So Let's Go Back to the Beginning...
Just about a year ago the Yankees were essentially in the same position they are now bowing out of the first round of the playoffs to the Detroit Tigers. Derek Jeter was coming off an MVP-snubbed season, Matsui would be back from his wrist injury, Abreu was looking to continue what he had started since being traded, Pettitte was back where he was meant to be, a former strikeout king from Japan was taking the mound, and the expectation was that the Yankees would be back in the World Series. But April started off very ugly and it didn't get any better in May.
I can point to two main factors why the ugliness ensued. 1) The pitching staff was very bad because they were hurt or underperforming and 2) The offense got off to an extremely slow start.
On the first point, it's amazingly funny to see what the opening day pitching rotation was:
Wang
Pettitte
Mussina
Igawa
Pavano
Wang missed the first few weeks of the season with hamstring problems, Mussina went down with an injury after two starts, Igawa was lit up having no command, and Pavano lasted all of two starts. So in came Darrel Rasner, Jeff Karstens, and even a very early call up of Phil Hughes. And then out went Karstens with a broken leg and Hughes with a hamstring injury. In May Rasner also went down with an injury so in came Tyler Clippard, Matt DeSolvo, and a guy named Chase Wright who gave up four bombs in a row at Fenway on April 22nd.
All this is to say the Yankees used 13 different starting pitchers within the first two months of the season. And the bullpen wasn't any better as they relied early and often on Vizcaino (7.27 ERA end of May) and Farnsworth (4.71 ERA end of May) who both struggled to hold down leads and do their jobs.
One would think though despite a rough first two months on the pitching side that the Yankees amazong offense from the top of the order to the bottom would make up for it. Well they didn't. At best they were league average and probably below average for the AL East racking up 5.25 runs/game. The light of hope in April was Alex Rodriguez's dominating start, which quickly went silent in May. Jorge Posada also had a hot two months, but for the rest of the Yankees there wasn't a whole lot going on.
Bobby Abreu's bat went nowhere in April and May out of the #3 hole as did Robinson Cano's. Johnny Damon and Matsui were very cold in April and Damon started showing signs that he was banged up and playing hurt. Giambi also got injured in May on a homerun trot in Toronto and while Mientkiewicz was great defensively at first, he certainly had no power.
And all of this is to say the Yankee lineup had no consistency either. If Jeter got on, Abreu couldn't knock him in. Giambi wasn't taking walks. Damon couldn't lead off. Nothing seemed to work.
However, once June rolled around the Yankees began turning their season around slowly. On May 3oth they were 13.5 games behind the AL East leading Boston Red Sox and then at the half way point they were 42-43, 11 games behind the Red Sox. Then suddenly in the second half, the Yankees became the best team in baseball
The Turn Around
In the second half the Yankees went 51-25 and were 1.5 games within first place on September 23rd. The offense exploded hitting 90 HRs in July and August and scoring nearly seven runs/game. Abreu and Cano started hitting well and Alex Rodriguez was in MVP form. Suprisingly Jorge Posada was suddenly competing for a batting title as a catcher at age 35. More importantly though the Yankees starting rotation gained some consistency as Clemens, Wang, and Pettitte held the fort down at times.
One of the nicer aspects of the second half came from rookies like Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, and Phil Hughes. Chamberlain got the most attention with the Joba Rules and eating up hitters left and right. He ended up only giving up one earned run. Ian Kennedy who like Chamberlain went from single-A to the majors in one season pitched amazingly well in three starts and Hughes who came back from a hamstring and ankle injury had four quality starts after coming back and had a very respectable September. All three of these guys are just 21 and showed they could be lights out.
There isn't one factor that brought the team together after the All-Star break. Maybe it was Jeter's leadership as captain and consistency (never hitting below .301 in any month) or Rodriguez's amazing season. It could have been the tremendous 2nd halves by Abreu and Cano or the fresh young talent that came up. Perhaps it was Clemens' return to pinstripes or Joe Torre's calm presense. Or even Brian Cashman sticking to his guns and not trading away the farm. However you add it up, the Yankees turn around was truly spectacular and with some luck they made it into the playoffs as the Wild Card team.
Another Disappointment, Followed by Even More
Despite the turn around in the second half, once the Yankees reached the playoffs they became a different team. Remember the Dynasty teams of 1996 to 2001--those days are officially long gone. The last three postseasons something has not felt right when the Yankees have reached the playoffs. Honestly I just don't feel comfortable watching the Yankees in the playoffs, I get nervous, and the team just is not at all what they were during the regular season.
And I'm right, the last three postseasons both the Yankee offense and pitching has been aweful, take a look:
Batting (BA/OBP/SLG, Runs, Ks)
2005 .253/.347/.392, 20 R/32 K
2006 .246/.289/.338, 14 R/24 K
2007 .228/.300/.404, 16 R/14 K
Pitching (ERA/IP/K/BB)
2005 4.40/43/26/5
2006 5.56/34/22/7
2007 5.89/36.7/30/20
A basic analysis shows that the Yankees aren't getting on base or hitting much while the pitching has given up more earned runs and the walks skyrocketed in 2007.
It's a twist of irony though. During the dynasy era the Yankees had no real big super stars, played sound baseball and won four World Series in a span of five years. After 2001 the Yankees began outspending everyone signing players like Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, and Gary Sheffield, and even trading for Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Jeff Weaver, and Javier Vazquez. When it came to the playoffs these players have failed to show up. And every Yankee fan knows that its players get respect and earn their true pinstripes when they help their team win in the playoffs. The Yankee teams of the 2002 onward look better on paper than on the field.
Alas with three postseason losses in a row Joe Torre was let go. At least that's how I and other fans feel even if he was offered an incentivized contract. For a team that looked as though they were not going to make the playoffs it was amazing that Joe Torre even got over 90 wins. But the opportunity to stay was gone, as was the patience of Steinbrenner, and a World Series title.
Maybe it was time for a change in leadership on several levels. In my next entry I'll talk about some of the pressing questions for the Yankees in 2008 and give some thoughts on how the new leadership may change the Yankees for year to come.
