More of the Same

Last night’s game was one of the most frustrating regular season games I’ve ever watched. 9 innings of letting a pitcher off the hook has become the norm for this sad group of supposedly talented offensive players. The team has found more unique and mind-boggling ways to lose games this year than they ever have in the past. Any breaks that the Yankees used to be given from the hypothetical baseball gods have vanished and been replaced by a Murphy’s Law level of ineptitude. The loss doesn’t fall on the shoulders of pinch-runner Justin Christian getting picked off, but it was certainly a backbreaking error on the basepaths. Still, the team had so many other chances with all of their “best” run producers at the plate that one flop by Christian should not have killed their chances. In fact, it didn’t. When you get 2 rolling infield singles, a clean single, and a walk in the 9th inning of a one-run game and STILL can’t find a way to score, you have to know that this offense is completely done, completely in the tank and completely hopeless at this point in the season.

As I now check in on today’s game later into the action, I notice that nothing has changed miraculously overnight: the offense still squanders every opportunity to score runs that they’re presented with. Last night they were 3 for 13 with RISP and left 11 men on base. Now this afternoon, the 4th inning sees the Yankees load the bases with nobody out, and Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi coming up with ample opportunities to do damage. Predictably, A-Rod strikes out and Giambi hits into an inning-ending double play. Giambi last night made the final out with the bases loaded, and also struck out in a situation earlier in the game where a hit would have delivered a much-needed offensive lift.

To me, Giambi it the biggest culprit in terms of the year-long, team-wide epidemic of poor hitting with RISP. His season average is a putrid .212 with RISP, and a much-improved .224 with RISP and 2 outs. Sure, he has a good number of RBIs, but he could have produced so much more considering how many opportunities he gets while hitting out of the #5 spot in the lineup. And yet in spite of his futility, Joe Girardi NEVER takes him out of the slot in the lineup behind A-Rod.

It’s a stubbornness in both guys that is extremely frustrating: Giambi has done nothing to make adjustments with men on base, his swing remains long and home run-minded. Girardi has put blind faith in Jason’s ability to somehow turn it around in those situations, and has not backed off it all season long.

At this point, when the offense looks as awful as it does, why as a manager are you not just trying anything to try and shake things up? Demoting Melky Cabrera and playing Brett Gardner is doing nothing to get the offense turned around. The lineup hasn’t worked in months, so why keep running the same one out there day after day?

Honestly, it seems as though Girardi and his players have checked out. Today we’re about to be through 7 full innings, and the offense has yet to crack the scoreboard. Zack Greinke is a great young pitcher, but the Yankees have had enough opportunities once again—runners on 2nd to lead off the last two innings—and have yet to do anything productive. It is going to be a depressing stretch run, since the Yankees are already playing as though they’re ready for the offseason. Not the best way to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium.

DAN GIESE: Headed to Disabled List

Today the Yankees announced that Dan Giese is going to the 15-day disabled list with the dreaded rotator cuff tendinitis that took Joba Chamberlain out of commission. There has been no decision announced about who will start in Giese's place Tuesday in Toronto. The only two candidates seem to be Darrell Rasner and Phil Hughes. The team has been adamant about giving Phil another start to "work on some things" at AAA this Sunday. So we'll probably be subjected to another tightrope act by D-Razz where he struggles through 5 innings and the team doesn't score him any runs. I understand the thinking in terms of not rushing Phil back and making sure he has the endurance and confidence to make it through a full major league start, but I am just sick of watching Darrell Rasner make starts for the Yankees--no knock on the guy, I know he competes and he's got more guts than Ian Kennedy right now, but he is just a borefest and his potential ceiling is 6 decent innings.

Oh, and just for the record, when Giese left the game in Minnesota Wednesday Girardi's quote was something along the lines of "This shouldn't change anything for his start on Tuesday..." Joe Girardi, always telling it like it is to reporters and fans about his players' injuries.

