Cano?

Robinson Cano is a confusing player.

He has a great, smooth swing and at times looks like a world class hitter.
However other times he looks lost, impatient and out of his league.

It?s becoming very hard to judge him, because his numbers year to year are so different.

Really, his numbers within the season are also a bit strange and he's still struggling with men on base. He hit's .380 with the bases empty and .412 when there's a runner on first, but that drops to .231 with a runner on second and down to .186 with RISP. Still, despite those terrible stats he's still fourth on the team in RBI?s and third in Runs.

Another strange occurrence: he?s hitting .407 in day games (54 AB?s) and just .260 at night (77 AB?s).

He's a hard player to figure out and he's slumping bad right now, but when that swing is working he puts on a clinic. As a team (aside from Damon) the Yankees numbers with RISP need to go up but Cano's numbers, I think, are the most surprising.

I like where he's hitting in the lineup lately. The 7 spot is a good place for him. Some people point to his average and want him behind Matsui or A-Rod, but I don't think he's suited (yet) for that role. He needs to become a better all around hitter.

Fearless ARod Prediction

1-4, 2K's, 0-2 with RISP.

This is Becoming Normal

Through May 5th:

2007: 13-15
Runs Scored: 169
Runs Allowed: 147

2008: 16-16
Runs Scored: 148
Runs Allowed: 145

2009: 13-13
Runs Scored: 146
Runs Allowed: 159


Those numbers will go up once tonight's game is final...

There are a lot of excuses the Yankees can use, but they don't hold water. The bullpen is a mess, clutch hitting is still terrible, and the manager's decisions lately have been questionable at best.

This team is in a decent amount of trouble, once again.

Situational Struggles

The Yankees currently have the second most hits in the league, yet they can't seem to get a hit when it counts. Here are some stomach turning stats from baseball-reference.com:

Yankees RISP:
.223 Avg, .320 OBP (42 for 188, 55 RBI)


Yankees with runners on first and second:
.204 Avg, .315 OBP (11 for 54, 7 RBI)


Yankees with the bases loaded:
.071 Avg, .063 OBP (1 for 14, 5 RBI)

Now compare that to the hottest team in baseball:

Red Sox RISP:
.290 Avg, .419 OBP (51 for 176, 81 RBI)


Red Sox with runners on first and second:
.317 Avg, .414 OBP (19 for 60, 25 RBI)


Red Sox with the bases loaded:
.286 Avg, .464 OBP ( 8 for 28, 22 RBI)


The Yankees get runners past first base, and the offense shuts down. They hit .328 with a runner on first, but .221 when that runner is on second. The Yankees are hitting, but not when it counts most. Their individual averages look good, but the situational averages are terrible.

Look at Cano, he's having a great season hitting .380 on the year. However, if you break that down you'd see that he's hitting .192 with RISP (5 for 26). And when there is more than one runner on the bases, Cano is 1 for 15.

They don?t need to become the most clutch team in baseball, but an improvement has to happen in order for the Yankees to have a chance. Are they looking to hit home runs? Is it just good pitching? Is it just a phase in this long season? Who knows, but hopefully they break out of this pattern sooner rather than later.

Can We Focus on The Season Now?

I hope so, but I'm not optimistic.

I honestly might mute the first 20-30 games when A-rod comes to bat, just so I don't have to listen to color commentators go over this mess time and time again.

I get that this A-Rod mess is important and a big deal, and part of me wants it to stay a headline so the pressure stays on to get the other 103 names released. Still it'd be much more fun to just focus on baseball and let this all fade away.

Normally this is the time of the year where paying close attention to baseball helps me forget that it will still be winter outside for another month and a half. That hasn't really worked out for me the past couple of seasons.

The Bench

The Yankees bench could really use some help.

Right now the Yankees will have Melky, Gardner, Swisher and Molina on the bench at any given time... Then maybe a minor league call up of Cody Ransom or Shelley Duncan.

I think that group is solid enough to fill every now and then, but can the Yankees really expect them to play a few days in a row or more? Maybe you can get away with saying that they have a good amount of depth in the outfield, but the infield depth is atrocious.

Lately here in Boston the talk has been about the Red Sox and their depth. Many people I've talked to felt they were the better team to begin with, and with some recent signings are in even better shape. These signings haven't been huge stars, but they provide them with decent back up possibilities. And now comes news that they've signed another low risk player with some pop in Brad Wilkerson.

I'd argue that as far as the 'starting lineup' goes the Yankees get a slight edge, but depth wise I have to agree that the Sox have more of it.

As spring training inches closer, the prices for the remaining free agents is dropping. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Yankees sign Nomar. He can play a couple different infield spots, and I think he could stay healthy if he's not asked to play everyday.

Man Ram

My cousin sent me a text message today saying 'We don't need Manny!'.

I tend to agree with that. I think the Yankees are pretty balanced as a team right now.

If anything, what they need is more bench help and another starter.

Manny could become interesting if his price continues to drop. I'm as worried as anyone about his club house attitude, but who really knows how blown out of proportion it really is.

