For Openers
It's always nice to win the home opener as the Yankees did today. But it would have been a happier day if they didn't struggle so much in doing so against the Royals of all sacrificial lambs. Down 7-4, they put up a 5 run eighth, capped by Jeter's two-out, three run blast over the left field wall. Three more of their runs came on a single shot by Giambi back in the first, so the over dependence on the home run ball continues. But the bad news really came from the mound. In his second appearance, Wang was once again really bad, and given how weak the Royals line-up is, this is a scary augur indeed. They really need Wang to win 12-15 this year and at the moment he looks closer to doing that in Columbus. The bullpen broke down again as well. After a terrible spring, and coming off some post season arm trouble, Sturze looked terrible again, giving up 2 runs in two-thirds of an inning and needing Myers to bail him out lest it get a lot worse. Right now the bridge to Rivera, who got his first save today, looks as shaky as ever. They needed to go to Procter again(or at least they chose to in preference to Farnsworth or Villone), and while they dodged a bullet this time, he and Sturze are bound to make for a lot of agite if we need to rely on them for middle relief. I'm not sure you can blame Torre for this. It doesn't seem like the entire Yankees braintrust (irony!) knows how to build a bullpen. Boston got another great game out of Beckett today, and while Foulke got lit up again and their offense isn't up to recent standards, their overall pitching advantage makes them look much the better team to me., especially with Papelbon so impressive in three straight outings.
On the positive side, the Yankees committed no errors in the field, though Bernie did get doubled off second on a pop-up with the bases loaded, killing a rally. Is it too much to ask a veteran ballplayer whose physical skills have so dramatically eroded to avoid bonehead mental mistakes?
One last concern. Sheffield was terrible again today, o for 5 with a strikeout looking. He's really done very little this season and one wonders if the steriods investigation is going to dog him. He's hitting 207 and giambi is hitting 211 (though he does draw all those walks). Are we looking at 2 holes in the order where strengths were last year? And if so, won't that mean the offense will be even lesslikely to overcome our pitching woes?
On the positive side, the Yankees committed no errors in the field, though Bernie did get doubled off second on a pop-up with the bases loaded, killing a rally. Is it too much to ask a veteran ballplayer whose physical skills have so dramatically eroded to avoid bonehead mental mistakes?
One last concern. Sheffield was terrible again today, o for 5 with a strikeout looking. He's really done very little this season and one wonders if the steriods investigation is going to dog him. He's hitting 207 and giambi is hitting 211 (though he does draw all those walks). Are we looking at 2 holes in the order where strengths were last year? And if so, won't that mean the offense will be even lesslikely to overcome our pitching woes?
posted by joe valente | 3:52 PM
2 Comments:
love the blog! (even though I know nothing and care not about the Yankees)
some random replies.
Phillips is supposed to be a better bat than a glove and I'm still not sure he can even hit. duncan's first base experience is not so much scanter than Youlillis's in boston and he's doing fine. third base is so much harder to play well than first, I would give Duncan a try, a la Cano last year.
2. I totally hand it to Jeter who remains the only truly consistent player on the team (and I would even include Matsui in that assessment though he's close. But Jeter is the one who defies sabermetrics by playing at a different level when the game is on the line.
3. I really don't like the way Wang looks so far and you're right that makes Chacon's perofrmance crucial. If he comes through again, they can bring both Small and Pavano into the rotation when they get off the DL and see iof Wang fares any better than wright in the bullpen (wright they should just cut).
while foulke didn't give up the homer per se that ball was crushed to just about the deepest part of Fenway and his ERA was already astronomical before today. He's yet to hit 90 with hiis fastball and that makes his change pretty hittable. With Papelbon, Timlin and Seanez, though, the Red sox bullpen will be at least fair even if, as I believe, both Foulke and Taverez will prove disasters. The Yankees have to hope Dotel gets better, fast and completely, for their bullpen to measure up. If they have Dotel, Farnsworth and Villone pitching well, Meyers getting out lefties and Mariano being himself, they could get by. Without a healthy Dotel and a solid Villone, though, we have top rely onm Sturze and Proctor and we're done.
Boston really isn't scoring much at all so far, and while Manny hasn't gottesn started yet, Youkillis, Nixon, Varitek, Crisp and stren are all 50-100 points higher than they will be in August. They're are alot of outs on that team right now (Loretta, Gonzalez, Lowell, Pena, Youkillis) and while I think they're the best team in the American league if Schilling, Beckett, clement can stay this healthy and productive, the fragility of each of them makes it something of a crapshoot over the whole season. In any event, I don't see the Yankees being able to win three rounds of playoffs with the multifarious weaknesses they have.
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