Results tagged ‘ Alex Rodriguez ’
This Team is Going Nowhere Fast
I know that Joe Girardi is a patient man, but it’s time to shake things up with this lineup. The middle of the order is consistently bad. He keeps saying they need to get hot, but if he is waiting for A-Rod, Texeira and Swisher to all get hot and sustain that, then he may be in for a long wait. I would much rather see Swisher in the two hole, with Cano third and Granderson fourth. That would move A-Rod down to fifth and Texeira sixth, which is much more where they belong than in the four and five hole. They are killing this team and it isn’t just this year. They have been inconsistent for most of the past two seasons and it killed them in the playoffs last year. They are not going to suddenly turn things around and hit well from their current spots in the order. It just ain’t going to happen. Time to shake things up and see if that helps any. What have they got to lose? And when is someone going to tell Texeira that being a one dimensional pull hitter is not the right approach. Last night, he got an outside pitch that he could have driven the other way and instead, he rolled over on it and bounced it off the plate. Pathetic.
Mo Done for the Season and This Team Could Be As Well
It was a freak accident and it would be terrible if this is the way Mo’s career ends. I wouldn’t bet against him coming back next year though. The real problem though is that this team is flawed. The middle of the order sucks right now. Texeira in particular looks putrid at the plate. They had a chance to win this game last night with runners on first and second and no outs. What did Texeira do? Grounded into a double play to end the rally. He does this regularly and it is getting old. Robbie Cano looks lost at the plate as well and A-Rod isn’t exactly setting things on fire either. This is a flawed team. They don’t hit with RISP, the Starting Pitching has been bad and their defense is bad as well. If this trend continues, I don’t see them making the playoffs, let alone making any noise when they get there. There is still time to turn things around as it is only May, but thus far, this team has been less than impressive. And now they won’t have Mo for the rest of the year.
One Down, Two to Go
Last night was another one to enjoy. Sabathia was good and he gave the bullpen a rest with 8 strong innings. My guess is that the Yankees will need that bullpen the rest of this series, with Kuroda and Hughes going. Kuroda has been inconsistent thus far, with one good game and two bad ones. Hughes has been consistently bad. Let’s hope these two guys find something in the next two days, otherwise, that well rested bullpen will be severely tested.
Last night though, it was all positive. Jeter had another four hits, A-Rod hit a three run bomb and Sabathia was his usual horse like self. Looking forward to Kuroda vs. Darvish tonight. I’m hoping the Yankees are patient with Darvish as he appears to have control issues. Time will tell.
Yankees are in denial
So this morning, I was reading some of the quotes from the Yankees players and from manager Joe Girardi and it struck me that they were in denial about what Tampa did to them this weekend. By repeatedly hitting directly into the teeth of defensive shifts, they cost themselves any chance they may have had of winning those games. A-Rod, Texeira and Swisher all talked about how they had hit the ball hard. Well what good is that if you hit it right at the defense? Girardi said this “It’s really hard to change who you are and revamp your approach because of the way a team plays you. You try to take what they give you, you try to hit the ball hard, and you take your chances. Sometimes part of the reason they do it is they want you to get away from what you’ve been doing so well for a long time. I just tell our guys to keep hitting the ball hard, and it’ll work.”
Well that may just be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How is continuing to hit the ball into the teeth of the defense taking what they give you in any way shape or form? It’s not taking what they give you, it’s the exact opposite. It’s playing to what they are trying to take away from you.
Yesterday, after the Yankees lost, I flipped over to the Red Sox/Detoit game. In the bottom of the 11th with Prince Fielder up, Boston employed the shift on the right side of the infield. Instead of drilling it right at the defense like the Yankees did, Fielder drilled one to left field and wound up scoring the tieing run. That, my friends is taking what the defense gives you. They gave him the left side and he took it. He didn’t just hit it really hard, right at the defense. My guess is the Yankees will now see a lot more of these shifts and they need to adjust or they will find themselves losing a lot of winnable games this year.
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.
