Wednesday, May 06, 2009
You'll Find Out When You Reach The Top You're On the Bottom
I know one Yankee fan in particular, and I'm sure he's representative of a larger voice, who's just plum frustrated and angry about the team's 0-5 showing against the Red Sox over the last two weeks. We're all frustrated. But there is a sentiment simmering that is akin to "Why can't the Yankees show some fight? Why are they taking this laying down, while Boston is yucking it up in the dugout and having a grand old time?"
Me? I'm just not feeling much anger, nor am I ready to get all fired up about whatever the Red Sox are doing in their dugout. Here is my bottom line: the Yankees are simply not a good team right now. They are 13-13, and are actually playing one game above their expected won-loss record. I could rattle off statistics, like the 29th ranked ERA, or the 16th ranked BA/RISP; they're actually sub-.200 vs. Boston in the latter category.
However, Pete Abraham summed it up more succinctly than that on his blog today:
Think about that. The Yankees are trying to beat the Red Sox (and everyone else for that matter) with a roster that is a couple players shy of being 50 percent composed of unproven youngsters, tweeners and big league bottom-feeders. Now, Hughes is a legitimate major leaguer, but everyone else on that list? And these guys are being asked to fill important roles on a daily basis. And Jose Molina, now our everyday catcher for at least a month, sports, as Steve Goldman pointed out, one of the worst offensive profiles of the last 25 years.
I've never seen the Yankees scraping the bottom of the barrel to such an extent, and this early season floundering will not be easy to recover from.
Tampa comes in for two nights, starting tonight at 7:05. On paper, the Yanks have the starting pitching advantage in both games: Burnett/Sonnanstine and Pettitte/Niemann. Tampa is 4-2 in their last six, finding some equilibrium after a poor start.
As my aforementioned friend said, they need to turn something around and quick. Whether it's A-Rod's return, Teixeira returning to form, the bullpen getting stabilized . . . something. At this point, especially with loss of Posada now added to the mix, it just feels like there's too many holes to fill to be hopeful, let alone full of piss-and-vinegar.
----
On the other coast, Joe Torre's Bigelow Tea is going down quite well. The Dodgers go for history tonight at Chavez Ravine. In modern day history no team has started a season 13-0 at home. Last night, behind Jeff Weaver of all people, L.A. ran its home record to 12-0, tying the 1911 Detroit Tigers.
Even beyond the home cooking, the Dodgers are squashing any chance of a division race in the N.L. West. This was something I first alluded to on April 18, and they're delivering on it. At 20-8 (X W-L of 19-9), they're 5.5 games up on the Giants and 8.5 up on both Arizona & Colorado, the two teams that figured to be their main competitors this year.
The Dodgers' home games to date:
0413 vs. San Francisco, 11-1
0415 vs. San Francisco, 5-4
0416 vs. San Francisco, 7-2
0417 vs. Colorado, 4-3
0418 vs. Colorado, 9-5
0419 vs. Colorado, 14-2
0430 vs. San Diego, 8-5
0501 vs. San Diego, 1-0
0502 vs. San Diego, 2-1
0503 vs. San Diego, 7-3
0504 vs. Arizona, 7-2
0505 vs. Arizona, 3-1
I'm not a fan of the Dodgers at all, but I find it next-to-impossible to not pull for a team that has Joe Torre and Don Mattingly sitting on its bench.
I know one Yankee fan in particular, and I'm sure he's representative of a larger voice, who's just plum frustrated and angry about the team's 0-5 showing against the Red Sox over the last two weeks. We're all frustrated. But there is a sentiment simmering that is akin to "Why can't the Yankees show some fight? Why are they taking this laying down, while Boston is yucking it up in the dugout and having a grand old time?"
Me? I'm just not feeling much anger, nor am I ready to get all fired up about whatever the Red Sox are doing in their dugout. Here is my bottom line: the Yankees are simply not a good team right now. They are 13-13, and are actually playing one game above their expected won-loss record. I could rattle off statistics, like the 29th ranked ERA, or the 16th ranked BA/RISP; they're actually sub-.200 vs. Boston in the latter category.
