Archive for September, 2012

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September 25, 2012

Death by Bullpen

by Jamie Insalaco

Before I start complaining, let’s have a round of applause for the return of Andy Pettitte and his effective pitching. Even when he doesn’t have his best control, he’s still great. I know the Minnesota Twins aren’t exactly the most difficult of opponents, but Andy got it done last night.

OK, now on to the complaining: Joba Chamberlain did his job, but as the rest of the Yankees pen… meh.

Corey Wade seems to have lost it. Last year and the first two months or so of this season were great, but since then, Wade just can’t get it done. I wonder if he’ll ever find it again. Justin Thomas has the distinct advantage of being left handed, which will probably prolong his career (and his stay with the Yankees), but this kid doesn’t exactly look like the goods And after these bumbling baboons required the assistance of David Robertson, he wasn’t exactly sparkling either.

Now I know David Robertson (2012: 61 games, 57 IP) didn’t pitch great, and Joba Chamberlain probably needs all the work he can fit in during a reasonable time frame to get his act together, but frankly, the middle relief guys are going to have to be better than this. If the Yankees hand the middle guys a 6-0 lead with 6 outs to go, they need to do better than this. It’d be nice if, just one time, the middle guys could protect the back end guys. Can’t they just, for once, come up with a 1-2-3 inning against a demoralized, nearly last place team that will probably lose 95 games this year?

Meh, guys. Very meh.

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September 12, 2012

Red Sox open the door, Yankees refuse to walk through it

by Jamie Insalaco

What in the hell is a Yankee fan supposed to say about a loss like last night’s game to the 63-78 Red Sox?

Well, Here are a few tings I’d like to say:

  1. Why didn’t Nick Swisher let Robinson Cano field his position on that ground ball in the 7th?
  2. Why didn’t Boone Logan make any attempt to cover 1st?
  3. Why use David Robertson over two innings in a tie game on the road? Even if they had won the game, he’s not going to be available tonight… Also, I just feel that Robertson is a 1 inning guy only

What the hell was happening last night?

Here is some noteworthy stuff from the Box Score:
Yankees Team RISP: 1-for-12.
Yankees Team LOB: 9.
Kuroda: 3 ER in 6.1 IP

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September 11, 2012

Yankees need to TCB the rest of their schedule

by Jamie Insalaco

Outside of a series with the As and the Rays, the remainder of the Yankees 2012 regular season schedule is against sub .500 teams, and they need to Take Care of Business. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles have six games against each other to end the year, so let’s hope for a split between those two clubs, but if it has to go one way or the other, I’d prefer the Orioles and their inferior pitching to get into the playoffs rather than Joe Madden and his pitching and running Rays.

The Yankees need to start this stretch off right by taking 2 of 3 (at least) from the reanimated corpses of the Boston Red Sox. Period. There is no excuse for failure in these 6 remaining games with the lifeless Red Sox and nothing to play for Toronto Blue Jays. Sure, the Rays aren’t going to lay down to the Yankees and neither will the Oakland Atheltics, but both of those series are in the Bronx, so that’s something.

The Yankees need to be better than .500 for the rest of the season, and the stars are lined up for them to do that. Now it’s time for them to perform. Missing the playoffs after being in first for most of the season, but having to participate in the farce that will be a one game play in is almost as bad.

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September 9, 2012

Blown Call Seals Loss for Yankees

by Jamie Insalaco

I don’t want to go on and on about it – yeah, the Yankees got completely hosed on the last out of the game.  Mark Teixeira was safe at first.  VERY safe.  Like not even close safe.

The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, scoring once before Jim Johnson got Mark Teixeira to hit into a disputed 4-6-3 double play for his 42nd save.

Jeff Seidel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Huh.  Nice article.  So Mr. Seidel decided not to mention the fact that the game ended on a blown call?  Oh, he said ‘disputed.’  Nice job, Jeff – it was only the biggest play of the game.

Look, the bottom line is a team isn’t going to win many games when it’s starting pitcher gives up 5 runs (CC Sabathia), and I certainly feel that MLB umpires have a hard job… but come on.  That was not even close.  That was embarrassing.

/Mark-Teixeira-Jerry-Meals

Big ups to RiverAveBlues.com for getting the image. Look at it! LOOK! Not even close! Somebody cue up the instant replay!

UPDATE
The next morning, mlb.com barely mentions last night’s blown call. Just that the Yankees were upset about a call, no specifics. They covered the post game argument between Joe Girardi and a New York Post reporter who kept asking about CC Sabathia’s health more thoroughly than an umpiring mistake that ended the game. That is shameful!

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September 6, 2012

NY Yankees win, NY Giants lose – the opposite of what I expected

by Jamie Insalaco

I’m glad I don’t bet, because last night would have cleaned me out.

