Disgrace
This Yankees team is now displaying as large a gap between talent (not to mention payroll) and performance as any team I have ever seen. They are shaky in so many areas of fundamental baseball that one or the other is bound to cost them the close games, which they have resumed losing with regularity (it may be the only thing they're consistent at). Tonight it was situational hitting and defense.
The Phillies only had about 6 men in scoring position all night but four of them scored, three on two out hits. The Yankees went 1-10 with men in scoring postion, an infield single. They loaded the bases with 2 out in the first, scored none; they had first and second with nobody out in the fourth, scored none; they had first and third with 2 out in the 6th, scored none; they had the bases loaded with two out in the seventh, scored 1 on the infield hit. This truly disgraceful bout of impotence under pressure featured some memorably awful at bats. With Myers laboring to get the ball over in the first, which is why the bases were loaded, Posada jumped at the first pitch (not a strike) and popped out; Cabrera struck out on a ball in the dirt and then later in the game took 2 fastballs down broadway so he could strike out again on a ball in the dirt; AROD struck out looking with runners on first and third on a pitch right near the center of the plate; Cano, with runners on first and second, swung at 6 consecutive balls, 4 near the dirt, two at eye level, and struck out. Myers racked up 11 strike outs because they kept taking his fastball for strikes and swinging at curves out of the zone. Mattingly has proven no more effective in developing a hitting strategy for the younger players than the hitting coaches they fired.
So in the end they only managed to push home one runner in 10 tries. Meanwhile they gave away 2 runs, one on a throwing error by Cano and one on a "wild pitch" that was in fact one of the most inexcusable passed balls imaginable, a Posada gaffe (is he the worst defensive catcher in baseball) that just handed the Phillies an insurance run.
I have long been counseling that there is no reason to think about a championship this year; there is now no reason to think about winning the division. As BGW points out, the Sox will take care of business against these NL EAST teams (a sweep of the Braves followed by a win tonight against the Nats), while the Yankees lose series after series to them. Their chance of winning this series all but vanished tonight (they'll win tomorrow, maybe, but not Wednesday); they've already lost to the Nats; they'll surely lose to the Mets, who are quite simply a better team. By the way, the Phillies, a losing team, kept two of their best players,Ryan Howard and Bobby Abreu on the bench for the entire game. You really have to work at losing to the line-up they fielded.
Torre didn't blow this game with his tactics or absence thereof (although he must take Cabrera out of the 2 hole); the players did. But fundamentals are at least in part a managerial and coaching responsibility. The Yankees still display their considerable talent--AROD made a couple of brilliant play tonight; Giambi hit a majestic bomb--but their complacency about, indifference or inadvertence to, disdain for, the details of grinding it out, both at bat and in the field, leaves those sometimes spectacular displays unavailing so far as the main goal is concerned, just beautiful waste. And they do nothing to inoculate Yankee fans from growing sicker and sicker at the results. It's not that they are losing per se--I watched the Yankees get crushed by the Big Red Machine in the 76 Series and I was perfectly happy; I was perfectly happy when I though they were dead in the 1996 Series against the Braves--no, it's that they are playing like losers, well below their ability and just well enough to give victory away in the end. Oh, and without any of the urgency they showed in the immediate aftermath of the Sheff and Matsui injuries. It's like they found out they could win without them, so now they don't have to do what that took. From the bully ball of Saturday, to the Torre meltdown of Sunday, to the chokeball of tonight, this team has reverted to the wretched form of Aporil, when at least they could claim they were just warming up.
For the first time in quite a while, I will go to the ball park to see them Wednesday night with a sense of shame at what they've become.
The Phillies only had about 6 men in scoring position all night but four of them scored, three on two out hits. The Yankees went 1-10 with men in scoring postion, an infield single. They loaded the bases with 2 out in the first, scored none; they had first and second with nobody out in the fourth, scored none; they had first and third with 2 out in the 6th, scored none; they had the bases loaded with two out in the seventh, scored 1 on the infield hit. This truly disgraceful bout of impotence under pressure featured some memorably awful at bats. With Myers laboring to get the ball over in the first, which is why the bases were loaded, Posada jumped at the first pitch (not a strike) and popped out; Cabrera struck out on a ball in the dirt and then later in the game took 2 fastballs down broadway so he could strike out again on a ball in the dirt; AROD struck out looking with runners on first and third on a pitch right near the center of the plate; Cano, with runners on first and second, swung at 6 consecutive balls, 4 near the dirt, two at eye level, and struck out. Myers racked up 11 strike outs because they kept taking his fastball for strikes and swinging at curves out of the zone. Mattingly has proven no more effective in developing a hitting strategy for the younger players than the hitting coaches they fired.
So in the end they only managed to push home one runner in 10 tries. Meanwhile they gave away 2 runs, one on a throwing error by Cano and one on a "wild pitch" that was in fact one of the most inexcusable passed balls imaginable, a Posada gaffe (is he the worst defensive catcher in baseball) that just handed the Phillies an insurance run.
I have long been counseling that there is no reason to think about a championship this year; there is now no reason to think about winning the division. As BGW points out, the Sox will take care of business against these NL EAST teams (a sweep of the Braves followed by a win tonight against the Nats), while the Yankees lose series after series to them. Their chance of winning this series all but vanished tonight (they'll win tomorrow, maybe, but not Wednesday); they've already lost to the Nats; they'll surely lose to the Mets, who are quite simply a better team. By the way, the Phillies, a losing team, kept two of their best players,Ryan Howard and Bobby Abreu on the bench for the entire game. You really have to work at losing to the line-up they fielded.
Torre didn't blow this game with his tactics or absence thereof (although he must take Cabrera out of the 2 hole); the players did. But fundamentals are at least in part a managerial and coaching responsibility. The Yankees still display their considerable talent--AROD made a couple of brilliant play tonight; Giambi hit a majestic bomb--but their complacency about, indifference or inadvertence to, disdain for, the details of grinding it out, both at bat and in the field, leaves those sometimes spectacular displays unavailing so far as the main goal is concerned, just beautiful waste. And they do nothing to inoculate Yankee fans from growing sicker and sicker at the results. It's not that they are losing per se--I watched the Yankees get crushed by the Big Red Machine in the 76 Series and I was perfectly happy; I was perfectly happy when I though they were dead in the 1996 Series against the Braves--no, it's that they are playing like losers, well below their ability and just well enough to give victory away in the end. Oh, and without any of the urgency they showed in the immediate aftermath of the Sheff and Matsui injuries. It's like they found out they could win without them, so now they don't have to do what that took. From the bully ball of Saturday, to the Torre meltdown of Sunday, to the chokeball of tonight, this team has reverted to the wretched form of Aporil, when at least they could claim they were just warming up.
For the first time in quite a while, I will go to the ball park to see them Wednesday night with a sense of shame at what they've become.
posted by joe valente | 9:38 PM
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