I don’t hear many complaints right now coming from Yankee fans, but I take that a step further. I’m absolutely giddy about where this team is right now, considering what they’ve had to deal with.
Think about it. The Yanks are 9-6. CC has been so-so (pun intended). Alex Rodriguez is still out and his replacement Cody Ransom has neither hit the ball (.170/.204/270) OR caught it (-24 UZR/150). Chien Ming Wang has been absolutely horrendous in epic, historic fashion, pitching to an ERA that would look better if you moved the decimal point a few notches to the left and called it a batting average. Toss in the slow start by Tex (.211) and its amazing we are where we are. Pythag agrees, according to those calculations our record should be reversed. Its also worth noting that Girardi got more out of last year’s team (89-73) than Pythag thought it would win (87-75).
If you substitute the three Wang starts with IPK’s or Phil Hughes’ first 3 from last year, we likely win one or two of them. There’s a slim chance we could have won all three, as opposed to the Wang starts which gave us a win probability approaching zero. Replace Wang with one of those two and we’d be 10-5 or 11-4 and atop the division. According to everything were hearing from the Yankee brass, Wang is headed to Tampa to work on his mechanics and either Hughes or IPK will take his spot in the rotation for his next scheduled turn vs the Tigers in Detroit. Both are off to strong starts in AAA, but I’ll guess the call will go to Hughes.
Recent Yankee teams have been terribly slow starters in April, but not this one. Were playing well and again, this is all without A-Rod. CC and Tex are usually slow starters, so you feel confident they will get better as the season progresses. Posada has answered the questions surrounding him in the affirmative. While Swisher has already cooled off and CF is still a question mark, the Yanks haven’t had anyone else perform beyond expectations with the possible exception of Cano. The bullpen, outside of the excessive stresses that Wang has put on it, has been good and promises to get better with help from AAA.
I’m very happy where this team is right now, and expect it to only get better.
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0 Responses to Anyone else thrilled about where we are?
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TIQ IQ
Nice article and I agree with you. I think it’s worth adding that Melky has contributed more than we thought he would and that the bullpen has been so so too. Great last night, stinky on prevous nights. There is a lot of improvement to be made. I also like the fact that the Red Sox didn’t get off to a scorcher and that the Rays are 3 games back from us. I’m happy.
Totally agree. outside of Wang and maybe Nady’s injury hurting the bench, I think things are going really well. Many of the question marks are clicking, and those that aren’t are traditionally slow starters who are in their prime. Of course, we could get swept in Boston and the good feeling would disappear.
Jeter looks more like the 07 model than last year’s, despite the low BA. If he’s driving the ball to right-center with authority, he’s a big asset.
If Hughes gets called up and is lights out, we’re going to here ‘Joba to the pen!!’ stuff until he has a clinker or three.
I’m not big on 1B defense, but Tex has saved some runs on bad throws from the left side of the IF, not to mention making plays on hard hit balls that very likely wouldn’t have been caught from 02 to last year.
If Hughes comes up and dominates, that would be a great thing. Who cares what the Joba to the pen people say? These things tend to work themselves out. What’s the worst that happens, too much pitching?
I agree, but I think the comedy from the sports ‘journalists’ will hit new heights.
Hughes (or even IPK) coming up and being at least solid, if not spectacular wouldn’t surprise me at all.