not caring enough whether or not that ball was going to be caught. He barely looked at it and had no idea where his infielders were. Then to say afterward that he didn’t think he could have gotten there? BS. This guy looks like trouble and I am hoping I am wrong.
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