In the end I think Manny stays with the Dodgers or maybe ends up with the Angels. But once those teams make an offer, expect Scott Boras to let every other team know about it. If the Yankee we're interested, that's when you'd see them make an offer of their own.

C.C or Tex? The Great Debate.

The majority of the attention this off season will swirl around C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.

While I think it'll be the smaller, less attention grabbing moves that make or break the Yankees, I couldn't go the entire off season with out talking about these two.

By now you've all seen the stats and the arguments for each.

I'd say that generally the majority are calling for the Yankees to pony up the dough and sign C.C. for a long time.

I don't agree.

I think Tex is the way to go. I wouldn't mind the Yankees shelling out a 7 or 8 year contract for him.

The idea of the Yankees as an offensive threat is getting as old as the players themselves. I think it's fair to expect the majority of the Yankees offensive numbers to drop, and the available minor league options right now do little to cause encouragement for future offensive production coming from within, save for maybe two or three prospects.

On the other hand, the Yankees are stacked with highly regarded pitching prospects. Some are close to major league ready, others are still developing.

That, along with the availability via free agency of other half-way decent pitchers (Burnett, Lowe, Garland, Dempster, etc) makes picking C.C. over Texeria the wrong choice.

There are other things to consider, like how C.C. has logged over 500 innings on that left arm in just 2 seasons, or how badly he has preformed in the few playoff appearances he's had.

At the end of the day, I feel better about the Yankees when I picture Texeria on the roster, rather than C.C.




Then again, maybe they'll sign both. That'd be ok too.

End of the Road...

The season is over, and everyone is now looking forward to the off season. Chances are there will be a lot of changes made to the Yankees. Nothing can really get going though, until Cashman makes up his mind.

Now truly is the hardest time to be a Yankees fan here in Boston. The locals are geared up for the postseason and all I can do is sit back and shake my head.

Hey at least the Jets won.

Motivated

I haven't posted in a long time.

There's a whole bunch of excuses I could use, but the biggest is that the Yankees just didn't excite me enough to warrant writing about each game or player... I came here a few times and even wrote a few words down, but I couldn't find that spark that I needed to write about this team.

I found that spark again this weekend. My family and I visited Yankee stadium one last time this past Saturday, and we had an amazing time. I didn't really know what kind of feel the stadium would have going into this weekend. The Yankees are all but out of it, players are being booed on a regular basis, and no one knows what this team will look like next season.

But even with that, the Yankees and the fans brought an energy to that Stadium that reminded me of the feeling I get during the playoffs. The stadium has an aura and a vibe that only Yankee stadium can have.

I'm not really eloquent enough to put into words what watching last nights ceremony and game was like. I think there's a thousand writers who will put it better. I know it meant a lot to me and helped remind me why I'm a Yankees fan. The ceremony, the game and the post game all served to remind the sports watching world what type of organization the Yankees have. I know I'll never forget this weekend.

They reminded us of the history, the tradition and the class that makes the Yankees the Yankees.

So this season is about to end and the Yankees will go home. There will be an eventful off season, controversy with Hank, Hal and probably Arod. There will be arguments and debates about who the Yankees should keep, let go and sign. There will be people yelling again as the Yankees get hit with a luxury tax, and as always there will be people calling the Yankees bad for baseball.

In the end, a new season will begin, and a new stadium will provide new memories, history and legends.

It's been very easy to get down on the Yankees the last few seasons and for me, it's been easy to forget their history and tradition. It's been easy to get caught up more in all the controversies than the actual baseball. Now I feel renewed having watched this weekends events at Yankee stadium, and I'm truly thankful to be a Yankee fan.

Ice Cold

If you pull the lens back a little on a baseball season, then you will generally see that a teams season is made up of hot and cold streaks. There might be some .500 baseball in between, but most teams make their move by going on more hot streaks than cold.

This year the Yankees have had a couple nice hot streaks, but not nearly enough to overshadow the cold ones.

Right now the Yankees seem, once again, to be lost as a team. Pick whatever reason you want. Chemistry, their numbers with RISP, injuries, new manager... Doesn't really matter at this point.

They do have the talent to win, but not when everyone on the team looks as bad as they have the last 2 or 3 weeks.

I'll be at the game Saturday, so hopefully they haven't thrown in the towel just yet. Maybe they can get something going with a few wins of the Royals.

Although at this point would another hot streak matter? If the Yankees win 10 out of 12 games, how improved would their position in the standings really be? Hey at least they sent Melky to the minors finally.

Either way I'll keep following them, because thats whats fans do. Lets hope they give us something to root for the last month and a half or so.

Pudge by the Numbers

Here are a few interesting numbers on the newest Yankee, Ivan Rodriguez,

He's a career .283 hitter in Yankee stadium. (And a career .302 hitter in Fenway)

He doesn't walk. He only walked 9 (Nine!) times last season... He's managed 19 walks so far this season.

He has a.240 .Avg this season with RISP, and with 2 outs and RISP he's hitting .216

He's also listed as hitting .196 in "late and close" situations.

Pudge is an improvement at the plate, but he's a roleplayer now, not a superstar. He's turned it on lately, hitting .350 over his last 16 games so let's just hope that lasts another few months.