Giese Leaves Game; So Does Home Plate Ump

I speculated that Dan Giese might be needed in long relief today. Turned out Rasner gave the team 5 quality innings, leaving down 3-1 thanks to the Yankees offense deciding to take another game off, saving their energy for those important rounds of golf that they're eagerly anticipating come October.

Joe Girardi inserts this past Saturday's starter Dan Giese to replace Rasner in the bottom of the 6th inning. Giese proceeds to load the bases without recording an out, and then was forced to leave the game with an injury. Unbelievable. Now David Robertson is brought in to try and get out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam--why not just have Robertson start the inning? You are talking about Giese being your starter on Tuesday, I don't really understand the point in using him, even for one inning, for today's game.

In the midst of Robertson's attempt at portraying Harry Houdini, home plate umpire Mike Winters was struck with a foul tip and forced to leave the game. A lengthy delayed followed, completely disrupting Robertson's perceived rhythm on the mound. He only allowed 1 of the 3 inherited runners to score, a job very well done considering he started with the bags juiced and nobody out. Time for the offense is quickly running out.

UPDATE: It was announced that Giese left the game with an "injured neck/shoulder". 2 shutout innings from Robertson, and the bottom of the order gets the first two men on in the top of the 8th on singles from Pudge and Betemit. Melky Cabrera is your next batter, and instead of keeping him in CF and having him bunt to try and cut the lead to 4-3...Girardi sends up Sexson, looking to tie the game on one swing. Sexson strikes out swinging, leaving the runners implanted at 1st and 2nd and bringing up Damon and Abreu without as good of a chance of driving in runs. Question the logic of Joe on that move.

Second Update: That rally led to 1 run that scored on a swinging third strike by Bobby Abreu that magically got away from Joe Mauer, allowing the Pudge to score from 3rd. A-Rod flew out to center on a 3-1 pitch to end the rally, and now Billy Traber is in the game. Seems as though Girardi is raising the white flag throwing this scrub in there against Mauer and Morneau.

Another Lost Night

Much was made of how Joe Girardi would be a great motivator, how he was a natural leader of men and would bring a spark that the Yankees had been missing during the stoic and calm Joe Torre years.

But this year has been full of nights like tonight, where the team looks as though it is going through the motions. It's as though the offense fails once early on, and then starts pressing and pressing, attempting to make it all up with one swing. Not the right way to get what is supposed to be a good offensive team off the snide.

Ivan Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera spit the bit bigtime tonight, stomping out the only rally the Yankees were able to muster against randomly unhittable Glen Perkins. It is amazing to me that Melky Cabrera has nine lives this season. How does a team that presents itself as a contender, plugs in 3 major league veterans at the deadline, allow a literal automatic out all year long to remain in the everyday lineup?

It's not as though Cabrera is some 10-year veteran who has a long track record of steady play. He's had one good full offensive season. This year he looks completely out of sync at the plate. Girardi seems to love Justin Christian enough to sit Johnny Damon, who is only leading the AL in hitting, but he won't sit Cabrera for an extended stretch after he keeps burning the Yankees' offense with a terrible approach and complete offensive futility?

The problem is that Gardner and Christian are not good enough to make anyone forget Melky. At the same time, though, they can't be too much worse at the plate. Gardner looked pretty terrible in his cameo, but are there no repercussions for 4 straight months of terrible baseball? Atlanta demoted what they considered a future offensive star, Jeff Francouer, for his terrible hitting throughout the year in an effort to get him started. Didn't work.

Isn't it worth a shot? And, this is in no way intended to point all the team's offensive blame at the feet of Melky, the expected #9 hitter who in a perfect world would be an offensive afterthought. But if he's going to remain in the lineup, there's going to be a chance for him to have important at-bats. And if he fails in those at-bats all year long, why does he keep getting the opportunity?

4 straight losses and a 2-6 road trip is a complete disaster. Best case scenario of 4-6 is ugly, and just getting to that point seems like an extremely up-hill climb considering Rasner throws on Wednesday afternoon. Things are looking bleaker by the day with the 2008 Yankees.

