Hindsight and Foresight: Yankees Review August 27th to September 10th

There was a great piece this week by Buster Olney about how Cashman's plan for rebuilding the Yankees is just getting started. We've seen bits and pieces of the Yankees' young talent in Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, and Robinson Cano. And luckily it has come together this second half because afterall Cashman was "on the hook" only a few months ago.

It's hard to say if the Yankees will make the playoffs after last week's performance. The great part was the sweep of the Red Sox at home. The worst part was watching them get beat out by the Devil Rays immediately afterwards. I really don't understand how this team keeps losing to some of the worst teams in baseball. They can't afford to be losing with just a month to go--especially when teams like Detroit and Seattle have been struggling this second half. Let's get to the review though...

Hindsight: August 27th to September 2nd
Well, since the 14th this month, the Yankees are 10-10 so obviously they're encountering some struggles of late. But as the Red Sox came into Yankee Stadium last week, I think I said it would be a toss up series. Now that it's said and done, it was the Yankees pitching and some key clutch hits that won the series for the Yankees. It also didn't help the Red Sox that Manny Ramirez injured himself and they're unsure when he'll be back.

Just a comment on the Red Sox, it's been a different story this year watching Manny and Big Papi struggle after 3+ years as the greatest 3 and 4 guys in the lineup in baseball. I know Big Papi has some sort of knee injury, but Manny's struggles before his injury have been a mystery to me.

Back to the series of The Rivalry though, the Yankees pitching dominated--there were no-hitters taken into the 6th and 7th innings by Clemens and Wang--but I say so what, the Red Sox Offense just didn't show up scoring only six runs the entire series. Everything looked back on track until Tampa Bay came into town and beat up on the Yankees pitching.

Weekly Stats

W-L: 4-3
RS/RA: 26/45
Offensive Numbers (AVG/OBP/SLG): .235/.301/.372
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 5.81/1.66/7.40/.282/.529

Who's Hot: Chien-Ming Wang--I've been talking up his durability, stamina, etc. Is he a Cy Young Contender again?

Who's Not: Sean Henn--please send him down again...

My Yankee of the Week: Mike Mussina. Last week's Who's Not hot is on here because he gave an interview honestly saying he was not happy to be taken out of the rotation for a start and then describing his pitching troubles of late. It didn't sound good, but he knows he's not on his game and it could be beacuse his hammy's a bit weak.

Foresight: September 3rd to September 10th
Seattle comes into town for three games. Seeing that the Mariners have the longest losing streak all season seems to say are having worse issues than the Yankees right now and it's the best opportunity for the Yankees to solidify ground in the Wild Card standings. After that they head out to Kansas City--an easy team by the standings--but who the hell knows what could happen. With four weeks left, if there's any sort of good winning streak left in the Yankees it has to start this week. They can distance themselves in the standings but as we all know the offense needs to come back together and the pitching needs to hold up.


On a final note...

Here's a bit of trivia for the week. Alex Rodriguez may hit 50 homeruns this year as a Yankee--who was the last Yankee to do that (who played the entire season for the Yankees)?

Be honest and don't look it up. Please send us a reply to rivalryredux@gmail.com Sorry we have no prize, but we'll mention you on here and give you mad kudos for your knowledge (Doug's answer doesn't count).