The starting rotation was a mega concern but turned out to be the biggest strength of the squad. Colon has been lights out and looks like its 2005, Garcia has been masterful, CC his old dominant self, AJ is still AJ but is more like his 2009 self than the 2010 disaster, and Nova has been more than the Yankees could have dreamed as a 2nd yr pitcher. Now Phil Hughes has returned to the staff and even he's starting to come around. The bullpen has found lots to like about Robertson and of course Mariano, and other pieces have fallen into place that have created a very optimistic August-September-and soon October run...until this last weekend.
Saturday afternoon against the Red Sox Sabathia got completely destroyed. Not only do we count on CC for wins every time he pitches, but that dropped his season numbers to 0-4 with a 6+ era against Boston. Sunday we followed that up with a miserable 0-10 with RISP and a Mariano blown save, which seems to be happening more and more against Boston. Then tonight the Yankees managed a decent game from AJ, despite a bad 6th he finished 6 inn 4er, I'll sign up for that. The Yankees struggled vs Haren but did what good teams do and found ways to up his pitch count and get runs when they could and clawed back from 4-1 to tie it at 4 in the 7th. Jeter provided the big hit with a game tying 2 run single in typical Jeterian fashion.
The disaster struck when for the 2nd straight game Mariano was hitable. Mo allowed a 2 run HR with 2 outs to Bobby Abreu to break the 4-4 tie. In the bottom of the 9th with a mini rally in their bones (first and third 2 outs and Tex at the dish) Granderson gets picked off attempting to steal 2nd base to end the game.
Thoughts? Too many to relay in one evening, but I'll start simply. This team is too good to lose the way they have the last 3 games. We all know this team is going to the playoffs and it's only a few August regular season games, but these loses are embarrassing and I hope don't highlight things to come. Sabathia had better be prepared to put the team on his back because we will need him more than ever come October. As good as our rotation has been, it's all 3 and 4 starters, we need Sabathia to be a big fat 1 and 2 rolled into one (he's sure big enough for 2 spots). Mariano had better get past this recent funk and be the Mo we all know and love. He does this a few times a year and everyone goes crazy, but it's worrisome when it's angles and Sox, two likely playoff foes and two teams that have patience and discipline and make Mo work. I also don't like the lack of fundamental baseball we've played. Nunez and Granderson attempting to steal in the 9th inning? I don't even begin to understand that. Nunez not covering third in the 9th inning against the Red Sox with Mo on the hill. A little dribbler bunt should have been fielded by Mariano and Nunez should have been prepared to cover that base. These are routine mental mistakes and they are costing us games, things we have never and will never tolerate.
Does this really change where they Yankees are headed this year? Maybe. Plain and simple winning the division means more than dumb ESPN analysts will care to admit. Playing on the road vs Anaheim with Haren and Weaver in a short series is no cake walk. Playing Detroit with Verlander out dueling Sabathia could be trouble. If we do emerge, playing Boston in the second round would be significantly easier if we didn't have to play 4/7 games on the road. I believe each loss is important and when you lose games to playoff rivals the way they have, it's going to come back and bite you.
In the end the Yankees still get 6 games vs Boston and have another 47 games to play and very little gap separating them and Boston. They could easily win 100 games and be the division leader and we'll laugh at this post in 2 months, but as of now as good as our record indicates I am not pleased to be in 2nd place, 2-10 vs Boston, and losing games the way we have. What does give me hope is that the last 3 games have been loses as much of a result of Sabathia and Rivera, easily the 2 most consistent Yankees on the team. It's unlikely they will put 3 games together like this, so maybe these losses are ones to let go and relax. Im going to try, because this one sure hurts. On to tomorrow, let's bring our bats and make it a clean victory.
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