Hey, Someone Gets It.

CBS put up their weekly Power Rankings today which I can never help but look at. Writer Larry Dobrow makes a pretty good comment in the Yankees section when he says:

"The Red Sox spent the past five seasons plunking Derek Jeter with impunity, but now Joba Chamberlain's the jerkhead for going after Kevin "Looooouuuu" Youkilis? The funniest thing is Youkilis seems genuinely surprised every time it happens."

Don't get me wrong, clearly throwing at someones head is a bit different than hitting a guy in the elbow a hundred times, but the point is the same.

When Pedro was here in Boston, he was a well known head-hunter. Who doesn't remember the game where Pedro looked in at Jorge Posada in the dugout while pointing at his head.

A few people spoke up back then, but it seems like people have forgotten how many Yankees have been hit over the last few years in these heated Yankee/Sox games.

Now it's Getting Exciting...

The Yankees seem to finally be pitching and hitting well. Everyone seems to be falling into a rhythm, and the timing couldn't be better.

They have these last two games against the Twins, before heading into Boston for 3 big games.

The start of the Boston series also marks a stretch in which the Yankees play 20 straight games from July 25th until August 13th. The Yankees have to hope they can stay as consistent as they have, and hope that they have the depth to carry them through...

Yankees Start the Break Early

Today the Yankees faced a pitcher, whose team had publicly said was on a pitch count. So what do they do? They let him pitch almost the entire game while keeping his pitch count under 100.

This was another game in which the Yankees just looked bored and in a hurry to leave. I'm sure that's not the case, but most of them looked like they were thinking ahead to what they had planned for the All Star Break.

Now the Yankees find themselves with 67 remaining games. Last year they played great in the second half, and this year they have to do it again. They should be able to do it again, but who knows. Baseball is always unpredictable in the end.

Didn't See That One Coming

Sidney Ponson pitched great and kept the Yankees in the game. Eventually, their lack luster offense managed to put another run across and win a very exciting game.

Hows this for a stat...

They Yankees are 17-11 in 1 run games. That's second best in the AL only in the to Texas, who is 18-10.

Last year at this time, the Yankees were 7-14 in 1 run games. The worst in the AL at that time.

Brett Gardner after 21 At Bats...

Brett Gardner had a dramatic 10th inning hit to win the game. You know that by now.

You also probably know that after last nights 2-5 performance, he's hitting .143 on the season.

Lets look closer at the numbers. He has 3 hits, and 2 walks. Of those 5 times that he has been on base, he has come around to score on 4 of those occasions. He is also a perfect 3 for 3 in stolen bases.

Still, he is only hitting .143 with just a .208 OBP. Yes, he has hit a few balls hard that found their way into gloves, but not enough times to think he'd be doing much better than .143.

His defense has been great. When I watch him approach a fly ball or throw in, I haven't been worried.

I think he has the potential to be a good all around player for the Yankees. I don't know if he'll hit .270, but he could steal 30 bases the rest of the way. He also seems to do what a lot of the other Yankees can't right now, and that's just put the ball in play. His sacrifice fly in Saturdays game was huge, and seemed like something the Yankees haven't been able to do all season. He also tends to see a lot of pitches, which is great for the Yankees since they need a lead off man right now.

We'll see how it goes the rest of the way, but so far despite the low average Yankee fans have to be encouraged by what they've seen from Gardner.

The Start of Something?

Watching the bats come alive last night was both refreshing and encouraging. Sometimes a game like this can really get a team on a roll.

A few weeks ago, on June 12th, Matsui blasted a grandslam in a Yankee victory over the Oakland A's. This put the Yankees over the .500 mark at 34-33. This seemed to spark the team, as after that game they went 10-4 in the next 14 games.

Of course that didn't last, and the bats had seemed to go silent again during the last few days of June and the beginning of this month.

In last nights game, Giambi bashed a grand slam and had 6 RBI on the game. The rest of the Yankee offense also did their part.

The Yankees are entering a critical part of the year, so lets hope last nights offense performance carries over into the couple weeks.

He's. Getting. Worse.

Melky Cabrera:
last 28 games: .191 avg.
last 14 games: .170 avg.
last 7 games: .148 avg.

And of course like every other Yankee, his avg. with runners in scoring position is terrible, currently at .222.

I really don't like picking on Melky, especially a day after the whole team looked inept... However the majority of the team had been producing the previous 3 or 4 weeks, while Melky continues to slide closer to the Mendoza line.

Yankees should bounce back tonight.

In a Pretty Good Spot

The poor start seems to be behind the Yankees, and they now are in a fairly good spot to make a big move.

The Yankees are only 5-5 in their last 10, but over the last 3 weeks or so they have made up a good amount of ground.

They sit 5.5 out of first in the east and 5 out of the wildcard.

They also have a big month of July to look forward to. In July they play 18 games at home and only 7 on the road.

They'll host both Boston and Tampa Bay who are currently both ahead of the Yankees in the east.

They'll also host both Oakland and Minnesota, who are ahead of them in the wild card.

They are in a position to make up a lot of ground in the next 30 days or so.