Rock Bottom?

A complete embarrassment courtesy of the Mets tonight on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Chien-Ming Wang wilted in a long, 30-plus pitch 4th inning and the putrid offense could not string anything together against Oliver Perez. A nice response followed the horrid 4th inning, as Matsui's 2-run home run sliced the deficit in half. However, the game's turning point was when Jose Molina led off the bottom of the 5th inning with a double.

Nobody out, runner at 2nd, the score at that point was 4-2 (should have been 6-2, or worse, thanks to the ill-fated reverse home run call against Carlos Delgado). Johnny Damon has the opportunity to drive in Molina, or at worst advance him to 3rd so Abreu and Jeter have a chance to produce and close the gap. Damon's at-bat was synonymous with the team's struggles offensively all year: his approach at first seemed to be patience, waiting for a pitch to drive and thus drive in Molina. However, as soon as he took a strike from Perez, he switched to simple advance-the-runner mode, squaring to bunt and bunting foul, putting himself in a 1-2 hole. At this point, advancing the runner is the clear priority, and mercifully, Damon succeeded in getting Molina to 3rd with a ground ball to first.

What follows is the real nightmare, the microcosm of the Yankees' offensive season thus far. It captures not only the team's horrible struggles with runners on base, but also Joe Girardi's insane stubbornness and inflexibility, with a little misguided loyalty mixed in, in the face of numbers, logic and failed experiments.

First, the lineup has looked absolutely terrible against left handed pitching. Everyone knows this. I can't remember the Yankees beating a left handed pitcher, all year. It doesn't happen. None of the lefties hit other lefties. Matsui might have good numbers against lefties, but he bails out horribly when he's facing a lefty and leaves himself insanely vulnerable to breaking balls. Damon, Abreu, Giambi, Cano...they look awful against left-handed pitching. Their numbers are awful against left handed pitching. And yet...they are all in the lineup against Oliver Perez? Really?

Unbelievable. Shelley Duncan and Morgan Ensberg have done nothing to earn their playing time, but they are supposed to mash left handers. That's why they are on the roster. Oliver Perez is not Johan Santana, he is hittable, he seems like an ideal candidate to plug in right handed bats against.

Yet, Girardi refuses. Is this him being the against-the-grain-thinking manager? Or is this him being a Joe Torre holdover, running out his most talented players in a "big" game regardless of match-ups and right/left-handedness? I thought Girardi was a numbers manager, more so than a feeling/loyalty manager? What I thought is apparently not reality.

Bobby Abreu, in his big at-bat with a runner on 3rd and 1 out, with the game still a tight 2-run affair, strikes out looking on a 2-2 slider. This, after his first two ABs resulted in 1-3 groundouts, results of his feebly pulling off Perez's pitches because he can't handle facing left handed pitching.

Jeter puts a good swing on a 2-2 pitch from Perez and drives a ball to left center, but it's into Death Valley and Derek knows he's got nothing from the moment of contact. The inning ends, the game still 4-2 and the Yankees having just wasted a golden (and rare) opportunity to drive in Jose Molina after a leadoff double. The top of the order, no less, had someone to drive in that wasn't Johnny Damon or Derek Jeter. And yet they couldn't do it.

The rest of the game was a hideous mess of Chien-Ming Wang's struggles and one of Ross Ohlendorf's whipping boy outings. 11-2 as a final score didn't have to be as lopsided as it was. Joe Girardi deserves blame for plugging in all the lefties two days in a row.

Jason Giambi deserves some blame for that 4th inning and his continuing butchery of the first base position. Johnny Damon still can't get a hit. Derek Jeter continues to try and look like he's trying, but nobody else does. Melky Cabrera isn't hitting anymore. Alberto Gonzalez is not an everyday player, by any stretch of the imagination, at any position.

