Yanks pulled off an impressive series against Seattle, and now stand 3 up in the wild card. Seattle looks done, and their lack of pitching caught up to them.
- What scares me most is, the Yanks have the easiest schedule of the three wild-card contenders. Let's have a look:
Yankees
-3 at KC
3 at Toronto
3 at. Boston
3 vs. Baltimore
3 vs. Toronto
3 at TB
3 at Baltimore
In the second half, the Yanks have gone 6-1 vs. KC and 5-2 vs. Toronto. Baltimore has beaten them in two series, but the O's look dead right now. Aside from Boston, Yanks have it easy the rest of the way.
Seattle
3 at Detroit
3 vs. A's
4 at TB
3 at A's
4 at LA
4 vs. Cleveland
3 vs. Texas
The Mariners have three tough series, and the rest isn't too bad. (They're 10-3 vs. Beane's team this year.) Although the way Seattle has been playing lately, even the A's might be a challenge.
Detroit
3 vs. Seattle
1 vs. Toronto
3 vs. Texas
3 at Minnesota
3 at Cleveland
3 vs. KC
3 vs. Minnesota
3 at White Sox
The series vs. Seattle can go either way, and the rest isn't too bad, although Minny might be tough. Detroit has been 7-5 vs. the Twins so far, but they'll have to do better for the wild card.
Right now, I think Detroit has a much better shot of catching New York than Seattle. But with the Yankees having a soft schedule coming up, the Tigers will have to be red-hot. Otherwise, we'll have to hope for another 1st-round embarrassment by the Yankees.
Showing posts with label Yankee-free October. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yankee-free October. Show all posts
Friday, September 07, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
Lousy Ending To A Great First Half
I was away for the weekend, and no time for a Sunday roundup yesterday. My apologies.
But the way things turned out, it was a rotten weekend. 2005 hero Ervin Santana got spanked by New York, and Wang pitched well again. Meanwhile, the Red Sox got swept by Detroit, a team they'll probably face in the playoffs. And the Yanks have an easy couple of weeks ahead of them, playing Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and KC. The Rays better show up against the Yankees, even though they've been dead the past two weeks.
In any case, if you would've told me in March that the Red Sox would have a 10 game lead on the Yankees at the break, I would've given you a wave, thinking, "don't be ridiculous," and walked away. If you would've told me that the Yankees were gonna be under .500 come the All-Star break, I would've looked at you like you had seven heads. And don't forget, the Yanks still have 8.5 games to cover in the wild card standings.
So while seeing the Yankees go 5-2 against the Twins and Angels is frustrating, they still need a Red Sox collapse to win the division, and need to pass a whole bunch of teams to catch Cleveland for the wild card.
And that's why even after a rough weekend, I will still spend the All-Star break celebrating the Yankees' worst half-season in the post-dynasty era.
But the way things turned out, it was a rotten weekend. 2005 hero Ervin Santana got spanked by New York, and Wang pitched well again. Meanwhile, the Red Sox got swept by Detroit, a team they'll probably face in the playoffs. And the Yanks have an easy couple of weeks ahead of them, playing Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and KC. The Rays better show up against the Yankees, even though they've been dead the past two weeks.
In any case, if you would've told me in March that the Red Sox would have a 10 game lead on the Yankees at the break, I would've given you a wave, thinking, "don't be ridiculous," and walked away. If you would've told me that the Yankees were gonna be under .500 come the All-Star break, I would've looked at you like you had seven heads. And don't forget, the Yanks still have 8.5 games to cover in the wild card standings.
So while seeing the Yankees go 5-2 against the Twins and Angels is frustrating, they still need a Red Sox collapse to win the division, and need to pass a whole bunch of teams to catch Cleveland for the wild card.
And that's why even after a rough weekend, I will still spend the All-Star break celebrating the Yankees' worst half-season in the post-dynasty era.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Easy Win For Yanks - Yankees 8, Twins 0
Even in a down year, the Yanks are managing to beat the Twins. Tonight's game was a joke, with a mismatch of pitchers between Silva and Wang. Wang was sharp, and every Yankee starter except A-Rod got at least a hit.
