Jamie Insalaco
The Kansas City Royals stink. They’re 47-68. There just isn’t much more to say than that, but here’s some other junk.
The Royals have some good players, but are lacking a lot. They don’t have much speed. Their starting rotation is awful. They don’t feed well. Their bullpen isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and they got Kyle Farnsworth out of there, who is having a good year for the Braves against NL competition. Even when they have a player like Billy Butler, who’s hitting over .300, still doesn’t have much power for a 1st basemen – but then, if you were an opposing pitcher, would you give Butler anything to hit? He doesn’t have any protection. CC Sabathia ran into some trouble on his way to a complete game and let some runners on base. David Robertson came in and gave up a double that scored 2 of the inherited runners before he got the last out, turning a 4-1 game into a 4-3 game. I guess Mariano Rivera wasn’t available after pitching two nights in a row against the Texas Rangers. Sabathia pitched well until then, but again, he was pitching against the Royals. The Yankees scored 4 runs on 10 hits and left 10 on base, so they weren’t exactly destroying the world, but got their fair share of hits. The game was kind of boring, but I had good company in one of my oldest friends, so it was all good.
What comes to mind now is how the rest of the 2010 season will shake out, so I did some simple math to figure it out. After last night’s win, the Yankees have a record of 71-43. They’ve played 114 games, so they have 48 games to play. If they go .500 the rest of the way, they’ll win 24 games, for a total of 95 wins, and you know they’re going to win more than half of those games… the Yankees are going to the playoffs – put it in the bank! I’ll say they’ll win an even 100.
Are the Yankees as good as last year? That’s a tough one. I would say the talent level is about the same, but some guys are under-performing (A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, AJ Burnett jump to mind immediately), but everyone is more than capable. The bullpen may not be as strong as 2009, but then, if Joba gets it together and David Robertson pitches better than he did last night, I think the Yankees have enough. Boone Logan has really stepped up in this latest stint with the Yankees, so there’s another weapon. Sergio Mitre has pitched well in some high leverage situations, and Kerry Wood is capable. I think the Yankees have enough to win championship 28, especially given what I’ve seen from the rest of the league.