This seems like the ultimate low-point. Getting absolutely spanked on national television against the regional/market rival, with your ace pitcher taking the loss and your offense continuing to generate nothing. Oliver Perez leaves the game and tips his cap to the Yankee Stadium Met-heavy crowd. Disgraceful. Jose Reyes hits a meaningless, tack-on home run and raises a finger into the air and styles his way around the bases.

And there's no response from the team in pinstripes. When will the response come? Will their response be on the field, or in the front office? How long are we sticking to the "our hitters are going to start hitting, I know it!" stance?

These questions need to be answered sooner rather than later. I hope for an exciting off day tomorrow, in some form or another.

Left-Handed and Losing

The Subway Series got off to a predictably rocky start for the Bronx participants, who threw their lefty-laden lineup before King Johan for sacrifice yesterday afternoon. When I reluctantly turned on John Sterling's butchered rendition of the game in the 4th inning, I was shocked to hear that the Yankees actually had a lead. That it was 2-0 was an expected, unimpressive lead; that Andy Pettitte squandered it swiftly with one poor inning of work was also expected on my part; and that the offense failed to muster another scoring threat before the game slipped out of the tenuous grasp of Kyle Farnsworth was even less surprising.

A typical effort for this incarnation of the antithesis of the Bronx Bombers nickname, Saturday's affair featured the classic elements of the still-young but seemingly forever downhill 2008 season: early success both offensively and on the hill, followed by pitching futility without any response from the offense, save for a few last-gasp moments that look like a rally, but are quashed before reaching full comeback status.

The team looks as flat as it ever did during The Joe Torre Era, specifically the 2nd, championship-starved half. The idea that Joe Girardi would bring more fire and a day-in, day-out attitude to the team that Torre lacked seems now like a complete fallacy. The roster is still overrun with complacent veteran personalities, so any potential fire seems extinguished by the weight of their paychecks and the size of their egos. No one has stepped up to fill the voids created by A-Rod and Posada in the lineup. Take your pick out of Shelley Duncan, Morgan Ensberg, Jose Molina, Alberto Gonzalez, Wilson Betemit...none of them have hit even close to a level covering for the missing run producers.

The rotation's problems now stem from Andy Pettitte not winning in 4 starts, an extremely problematic development considering The 5th Starter (once Kei Igawa, now Ian Kennedy again) has still yet to notch a victory on the season.

Hope might be found in Jason Giambi starting to heat up at the plate little by little, and Robinson Cano pulling his average off the interstate. Johnny Damon, however, has crawled back into his early-season shell, sending a ripple of missing productivity through the rest of the lineup.

The team still can't beat left handed starting pitching. A-Rod's return on Tuesday may or may not fix that. Another lefty starts tonight, albeit an erratic one in the Mets' Oliver Perez. Still, he dominated the Yankees last season and it's hard to expect the offense to send Perez to an early shower.

I don't know what it is going to take to turn this season around. It's clear to me that a shakeup is needed for the offense more than for the rotation: Pettitte is too much of a veteran to go winless much longer, and Wang and Mussina have been steadily successful all season. Rasner has shown signs, and Kennedy, even though his first start back saw him take the loss, seems closer to turning the corner than he did before his demotion.

Joe Girardi looks less capable of righting the ship by the game. He seems without answers, content to try a different lineup every game and chalk the team's failures up to veteran players performing under their capabilities. Never does he give a hint that the veterans need to start performing or their will be consequences; that would be too bold for someone that graduated from the Joe Torre "trust your guys" school of thought. Apparently, he's more willing to be a watered-down facsimile of Torre than a tougher manager that puts winning above loyalty.

It remains to be seen if this will change at some point, or if Joe will just wait patiently as the failure builds and the pressure from the front office mounts. I look forward to some panic trades at the deadline, sending Ian Kennedy packing for some mediocre offensive performers that won't solve anything. This season seems destined for the panic button being smashed by Brian Cashman, in a last-ditch effort to keep his job and prove that he's still a front-office genius.

