Despite key injuries, the Yankees are in good shape heading into the second half. Owners of baseball's best record, the Bombers also have the largest division lead of any first place team. If you had been told all this back when Mariano Rivera went down for the season (and knowing later that CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte would both find themselves on the DL), I think you'd be quite thrilled with the results, no?
4 comments:
The key for the 2nd half is clearly hitting with runners in scoring position and especially the bases loaded. We will not be able to win games down the stretch without being able to do the small things (for example hit a man in who is on third with no outs). We will not be able to be able to beat power teams like the Rangers consistently without hitting in runners in scoring position. Martin needs to improve and the homers are linked with the runners in scoring position.
For an offense so often praised as lengthy and powerful, the Yankees have scored 10 runs in a game but four times in 87 games this season. When you rely solely on the long ball, you don't have enough dimensions in your offense to pile on when you need to. I think Gardner will be a key component of the Yankees' offense going forward. They should have no problem making the playoffs with or without him, but if the Yankees expect to make a deep run in the playoffs, they need guys like Gardner. Alex Rodriguez needs to get his production up, no two ways about it, and Teixeira needs to find his power stroke from the left side of the plate. He seems to be much more comfortable hitting right handed, where he gets far fewer at-bats. The bullpen will have to continue getting big outs as they have, but in order to really make noise in the second half and playoffs, the Yankees will need Nova and Hughes to perform like they're capable. You know what you're going to get out of Sabathia, and Kuroda [though sometimes a wildcard] has been generally solid since his slow start. But without Pettitte until September, the guys at the back end of the rotation need to provide some stability. This team cannot go into the playoffs with only three reliable starters again, so if and when they get there, they better have viable options to start big games.
I agree with both of the other comments, but would like to add that you absolutely cannot have a starting catcher hitting .178. Even if his defense was comparable to Pudge Rodrigues or Johnny Bench, you just cannot have a position player hitting below .220 on a contending team. I don't know if anyone is available on the market at this time, or if they could use Chris Stewart with Austin Romine, but something has to be done in this area....
Good points all around. Thanks for reading and commenting!
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