Week In Review: The Titanic Edition

Week 7: May 14-20, 2007

Record for the Week: 2-4, 27 RS, 26 RA
Overall: 19-23, 3rd Place AL East, 10.5 games behind Boston

The Breakdown:

05/15 -- How unexpected! More rain, just in Chicago this time.

05/16 -- Double Dip, Game 1: Yankees 3, White Sox 5
Mike Mussina can't get through the sixth inning, the Yankees can't get more than three runs. Lesson learned: Our syllogism of the week. The Yankees can't beat lefties. John Danks is a lefty. Therefore, the Yankees can't beat John Danks.

05/16 -- Double Dip, Game 2: Yankees 8, White Sox 1
Chien Ming Wang spares the Bombers the indignity of losing to onetime Yank Jose Contreras, and the bats come alive, particularly Hideki Matsui's (3 for 5, 4 RBI). Lesson learned: One Yankees foreign free agent from the 2002-3 offseason negates another. Which makes me wonder if somehow Jaret Wright and Tony Womack could heal Carl Pavano.

05/17 -- Yankees 1, White Sox 4
Yanks get confused, maybe think that John Garland is lefthanded. Matt DeSalvo forgets that Jermaine Dye is a good hitter, despite his Mendoza-line batting average. Dye roughed DeS up for a double, a homer, and his first major league loss. Lesson learned: Yanks tend to play like they just want to get on the plane on get-away day, once again.

05/18 -- Yankees 2, Mets 3
Yanks get all their offense against Oliver Perez in the juncture between their two functioning bats--AL batting race leader Jorge Posada on board for Hideki Matsui's homer. Andy Pettitte makes one huge mistake to Endy Chavez, and the Yankees continue to show no signs of life. Lesson learned: It turns out Oliver Perez is also lefthanded!

05/19 -- Yankees 7, Mets 10
Endy Chavez, batting second, breaks the index finger on Darrel Rasner's pitching hand. Which makes me think--has someone on the Yankees wronged Endy? And if so, could they please just apologize. Trying to patch things over with Mike Myers and Luis Vizcaino works about as well as expected, and Robinson Cano commits three errors, playing defense as if his arms were loaded up with novocaine. Lesson learned: Seriously, this is the way the Yankees' season goes down the tubes? Endy Chavez? David Wright smacks you around that's one thing, but Endy friggin' Chavez?

05/20 -- Yankees 6, Mets 2
The Captain's two-run shot cements a 4-1 lead against John Maine in the fourth inning, and Tyler Clippard controls the Mets offense, outside of a moon shot by David Wright in the second inning. Lesson learned: When Clippard strikes someone out, he does what I now call the "Clip Strut", walking the long way around the mound. Nice to see someone showing a bit of fire...

Player of the Week: Total no-brainer--Jorge Posada is leading the league in hitting, with a line of .476/.542/1.000, two doubles, and a team-leading three homers. Honorable mentions go to Derek Jeter (.304/.407/.609), Hideki Matsui (.346/.370/.577), Chien Ming Wang (1.29 ERA, win) and Tyler Clippard (1.50 ERA, win).

Dregs of the Week: We're going to overlook Mike Mussina (8.44), Matt DeSalvo (10.80), and Johnny Damon (.235/.316/.294), not to mention Doug Mientkiewicz, Jason Giambi, and Melky Cabrera (weak numbers in short time too numerous to mention). The guy who got Dregs honors this week didn't post a horrible line--.261/.261/.478, and he even hit a homer in the game I'm upset at him about. If you haven't guessed it, I'm talking about Robinson Cano.

Cano's performance on Saturday was simply brutal. He had a multi-hit game, only his third of the month, but he played with what Tim McCarver poetically called "nonchalance." I don't know if maybe Robbie was sick or distracted by things in his personal life on Saturday, but the fact is, this isn't the first time this season that he's been dragging, looking like he couldn't be bothered to run to first or set himself before making a throw. In some of the Yanks' worst games, his late inning at bats have the look of someone who just wants to get out of there.

I hate to pick on Cano, because I like him. I've seen him play at his best, and this doesn't look like that player. Hopefully, it's nothing a decent winning streak won't fix. I say that mainly because the Yanks have absolutely no depth in the infield.

Story of the Week: I'm in a bit of a rush, so I'll come back with this tonight.