| Andrew Perna. 23rd May, 2008 - 5:34 pm
 The season is nearly a one-third of the way over, and the New York Yankees are still sitting alone in the basement of the AL East. Heading into their game with the Mariners on Friday night, the Bombers were 7.5 games behind the rival Boston Red Sox for first-place in the division.
Chien Ming-Wang, who was single-handedly keeping the Yanks afloat just a few weeks ago, has cooled off significantly and is now nursing a sore right calf.
Wang posted a 6-0 record with a 3.00 ERA through his first seven starts of the season (all New York wins) but is winless in his last three appearances.
The Yankees have only managed a total of three runs in his last three starts, and he has an ERA of 4.57 over his last 21.2 innings of work. His numbers on the season, 6-2 with a 3.51 ERA, still look good, but he has come back to earth after a torrid start.
Mike Mussina (6-4, 4.11) and Andy Pettitte (3-5, 4.42) have been serviceable this season, but Phillip Hughes (0-4, 9.00) and Ian Kennedy (0-3, 7.27) have struggled. Hughes is out until July with stress fracture in one of his ribs while Kennedy has spent some time in the minor leagues.
Kennedy pitched well against Baltimore on Thursday – allowing one earned run over six innings of work but failed to figure into the decision as New York won in the bottom of the ninth.
The Yankees (22-25) would be in even worse shape if Darrell Rasner hadn’t performed so well in three spot starts this month. Rasner is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.89 in those three appearances. He has struck out eleven batters while walking just two over nineteen innings of work in the last few weeks.
No one would be talking about the struggles of their pitching staff, though, if the Bombers were enjoying the type of production they expect from their hitters.
New York is averaging just 4.06 runs a game this season, after averaging 5.95 in 2007 and 5.74 in 2006. In comparison, the club has an ERA of 4.30 this year, their best mark since the 2003 season (4.02). So in many ways it’s not the pitching staff that has let the Yankees down in 2008.
In addition to the injuries of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada, the healthy bats in the team’s lineup are still shaking off the cobwebs.
Jason Giambi (.205) and Robinson Cano (.207) have finally gotten themselves above the Mendoza Line, but they aren’t exactly sitting comfortably in the Yankee clubhouse just yet.
After hitting .164 in April, Giambi’s patented gold thong appears to be helping somewhat. The slugger is hitting .273 with three home runs, eight RBI's, and nine walks in May.
Cano’s resurgence appears evident as he’s swinging at a .302 clip in May (after a dismal .151 last month). The second baseman still isn’t being patient at the plate, just two walks in his first 63 at-bats this month, but at least he’s finally making contact.
The trio of Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, and Johnny Damon has helped keep New York from drowning thus far.
Damon (.268) isn’t enjoying a career-year, but he has gotten his share of timely hits and gives the Yankees a versatile player in the field – even though he has one of the weakest arms in the game.
Abreu (.289) has been more consistent than Damon, but he was hitting .303 on May 10th. The subtle decline should worry the Yankees especially if Cano and Giambi continue to come along slowly.
Matsui (.302) was the only healthy player hitting over .300 on the roster (Posada is at .302, as well) heading into Friday night’s game, and even he is just an out away from dipping below the mark.
In case you were wondering, the division-leading Red Sox had seven players hitting over .300 heading into their series-opener with the Athletics on Friday.
Rodriguez has been lights-out since returning to the lineup on Tuesday night, hitting .364 with two home runs and four RBI's, and the team will need that kind of production from the third baseman if they want to inch closer to Boston heading into the final month before the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium in July.
New York got a scare on Tuesday when Jeter (.299) was hit on the hand. While he returned to the lineup on Wednesday, he has still yet to record a hit since getting plunked (0-for-7).
Losing Jeter’s effectiveness, whether he’s on the field or not, would be deadly to a team that already lacks Posada, their irreplaceable leader on the field.
Coming off a career-year, Jorge was hitting .302 when his shoulder landed him on the disabled list. The team believes that he could return to catch as early as the beginning of June, but it’ll be at least another week before they’ll even know when he can begin a rehab assignment in the minor leagues.
As many injuries, struggles, and inconsistencies that the Yankees have endured this season, Joba Chamberlain, one of their steadiest performers, has monopolized the spotlight.
The electric reliever, at least for the time-being, has posted a 2.66 ERA in 20.1 innings of work this season.
The team revealed their plan to covert the righty into a starter at the beginning of the week, effectively abolishing the infamous ‘Joba Rules’.
For just the second time this season Chamberlain pitched two innings on Wednesday night in a victory over Baltimore. He threw 35 pitches, striking out three batters and walking two in a scoreless appearance.
The 35 pitches, tied for a career-high, are the most he’s thrown since he tossed the same number in a victory over Toronto in early September of last year.
Manager Joe Girardi insists that he sat down with the 22-year-old to discuss the transition, but it’s hard to imagine a young man like Joba resisting what the most-storied franchise in the history of sports has been itching to do since the beginning of the season.
As long as the transition from 35 to 100 pitches or so is smooth, one inning at a time, there is no reason why Chamberlain can’t extend his dominance over six or seven innings every fifth day.
"It's what I've been doing my whole life," Chamberlain told The Hartford Courant when discussing a place in the starting rotation.
It’s a strange thing to say, but through all the controversy involved in bringing Joba out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation, Hank Steinbrenner may have said it best when he recently told Newsday:
"A top reliever, a great reliever, whether a setup man or a closer, does you absolutely no good if you can't get to him."
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM. Please feel free to contact him via e-mail with comments or questions on this piece: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. |
