But nothing has come easily for this franchise, proud winner of the 2009 championship. This week's two-game outage in Tampa has surely roused mini-alarms in the dark corridors of Brian Cashman's cerebral cortex. We can forgive a two-game letdown, especially after a team clinches its division, but - yeesh - we came within one loopy single of being no-hit, an embarrassment that would have gone down in Yankee history. I'm sorry: Tampa's bullpen isn't Koufax/Drysdale. Check out the ERAs of that nine-member staff, which shut us down Tuesday, 2-1, in extra innings:
3.65
4.25
5.21
3.34
2.35
4.86
3.21
3.91
7.20
(Note: The mere fact that Tampa could use nine pitchers is yet another indictment of the unlimited roster space of September, another reason why next year's rule change - no more endless lineups - is overdue.)
Entering tonight's game, our sole focus should be on avoiding injuries. (And yeah, we'll be lucky to do so.) But dark questions remain:
1. Can Luke Voit really play with a tweaked gonad? He's nursing a sports hernia and might need Tommy Loin surgery in November. But is this working? Over the last 24 games, he's hitting .222 with 2 HRs. Today's NY Post quotes an unnamed scout saying that Luke no longer lashes balls to right, but is "trying to ambush every fastball." Yep, homer-itis. Yank fans love Luke. But if he doesn't start hitting, Mike Ford looks like a better alternative. But who are we kidding? The Yankees won't do that. It sure would be nice if Luke got hot in Texas.
2. Have we reached the Rubicon with Didi Gregorius? In just 40 days, he becomes a free agent. Once upon a time, it would be unthinkable that the Yankees would let him walk. Now... knowing Hal Steinbrenner's financial and spiritual cheapness, and after watching Didi struggle for three months... who knows? In his last 24 games, he has been horrible, hitting .178 - 16 for 90, and striking out twice in every five at bats. He is supposed to protect us on the left side. Right now, it's not working.
3. Who is Gio Urshela? Is he the wonder boy of 2019, or a slowly dimming bulb? He is 0-for-his-last-18. He took a pitch on the hand Tuesday night, so there's that, too. As late as Sept. 17, he was hitting .328 and challenging for the batting title. Now, he's .315 - still a great season - but you worry. He needs a few hits in Texas. We don't want him heading into the playoffs in an 0-for-30 doomsday slump.
4. What can we expect from Stanton, Encarnacion and Sanchez? (Frankly, even Gleyber has been worrisome.) If all three return at full strength, we'd be a modern Murderer's Row. But what are the odds of all three returning hot? Not good. If they all struggle, we have a big nothing burger in the heart of the order, and probably not make it past Minnesota. This weekend, we need to see them hit.
It's late to be facing such all-or-nothing questions. But that's the case with the Yankees, proud champs of 2009.
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35 comments:
It's not looking good. Even one-run performances by the pitching staff won't be enough if these guys are all swinging for the fences, or just can't hit anymore for whatever reason.
It ain't over til it's over, but it's feeling awfully over all of a sudden.
...with the ease of a well pruned bowel movement...
Is your use of "pruned" in the fruit sense or the gardening implement sense?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Yes, it would appear that the Yankees have returned to last year's ways at the plate when they were the worst 100 win team I have ever seen.
The injuries, which have been a source of great wonder, both to their amount and how the Yankees "Next man upped" it have left us with a number of players who have returned but as a lesser versions of themselves.
And I think that's really the problem. As opposed to players with something to prove we have players who wonder if they'll ever be good again.
Sprinkle in some "bad luck" which I think it what's up with Urshala, (lot of hard hit balls right at people - although now with the injury he is in the above category as well) and some guys who now think they are HR hitters (Gardner) and we have the recipe for disaster.
My only hope is that they "flip the switch" when the bunting comes out. It's possible. It's unlikely. But it's also baseball and I believe someone said, you can't predict it.
They need to take 2 out of 3 from Texas and score at least 5 in each game for me to have a measure of comfort.
Doug K.
Yep. The Magical Mystery Tour of this summer is over, and the Bronx Flailers are back.
Gio probably has physical problems, and there is often a natural letdown after clinching. We could probably find room for Voit on the bench in the playoffs, but of course we should start Ford, who is up to .250, with considerable power. And of course Duque is right, and they won't.
The fact is that this is Giancarlo Stanton's Yankees now, and it's only going to get worse when our Flailer Catcher, Gary Sanchez comes back just in time, with his usual, just-off-the-DL sparkle.
Even in his very limited playing time this year, Stanton is already up to 22 Ks, or more than 1 in every 3 plate appearances. He sets the tone. The only one of our big boppers who I have some hope for is EE, but who knows how much we'll see of him?