Yankee fans can't get excited yet, however, not after another great outing by Dice-K and another Red Sox win. Still an 11-game gap. And I don't think the Yanks will get 14 hits every night. They'll probably take 3 of 4 from Minnesota, but hey, their last hot streak feels like a million years ago.
I predict the Yanks will end up with 87 wins this year. It wouldn't be too bad; 12 games over .500, but not nearly good enough to make the playoffs.
Yankee fans can't get excited yet, however, not after another great outing by Dice-K and another Red Sox win. Still an 11-game gap. And I don't think the Yanks will get 14 hits every night. They'll probably take 3 of 4 from Minnesota, but hey, their last hot streak feels like a million years ago.
I predict the Yanks will end up with 87 wins this year. It wouldn't be too bad; 12 games over .500, but not nearly good enough to make the playoffs.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Top Ten Reasons The Yankees Missed the Playoffs in 2007
I know, I know, premature. But it's not looking too good right now, and I guess I should preface the title with "If they miss the playoffs, here's why." But I'm in an optimistic mood right now, so let's go with the flow.
(10) Relying on Pavano: Carl Pavano has had a total of one good year in his career, and that came in 2004 as a member of the Marlins. Since joining the Yankees in '05, he's been perhaps the worst signing for Old York this century. As a Yankee, he's won a grand total of five games. Yet Ca$hman was talking about Pavano coming back and having a big year in '07, probably to get some of the $39 million worth. They could have traded him and gotten a better pitcher but kept Carl, and relied on him to be an ace. Ha. He's on the shelf, and may never throw another pitch as a Yankee.
(9) Dropoffs for Melky and Cano: In 2006, Melky Cabrera batted .280, with a .360 OBP. In 2007, he's hitting .259 with a .320 OBP. In 2006, Robinson Cano batted .342, nearly won the AL batting title, and had an OPS of .890. In 2007, Cano is hitting .265 and has an OPS of .701. Had these guys maintained their '06 form, who knows. But all those extra outs add up.
(8) As Manny wrote a few weeks ago, once you get past the regulars, who do you have? Miguel Cairo, Kevin Thompson, Wil Nieves ... a joke. Granted, in the AL the bench is not as important as in the NL, but you figure that there will be injuries, there will be doubleheaders where you want to rest a regular, and Ca$hman was terrible in not acquiring any bench help. And that's killed them.
(7) Ringo's Arm: The guy can't throw anyone out anymore, it's psyching out the pitchers and giving the opponents a lot of extra bases.
(6) Johnny Damon's Injuries: The guy's been a bust in 2007, mostly because he's been playing injured, and refuses to go on the DL! So he wastes a roster spot, has terrible power for a DH, and is slow in the outfield. Had the guy taken a couple of weeks off in early May, perhaps he'd come back and do better.
(5) Charlie Brown and the Yankee Bullpen: This was finally the year we'd all been waiting for - the year he became just another pitcher. Horrible in April, decent in May, mediocre in June... and the team gave him very few save opportunities, but that's because the rest of the pen couldn't hold leads! Lefties are hitting over .300 against Mike Myers, Vizcaino was a bust, Farnsworthless is just that, and even guys like Brian Bruney are walking a ton of guys. As Manny pointed out, the K/BB ratio for the Yankee pen may be the worst in recent history. Snorre's boyfriend Scott Proctor hasn't gotten the job done, and it'll only get worse in August when their arms fall off.
(4) Outfield defense: In a word, pathetic. Shemp, Damon, and Abreu have terrible arms, and smart teams have been taking advantage of that all season long. Cabrera has a decent arm, but he misplays so many balls that he's worthless as well. Matsui is good at getting a read on fly balls and tracking them down, but he's still lost a step or two from his first couple of years here. Extra hits and extra bases taken lead to extra runs and extra losses. It's that simple.
(3) Moose: Re-signing Mike Mussina was a disaster. Every once in a while he pitches a brilliant game, so Old York figures that as long as they can straighten him out, he'll be a Cy Young winner. In 2007, however, his brilliant games have been few and far between. Nearly halfway through the season, he's got a grand total of 4 wins and an ERA of 4.63. And get this - he's on pace to strike out about 90 batters. Ca$hman, I know the market for starting pitching was thin, but what the hell were you thinking?
(2) First base mess: Relying on Doug Mienkiewicz was silly, considering the guy hasn't hit a lick in years, but at least he was great defensively. After Doug came Josh Phelps, Andy Phillips, and Miguel Cairo. Nada. Junkee first basemen rank 10th in the AL in OPS, and in the bottom half of just about every category. Had they gotten someone decent, we might not be dreaming of a Yankee-free October.
(1) Abreu over Sheffield: We've gone through this many times, but to me, this is the move that killed them more than anything else. Other than A-Schmuck, they don't have a legit home run hitter. A-Rod's hit 28 home runs. The next best is Ringo at 9. Abreu is at 4. Sheffield, meanwhile, over in Detroit has hit 18 dingers, and has an OPS of .931. Abreu's OPS? Only 200+ points lower at .689. Ca$hman may have had enough of Sheff's antics and thus let him go, but Abreu was yet another bust, and this was the bust that broke the camel's back. So bye bye Yankees.
- Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
(10) Relying on Pavano: Carl Pavano has had a total of one good year in his career, and that came in 2004 as a member of the Marlins. Since joining the Yankees in '05, he's been perhaps the worst signing for Old York this century. As a Yankee, he's won a grand total of five games. Yet Ca$hman was talking about Pavano coming back and having a big year in '07, probably to get some of the $39 million worth. They could have traded him and gotten a better pitcher but kept Carl, and relied on him to be an ace. Ha. He's on the shelf, and may never throw another pitch as a Yankee.
(9) Dropoffs for Melky and Cano: In 2006, Melky Cabrera batted .280, with a .360 OBP. In 2007, he's hitting .259 with a .320 OBP. In 2006, Robinson Cano batted .342, nearly won the AL batting title, and had an OPS of .890. In 2007, Cano is hitting .265 and has an OPS of .701. Had these guys maintained their '06 form, who knows. But all those extra outs add up.
(8) As Manny wrote a few weeks ago, once you get past the regulars, who do you have? Miguel Cairo, Kevin Thompson, Wil Nieves ... a joke. Granted, in the AL the bench is not as important as in the NL, but you figure that there will be injuries, there will be doubleheaders where you want to rest a regular, and Ca$hman was terrible in not acquiring any bench help. And that's killed them.
(7) Ringo's Arm: The guy can't throw anyone out anymore, it's psyching out the pitchers and giving the opponents a lot of extra bases.
(6) Johnny Damon's Injuries: The guy's been a bust in 2007, mostly because he's been playing injured, and refuses to go on the DL! So he wastes a roster spot, has terrible power for a DH, and is slow in the outfield. Had the guy taken a couple of weeks off in early May, perhaps he'd come back and do better.
(5) Charlie Brown and the Yankee Bullpen: This was finally the year we'd all been waiting for - the year he became just another pitcher. Horrible in April, decent in May, mediocre in June... and the team gave him very few save opportunities, but that's because the rest of the pen couldn't hold leads! Lefties are hitting over .300 against Mike Myers, Vizcaino was a bust, Farnsworthless is just that, and even guys like Brian Bruney are walking a ton of guys. As Manny pointed out, the K/BB ratio for the Yankee pen may be the worst in recent history. Snorre's boyfriend Scott Proctor hasn't gotten the job done, and it'll only get worse in August when their arms fall off.
(4) Outfield defense: In a word, pathetic. Shemp, Damon, and Abreu have terrible arms, and smart teams have been taking advantage of that all season long. Cabrera has a decent arm, but he misplays so many balls that he's worthless as well. Matsui is good at getting a read on fly balls and tracking them down, but he's still lost a step or two from his first couple of years here. Extra hits and extra bases taken lead to extra runs and extra losses. It's that simple.
(3) Moose: Re-signing Mike Mussina was a disaster. Every once in a while he pitches a brilliant game, so Old York figures that as long as they can straighten him out, he'll be a Cy Young winner. In 2007, however, his brilliant games have been few and far between. Nearly halfway through the season, he's got a grand total of 4 wins and an ERA of 4.63. And get this - he's on pace to strike out about 90 batters. Ca$hman, I know the market for starting pitching was thin, but what the hell were you thinking?
(2) First base mess: Relying on Doug Mienkiewicz was silly, considering the guy hasn't hit a lick in years, but at least he was great defensively. After Doug came Josh Phelps, Andy Phillips, and Miguel Cairo. Nada. Junkee first basemen rank 10th in the AL in OPS, and in the bottom half of just about every category. Had they gotten someone decent, we might not be dreaming of a Yankee-free October.
(1) Abreu over Sheffield: We've gone through this many times, but to me, this is the move that killed them more than anything else. Other than A-Schmuck, they don't have a legit home run hitter. A-Rod's hit 28 home runs. The next best is Ringo at 9. Abreu is at 4. Sheffield, meanwhile, over in Detroit has hit 18 dingers, and has an OPS of .931. Abreu's OPS? Only 200+ points lower at .689. Ca$hman may have had enough of Sheff's antics and thus let him go, but Abreu was yet another bust, and this was the bust that broke the camel's back. So bye bye Yankees.
- Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sunday Roundup 7/1/07 - Write 'Em Off
For weeks, we've heard rumblings like "it's only April," "it's only May," "it's gonna be 1978 all over again." After yesterday's embarrassing loss, the Yanks are almost halfway done with the season, and a long ways from the division and the wild card.
Very good piece by Larry Brooks in the Post, about how the Yanks aren't in a rough patch; this is just the way the whole season has gone. He points out what Despiser mentioned a few weeks ago, that aside from A-Rod, the Yankees have no power bats. This team could use Gary Sheffield.
Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant also discusses the Yankee troubles, and mentions that the lefties (Matsui, Abreu, and Cano), who usually hit well against lefties, have not hit them well in '07.
Classic Joe Torre: Igawa gives up 4 runs in 6+ innings, but he's headed in the right direction. What's he gonna say next, that Clemens is a Cy Young candidate?
Mike Lupica echoes a piece I wrote in May. His piece, entitled "Who's Watching The Store?" is basically the same as my "Who's Running The Show"? But Lupica doesn't even address George's health issues. Bad job there.
Great piece by Bill Madden, who says things will only get worse for the Yanks in '08, '09 and beyond. Here's an excerpt:
"Take a good, hard honest look at this underachieving, uninspired, aging Yankee team and then weep if you will. The entire outfield of Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu is clearly past its prime and in need of being replaced. There is no first baseman. The catcher, Jorge Posada, is 36 and a free agent at the end of the season. The DH, Jason Giambi, is a broken-down, old 36 and probably done, certainly as a big-time middle-of-the-order run producer. And lest we forget (easy to do since we've seen him so infrequently this season), Mariano Rivera is going to be 38 in November when he, too, will be a free agent.
Nobody wants to talk about the fact that Derek Jeter will be 35 when the Yankees are in the new ballpark in '09 - and the silence has been deafening regarding that opt-out clause in Alex Rodriguez's contract. Whereas a couple of months ago the Yankees could smugly say they would not allow themselves to be held hostage by A-Rod, now it may not even be their choice."
The only area that Madden doesn't address is that the Yanks will likely pick up some big-name free agents over the next few years. They'll make huge offers to Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, Andruw Jones, and others. But as we've seen over the past few years, that won't help them all that much. Plus, with revenue sharing, maybe teams like the Twins and Padres will be able to keep their young stars.
Torre was not a big fan of Farnsworth's antics on Friday, but the guy isn't going anywhere. He's gonna get $7 million next year, and no team will take him unless the Yankees eat that up. It's one of the worst signings in the Cashman era.
Manny Ramirez is playing harder than ever this year, says Tony Massarotti.
ANTI-PICK OF THE WEEK: With the Yankees having their worst season since 1992, what could be more juicy than an interview with George Steinbrenner/Harold Rubinstein? Instead, the folks at the Daily News serve up bigger softballs than the ones Andy Pettitte gave to the A's this afternoon. Very disappointing. Terrible job by the News.
Then again, maybe I can't kill the News here. The interview was probably rigged by George's handlers. They don't want him to cause any controversy. There are a lot of layers there, and I'm pretty sure they didn't let the News ask the questions the fans wanted to hear answered.
PICK OF THE WEEK: One of my guilty pleasures? Checking out nyyfans.com when the Yanks are playing lousy baseball. Check out this piece: "DAMON HOLDS YANKEES HOSTAGE: DAY 82 + COUNTING."
- Yanks lose again, with Pettitte putting out his worst effort of the season. Everybody was impressed with his hot start to the season, but I figured he'd lose a step or two as the season went on. He had a 4.77 ERA in June, and he'll have to do really well to bring that figure down on July. The guy isn't getting any younger, and was pitching above his level, better than he did against the weak NL Central the past couple of years. I'd be surprised if he ended up with a sub-4.00 ERA.
- Two of my favorite teams, Minny and the Angels, take on the Yankees for the next seven days. Looking forward to this one.
Very good piece by Larry Brooks in the Post, about how the Yanks aren't in a rough patch; this is just the way the whole season has gone. He points out what Despiser mentioned a few weeks ago, that aside from A-Rod, the Yankees have no power bats. This team could use Gary Sheffield.
Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant also discusses the Yankee troubles, and mentions that the lefties (Matsui, Abreu, and Cano), who usually hit well against lefties, have not hit them well in '07.
Classic Joe Torre: Igawa gives up 4 runs in 6+ innings, but he's headed in the right direction. What's he gonna say next, that Clemens is a Cy Young candidate?
Mike Lupica echoes a piece I wrote in May. His piece, entitled "Who's Watching The Store?" is basically the same as my "Who's Running The Show"? But Lupica doesn't even address George's health issues. Bad job there.
Great piece by Bill Madden, who says things will only get worse for the Yanks in '08, '09 and beyond. Here's an excerpt:
"Take a good, hard honest look at this underachieving, uninspired, aging Yankee team and then weep if you will. The entire outfield of Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu is clearly past its prime and in need of being replaced. There is no first baseman. The catcher, Jorge Posada, is 36 and a free agent at the end of the season. The DH, Jason Giambi, is a broken-down, old 36 and probably done, certainly as a big-time middle-of-the-order run producer. And lest we forget (easy to do since we've seen him so infrequently this season), Mariano Rivera is going to be 38 in November when he, too, will be a free agent.
Nobody wants to talk about the fact that Derek Jeter will be 35 when the Yankees are in the new ballpark in '09 - and the silence has been deafening regarding that opt-out clause in Alex Rodriguez's contract. Whereas a couple of months ago the Yankees could smugly say they would not allow themselves to be held hostage by A-Rod, now it may not even be their choice."
The only area that Madden doesn't address is that the Yanks will likely pick up some big-name free agents over the next few years. They'll make huge offers to Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, Andruw Jones, and others. But as we've seen over the past few years, that won't help them all that much. Plus, with revenue sharing, maybe teams like the Twins and Padres will be able to keep their young stars.
Torre was not a big fan of Farnsworth's antics on Friday, but the guy isn't going anywhere. He's gonna get $7 million next year, and no team will take him unless the Yankees eat that up. It's one of the worst signings in the Cashman era.
Manny Ramirez is playing harder than ever this year, says Tony Massarotti.
ANTI-PICK OF THE WEEK: With the Yankees having their worst season since 1992, what could be more juicy than an interview with George Steinbrenner/Harold Rubinstein? Instead, the folks at the Daily News serve up bigger softballs than the ones Andy Pettitte gave to the A's this afternoon. Very disappointing. Terrible job by the News.
Then again, maybe I can't kill the News here. The interview was probably rigged by George's handlers. They don't want him to cause any controversy. There are a lot of layers there, and I'm pretty sure they didn't let the News ask the questions the fans wanted to hear answered.
PICK OF THE WEEK: One of my guilty pleasures? Checking out nyyfans.com when the Yanks are playing lousy baseball. Check out this piece: "DAMON HOLDS YANKEES HOSTAGE: DAY 82 + COUNTING."
- Yanks lose again, with Pettitte putting out his worst effort of the season. Everybody was impressed with his hot start to the season, but I figured he'd lose a step or two as the season went on. He had a 4.77 ERA in June, and he'll have to do really well to bring that figure down on July. The guy isn't getting any younger, and was pitching above his level, better than he did against the weak NL Central the past couple of years. I'd be surprised if he ended up with a sub-4.00 ERA.
- Two of my favorite teams, Minny and the Angels, take on the Yankees for the next seven days. Looking forward to this one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)