Hindsight and Foresight: Yankee Review May 21st to June 3rd

I'm not avoiding the blog or anything--even with the Yanks now dropping four in a row--when you're away for the week the gf doesn't want you writing about baseball the whole time if ya know what I'm sayin'. I've got a few posts planned for the week, but onto what seemed to be a week of hope that suddenly went ugly for the Yankees.

Before I review this past week, the Yankees season is turning into something I not only feared, but thought would happen one day. Last year, I predicted (wrongly), that the Yankees would not make the playoffs. I seem to be a year off with that prediction. Though the Yankees concentrate on winning the AL East every year by competing with the Red Sox, there are many good teams in the AL (most notably the AL Central as Doug posted about the other day) that are going to give the Yankees a run for their money. The only advice I can give the Yankees today is to play better, with more intensity and work together as a team--none of these factors seem to be working right now.

Onto the reviews!!

Hindsight: May 21st to May 28th

After losing the first Subway Series, the Yankees came off a win going into the next Rivalry series Monday night. Facing Wakefield, who came into the game with a 2.14 ERA, the Yankees offense took advantage of a bad outting clubbing 9 hits off the knuckleballer and walking 5 times. Wang looked sharp for the second game in a row, striking out 5 (way above his career average) and throwing 115 pitches in 6 1/3 IP. It was the only way the Yankees could start of the series. In game two, Taverez pitched well again against the Yanks. Despite his fill in role and Doug's pessimism, which is understandable, Taverez is now 2-0 against the Yankees. But they made up for the poor offensive showing by getting to Schilling and taking the series 2-1. They headed back home winning their first series since the beginning of May to face the Angels. The Angels seem to be the new AL West rival of the Yankees since 2002. It used to be the Mariners in my view going back to the 1995 to 2001 period. But since 2002 the Yankees have gone 22-26 including two first round playoff losses in 2002 and 2006. To sum up the series, it went south quickly. In game one, the pitching couldn't hold down Vladi and the rest of the Angels offense. Once again, Luis Vizcaino was obliterated in an IP. His ERAs over 7.00 now and I thought Farnsworth was aweful. After the first game the Yankee's offense just didn't show up after Escobar and Lackey pitched great games (though watching the 9th inning on Sunday's game where F-Rod was wild was exciting even down to Jeter's 10 or so pitch at bat).

Weekly Stats (which you can safely say are always from ESPN and Baseball Prospectus)
W-L: 2-4
RS/RA: 27/29
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .265/.359/.415
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 4.33/1.43/5.83/.280/.449
Who's Hot: Andy Pettitte who pitched well again against the Red Sox, in his last five starts he's pitched 34 1/3 IP giving up 9ERs. Unfortunately the Yankees offense doesn't help him much.
Who's Not: Luis Vizcaino. How aweful is he? In 10 of his 24 appearances he's given up at least a run. And in 6 of those 10 appearances he's given up two or more runs. I have a feeling he may be hurt or need some rehab work.
My Yankee of the Week: Robinson Cano. He's been struggling this year, but is showing signs of coming out of it this past week going .391/.417/.652 with 5 RBIs.

Foresight: May 29th to June 3rd

Last week I spoke of distractions. Another one was added this week. At some point, Steinbrenner was going to have to speak about the team, point the blame on someone, and refresh our memories that this is all about winning it all. I didn't think the Boss said anything out of the ordinary, we know his expectations are high and he'll take drastic measures if he has to. I was a bit suprised that the blame was put on Cashman though who in my view played it smart this offseason and started thinking about the long-term and not the next season. The only thing I could see happening during the season is that Cashman loses decision making power and out the door goes Phil Hughes and other minor leaguers for someone past their prime.

This week the Yankees are on the road up in Toronto and back at Fenway. The Yankees need momentum. It seemed they had that it winning the Boston series last week, but there's just no positive consistency from one series to the next. We're heading into June now with a month and a half before half the season is over and two months until the trading deadline. I'm not sure a trade will be in the works--some have said Richie Sexson, but it's more of pitching that the Yankees need. Bad health along with inexperienced starters, and inconsistent starting/relief has done the Yankees in for the most part. But overall it seems to go--when the offense is good, the pitching is terrible and when the pitching is great, the offense doesn't show up. And then you do the hokey pokey and have a 21-27 record.

It's still a long season though and anything can happen. I remember the A's teams a few years ago who were mediocre in the first half and always turned it on in the second half (remember that season when they won 20 in a row?) to make the playoffs. Anything is possible, but as I said earlier in this post--this could be the year the Yankees don't make the playoffs.