The Yankees may have won last night’s game and avoided a sweep at the hands of the Angels but I am sure they are probably very happy to be turning the page on this past month. They ended up going 14-14. When I wrote my April month in review post, I predicted the Yankees would go 17-11 in May. I wasn’t off by much but no, I’m not predicting anything for this next month. Maybe they’ll do better without my prognosticating.

The same problems that seemed to plague the Yankees last May, reared their ugly heads again this May. The main culprit? RISP. They didn’t lack runners in scoring position – they had plenty of them. The problem was, they didn’t score. If Yankee fans had invented an “RISP” drinking game in which shots would be downed whenever a broadcaster mentioned how bad the Yankees were/are with runners in scoring position in May, well, most of those fans would be dead and buried by now. Hell, I wouldn’t be alive to write this post.

» Continue reading “Yankees: .500 Shades of May”

The Yankees finally got the rally monkey off their back(s) and won a game in Anaheim, squeaking by the Angels 6-5.

Curtis Granderson hit a three-run home run in the third inning, Robinson Cano hit a two-run dinger – also in the third and Nick Swisher hit a sac fly to score the go ahead run in the sixth inning to help the Yankees finish the West Coast portion of this nine-game road trip with a 4-2 record.

The win snapped the Angels’ eight-game winning streak and also ended a two-game mini losing streak by the Yanks.

Ivan Nova looked shaky but still earned his sixth win of the season. He lasted six and two-third innings, gave up five earned runs on eight hits and gave up a home run to Mark Trumbo who finished the game 3-4 with that home run and three RBI. That one at bat without a hit came at the perfect time, the end of the game.

Rafael Soriano picked up his sixth save of the season giving up one hit and one walk in his one, somewhat frightening, inning of work. He walked Alberto Callapso ahead of Albert Pujols who hit an infield single. The Angels had two on and only one out. As the drama unfolded, Yankee fans thought to themselves, “We’ve seen this movie before.” Thankfully tonight’s movie ended happily for Yankee fans with Torii Hunter grounding into a fielder’s choice for the second out and Trumbo flying out to left.

The Yankees have an off day tomorrow then travel to Detroit to finish up this extended road trip. Oh and guess what? They’re now only 1.5 games out of first place in the American League East. Considering how bad they’ve been in May, that’s pretty good.

Just when you thought that a bad start by Phil Hughes was the thing that brought out of the worst in Yankee fans, along came last night’s game.

When the Yankees lose to the Angels in Anaheim, it’s worse than anything that could ever happen to anyone – this includes illness and death or so you’d think with how some people react. But do you know why people tend to fly off the handle? It’s because the games start so late on the East Coast. People are already tired and cranky before the first pitch. When you add a maddeningly frustrating game to the mix, Yankee fans feel like they’ve wasted hours they could have spent sleeping.

They had to endure Mike Trout playing like a superhero in the outfield and robbing poor Nick Swisher of extra base hits. They had to endure the home plate umpire screwing with Andy Pettitte right before Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run. They had to endure more Yankee failure with the bases loaded, including the last at bat of the game.

It was not pretty, it was not fun and games like last night’s make Yankee fans really hate playing the Angels.

I abhor the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Well, that sucked. The Yankees’ five-game winning streak is no more thanks to a walk off home run by Mark Trumbo in the bottom of the ninth to help lead the Angels to 9-8 victory.

The Angels lost starter Jered Weaver 12 pitches into the game which you’d think would be to the Yankees’ advantage. Especially since the Yanks ended up scoring three runs in the top of the first inning.

Nope!

Phil Hughes apparently couldn’t pitch in front of his friends and family and wound up surrendering four runs in his half of the first inning. But still, he somehow lasted over five innings and kept the Yankees within striking distance. You know, by not giving up 12 more runs…

And wouldn’t you know it? The Yankees came all the way back on a game tying RBI double by none other than Russell Martin in the seventh inning.

With the game tied 8-8, things were looking good until the bottom of the ninth when Trumbo ended the game.

As usual there were missed opportunities for the Yankees hitters but what can you do? You just dust yourself off and come back tomorrow, or later today in the case of Yankee fans on the East Coast. Thanks to the wacky scheduling this game ended at 12:45am EST. Can you try and schedule a day next year guys? Some people – not me – have to work in the morning.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez DH
Russell Martin C

Phil Hughes P

Whose brilliant idea was it to schedule the game at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern? It’s Memorial Day! Baseball games should be day games on National Holidays. It’s so ludicrous that this game is scheduled to be played at night.