It will undoubtedly end badly in every way, is the vibe that I'm now getting from the 2008 season.

Kennedy's Demotion

While the news of Ian Kennedy being shipped to Scranton is no big surprise, the handling of the situation seems strange to me. First, according to not only the AP story detailing Kennedy's demotion but also John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, Darrell Rasner is getting guaranteed another start. Nevermind the fact that he's already in a 2-0 hole as I write this, but why guarantee Rasner job security?

The organization grew weary of Ian Kennedy's job security and job ineffectiveness, and so when the opportunity presented itself they shipped him out. Now, a vote of confidence for Darrell Rasner before he even throws a pitch in the big leagues this season?

It's all psychological warfare from Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman. By telling Rasner that he has another start guaranteed, he doesn't put as much pressure on himself in today's outing against Seattle. It also reeks of an attempt to light a fire under Ian Kennedy, as now Girardi's statements have been non-committal about whether Kennedy is just being shipped out to stay active until the team needs a 5th starter again.

Now there are whispers emerging about Kei Igawa coming up to fill that 5th starter slot on May 10th, what to me is a nightmare waiting to happen. Igawa hasn't even been that successful in the International League, pitching to a 2-3 record and giving up almost a hit per inning against lineups that, obviously, pale in comparison to what he'd face in the American League. In his last start on Apr. 28th, he gave up 7 hits in 5 innings and took the loss against the Buffalo Bisons, walking 2 and striking out 3. Pedestrian performances against AAA lineups don't warrant getting called up to try your luck as a member of the rotation.

Specifically, when you'd be beginning to test Igawa's luck on May 10th against the Detroit Tigers, just the type of lineup that would salivate at the prospect of facing an inept lefty.

The focus, then, shifts to how Kennedy and Igawa perform over the next week. Kennedy 's day would be this Tuesday, not sure if he'll actually be starting in Scranton on that day, but his performance will be a big determinant of the identity of that #5 starter in pinstripes. Igawa's on the mound this afternoon, so at some point I'll go over his performance for Scranton. All in all, it seems like the mystery of the Joe Girardi Era continues to build.

Home Grays

Very gray in New York today, fittingly synonymous with the aura that surrounds the team in the Bronx these days. Showers are possible all throughout the evening, so the nasty conditions that persisted throughout last night’s game might be repeated tonight. Rain might be a blessing, considering notorious Yankee-dominator Erik Bedard takes the hill for Seattle, his first start in the Bronx for his new West Coast club.

Looking at Bedard’s numbers against the Yankees for the past 2 seasons, and considering how badly the lineup has done against lefties and against everyone this year, there is little hope to hold on to for ending the current 3-game losing skid. Here’s his compiled performances against the Yankees for the ’06 and ’07 seasons:

5 GS 3-0 W/L 33 IP 20 H 9 BB 35 K 1.77 ERA 0.96 WHIP .179 Opp. AVG

Bedard has been dominant across the board, and the only solace one might take is that he’s battled injuries and his control thus far this year. He missed a few weeks with an inflamed hip, but upon his return he threw up a strong performance of 6.2 IP 2 H 0 ER 4 BB/4K against Oakland. The walks might be the one thing the Yankees floundering lineup can exploit.

On the other side, Chien-Ming Wang comes in completely cemented as the ace of the Yankees’ rotation. His 5-0 start has been impressive, and he’s only had 1 truly bad outing (against Boston in the Bronx). Otherwise, he’s been the model of consistency and, even occasionally, greatness. Runs most likely will be at a premium, especially since the recent history of Wang vs. Seattle is almost as impressive as Bedard vs. New York:

4 GS 4-0 W/L 29.1 IP 21 H 5 BB 11 K 1.87 ERA 0.89 WHIP .202 Opp. AVG

The recent history says runs will be at a premium for both sides. Most likely, anyone could have guessed that by just looking at the names of tonight’s starters. Regardless, I like to turn to the numbers at least once in a while, so as to not form my opinions on nominal value alone.