The pity of all this is that the pitching staff is close to its top form all year, with the bullpen tanned, rested, and ready.
What never gets into all the algorithms is that first-rate, playoff starting pitching eats Flailers alive. It's not like facing another Orioles "prospect" in July. This is going to be grim.
Hoss,
EE falls into that can he be as good as he was category but I think, like you, that he will come through.
What I find especially dispiriting is the list of books Stanton had on his Summer Reading list while he recovered:
The Bigger They Come The Harder They Flail
The History of the Decline and Flail of the (Evil) Empire
Empire Flails.
and Flail Safe
Doug K.
He should have been reading
Too Big to Flail.
Sorry, just had to throw that in.
Doug K.
I guess I have a rep here as an Optimist. Strange, as I have 3 Sicilian grandparents (not mob people, hard-working lower-class types). There was a lot of pessimism in my family. Routinely!!!
And in Sicily, in my one visit there (altho the Sun was out every day).
I deem it incredible that the NYYs are in the playoffs, for at least 3 games (worst case!)-- despite
1. Lots of injuries.
2. GStanton looming in April. No, I don't want him on the playoff roster; but then again, The Red Menace isn't on fire lately. I don't want him on the 2020 roster, either.
3. They might have brought Ellsburger back. That loomed, too. Woulda sucked, no?
4. A pitching staff put together with spit and spit and worse. Duya remember earlier in summer, when Paxton looked shaky . . . CCS was awful . . . Tanaka was unreliable . . . they were pitching the crap out of the bullpen. No, I didn't mention Happ. Eff him!!
5. An unreliable management team, including Cashman -- is he the genius who brought Curtis Lemay in, or was that dumb luck? Also including Boone, who sometimes makes me wonder.
6. I can't believe how they've seemed to turn Frazier into a zombie. The guy had more than 30 RBI when they sent him down. I can't believe they allowed Sanchez to attempt a steal of 2B in a meaningless game (I don't think he should ever be allowed to run). I can't believe Hicks inked a $70M contract and managed to get into only 59 games all season.
7. But there's good stuff. Consider Gardy! And Ursh. And of course Lemay. And Paxton's rally lately, and Sevi coming back to be active. Don't forget the good stuff!!!!
No one seemed sure they'd even get into the playoffs. Skeptical of that? I bookmarked a comments page in which Winnie -- on 8/5 -- said, "mark my words, the Yankees will not make the playoffs."
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3932285159851204335&postID=9194611632857797671&page=1&token=1565014674486
Please note: Not an attack on the guy. I like what he posts here. But this seemed Beyond The Pale on 8/5 (in terms of GLOOM). That's why I bookmarked it (don't usually do that).
To sum up this post: POSITIVE WAVES, MAN!!!
(see movie, Kelly's Heros, with Donald Sutherland and Clint Eastwood -- 1970).
BENCH STANTON.
FREE DOMINGO.
He also likes to listen to many different genres of music.
Oldies like Presley's "Flailhouse Rock"
Pop like Jackson's "The Flail You Make Me Feel"
And anything by the Nine Inch Flails
Hilarious, Doug K.!
And I agree with you on Frazier, Joe FOB. They've turned him into Clint "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" Frazier.
By the by, not surprised about your immigrants ancestors, Joe FOB.
I read some incredible stat about the amount of money Italian immigrants sent back to the old country. Wish I could remember what it was, but the figure was amazing, considering how little they were paid. Basically, they worked like hell all the time, and sent it home to the family.
Also: a large percentage, something like half, returned to Italy or Sicily. And why not? You could come here, make what was a relatively large stake back home, and go back and enjoy great food, great weather, and not have to deal with the bigots, etc.
A lot of immigrants did that. The ones who stayed in the greatest number? Jews and the Irish. Why? They didn't have their own country then. It made sense.
Platoni,
Nice. Particularly Flailhouse rock.
Gong off that, I suppose if anyone asks me how Stanton is doing I could say, "He's in the flailhouse now."
Speaking of Jimmy Rodgers... (Who wrote that song. One of my favorite albums (CDs?) is "The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute. Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bono, Jerry Garcia... just great.
The link is below just put the "h" back.
ttps://www.amazon.com/Songs-Jimmie-Rodgers-Various-Artists/dp/B000002BLD
Joe FOB,
You're right we should accentuate the positive. Also, the Frazier decline or as you so accurately put it zombification is a disgrace. (Then again he did earn his demotion. He just doesn't look comfortable on the OF unless the ball is hit high in the air and pretty much right to him.
Hoss,
How about, Clint "Route 77" Frazier. As in not the best route to take.
