A New Post from 26 Going On 27!

With the All-Star game less than a week away, the season has almost reached its halfway point, and we have reached a good point to evaluate our 2008 New York Yankees. First the obvious, the Yankees are 49-42, 7 games above .500, 6.5 games out of first and 4.5 games out of the wildcard. The good news with regard to their record is that they are trailing Tampa Bay and Boston, respectively, they have plenty of games left against both teams and will have an opportunity to make up ground. This was evidenced this past weekend when the Bombers split a 4 game series with Boston, then took 2 from Tampa (of course, as I write this the Yanks are down 2-0 to the freakin' Pirates - aaaaargggggghhhhh!).

Now let to let the bloodletting begin. This is a maddeningly inconsistent team. The offense has been disappointing to say the least. It would be easy to say that some of this is bad luck, after all, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez have all made extended trips to the disabled list. However, luck is the residue of design, and going into the season everyone knew that this was an old Yankee team. And the one thing we all know about the elderly is that they break down, so it is hardly shocking that 4 expected starters, all in their thirties, missed time with injuries. Age may also be a contributing factor to Bobby Abreu's sudden inability to discern the strike zone. Abreu's On Base Percentage is a lowly .345, he stopped hitting homers a couple of years ago, if he stops walking, he's pretty much useless. (Abreu just tied up the game, but it was with a single - not a walk or homer - the trend continues.) Robinson Cano was simply atrocious in the first half, however, he seems to have rediscovered his stroke of late and his defense is spectacular.

Perhaps the two biggest turds in the lineup are Melky Cabrera and dare I say it, the Captain. First, the Captain. I have no doubt that Derek Jeter will turn things around, for fuck's sake he's hitting .280 and having his worst season ever, but he has been terrible lately. Like Abreu, Jeter has stopped hitting for power and stopped walking - not a good pairing. Furthermore, teams are shading their right fielders down the line to take away Jeter's ability to slice the ball the other way - hopefully he will adjust. The reality with Melky is that he is simply not that good. So far Melky has demonstrated, in quite spectacular fashion, that there is no pitch, no matter how high over his head, that he will not swing at, and that he cannot bunt, no matter how hard he tries. El Leche is young enough to turn it around, but he needs to stop approaching every at bat as if he were Vlad Guererro, he simply does not have that kind of plate coverage.

There are bright spots of course. Jason "the Stache" Giambi has been a beast. Useless the first month of the season, Giambi is now slugging .534 with a .394 on base percentage, his 18 homers are tied with A-Rod for the team lead and his 54 RBIs are 3 behind Abreu. Left for dead at the beginning of the season, Giambi is now making a convincing argument for the team to re-sign him. A-Rod is doing his usual thing, giving opposing pitcher's bad dreams, hitting balls to un-Godly heights, stealing with abandon and generally knocking the crap out of the ball. The final bright spot in the line up has been Johnny Damon who, like his pal Giambi, was showing that he wasn't quite done, before heading to the DL.

The bench has not been good. Shelly Duncan flamed out, Morgan Ensberg was dropped, somehow Jose Molina is starting (more on that over the weekend) and Wilson Betemit hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire either. The two latest call ups are Brett Gardner and Justin Christian - Christian is your standard Quadruple A player and has no business being on the team. Gardner is interesting - he is really fast and had a good eye in the minors, while he's demonstrated the wheels, he has struggled to get on base in the bigs. Given the injuries this team has suffered, it would have been nice to have some young blood behind the old horses.

Over the weekend - the pitchers and what we think of Joe Girardi so far.

Interleague Play!!! or not....The New York Mess

So I just wake up and get this email informing me that last night's game will not be made up this weekend, parenthesis, Sat, Sun, Mon. More annoying news from Yankeeland. In case you don't really know what I'm referring to, let me rewind about 13 hours for you.

It rained yesterday. A lot. In reality, deep down inside, despite email blasts and the FAN proclaiming that our beloved New York Yankees were going to soldier on and 'make every effort to play tonight's game), I knew it was going to be a rain out. Spare me the Iwo Jima visuals of our #2 shirt taking the field with his head held high in the pouring rain.

Anybody who went to Opening Day 2008 knows the deal here. The old...."hmm...here's a big ticket game, a sellout if you wiil. Let's get them in the lots at $17 dollars a motor, then pack them in the stadium to swill a few $37 cups of beer and buy a few $90 foam #1 fingers, and then drop the bad news that....OH..SORRY GUYS, IT'S RAINING AND WE JUST CAN'T PLAY"

I mean, who is the the asshole behind the doppler up there? I'm so sick of showing up to these rainouts so they can make their money off of one-game-a-year, big-ticket-goers Brent and Ross, from Stamford who 'don't really follow one team, they just follow New York sports'. I was smart enough to not go in, and remain in the carnivalesque secret location #5 drinking $4 Presidente beers and making fun of Frank Cattalonotto baseball cards in a room with no air conditioning. I've learned that lesson over the years.

