The Yankees finally return home today to face the Tigers, with Phil Hughes on the mound. Here are some thoughts on the just-completed road trip.
Joe Girardi stressed that he is not satisfied with the team’s 14-13 record. He believes they can play better, and if they played better, they would have a better record. Plus, he said you can never be satisfied – except perhaps if you win the World Series, for a little while. But he also admitted that things could be a lot worse. A LOT worse, given the things the Yankees have faced this month.
Last year, the Yankees may have had to deal with more injuries early in the season. But a lot of those injuries were to the fifth starter, long man or the guy picked to fill in for the fifth starter. There were some minor things with Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon, and Chien-Ming Wang missed his Opening Day start. But the Yankees had plenty of people to play the outfield. I’m definitely not saying last year’s injuries did not hurt them.
This year’s injuries may not be as big in the quantity of players affected, but the quality of those players is huge. Alex Rodriguez – the defending American League MVP. Jorge Posada – an All-Star at a very tough to replace position. Derek Jeter – the captain and another All-Star. Joba Chamberlain gone to spend time with his hospitalized father. Jose Molina – if Posada’s out, then it’s tough to lose his backup.
I think that even without the injuries, a realistic person in the organization would have been happy to be a game over .500 (particularly since they’re only one game out in the division) at this stage, given the schedule. No other team has ever played 18 road games in April. The last time a team played 18 out of 20 games on the road in any stretch was the Orioles in the mid-1990s. That’s a grueling stretch.
Then add in the injuries. Plus the young pitchers have not fared as well as the Yankees hoped – neither Phil Hughes nor Ian Kennedy has a win yet. And the offense has yet to take off.
Several of those things – the young pitchers’ struggles, the offensive sluggishness and the injuries – are cause for concern. But at this point, I believe the Yankees should be ecstatic to be 14-13.
Comments (22)
So, with no word on anyone else claiming Moeller, I presume he has passed the 72 hour period (he was DFA on Friday, so sometime yesterday the 72 hours would have ended) and will be back with the Yanks in about a week once the 10 day period has ended. With that, do you think the Yanks should still consider other options or are we content with Molina/Moeller?
I think they are right where they should be: at .500?
The whole line-up is over the hill. The kids are not all right
and they have 1 starting pitcher they can rely on.
Sounds like they should be worse off than they are?????
HYD,
We're content, if Olney is right and Posada's injury is minor.
Even if his workload behind the plate has to be reduced from his normal 4 out of 5 games, the two of them should be enough for Girardi to be able to keep him fresh.
I love that there could a virtual 4 way tie for first place in the AL East at the end of April
Diane,
Did Olney say Posada's injury is minor? All I heard was that it was not a season ender, but I haven't heard any details.
I'd be satisfied to stick Moeller in as the backup again, although the lineup would need to be healthy otherwise (A-Rod) to make up for some of the offense that would be missed while Jorge heals.
HYD,
Yeah Moeller stays. Looks like Chip nailed that one! This time of the season extra catchers are hard to find. Nobody wants to part with theirs. Unless someone has a veteran in the minors.
Diane,
I dont think Olney said it was minor. He said the exam showed "No major damage". Thats pretty vague but I interpret to mean simply no surgery. Wasn't Pavanos initial diagnosis last year "a little stiffness in the elbow"? Yanks aren't the most forthcoming organization at disseminating injury info. Not that they need to be.
Jim A.,
Hope I didn't misread! I caught a couple of sources and thought what I read was that Jorge should be back in a couple weeks. Away from my desk for several hours and still catching up, I hesitate to assure you that I know that is what I saw, but will try to backtrack a little later and verify.
Meantime there are others here who usually are ahead of me with the latest, perhaps they'll correct me if I'm in error?
I think people are making presumptions Jim based on the scenarios initially outlined. He still might be out two months even though it does not seem that he'll be out the entire season and/or require surgery.
Will Mike R be running a live blog/chat again tonight?
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070413&content_id=1897063&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
For the gory details.
Posada is gone for a minimum 15 days. But they are continuing to evaluate him over the next few days so that could easily extend out beyond those 2 weeks.
Pete Abe is predicting ~1 month based on what he knows.
He has also reported that Joba indicated that Harlan is back home.
Well the sun just came out for the first time today so lets hope that bodes well for gametime!
We've had sun all day in Jersey...
Rubbing it in?
A grueling 18 games on the road and to come out of it 9-9 w/ the injury bug and unreliable starting pitching and a chance to finish the month of April 3 games above .500 .I'll take it.
More like saying I don't think we have any weather worries for tonight's game...
Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but it's becoming more and more likely that Jose Tabata will be demoted to Tampa. He has been hitting poorly and is approaching 100 ABs (batting ~.200). He has also now admitted that his hand is still bothering him from time to time, though some suspect he's just making an excuse for his poor play. The real kicker in all of this is that he was suspended 1 game (Sunday) due to an incident on Saturday. Apparently he had a bit of a tirade after being struck out in the 7th inning and the team thought it best to make a statement to him. The next statement may well be a demotion, especially if Edwar Gonzalez keeps mashing the ball in Tampa. He's a bit old for that team anyway.
Alright, I'll be back around 1st pitch, though I'll be watching the Rangers...
It's 91 and sunny here.
It ALWAYS sunny here.
Even when it rains it's sunny here.
What i wouldn't give for a blizzard.
Just came back from the staduim , I will be attending the game tonight without having to work.
I spoke on length to Robbie Cano who had some time to speak with me regarding his slump he his big time hoping to snap out of it. I spoke with Gary Sheffield who rode in with Damon. Mariano is already driving the New BMW X6. John sterling had came over and shot the breeze. Also from the tigers I met Edgar renteria and severla of their pitchers but the most funniest or may i say suprising thing was noticing that Dontrell and I think Verlander took the Subway to the staduim I joke on him about that saying he has the look of a schoo lkid so nobody probally noticed that he was a celeb.
NICE! Good stuff BX Bomber!
I told Edwin Ramirez our RP that THIS blog is counting on him and throw some scorless innings and things will look up. Melky right now is walking with pure confidence and i asked him in broken spanish which was later translated properly by a affliate of a winter ball team that was at the staduim today with me. I asked Melky how does it feel to lead the team in HR"s he laughed and said he just doing his job
Thanks for the updates BB! I LOVE LECHE! His autographed Jersey is one of the centerpieces to my collection...well, my displayed collection, I have 5 Walter Payton autographs that may very well be my most prized possessions...the day I got to meet him may very well be my greatest childhood memory...I wish I had remembered a camera.