Thursday, April 17, 2008

State of the Yankees 4/17/08

Good morning Yankee fans. I apologize for the lack of updates...its that time of year, finals are right around the corner and for a few weeks life's pace quickens at an alarming rate. Instead of profiling individual games, as that proves to be rather tedious and time consuming, once a week or so I'll release my own State of the Yankees report. I promise to keep this a regular addition, so keep checking back!

The most notable performance over the last week has been the offense as a whole. Finally, the Yankees are beginning to look like the Yankees. I was getting worried that I might have to wait as long as we all had to last season. But, the combination of Jeter's return and normal baseball weather in Tampa seems to have sparked the powerhouse that is the Yankee lineup.

Most of the Yankee lineup has really caught fire...Cabrera, Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod, Matsui, Posada, and even Chad Moeller have stepped up their game. Giambi and Cano continue to struggle, but it is only a matter of time until they turn it around...at least in Cano's case. I don't have a lot of confidence in Giambi.

The bullpen has seem some struggles, but I believe that it is in better shape than meets the eye. Despite a rough start, Hawkins has quietly put together a nice string of appearances, pitching 7 innings, with 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in his last 5 games. 5 innings of that 7 has come against the meat of the Boston lineup as well. Its nice to have a veteran in our bullpen besides Mo who DOESN'T give up a home run every time he pitches. I am also encouraged by performances by Ohlendorf, Bruney, and Traber. Bruney seems to be hitting his locations much better....attributed to Dave Eiland/Joe Girardi? I think so. Traber is showing his potential as a lefty specialist. Last night he came in to face Ortiz in a close game, and got him to pop up to the catcher in foul territory. Looks like we found the new and improved Mike Myers.

The rotation seems to be where we are struggling the most currently, although it is not awful. Wang was utterly dominant in his first 3 starts, but was knocked around last night. I'm willing to give Wang a pass on last night's game because he was facing the same lineup in two consecutive starts and I believe Boston would have hit whoever we threw out there last night. Even after that, Wang is 3-0 with a 3.81 ERA. Hughes and Kennedy have been struggling, and I'm willing to chalk that up to youth and an adjustment period. But still, we're not going to get far in October (if at all) unless we can get some solid performances from those two. Mussina has been okay, but he has been better than last year, and thats all we can really ask for. Right now Moose is sitting with 4.15 ERA, and if he can pitch like that all year, I think we'll all be really happy. We'll see how tonights game goes...its Moose vs. Beckett again. Pettite has been solid, and has taken the team lead in ERA after Wang's rough outing last night...he's now 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA. Keep it up Andy.

All in all, it has been a frustrating start to the season. It seems we've reached a turning point, with the bullpen pitching rather well. We should get Joba back soon, as his father Harlan is reportedly in significantly better condition. On that note, I want to say that my thoughts are with Joba, Harlan, and the rest of the Chamberlain family. Here's to a speedy recovery Harlan!

Anyway, the Yankees seem to be turning their somewhat slow start around, and their now 9-7, tying them for first place in the AL East. Lets go Yanks!

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