As you can see from the lineup, Martin is back and Tex is in the 5 hole.

Behind a strong outing by Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees extended their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 2-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Kuroda pitched eight shutout innings, only giving up four hits and striking out three.

In the first inning, the Yankees had the bases loaded and couldn’t score a run off A’s starter Tim Milone who took the loss. Andruw Jones put the Yankees on the board first with a solo home run in the second inning and Mark Teixeira hit an RBI double in the seventh. Teixeira finished 2-4 on the day and had a strong series. He seems to be waking up offensively.

The Yankees completed the three game sweep of Oakland and now head down to Anaheim to face the Angels.

Three in row! Woo hoo!

Ivan Nova improved to 5-2 on the season and his “undefeated on the road” streak is now at 12 games. Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher all hit home runs and the Yankees extended their winning streak in Oakland to eight in a row dating back to July 2010.

Tomorrow, CC Sabathia (5-2) goes up against former teammate Bartolo Colon (4-4) – no earthquake jokes, please. It’s a four o’clock start.

ATHLETICS
Weeks 2B
Crisp CF
Reddick RF
Smith LF
Ka’aihue DH
Donaldson 3B
Barton 1B
Suzuki C
Pennington SS

Ross P

YANKEES
Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Teixeira 1B
Ibanez LF
Swisher RF
Chavez DH
Martin C

Nova P

The Yankees are going for their 7th straight win at the Oakland Coliseum. A streak that dates back to July 5, 2010. Ivan Nova has a streak of his own. He is undefeated in his last 11 road starts and he’s 8-0 during that stretch.

I hope I didn’t just jinx either streak.

So some really big news came out about the Yankees today. It’s not that they signed John Maine to a Minor League deal, though that is an interesting development. Nor is it the news about Chad Curtis being arrested for sexual misconduct. Apparently the big news of the day is the fact that they are not giving up on the season…

Seriously? It’s May 25, they’re 23-21 and only 4.5 games out of first place. Why on earth is this even a story?

In another article that trashes Alex Rodriguez, Bob Klapisch writes:

You had every reason to dismiss Alex Rodriguez’s postgame chest-thumping session on Tuesday night, where, after another brutally unproductive game, he promised he was ready to “go off” and start hitting home runs again.

First reaction? Who was kidding whom? A-Rod hadn’t gone deep in 52 at-bats, and with only five home runs on the season, the slugger was turning into the most expensive singles hitter in Yankee history. But wouldn’t you know, Rodriguez made good on that promise only 24 hours later, hitting home runs in his first two at-bats against the Royals.

OK, so the damage was done against Will Smith, a 22-year-old rookie making his first-ever start in the big leagues. The lefthander brought with him an unremarkable 91 mph fastball and a case of nerves, making him the perfect target for the overdue Rodriguez.

Guys, Alex Rodriguez hit two home runs against a rookie pitcher with an “unremarkable” 91 mph fastball. Obviously, those home runs do not count. What amuses me is that all of the writers who were making fun of Rodriguez for daring to say that he felt like he was going to come around are now diminishing his two home runs because they were against a rookie.

Really? As far as I know, a home run is a home run and that’s what shows up in his stats. The name and caliber of pitcher doesn’t matter. And if Rodriguez had struck out in two at bats against this same rookie, the inscription on his gravestone would have been written.

The rest of the article talks about how old the Yankees are, how everyone is in decline and how the Yankees are doomed because it’s May and the Blue Jays and Orioles are still playing well but how it’s amazing that the Yankees aren’t giving up hope. It’s almost as if Bob Klapisch has only been covering baseball since April.

The Yankees had a pretty abysmal May last year as well but because the other teams in the AL East weren’t doing as well, it wasn’t magnified like this year’s team’s struggles are. I realize we’re entering Memorial Day weekend and we’re a quarter of the way through the season but there is still plenty of time for the Yankees to right the ship and people – more specifically, writers who get paid to watch the game of baseball – need to stop acting as if we’re past the point of no return.

I’ll close with this quote from GM Brian Cashman:

“I keep hearing that [the Yanks are too old] every [bleeping] year,” he said this week. “It’s déjà vu. It has come upon us so many times. We are bad right now and we will be better.”

Amen, Brian, amen.