Technically, the team didn't make any money off of me last night. So I can't really go there. They just robbed me of my time. You know what? Let's not go there either.

So what do we have to look forward to? Oh...I dunno, a folded subway series ticket from May, taking up space in my wallet until they decide to play this game one day in I dunno...June, if they feel like it? A subway series home/away extravaganza when the team is away at Shea next month? Who cares?...I'm so over it already.

Give me my Tuesday night vs the Orioles. Oh wait, that's next week. Thank goodness.
Nick Markakis never looked to appealing.

GFK39

Lowest of the Low

I first thought the low point came when it was obvious that Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were either hurt or not ready. Then I thought the low point came when King Jorge got hurt. Then I though the low point came when Alex Rodriguez got hurt. Then I really hought the low point came when I realized Shelly Duncan was batting clean up for the Bombers when they played the Mariners a couple of weekends ago. But I have to say the absolute low point has come in this series against the Devil Rays. The Yankees look like an old, uninspired team. They play station to station baseball, they don't force the issue, they never get a big hit and I can't remember the last time they made an impressive defensive player. Although Mike Mussina and Darrel Rasner have been pitching well, it is only when CHien Ming Wang takes that mound that I feel comfortable. In stark contrast are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - talk about excitement, it boggles my mind that no one in the entire state of Florida cares about that team. Not only, are the Rays stacked with young talent like Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, BJ Upton, they play excellent defense, run the bases aggressively and with Scott Kazmir, James Shields and maybe Matt Garza and Edwin Jackson they have an emerging starting rotation. I'd rather watch those guys then the bloated corpses of Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu pound ground ball after ground ball into the ground - god this team is uninspiring.

He's Alive!!

Robinson Cano shows signs of life with 2 hits and a home run. Cano has a modest 4 game hitting streak going, and is beginning to resemble a major league hitter for the first time this year. Meanwhile, after finally giving up an earned run in Yankee Stadium the other night, Joba put down the Tribe 1-2-3 with a strikeout this afternoon. Guess he's going to be alright after all.

Its So Sad

Despite the best efforts of Brian Cashman, he has been unsuccessful in removing all traces of the human Joba Chamberlain once was. Apparently, watching his nose light up repeatedly as Yankee doctors tried to remove the last strain of homosapien was too much for the weak-stomached Cashman. "I just couldn't take it... and that buzzing noise, well, it still haunts my dreams," Cashman muttered as his eyes glazed, almost transfixed by a specter of the glowing red nose. Joba seemed optomistic, "No, they haven't (removed all the human). But I like knowing there's still something human about me. Living with giving up 2 homeruns in 30 innings will be rough, but I like that I can still vote".

The shear selfishness of Joba overwhelms this reporter. The right to vote!? Son, you are a Yankee and as a Yankee fan I demand perfection! I mean, Farnsworth didn't give up a run.

Holy %**&#@!!!!

The Yankees win 2 games in a row and Chien Ming Wang doesn't pitch in either of them! Today's start was huge as Darrel Rasner did something Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy could not, throw a quality start for the Bombers. Given it was against Seattle, not exactly the West Coast Bombers, but I'll take 6 innings, 5 hits, 4 Ks, and 2 runs any day of the week. With Mike Mussina showing a wily veteran side and Chien Ming continuing to slice up opposing hitters, if the Yanks can get quality out of the 4 and 5 spots this season may be not be a total loss. Imagine if Phil Hughes can get past his Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn moment and be the guy we thought he was when the season started, there may even be cause for optimism.

All year we've been handing out the Minky, well this week I'd like to give out the anti-Minky to Melky Cabrera. Where would this team be without Leche? Not only is he playing lights out in centerfield, he is hitting .293, getting on base at a .363 clip and slugging .485, to go with 5 homers, 15 RBIs and 15 runs scored. While Damon is hotter right now and Bob Abreu has been solid, I'd argue that the Milk Man is our MVP so far. And all you Boston white hats who think Jacoby Ellsbury is better - you can only grab the sack because even Joe Sheehan, editor of Baseball Prospectus, says that Melky's the man (read here http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=454). Melky could finally be the guy who holds down center since the almighty Bernie Williams retired, he's of to a great start this season.

Wanginator