Typical.

The 10-game winning streak has come to an end.  I thought for sure that they would run the table all the way to the Canyon of Heroes.  This loss ranks right up there with the other major disappointments in my life.  Sally McDermont returning my note in the 2nd grade that read, “Do you like me? Circle one. Yes or No?” with a “No.”, the cancellation of “Arrested Development” and I never organized that game of kickball where you need to use a Slip and Slide to reach each base.  Well, there’s still time for that last one.

Here’s the deal though, how the hell am I supposed to keep watching and rooting for a team that can’t win 11 straight? Maybe you like wasting your time with teams that can only win 80% 0f their last 25 games, but not this guy.  In Sabathia’s last start, he threw a complete game and ONLY got 10K.  Pfffffffffffffft.  That’s less than half the batters!!  And he is TIED for the AL lead in wins with Nova. Uh, he gets paid a lot of money.  There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be alone in the lead.  Neither one of these guys will step up and be a #1 starter, I guess.

This is a sinking ship, my friends.  The Yankees didn’t even hit a home run tonight.  If the 3-4-5 hitters can’t hit home runs, we might as well trade half the lineup.  And don’t get me started on the Red Sox.  They are now one game over .500 and are breathing down the Yankees’ necks.  I told you guys that Bobby V would deliver the goods.  Bottom line is, Superman has a tear in his cape and it can’t get anything but worse from here.  Abandon ship.  DOOM.

(This was inspired by delusional “fans” on Twitter.  This is how they think and feel.  It’s astonishing and there is no cure.)

On Friday June 8, the Yankees played the Mets to start their stretch of twelve games against the NL East. That night, the Yankees hit back to back to back home runs off Johan Santana, who was making his first start since his no hitter a week prior. Since that Friday night in the Bronx, the Yankees haven’t lost and have now won, you guessed it, back to back to back series via the sweep.

Today, Ivan Nova continued the impressive run of quality starts by Yankee starters, lasting seven and 2/3 innings, giving up one run on seven hits while striking out four. It was Nova’s ninth win of the season.

Offensively, Curtis ‘I’m not a home run hitter’ Granderson belted his 21st round tripper of the season and Robinson Cano hit his 12th. Cano’s home run was the Yankees’ 99th dinger of the season, Granderson collected his 40th RBI and Mark Teixeira is right behind him with 39.

Rafael Soriano picked his 13th save of the season. The Yankees have now won nine in a row and won their 40th game of the season. This is first time since 1998 that the Yankees have won three series of three or more games in a row (6/30/98 – 7/12/98). And we know what happened that year…

Happy Father’s Day!!

How about that?

The Yankees have put together a nice run as of late.  They’ve climbed out of the AL East basement and share first place in the division, as of this moment.  This year has had its share of major setbacks for the Yankees, but here they are.  Injuries have taken a bite out of the team and the lack of hitting with RISP is mind-boggling, but I’m a glass half full kind of guy, so I like to take notice that this team gets on base often.  That problem can’t last all year, could it?  If only we could have Nova’s hot bat in the lineup every night.

Kidding.

And there’s this: Pineda, Joba, Gardner, Robertson, Rivera.  These are huge pieces of the puzzle who have missed significant time, but other players are stepping up.  Raul Ibanez is batting .255 with 9 home runs and 30 RBI.  Who saw that coming?  Not me.  Andy “50 Shades of Grey” Pettitte is tying up batters, posting 40 K’s in 41.2 IP. (See what I did there?)  That’s a strikeout almost every inning.  Oh, and both of them have 34 years of MLB experience combined.   Pretty damn impressive.

So the fans I’ve talked to this year, who panicked and jumped overboard, patience would have been key.  Cat pictures are on the decline around here and that’s a great sign.  The Yankees are going through the NL East like a freight train and the schedule for the rest of June looks favorable.  Winning is a good look in the Bronx and the Yankees wear it the best.  Can they keep it up?  Maybe. Maybe not.  But my money is on them continuing the trend.

I bet all of those people who gave up on the Yankees a few weeks ago feel pretty silly now. If it weren’t for the Red Sox losing to the Orioles, the Yanks would be in first place. For now, they’re a half game out after beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 at the Stadium.

Behind a masterful eight inning, one run performance by Ivan Nova, solo home runs by Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano and late inning insurance runs thanks to RBI doubles by both Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez, the Yankees now have a three game winning streak.

They also have a three game streak of tremendous pitching performances. Nova followed Andy Pettitte’s strong start with one of his own. He lasted until the ninth inning but was lifted after giving up back to back triples by Desmond Jennings and BJ Upton with no outs. Rafael Soriano came in and closed the door on the Rays who weren’t able to score Upton from third.

Alex Cobb, who started for the Rays, kept the Yankees hitter in check for most of the game. Other than Cano and Teixeira’s solo shots, the Yankees couldn’t get much going until the eighth.

The Yankees are now 8-3 in their last 11 games. The series finale is tomorrow night with lefties CC Sabathia and David Price scheduled to battle it out. The Yankees are looking to overtake first place in the American League East and are also looking for a sweep of the Rays before starting a series against their crosstown, um, I guess rivals, the Mets.

