Dropping the Ball

There are a lot of words that come to mind when trying to describe what I just witnessed for the last two and a half hours. I’ll start with the pleasantries and build to the darker matters, because I like to lead with the good and finish with the bad, for no reason in particular.

It was a great pitchers’ duel, something I did not expect in the least if the Yankees were going to end up losing. To me, this was the type of game with a lopsided Yankees loss written all over it, more so than a gritty, nail-biting heartbreaker decided in the final inning. But Darrell Rasner outperformed any sane person’s expectations and threw an absolute gem. He got through 6.2 innings giving up only 3 hits and 1 run and departed with the game tied at 1, hoping his team would scratch something across against A.J. Burnett or the Jays’ bullpen.

Okay, so…other good news from this game:...

…..Hideki Matsui came back?

Where to begin on the negatives. Might as well start in inning #1: I figured that Johnny Damon’s defense would hurt the team when the merry-go-round on the basepaths began, and runners were going from 1st to 3rd and scoring from 2nd on singles to center. I did not worry about Johnny’s ability to catch the ball when hit his way. After all, he played center for his entire career leading up to this year. But in the first inning, he dropped a routine fly ball hit by Alex Rios that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Rasner amazingly got out of the jam, but the Yankees had just taken a lead on Burnett and gave their back of the rotation starter some breathing room. To immediately force him to unnecessarily work that hard in the 1st inning was a sure-fire bad sign.

From there on, it was the A.J. Burnett vs. Darrell Rasner Show. It is hard to tell the difference between the Yankees offense struggling and the opposing pitcher being on top of his game. Regardless, for some reason the rest of the league has been able to get to A.J. Burnett. The Yankees, however, can not touch the guy. Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Johnny Damon, they all looked completely overmatched in their at-bats against Burnett. Giambi has been particularly dreadful regardless of his grand slam against Kansas City. He got 1 hit in that entire series, which happened to be that homer, and tonight he struck out a whopping 4 times, including twice with runners in scoring position.

To be shut down again and again by one pitcher makes me question the Yankees’ hitters ability to adjust and determination to overcome adversity. Those are two things that this year’s team seems to completely lack. If a pitcher is said to “have their number” this year, he keeps that number and exploits the team’s hitters again and again. You can look to Josh Beckett, Burnett, Oliver Perez, and Daniel Cabrera for good examples of this. Yet, only one of those guys is what you would call a legitimate “ace” pitcher (Beckett).

Adversity, well that has sunk the Yankees’ chances in many games this year. Unless they are in complete control of a game this year, it has been near impossible for the team to suck it up and fight back, or deal with any random things that go wrong in the course of 9 innings or more.

Johnny Damon dropping an unfathomable second fly ball in the bottom of the 8th inning, costing his team a run, is some serious adversity. How does the team respond in the top of the 9th? By having a leadoff single by A-Rod turn into a 3-6 put-out while Alex was trying to turn a single into a double. The play was made by an outstanding Overbay hustle effort, but Alex could have played it safe and remained at first knowing that it meant the tying run would be on and some good hitters (allegedly) were following him.

Then again, Jason Giambi is no longer a “good hitter” following A-Rod. He predictably recorded his 4th strikeout, this one at least against B.J. Ryan (a night of pitchers with abbreviated first names for Toronto). The thinking is that A-Rod was trying to get something started in the 9th, and I understand that and fault him less than bring the play up to point out how everything possible has gone wrong this year for the Yankees. But you wouldn’t be so adamant about trying to get to 2nd base to lead off if you had more faith in the guy hitting behind you. That’s not to say that A-Rod thought that as he ran towards second, but the sense of urgency would be there because of the #5 man’s struggles.

All in all, a disaster. I am ready to give up hopes of the team finding a way to get red hot and make it into the playoffs, just because it seems as though this group of players can not find any magic to get them anywhere near hot. Playing decent baseball and winning the final games in Yankee Stadium will be enough at this point.

To put a cherry on top of a terribly disappointing night, this story about Carl Pavano pops up. It is completely mind-boggling that as soon as he becomes discussed as a possible option for the Yankees’ pitching staff, he again comes up with an injury. A stiff neck? A stiff neck is going to keep a pitcher who has been out for almost 2 full years from making his potential return to the major leagues? I’m going to probably be the first person writing about baseball to do this, but I’m going to have to go ahead and question Carl Pavano’s fire and desire to pitch for the Yankees.

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.

Johnny B. Not Done Yet

So, Johnny Damon came into this season off an extremely disappointing 2007 that led many Yankees fans to believe that his best days were long behind him, he was no longer equipped to play the bulk of a 162 game load in the OF, and the 4-year contract he was given was a huge mistake.

He didn't start off too hot in '08, but lately he's been doing more than hold his own at the top of the lineup. It's funny becuase Damon has been so insistent in the press on the fact that when he hits, the whole lineup hits. It seems like an egotistical stance to take as a player that's never been a middle-of-the-order, run producing masher. However, it seems to ring true for this particular Yankees lineup, as his success at the plate has frequently corresponded to the team's victories thus far this season.

When Damon is on base, Jeter becomes the ideal #2 hitter, evinced by his performance in the 1st inning of today's game. Following Damon's leadoff hustle double, Jeter's uncanny ability to hit the ball the other way was imminently useful and important, as his inside-outing a ground ball to second base got Johnny to 3rd with only one out. The fact that Abreu delivered an RBI single is important, not so much because a Yankee hitter finally drove in a runner in scoring position.

The lineup, since its current composition lacks the depth, lacks the threats from top to bottom, must operate differently than how Yankees fans are used to over the last few years. With A-Rod and Posada subtracted and Giambi and Cano performing as if they're as injured as the previously mentioned pair, the lineup goes from containing an intimidating presence from 1-9, to only making that boast from 1-5.

Giving those 2-5 hitters a chance to create as many runs as possible is Damon's job. Today, he did that in spades, even creating a few runs of his own with his upper-tank bomb. His value, however, now increases when the team can't rely on the bottom of the order to come up with consecutive hits, consecutive walks, or baserunners in general. When some combination of Morgan Ensberg, Alberto Gonzalez, Shelley Duncan and the Jose Molina/Chad Moeller Monster are the bottom of the lineup, Damon's success becomes more vital. He has to be on base so that the actual productive major leaguers left in the starting lineup have a chance to drive him in.

Jeter, Abreu, Matsui and Melky seem to be the heart of the order these days, so the more opportunities they have to produce runs, the better. It's amazing, on a side note, that Melky Cabrera has become a part of that group this year. Yet his performance speaks for itself, and it seems like he's made the jump from simply a "defensive specialist" in center field to a potent threat with the stick in his hands. It's not to be completely unexpected, since his production in terms of HRs and RBIs has increased yearly over his early career, but it seems surprising considering the poor performance of his companion and allegedly more talented hitter, Robbie Cano.

Melky's success, just like his other fellow real live professional major league hitters (Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano need not apply), depends greatly on Johnny, though, and games like today make it as clear as day.