Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Slip Sliding Away
The Yankees recent freefall continued in tonight’s 3-2 loss to Baltimore. Andy Pettitte held the Orioles to two runs over seven innings, but he really didn’t pitch all that well, walking five and striking out only two. On the postgame they blamed the walks on Pettitte being afraid to make any mistakes because of how bad the offense has been lately.
This season, when the Yankees have scored four runs or fewer, they are 4-28. When they score five runs or more, they are 32-10. Conversely, when they’ve given up four runs or fewer they are 28-12, and when they allow five runs or more they are 8-24.
Joe Torre didn’t help the team’s chance to win by letting Miguel Cairo bat in two late inning situations, and by keeping his best reliever in the bullpen for a save opportunity that would never materialize. Managing to a save situation when the season is slipping away is the height of absurdity, if not for giving Cairo fourteen starts at first base this season, which is even more absurd. However, Torre is not the real problem with this team. I just don’t think this is that good of a team, and the fault for that has to go to Brian Cashman. I had no problem with the Gary Sheffield trade at the time it was made. Bobby Abreu projected to be better and was several years younger, and Sheffield didn’t have a position to play and was coming off a wrist injury. I didn’t really like the Randy Johnson trade, because I thought that a healthier Johnson would rebound and I felt the Yankees got nothing back for him except salary relief, which they ended up pissing away anyway. Johnson really hasn’t been healthy, but he’s been great when he’s pitched. You’ve seen Vizcaino, and he’s probably been better than anyone else that came back in that deal.
The Sheffield and Johnson trades would make more sense if this is a rebuilding year, which would be fine. If that’s the case, then why the ridiculous expenditure for Roger Clemens? Clemens’ four month salary could be used to sign the entire Yankee draft class. Cashman also has to be held accountable for the weakness at first base and backup catcher, and the bullpen.
Where does this team go from here? Who knows. For all the crap that Jason Giambi gets, this lineup seems a lot less scary without him, although they scored an average of 5.46 runs in games he’s started this year, compared to 5.44 without him, which isn’t that big of a difference. I’ve seen a lot of people advocating a fire sale to re-stock the farm, but who on this team is tradeable? Players either have no-trade clauses, horrible contracts, or stink.
This team still has the talent to make a run, but the clock’s running out on them. Every time they lose to a team they should not be losing to like they have for arguably the last week, that’s a win they have to steal against a good team later.
Page 1 of 1 pages: