The State of the Yankees

If the Yankees lose tonight, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a revolt in New York, with everyone demanding Girardi's head on a platter. I'm not even close to that stage yet. While it was embarrassing for the Yankees to get swept this past weekend, there's still a ton of season left. Nobody could predict Mariano giving up a 2-run homerun in the 9th on Friday, nor could they predict that two bad no-call strikes could lead to Burnett imploding, or that Jacoby Ellsbury would steal home with the bases loaded and 2 outs in a tie game. But that's baseball. The good thing? It's only April. If this was happening in August, Yankee fans would be a little worried.

The Negatives:

-The Yankees' rotation's ERA is the AL - 6.26. However, CMW's ERA is 34.50, CC's is 4.81, and Burnett's shot up to 5.47 after Saturday. Andy's is only 2.96 and Joba's is only 3.94. If CC brings that down, you take CMW out of the mix, and Burnett's goes down after the next start, their pitching isn't that terrible. I know a lot of people say "don't exclude CMW, he is part of this team" but seriously? Mechanical issues for a sinker pitcher = gruesome ERA.
-Like last year, the team forgets how to hit with RISP some games. Usually with 2 outs, too.
-Brian Bruney, CMW, ARod, Cody Ransom, and Nady are all on the DL. Brian Bruney was our 8th inning set-up man who was doing very well = MAJOR blow to the team. He should be back in 2 weeks or so. Ransom was playing 3rd base for Arod and his injury appears to be serious. He's very athletic and good defensively, so now we're stuck with Berroa/Pena. Nady means our bench is a player short, but Swisher has stepped up.
-The Yankees forget to hit against rookie pitchers and need to learn to take pitches against them. Also, when a pitcher's struggling, they need to hit them hard, not just get 2 runs out of them and give up.

The Positives:

-The Yankees are 18 games into the season. There's still time for this team to get its act together, get healthy, and play well.
-Robinson Cano is HOT! He has a .373 batting average. Nick Swisher knows how to get on base, even if his batting avg has dropped drastically. (.400 OBS). Jeter still knows how to hit, too. (.299 batting avg, 23 hits, five behind Cano)
-ARod will be back in a few weeks, bringing more offense to this team and better defense at 3rd.
-Tex is a notoriously slow starter, let's give him a little time. Besides, isn't he SO much better at 1st base than Giambi?
-Matsui, after getting fluid drained from his knees, is doing much better at the plate/running the bases.

While it's hard to deal with injuries, this team has absolutely no excuse for not trying to win games. With their lineup, they can score a lot of runs and they need to back up their pitchers who are pitching well (like Andy last night). CC, Burnett, and Joba are not going to pitch horribly every game.

LET'S GO YANKEES!

Winning is fun.

After being embarrassed on Saturday afternoon, the Yankees have won 3 straight. I watched Saturday's game because I was able to, and after that, I was wishing they hadn't shown it on national tv! But the game was on Sunday, too. So I was happy to see them win. They won 7-3 thanks to a Hip Hip Jorge 2-run hr. It was a controversial one and was reviewed by the umpires. They ruled it a homerun and said there was no fan interference. The TBS announcers couldn't get over it. They kept bringing up how the fans interfered by sticking their glove and hands out, making it impossible for Crowe to catch it. Even if the fans hadn't been there, Crowe might not have been able to catch it and it was obvious it was getting out of the park.

Monday's game against the A's was postponed, meaning CMW's next start against Boston will be skipped. Yesterday the Yankees backed up Andy's solid start by winning 5-3. Today the Yankees played in cold, wet weather - it didn't look pleasant out there. According to the headline on SI.com, CC Sabathia was getting "rocked" by the A's. From what I could tell on Gameday, he got into a few tight spots throughout, but it was when Giraridi kept him in the 7th inning that things fell apart. He was over 100 pitches (which is normal for him, but it was a tight game) and he gave up the lead. However, the Yankees' bullpen was up to the task, throwing 7.1 scoreless innings (that's what we want to see more of this season - especially from Jose Veras - he was outstanding. After a shaky first inning, he was a strike machine afterwards). The Yankees' offense FINALLY came through, after stranding runners on base the previous inning. The Melkman delivered, showing why he should still be on this team. I've always been a Melky fan, but after last season, I was happy to see Brett get the centerfield job. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the Yankees' day off, followed by a three-game series against the division rival Red Sox. Joba, Burnett, and Andy are scheduled to pitch. Lester and Beckett for the Red Sox. The third pitcher is unknown. The last two games will be televised nationally on Fox and ESPN.

Seriously Cleveland?

If there's going to be one team I'm going to hate this year (besides the Red Sox and the Angels), it's going to be the Cleveland Indians. Without getting into the gritty details of the game that is STILL not over, I'd just like to say the new stadium is kind of ridiculous. There have been a bajillion homeruns at the new stadium (6 total in yesterday's game). Right field seems to be the place to hit them.

The thing that pisses me off about this game is that the Indians still are trying offensively. You'd think a 14-run inning would be enough for them, but no. They keep hitting and hitting and hitting. It's the 5th inning and Eric Wedge has finally decided to take some guys out, well, Grady Sizemore at least.

I can't wait for tomorrow's game when it's Burnett pitching and we're facing Carl Pavano. I would LOVE to kick his ass. The Indians think they're the shit now just because they've gotten a lot of runs in 2 games. They're still the team that started the season 1-7 and are still only going to be 4-8. Oh and right, IT'S ONLY APRIL. They got to face a struggling pitcher in Wang and a guy who made his major league debut.

Burnett, us Yankee fans are begging you, dominate the Indians tomorrow!

And pitching for the New York Yankees...

You may be asking yourself, did the Yankees call someone up to go to the bullpen? But no, ladies and gentlemen, that is Nick Swisher, first baseman/outfielder and now relief pitcher...for one game at least. Swisher is one crazy mofo. It's true, I disliked him when he was on the A's and the White Sox. But now that he is a Yankee, i have to like him, just a little. After appearing in the last 10 games, Swisher has really started to grow on me. He's the clubhouse's unofficial DJ, which I think the Yankees need. They have the reputation of being stiff, not-gonna-have-fun players. But Swisher can liven the place up. His batting avg has dropped to .371 (oh no!), but he's hit 4 homeruns and has 11 rbi. While many people have been up in arms about Swisher smiling on the mound, I thought it was ok. I mean, he was pitching in a 5-15 game, and he was just having a good time out there. He allowed the first 2 men on base, but then pitched out of the jam, striking out Gabe Kaplar with one of his 70-80 mph pitches. If a first baseman pitching a scoreless inning in a blowout game doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will. The one thing I really dislike about the Rays fans (besides their incessant use of the freakin' cowbell) is that they're not classy fans at all. Most Yankee fans are and you'll even find some classy Red Sox fans (those who know the game well and are loyal to their team -- aka: did not become a fan after '04). The Rays were up 12-3 in the game when they started a "Yankees Suck" chant. Oh, that was very creative. I wonder where they came up with that one. First of all, the Yankees are used to this. Second of all, they, of all people, should not be chanting that when 1) they're blowing out the team and 2) THEY HAVEN'T EVER WON A WORLD SERIES. They can go win 26 world series, then chant that. Or first, why don't they win the actual series against them rather than one game? While I like the actual Rays players (like BJ Upton, Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza), their fans need to shove their cockiness aside after one good season.

Anyway, the Yankees record thus far is 5-4 and they're 3rd in the division behind *gasp* the Jays and O's. WTF? The Jays aren't as surprising as the O's though. The Jays have great pitching (well, even though they lost Burnett) and their offense has been scorching - what they were missing last season. The Red Sox are off to one of their worst starts since 1996 (YAY!) and the Yankees are struggling with stringing more than 2 wins in a row. They should've swept the Royals, but didn't. However, they have won 2 series in a row, and hopefully they'll win the 4-game series against the Indians this weekend. They're 1-1 so far. They lost just an awful home opener yesterday. CC didn't pitch as well as he should have. He gave up 1 run, but only made it through 5 2/3 innings, throwing a ton of pitches (122). Joba pitched pretty well in today's game, but needs to work on limiting how many pitches he throws in the innings. He only made it through 4.2 innings today. Luckily the Yankee bats were eager to hit homeruns and Jeter was able to capitalize on that in the 8th inning.

Andy Pettite and AJ Burnett have been absolutely phenemonal for the Yankees. (1-0, 2.51 - bruney got the win in his 2nd start, thanks to a come-from-behind victory and 2-0, 2.70 respectively). Burnett threw a no-hitter into the 7th against the Rays, gave up 2 runs in the inning, but his teammates backed him up by rallying for the win.

I'm anxious to see the rest of the rotation pick it up, especially Wang. CC had a terrible first game, a muchhh better second game, and a so-so game yesterday. Wang's been just awful, let's not even get into his ERA. And Joba's been pretty good. His teammates let him down after a solid start against the Royals - the bullpen coughed it up. What every Yankee fan has feared about the bullpen is coming true. They were very good at the start, but over the past few games have not been so good. Bruney's been the only one who has been really good. Mo, too, it goes without saying. Jose Veras makes me nervous everytime he goes out there & Marte, too. Phil Coke was solid in spring training, not so much in the regular season. Edwar is okay - he has his good days, and his not-so-good days.

Chien-Ming Wang (0-2, 28.93) vs. Fausto Carmona (0-2, 9.00) tomorrow on Fox at 3:40ET.

It's Baaaaack!

Baseball season has officially begun tonight. The 2008 World Champion Phillies are facing off against the Atlanta Braves. Right now, the Phils are down 0-4 in the 5th inning.

Friday night and Saturday afternoon the Yankees played their final two exhibition games of the spring against the Chicago Cubs, which many would like to see as the matchup in the World Series. The Yankees christened the new stadium with two wins, outscoring the Cubs 17-5, and hitting seven homeruns. The weather was not very pleasant on Friday night, but at least it held up so they were able to play. After waiting to see the new stadium, I would be upset if they had to cancel the game. The stadium looks similar to the old one, except for that massive screen out in center field. Wow! It's weird to think there's no real history yet at the stadium. Hopefully that will change this season.

Tomorrow, the Yankees begin their season on the road at Camden Yards against a pesky Orioles team. The game will be on ESPN at 4:05 ET. CC Sabathia starts it off against Jeremy Guthrie. GO YANKEES!!