Doug K.
Looking at Duque's context for the "well-pruned" remark, I think it's pretty clear he meant, essentially: "smooth, effortlessly clipped, silent and solid. 1, 2, 3 gone." In fact, I'd hazard to say he meant one so smooth that it just slithers down the pipe on its own - a no-flush miracle, an immaculate conception, boomity-boomity-boom-boom. Here today, gone tomorrow. That's why Duque is Duque - an effortless four word phrase that says it all, like, uh, like a well-pruned bowel movement. An amalgam of Hemingway and the Bard of Avon, channelling the voice of God, and I don't mean Bob Shepard, folks.
Anyway, this Yankee season will most likely end with a splash and a scream, as if you ate a head of cabbage raw, along with some other unutterable substances, along with pork and beans and other stuff, then took a high colonic, then did a colonoscopy prep got bad food poisoning, all at the same time. You'll have to sanitize the whole bathroom when you're done, then throw out your clothes. It's not going to be pretty, smooth, well-pruned or comfortable. We're disintegrating at precisely the wrong time. Kate Upton has just dropped her slip in front of you and little Willie-Petie has gone limp, never to return. Good porn won't be enough. You're left holding a bag of nothing.
We may go out in the worst way, with neither a bang nor a whimper, but just the whooshing of swung bats and some okay pitching for naught. We are fucked. Even if we win the last three games, does anyone here feel that confident about what's to come?
By the way, the best kind of ace to start your first playoff game is the kind who routinely gives up a few runs and goes 40 pitches in the first inning. That’s always a good way to start a playoff game.
An ump that's blinder than a Mexican tetra fish doesn't help, but why is everyone swinging like they're Braveheart extras? Are these last few games just about the home run race?
Platoni, the home run thing is making me nuts. Why is no one in the dugout screaming at them about plate discipline?
Sorry, I missed it. Was the plan to have Hoyt Axton only pitch one inning?
I'm so tired of the running homer count on the year. It's meaningless to me. STFW? So the fuck what? We won't be hitting against guys like Palumbo in a week or two.
Scary looks in mid playoffs form. He and McFlail are using the same hitting instructor.
13, it's making me nuts, too. I like homers - who doesn't - but combining two lifeless, bedcrapping performances at OJ Dome with swings that could give somebody soft tissue ouchies, ain't my idea of fun.
Shit, Paxton left with "glute tightness."
We know he's not a tight-ass, so this is something to worry about.
Fuck. But the 11 runs are welcome.
Fucking black swan, you suck!
The gods first make crazy those whom they destroy.
No Chance Adams cleaning up...smh. Guy's a horror show. Good thing he wont be a Yankee for much longer. And good thing he wont be around if he gains weight then he would be known as Fat Chance Adams. Somehow FatChanceManBoobs doesn't sound as good as..
#LarryManBoobs
#FYL
Great. "Five Times Pettitte" is back. A buttocks injury? Hmm, who does that remind us of?
This is ridiculous. The Maple Sapling failed to pitch more than 150 innings without getting hurt, repeatedly.
I'm sorry. Part of a professional athlete's job is to be ready to take the field. How do you possibly manage to push a meaningless, last start against the Rangers to the point where you get hurt?
The good news...was the two Mikes.
Ford was unreal. They kept saying that he was "making his case" to get on the postseason roster. i would say he's made it, and defended it successfully before the Supreme Court.
And...Mike King! Boy, did he have stuff! He was throwing everything, everywhere, changing speeds and locations constantly. One unearned run, thanks to some, let us say, uninspired defense, including his own.
Speaking of which...Voit seems not only unable to hit but barely able to move. Ford has to be on the roster.
The other bad news? Sanchez was back, and in classic, return from the EL form. Great.
Also, very sad to see Chance Adams' meltdown. Doubt if we'll see him in a Yankees uniform again.
So, Michael Kay kept on saying how great it was that they can't take those 2 innings out of the record book for Mike King, as if he may never be here again.
Jack Curry was talking about how much promise he has...for next year.
Are you #!@% me???? Who the hell else has done anything in that spot? He should be the 11th pitcher—or the 10th, if the faint Little Sapling can't pitch.
All right, well Ma is making out that the glute is goot. We'll see.
Meanwhile, Cleveland is eliminated, TB and Oakland may be tied at the end of the night. I believe Oakland wins the tiebreaker.
How do any Yankees Strengh & Conditioning coaches still have a job?
There is no answer. It's a mystery.
Platoni said...
why is everyone swinging like they're Braveheart extras?
For the record, this was good.
Hey, watchit. You might be headed for Tommy Loin surgery if you keep pruning your bowels.
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