However, Pete Abraham summed it up more succinctly than that on his blog today:
The Yankees have 25 players on their roster and you can make a case that 11 of them (Berroa, Pena, Cervelli, Gardner, Robertson, Ramirez, Melancon, Veras, Albaladejo, Hughes and Aceves) may or may not belong in the big leagues at this point. That’s 44 percent of your team.
Think about that. The Yankees are trying to beat the Red Sox (and everyone else for that matter) with a roster that is a couple players shy of being 50 percent composed of unproven youngsters, tweeners and big league bottom-feeders. Now, Hughes is a legitimate major leaguer, but everyone else on that list? And these guys are being asked to fill important roles on a daily basis. And Jose Molina, now our everyday catcher for at least a month, sports, as Steve Goldman pointed out, one of the worst offensive profiles of the last 25 years.
I just want to repeat something I wrote this morning, because I see in the comments for that entry someone talking about Jose Molina as the awesomest backup of all-time or somesuch thing. Not so much. There's no arguing he's a good defender and very tough for opponents to run on, but he just doesn't reach base enough to play with any regularity. Reaching base is the basis of offense -- a team can't score runs if the hitters don't reach base. Molina's career OBP is .277. It is, no matter how you slice it, dice it, adjust it, the 11th-worst OBP of the last 25 years.
Remember Alvaro Espinoza and how little he hit? He reached base more often. Alfredo Griffin once took four walks in a full season of play. He reached base more often. Rey Ordonez's bat was the joke of the league when he played with the Mets. He reached base more often. You know how my YES colleague John Flaherty likes to make fun of his offensive abilities during many broadcasts? He reached base more often. If you reduce the population solely to catchers, Molina has the sixth-lowest OBP of the last 25 years.
I am always game for an Alvaro Espinoza reference. Good stuff.Remember Alvaro Espinoza and how little he hit? He reached base more often. Alfredo Griffin once took four walks in a full season of play. He reached base more often. Rey Ordonez's bat was the joke of the league when he played with the Mets. He reached base more often. You know how my YES colleague John Flaherty likes to make fun of his offensive abilities during many broadcasts? He reached base more often. If you reduce the population solely to catchers, Molina has the sixth-lowest OBP of the last 25 years.
I've never seen the Yankees scraping the bottom of the barrel to such an extent, and this early season floundering will not be easy to recover from.
Tampa comes in for two nights, starting tonight at 7:05. On paper, the Yanks have the starting pitching advantage in both games: Burnett/Sonnanstine and Pettitte/Niemann. Tampa is 4-2 in their last six, finding some equilibrium after a poor start.
As my aforementioned friend said, they need to turn something around and quick. Whether it's A-Rod's return, Teixeira returning to form, the bullpen getting stabilized . . . something. At this point, especially with loss of Posada now added to the mix, it just feels like there's too many holes to fill to be hopeful, let alone full of piss-and-vinegar.
----
On the other coast, Joe Torre's Bigelow Tea is going down quite well. The Dodgers go for history tonight at Chavez Ravine. In modern day history no team has started a season 13-0 at home. Last night, behind Jeff Weaver of all people, L.A. ran its home record to 12-0, tying the 1911 Detroit Tigers.
Even beyond the home cooking, the Dodgers are squashing any chance of a division race in the N.L. West. This was something I first alluded to on April 18, and they're delivering on it. At 20-8 (X W-L of 19-9), they're 5.5 games up on the Giants and 8.5 up on both Arizona & Colorado, the two teams that figured to be their main competitors this year.
The Dodgers' home games to date:
0413 vs. San Francisco, 11-1
0415 vs. San Francisco, 5-4
0416 vs. San Francisco, 7-2
0417 vs. Colorado, 4-3
0418 vs. Colorado, 9-5
0419 vs. Colorado, 14-2
0430 vs. San Diego, 8-5
0501 vs. San Diego, 1-0
0502 vs. San Diego, 2-1
0503 vs. San Diego, 7-3
0504 vs. Arizona, 7-2
0505 vs. Arizona, 3-1
I'm not a fan of the Dodgers at all, but I find it next-to-impossible to not pull for a team that has Joe Torre and Don Mattingly sitting on its bench.