Via Chad Jennings of the Lohud Yankees Blog:

Tonight
LHP Andy Pettitte (2-2, 3.49)
vs.
RHP James Shields (6-3, 3.95)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

Wednesday
RHP Ivan Nova (6-2, 5.60)
vs.
RHP Alex Cobb (2-1, 3.71)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and ESPN2

Thursday
LHP CC Sabathia (7-2, 3.68)
vs.
LHP David Price (7-3, 2.44)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

The Yankees are on MLB Network two out of the three games? Oh goody, I cannot wait for all of the complaints from fans of other teams.

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.

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.

Today’s weather is perfect for how most Yankee fans are feeling right now.

It’s all about the doom and the gloom for them and I can see where they’re coming from. The team has looked pretty awful of late – losing five out of their last six games. They can’t hit, they can’t pitch – for the most part – and they are even having trouble defensively.

Yesterday’s big blow was CC Sabathia taking the loss in a game in which he was cruising for six innings. The wheels came off in the seventh and the Yankees ended up losing the weekend series to the Cincinnati Reds.

But even after yesterday’s gut punch, I still think it’s way too early to panic.

Maybe I’m wearing pinstripe colored glasses but I do not believe this Yankee team is this bad. This is a team that people predicted would be the Division leader. They’ve been dealt some tough cards with injuries – especially Mariano Rivera’s torn ACL and they’re just playing badly right now.

This is the way I see it. They can’t always fail with runners in scoring position. Some day, hopefully in the near future, the BABIP dragon will be slayed, they’ll stop hitting the ball right at the fielders and the runs will come.

Derek Jeter can’t always hit into a double play. He just happens to have also hit a bit of a rough patch – like the rest of the team. He started the year off hot and has now come back down to Earth. It’s not like he’s forgotten how to hit. He’ll turn it around again.

Alex Rodriguez will start hitting home runs – at least everyone hopes he will. He may not be hitting for power now but he’s hit some hard balls of late, they just haven’t fallen in for hits or have just missed going over the fence for home runs. I think the people who are already burying Rodriguez – and the team for that matter – are going to feel pretty silly when they start winning with regularity again.

One more thing, Raul Ibanez won’t have to shoulder the offensive burden on his nearly 40 year-old shoulders all season. The other guys will start hitting.

As for the pitching, well CC Sabathia really only had one bad inning yesterday, it just came at the absolute worst time. Ivan Nova had a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performance on Saturday. He just needs to throw strikes that end up as strikes and not as home runs. Hiroki Kuroda just needs to get used to pitching in the American League. He’s either very hot or very cold. There doesn’t seem to be an in between with him. I think he’s probably due for a “hot” performance. Phil Hughes has shown improvement of late and his velocity has stayed in the 93-94 which is a very good sign but he also needs to cut down on his home runs.

Wait, there it is. If the pitching could cut down on giving up home runs and the offense could start hitting them again, the Yankees will go on a roll. Easy as pie!

All joking aside, I still believe the Yankees will be fine. They just picked this particular point in the year to play poorly. It happens. Wouldn’t you rather it happen now and not in September in the middle of a pennant race?

I thought so.

It’s time for some good news/bad news about the Yankees’ 8-5 victory over the first place – I still can’t believe we’re saying that – Baltimore Orioles.

Good news: The Yankees won and snapped their one game losing streak. I know, one game isn’t a streak, humor me. I’m writing this before I’ve had my coffee.

Bad news: Ivan Nova didn’t have a good outing. He allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and on top of that, left the game in the sixth with an foot injury after chasing down a ground ball and could miss his next start. He was hit on that same foot earlier in the game courtesy of a Nick Markakis line drive.

Good news: Mark Teixeira seems to have remembered how to hit the ball – for at least a night. After being a goat in Sunday’s loss – one of a few of them – to the Mariners, it was nice to see Teixeira bounce back. He finished with two hits including a tie breaking home run in the seventh inning.

Bad news: Raul Ibanez was hit on the elbow by a pitch in the ninth inning and had to leave last night’s game. Manager Joe Girardi said they’ll see how Ibanez feels today before they make any decisions.

Good news: Derek Jeter got his 3,143rd hit – a single up the middle in the third inning – to move into sole possession of 16th place on the career hit list.

Bad news: David Robertson has a ribcage injury. It happened on Friday and when he didn’t come into last night’s game, Yankee fans – and YES broadcaster Michael Kay – wondered if something was up. Everyone got their answer immediately following the game when it was announced that Robertson would have an MRI on his sore ribcage. After the game he said, “I was hoping it was one of those things that would go away. But it keeps hanging around. Honestly, I don’t think it’s too bad.”

Good news: Robinson Cano has also remembered how to hit the ball. He went 2 for 5 last night and is batting .469 in his last eight games.

Bad news: The fourth and final injury. Well, it’s an illness. Reliever Clay Rapada has been bothered by a head cold that has been making its way around the Yankee clubhouse.

With last night’s win, the Yankees are 20-15 on the year and still sitting in third place in the AL East. They have one more game with the O’s tonight in Baltimore, then travel to Toronto for two against the Jays.