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A Biased Look at the New York Yankees, the Greatest Franchise in the History of Sports

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June 25, 2007

Yankees Slide Into Third With Rough Week

by @ 4:39 pm. Filed under 2007 Season

This is the problem when you dig yourself a hole.  A stretch where you lose four in five days can be brutal and all of the ground you made up over the past week goes up in smoke.  That’s what happened to the Yankees.  They were swept by Colorado then they lost two of three to the Giants.  Those are both teams the Yankees should take care of while a lot of people will look at our head to head record against the Red Sox, it’s series like these that make or break your season.

So the Yankees site 11 1/2 back now but there’s some hope because the Yankees start a three game set with the last place Orioles beginning tomorrow.  Two out of three is critical and a sweep would be nice.  The Red Sox play three at Seattle beginning tonight and it sure would be nice to have that lead back into single digits heading to a weekend where a tough Oakland team rolls into town.

While the Yankees had a tough week, Alex Rodriguez didn’t and while he had only one homerun, he had two four hit games in the Giants series alone and he had three doubles and seven runs in the six game stretch. 

Last night’s game made news because Roger Clemens came out of the pen.  Maybe he should stick to starting because walked Bonds and he eventually came around to score after a single and a sac. fly.  The run didn’t matter much but it made for some talk around the water cooler.

Here’s some interesting stuff from the Hardball Times team page.  The Yankees have underperformed their expected win/loss by six games and the Red Sox have overperformed by two.  So that turns that 11 1/2 game lead into a 3 1/3 game lead.  I know it means squat but it goes to show you that the Yankees just haven’t gotten it done, especially in close games (6-22 in games decided by two runs or less).  So the Yankees blow a team out when the win then lose a few by a run or two.

They still have the second best offense in the American Leauge with 5.45 runs per game.  In fact they’re second to those Tigers in just everything on offense.  And they’re pitching isn’t bad, it just seems to be good on the days the Yankees put ten runs on the board.

It’ll be interesting to see whether the Yankees revert to sellers at the trade deadline.  If we’re at 11 1/2 games at the trade deadline, it’s worth considering.  You wonder if this is some sort of Curse of Bernie Williams or something.  We dump him like yesterday’s garbage and now it’s coming back to haunt us.

Andy Pettitte versus some Orioles pitcher I’ve never heard of.  Roger Clemens against Erik Bedard should be a fun matchup on Wednesday.  Wonder if that game will be ESPN.

June 18, 2007

Yankees Take Care of Ailing Mets

by @ 10:38 am. Filed under 2007 Season

You have to hate when the Yankees win two of three over a weekend series, yet lose a game in the standings because some team didn’t show up against the Red Sox.  Still the Yankees took care of business against the Mets and now it’s off to Denver for three games against a mediocre Rockies team.

Chien-Ming Wang is starting to catch his groove.  He’s won his last four starts and six out of last seven and over those last seven starts he’s given up three runs or less in all of them.  I wasn’t a big believer in Wang and I thought he’d come back down to earth after his Cy Young caliber season last year but he impresses me more and more every time he goes out.

Alex Rodriguez of course has caught fire again.  Since June rolled around, he’s hitting an impressive .393/.500/.893 with 28 RBIs in just 16 games.  In fact June is shaping up to be a better month then A-Rod’s historic April and there’s a very outside chance that he could be at 100 RBIs by the break.  In fact, if the season ended today, his 1.111 OPS would be a career best.

Derek Jeter has put together a twelve game hitting streak and he’s right there in the mix for the batting title.  It’s hard to believe he’s never won a batting title although he has six top five finishes and he’s fifth amonst active players with a career .318 batting average. 

It’s Mike Mussina versus Josh Fogg in the opener tomorrow.  In the meantime, the Red Sox will be going up against a decent Braves team.  Hopefully we can pick up the game we lost over the weekend.  And the Yankees site just 3 1/2 back for the Wild Card so there’s always that to fall back on.

