Reasons to Worry?
Yes, but not the ones the pundits have proposed. I have heard the yankees will be golden provided Mo can go. Well not necessarily. A healthy Mo has not spelled World Championship for the last 5 years, and he won't this year either, unless other recent trends reverse themselves. I have also heard some wondering about how the AROD disclosures will affect him or the team. Well, I can't believe the team will be much hampered by what they've long known, and as for AROD, he doesn't need any special reason to fall inot a slump. He had already started a new one before the article came out.
The worrisome developments are a) the fact that neither Johnson nor Mussina has had a good start in quite a while. Given how dramatically overworked the Yankees main middle relief men are, continued struggles by their no. 2 and 3 starters spells trouble if not doom; b) Sheffield has given some indication that he can play first, but he hasn't started hitting yet and, probably owing to his wrist problems, Giambi hasn't hit a homer and has managed but a few ribbies since the Boston massacre. During the Yankees' run back into first place, Giambi was their version of David Ortiz, even as AROD stunk out the borough. There is still no reason to believe they can win without a productive Giambi, particularly if the alternative is an even less productive Sheffield. If you take those two out of the equation, you are left with AROD as your only real slugger and if that does say postseason debacle to you, well either you are possessed of a faith almost religious in its implicitness or you just haven't been paying attention. The worst of all possible worlds, and one I can see on the horizon, has neither Giambi and Sheffield hitting but status quo Joe playing both of them anyway, with Matsui in left. The result will be a full-fledged return to the defensively weak, offensively passive team of the early season: a line-up stacked with big name sluggers, all of whom are striking out too often and leaving men on base.
While I don't think the Tigers are much of a threat, the Twins, even without Loriano, can pose problems. The real danger though lies in Oakland. The Yankees have always handled Zito, but they've been awful against Haren and now the A's have Hardin, who is often unhittable. With Blanton a decent option as well, the A's have starting pitching that is both better and deeper than the Yankees and a closer, Huston Street, that you don't want to face down a run.
While the worst has been avoided, now that the Sox have been not only vanquished but humiliated, the best, which is to say the acceptable, is not just a long way off, but, I fear, receding as we speak.
The worrisome developments are a) the fact that neither Johnson nor Mussina has had a good start in quite a while. Given how dramatically overworked the Yankees main middle relief men are, continued struggles by their no. 2 and 3 starters spells trouble if not doom; b) Sheffield has given some indication that he can play first, but he hasn't started hitting yet and, probably owing to his wrist problems, Giambi hasn't hit a homer and has managed but a few ribbies since the Boston massacre. During the Yankees' run back into first place, Giambi was their version of David Ortiz, even as AROD stunk out the borough. There is still no reason to believe they can win without a productive Giambi, particularly if the alternative is an even less productive Sheffield. If you take those two out of the equation, you are left with AROD as your only real slugger and if that does say postseason debacle to you, well either you are possessed of a faith almost religious in its implicitness or you just haven't been paying attention. The worst of all possible worlds, and one I can see on the horizon, has neither Giambi and Sheffield hitting but status quo Joe playing both of them anyway, with Matsui in left. The result will be a full-fledged return to the defensively weak, offensively passive team of the early season: a line-up stacked with big name sluggers, all of whom are striking out too often and leaving men on base.
While I don't think the Tigers are much of a threat, the Twins, even without Loriano, can pose problems. The real danger though lies in Oakland. The Yankees have always handled Zito, but they've been awful against Haren and now the A's have Hardin, who is often unhittable. With Blanton a decent option as well, the A's have starting pitching that is both better and deeper than the Yankees and a closer, Huston Street, that you don't want to face down a run.
While the worst has been avoided, now that the Sox have been not only vanquished but humiliated, the best, which is to say the acceptable, is not just a long way off, but, I fear, receding as we speak.
posted by joe valente | 11:36 PM
2 Comments:
By the way, Cano officially made it onto the Batting Avg Leaders list today, but Mauer went on a tear and is 7 points up. Barring a couple Mauer 0-fers, I think it may be over for Jeter and Cano. Too bad.
Slow Joe can effectively preclude overreliance on the long ball by making his sluggers hit and run, by bunting, by playing for one run on occasion. It's really in his hands.
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