Two down, 93 more wins to go
Well, this one started off pretty well and finished up pretty ugly. The offense was, once again top notch. Texeira hit another one out, So did Russel Martin and so did A-Rod. Jeter had a couple of hits, as did a bunch of other folks. My only complaint about this game was Girardi’s managing. What in the world was Luis Ayala doing in for a second inning? Wouldn’t you want Victor Martinez batting right handed instead of left, with Boone Logan pitching in the eighth? Instead, he left Ayala in, Martinez hit a home run to make it 10-5, then Logan warmed up again and came in to pitch the ninth. He was ineffective after warming up three times, then Girardi had to use Mo in a game where he really should not have been needed. I would have gone with Ayala for one inning, Logan in the eighth instead of the ninth, followed by Bartolo Colon in the ninth. Girardi got away with it this time, but it is these kinds of decisions that costs him games when they are close. It even sometimes turns blowouts into close games and losses. I was not impressed.
The sky is falling Part II
Oh my goodness. The Yankees dropped their third straight last night and are now a whole game out of first. Guess what folks? It’s a long season and three game losing streaks sometimes happen. Sometimes it even gets to four. Again, I repeat, this team will bounce back and they will be just fine. They will be very tough to beat in the post-season again this year. Will they win it all again? Who knows? What I do know is that this is a very good team that has hit a bit of a bump in the road. And oh, by the way, the three losses happened against some pretty good pitching.
My only issue with this one was Girardi leaving Moseley into the game into the eighth inning. He had done a solid job through seven and it was still a two run game. He had no business in the game to give up that home run in the eighth. I would have started the eighth with Joba and hoped the Yanks could generate some offense. Kerry Wood just came off the DL and is not sharp yet. He doesn’t belong in these situations until he gets a few innings under his belt. Ditto Sergio Mitre. Just off the DL and no location. Who knows if the Yankees could have come back from a 4-2 deficit. What we do know is that coming back from 8-2 in the eighth is virtually impossible. Nice job Joe.
And how could anyone in their right mind expect A-Rod to hit a home run in these circumstances. They stop the game and change the baseballs every time he comes up. If that isn’t enought to psyche someone out, I don’t know what is. It is very hard to hit a home run as it is, but with the added drama, it is virtually impossible. Let’s hope he gets it out of the way soon so that we can all put this nonsense behind us.
Suspended game and more of the same on offense
Well, last night’s suspended game looked a lot like the past week’s games. The Yankees get runners on, then can’t get them home. I read somewhere this past weekend that a scout had said this about the team. “Wanna know how to get the Yankees out? Just let them get a couple of guys on base.” His analysis was proved out in full force in the fourth inning last night as Jeter and Gardner got on with no outs. Texeira then hit a weak little bloop to second on the first pitch, A-Rod struck out on a pitch in his eyes and Robinson Cano Flied out to left center. Absolutely pathetic, but very consistent with the way this offense has been performing. I am tired of hearing how Texeira will snap out of his funk. The time is now. The team needs him. The other two, I can’t really complain about as they haven’t been red hot, but have had their moments. The offense as a whole has been absent for over a week now. Time to break out the bats boys.
“Lost” Weekend
Sorry, couldn’t help the reference to the Lost finale, even though I personally never watched the show. It is fitting though that on the the day of the finale, the Yankees finished their own lost weekend in Queens. Last night was a microcosm of what has been wrong with this team lately. They didn’t hit until the ninth innning, which is becoming a habit. They didn’t pitch, and nobody stepped up to lead this team. They need someone to step up big and right now nobody is. Last night it was Sabathia who had a chance and he failed. So did Texeira and so did A-Rod. It’s not the end of the world for sure, but this team needs a quick turnaround or they are in some serious trouble.
I still believe this is a very good team that will heat up again, but right now they need to start getting themselves together. They are only a half game ahead of Toronto and Boston is creeping back up on them as well. Tampa Bay is still red hot. This is a very tought division and there is no time for extended slumps. Let’s see what this team is made of. There is no time for head cases. ( Are you listening Texeira, Vazquez, Burnett?) There is no time for injury excuses. It’s time to man up. Let’s see if they can do that this week as they failed miserably last week.
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