Turning back to last night, the Ian Kennedy situation looks as though he’ll be skipped his next turn in the rotation. If they’re going to do that, then he should go down to Scranton to at least stay on schedule and try and work through his problems (be they mechanical, or approach, or whatever). The interesting thing is if you send Kennedy down to start at Scranton and go with a 4-man rotation, he can be re-inserted should Darrell Rasner prove horribly ineffective this Sunday. Likewise, if Rasner is successful, then you can just bring Ian (or whoever pitches the best from Scranton’s rotation in the next week or so) back up when a 5th starter is needed again.

It keeps all parties covered: Kennedy continues to get his work in, Rasner gets his audition for the rotation, Kei Igawa can tell himself that he’s got a shot of getting called up even though every Yankee fan shudders at the mention of his name, and so on. My hope is that Kennedy doesn’t get outright demoted and told that he’s out of the rotation, considering that the team still needs him to be successful if they are going to cover for the loss of Hughes. You need one of the two rotation components of the youth movement to fight through their horrible struggles this year, and if Hughes isn’t going to resume the fight until the middle of the summer, then it would help if Kennedy kept throwing punches through the spring months.

But, then again, Joe Girardi seems convinced to not follow any consistent train of thought. He’d rather not lay out any plan, or make any clear statements regarding his team, his players, his rotation, his lineup, his diet, his anything…something that’s quickly annoying the members of the New York press corps. I think both major tabloids referred to him as “Belichik-like” in terms of secretiveness and sneakiness. Not exactly the kind of guy you want the media comparing you to, unless it means you’ve done nothing but win championships, something Girardi seems extremely far away from doing as it stands this year.

It’s amazing that he’s used 27 different lineups through the team’s first 30 games. Injuries have something to do with it, but so does a manager’s uncertainty in both himself and his players. I’d imagine tonight will be #28, and I highly doubt that this time around the results will suddenly be better.

Scranton-Wilkes Barre on Sunday?

That's where it seems like Phil Hughes is heading. Can't get out Curtis Granderson or Placido Polanco, gets booed off the mound after giving up 6 in 3 2/3, gives way to Ross Ohlendorf who has been getting flogged lately. Not looking good for this game, which feels like absolute torture to watch.

Give a ton of credit to Joe Girardi for deciding to give Chris Stewart zero time to get acclimated to the Yankees' pitching staff and putting him immediately behind the plate to catch his struggling top-prospect starter. Probably the dumbest move he's made in a while. Forget about pitching to Manny Ramirez in Boston, not starting Kennedy in the rain in Kansas City, or walking Travis Hafner to get to Victor Martinez. You start a catcher that has no idea about a staff, only what he's seen on film, after only being with the club for 2 days? Great move, Joe.

Hughes and Stewart were confused most of the night, Phil couldn't make pitches when he needed to, and things fell apart extremely fast. Looking forward to the uproar that comes around tomorrow about how Hughes isn't ready for the big leagues and needs to be exported to the minors in favor of Darrell Rasner or Kei Igawa. The fact is, the team needs Hughes to pitch well, and they need to stick with him; otherwise, this year is going to amount to nothing. You need to deal with an atrocious April and you need to keep working on making him a better big league pitcher; going to AAA and dominating the International League isn't going to do anything for Hughes.

So, great start to a series. The Gambler will pick up a cheap victory even though he can't throw strikes and is basically walking the tightrope in every inning because he's completely washed up. The pressure will be on the bullpen to not let the game get out of hand, otherwise perhaps Chris Stewart will get to make the move from behind the plate to on the mound. At least in that scenario he won't be the one getting crossed up when it comes to what the pitcher's throwing.

Not the best way to start a homestand. You turn to tomorrow and expect Andy Pettitte to now throw 7 innings, a tough task when facing a deep lineup.