The Dallas Cowboys really impressed me with their play last night – Tony Romo kept his boneheaded mistakes to a minimum, which I didn’t think was possible. Meanwhile, the Giants were dropping the ball all over the field (Victor Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz) and not exactly blowing me away with their second half defense. Oh well – every lose is a big lose in the NFL, but the Giants still have time to right the ship.

The Yankees do not.

Sure, the Yankees won last night, but just barely – without help form Tampa via a 2 run throwing era, I don’t see the Yankees winning that game. The Yankees were off last Thursday – take a look at the game scores (and awful results against division rivals) since then:

Aug 31 L 1-6
Sept 1 W 4-3
Sept 2 L 3-8
Sept 3 L 3-4
Sept 4 L 2-5
Sept 5 W 6-4

Even when they win, they can barely hold the opposition to 3 runs. As putrid as the offense has been of late, the pitching isn’t any better. All of the starters look tired or flat and the only relievers worth a damn are the big three (Rafael Soriano, David Robertson, Boone Logan) – everyone else pretty much sucks. Joba Chamberlain has been better of late, but I don’t know what to expect going forward as he gets further away from his various injuries and rehabs until he’s got some serious innings under his belt.

Well, here we are – the Yankees are starting a four game series tonight that will make or break their season. They’ll need to at least split the four games with the Baltimore Orioles and hope that the team formerly known as the Boston Red Sox isn’t much of a competition in the remaining contests and hope they can keep the Toronto Blue Jays in check.

But mostly, the Yankees need to play better. Since the All Star Break, they’ve been mediocre at best (maybe under .500? too lazy to do the math…) in all categories except the back of their bullpen. Derek Jeter aside… I don’t know. Maybe A-Rod’s return will help. Maybe Teixeira will get back sooner rather than later and contribute meaningfully… maybe the same will go for Andy Pettitte and Ivan Nova. But I don’t think the Yankees can count on any of their injured guys to be meaningful contributors – there are too many quesiton marks.

I think it’s down to the guys that are in the clubhouse today – either they can get it done, or they can’t… and I’m starting to lose hope that they can. If they can at least split the contests in Camden Yards… that’ll be something. BUT COME ON! IT’ THE ORIOLES! The Yankees missing out of the playoffs because of the Orioles is a tough pill to swallow.

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September 4, 2012

Does the Yankees slide even matter?

by Jamie Insalaco

After watching the Yankees for five months, I’m not sure I believe they have what it takes to win a World Series, so even if they don’t make the playoffs, they’re probably just putting us out of our misery early rather than later.  Here are just a few players I’m looking at that would need to drastically improve for the Yankees to make the playoffs and potentially win a world series title.

C.C. Sabathia
Sabathis has been on the DL twice this year – both were precautionary moves, but he just hasn’t looked especially dominate this season, and I think the Yankees need him to be to go all the way.

Robinson Cano
Cano has a lot of talent, but I feel he has regressed this year and I just don’t think he’s every going to become a true super star.  It doesn’t have much to do with anything, but I sure wish he’d run out those ground balls to first like Derek Jeter does… I don’t buy into the theory that “Cano is a loafer” that many have proposed, but… yeah.  It’d be nice if he’d dive for the ball every once and while.

Alex Rodriguez
It wasn’t his fault he got hit with the ball, but then, he’ wasn’t exactly killing it before he got hurt.  The Yankees need A-Rod to be A-Rod, and before the hand injury, he was a shell of his former self, and I’m not sure that is enough.

Andy Pettitte
Pettitte hasn’t gotten back into a game situation yet, so I don’t think the Yankees can count on him – Hideki Kuroda has been AMAZING in Pettitte’s absence, but it sure would be nice to see Pettitte come back and be who he was pre injry.  What a boost that would be!

Middle Relief
Let’s face it – everyone who is not Rafael Soriano, David Robertson or Boone Logan is just not reliable.  As scary as it sounds, I hope Ivan Nova comes back so the Yankees can put David Phelps back in the pen.

Phil Hughes
Too.  Many.  Homers.  I don’t look forward to this guy starting a playoff game – I prefer he’d be in the bullpen and the Yankees go with a three man rotation… or, if the stars align:  Sabathia, Kuroda, Pettitte and Freddy Garcia.

Mark Teixeira
He’s supposed to play again later this week, but like A-Rod, he wasn’t exactly killing the ball pre injury, so I don’t know if the Yankees can expect anything from this guy at this point.

It’s too late now for the Yankees to go get someone – this team is what it is.  If everyone can get healthy and perform like they’re capably of, the Yankees should be in good shape, but at this point, I don’t have much faith in that happening.

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