June 13, 2007

Yankees Continue Ascent With Eighth Straight Win

by @ 7:13 pm. Filed under 2007 Season

Alright, I knew the Yanks had it in them.  A couple of sweeps and just like that, the Yankees are above .500, in second place, and just 8 1/2 games back of the faltering Red Sox.  The rotation is starting to square away and even guys like Mike Mussina, who had struggled almost as much as he’d pitch effectively, is getting it done.

One of the guys a fire is Bobby Abreu.  He’s scored fourteen runs in the eight game winning streak and he’s seen his batting average climb from .234 on June 1 to .272 after tonight’s game.  A twelve game hitting streak will do that as will a game like he had a few days ago where he went four for four. 

And Abreu is making a nice table setter for a guy like Alex Rodriguez, who hit homerun number 25.  His three RBIs give him an impressive 66 on the season and while names like Magglio Ordonez get thrown around for MVP, when the dust settles, my money is on A-Rod winning his third with his first 60 homerun season.

So the Yankees are relevant.  The Red Sox comfortable is less so and the Yanks are back in the haves for the Wild Card.  Tomorrow it’ll be Andy Pettitte going up against Doug Davis and my bet is on nine in a row.

June 4, 2007

A-Rod Salvages Split Over Red Sox

by @ 8:02 am. Filed under 2007 Season

This was more of a moral victory of sorts because the Yankees needed a sweep.  Yeah, it’s nice to make up some ground but there’s not a big difference between a 12 1/2 game deficit and 14 1/2 game deficit.  They both suck.  So while Alex Rodriguez hit the game winner in the ninth, there’s still a whole lot of work to do.  Heck, even in the Wild Card, we’re seven games back with a ton of traffic between the Yanks and the Tigers. 

Triple A pitcher number five gets the start tonight, which we’ll all get to watch on ESPN.  Matt DeSalvo has been roughed up so far this year.  He is consistent though.   He’s given us five innings and three runs in most games.  Still a 15/6 walk to strikeout ratio blows and the White Sox have some solid hitters so we’ll see how this one goes.  Of course DeSalvo gets the start for Roger Clemens, who has a fatigued (WTF?) groin.  At least we’re not paying him while he’s on the shelf.

Jorge Posada has been a man on fire.  While you’d expect a guy like Derek Jeter to be hitting .363 in early June (and he’s right there as well), Posada is doing it while providing some punch as well.  You could be looking at your MVP if the Yankees can get rolling.  Oddly, he’s not walking as much as he usually does but his .997 OPS would be a career high.  And it couldn’t be a better time for the catcher because it’s a contract year, meaning Steinbrenner will have to pony up a few more bucks to sign him.

Speaking of George, he is the king.  Something will happen in July.  Either he’ll deal a guy or two to set us up to win next year or he’ll make a deal to get us the Wild Card.  It’s hard to be a Yankees fan and not be optimistic.  It’ll also be interesting to see what happens to Cashman.  I think he’s gone if the Yanks don’t make the playoffs.

June 2, 2007

Out of the Cellar

by @ 4:22 am. Filed under 2007 Season

I know, it’s been a while again.  But there’s not a lot of excuses other then I’m splitting time between my other site , which I’m way behind on, and the Yankees just plain sucking.  They did take it to the Red Sox last night though with both benches clearing at one point because of all of the bean balls.  It’s just been a rough season because everytime it looks like the Yankees might be pulling themselves together (like right now), they go and lose six of seven and fall further behind.

The big story down in the minors is Mitchell Hilligoss, who now has a 38 game hitting streak.  If he gets to 40, he’ll match the hitting streak by Frosty Kennedy back in 1953.  Hilligoss was a fringe prospect and you have to be careful because he’s a college hitter playing in Low A so he might be ahead of the curve.  This is very cool though and I’m interested to see what he’ll do once they move him up the ladder (maybe when his streak is over).

It’s Mike Mussina versus Curt Schilling on FOX’s game of the week.  It sure would be nice if they can make it three in a row.

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