From Sweeny Murti:
*Chien-Ming Wang does not have a win this year, has a double-digit ERA, and lost his spot in the rotation to a pitcher who didn’t win a big-league game last year.
*Mariano Rivera has already given up as many home runs this year as he has in any of the previous 13 seasons.
*Both of the primary setup men for Rivera, Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte are on the disabled list…and no one has established himself as the clear replacement, even temporarily.
*Mark Teixeira was still hitting under .200 in the second week of May.
*Alex Rodriguez missed the first month of the season and his replacements hit 0 home runs while he was out.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find release *Brett Gardner began the season as the starting centerfielder and didn’t make it out of April before being sent to the bench. He was replaced by Melky Cabrera, who was so bad last year he had to be sent back to the minors.
*Jorge Posada and Jose Molina both went on the DL at the same time and the Yankees had to call up a catcher who was hitting .190 at Double-A.
*Xavier Nady didn’t make it out of the first road trip of the season before going on the DL. He still hasn’t played a game at new Yankee Stadium.
*Nick Swisher, who has played every day because of the injury to Nady, has just 1 home run at new Yankee Stadium, otherwise known as the New Coors Field.
*A.J. Burnett did not win a game at home in April. Or May.
*The Yankees are 0-5 against Boston.
*On May 14, the Yankees were under .500. There was speculation that Joe Girardi might be fired soon.
And today the Yankees are in first place.
Don’t worry. There are still four more months of this season to complain about.
Riveraveblues.com does a fan confidence poll each week that runs on a 1-10 scale, and I voted 10 for the first time this week. Plenty of things have gone wrong this season, yet this team has shown a resiliency that most recent iterations of the Yankees were lacking. They are in first place due to their remarkable ability to come back, and even their losses are marked by the closeness of the score and rallies that come up just short. Barring a major injury, the Yankees will most certainly be in the mix for a playoff spot when September rolls around. With all that has happened thus far this season, it is a tribute to the players and management alike that the team is where it is.
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3 Responses to Putting Things In Proper Perspective
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TIQ IQ
Great points. You can’t put a price on perspective. Not trying to put a damper on this, as I think this is all very important and a positive sign of things to come, but also keep in mind that the Red Sox are 1/2 game out and were in 1st a day ago and can make the same case in terms of overachieving given the injuries or disappointments they’ve had thus far in the year :
Where Big Papi is
Dice K has won one game and has an era of over 7
Lester has an era over 5
Injuries/lack of production from the SS position
I expect this to be a dogfight throughout the season and should be fun to watch. I just hope the Yankees can get off the snide and win a game or three from the Sox in this next series.
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