34 Games Left: Sunday Night Lights

During Friday's Independence Day game, at some point shortly after the the Sox took a 6-3 lead en route to a 6-4 victory, a friend emailed me with a one-sentence note:

Why are there so many Red Sox fans at this game?

There are many answers to this question. As I've complained before, a mind-boggling number of Yankee "fans" can think of nothing better to do with their tickets than to bring a Red Sox fan to the Stadium, to cheer against their team. Corporate ticketholders seem to love giving their tickets to fans of whichever opposing team is in town, and online services like StubHub have made scalping tickets safe and sanitary for any New Englander who wants to make the drive down I-95. Moreover, the Red Sox seem to have attracted a fan base with no connection whatsoever to New England, composed of Dominicans who come out to honor Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, and others who jumped on the bandwagon circa 2004, adopting the Boston "B" as their non-conformist symbol for hatred of the Yankees, and/or New York in general. All told, that makes for a lot of people in the stands to chant "Youuuuuk" when Boston's whiny firstbaseman comes to the plate.

The simpler answer to my friend's question is that the Red Sox fans, from wherever and however they got into the Stadium, came to preside over a funeral. A funeral for the Yankees. They'd come into town on Thursday like they owned the place--they absolutely beat down Andy Pettitte and Jon Lester held the Yankees lineup impotent--and on Friday, the roll continued behind Josh Beckett. The Yankees, losers of five of their last six, actually fell behind Baltimore into fourth place at the end of action on Friday.

Since Wang went down, I've been coming to terms with the thought that this isn't the Yankees' year. Not that I've given up, but the twists that it would take for the Yankees to overtake the Rays and Red Sox--much less perform well in the playoffs--seem to range toward the improbable. Everyone knew that this was a risky season, with the Yanks counting on their young players rather than making yet another move for a top-shelf talent like Johan Santana. That young talent has largely disappointed, with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy on the shelf with injuries (and before they were injured, they were ineffective); Robinson Cano having a half-season to forget, and Melky Cabrera openly making some of us question whether he belongs in the major leagues.

So I was bracing myself for a Boston sweep, or three-out-of-four on the upside. Then, on Saturday, there was a nice surprise from Mike Mussina--he picked the Red Sox apart with precision pitching and chutzpah, and the Yankees barely survived some ninth-inning trouble for Mariano Rivera. Still, coming to the Stadium for last night's Joba Chamberlain-Tim Wakefield matchup, I wasn't optimistic--sure, Joba's probably the best thing the Yanks have going this season, but he hasn't faced an offense like Boston's as a starter.

Again, tonight proved a pleasant surprise. Joba pumping mid-90s heat at the opposition wasn't surprising, but the Red Sox pounding those balls into the ground was, a little (it shouldn't have been, given that Chamberlain recently induced 10 or more grounders against the Astros and Pirates as well). Chamberlain was excellent outside of the fifth inning, which went 38 pitches long and featured control trouble. I was glad that they let Joba pitch himself out of the mess, despite the fact that he looked fatigued as the inning wore on.

Robinson Cano's seventh-inning triple, which tied the game, was another pleasant surprise, and Kyle Farnsworth making it through the eighth inning without giving the Red Sox the lead was outright shocking. The biggest, and most surprising moment in the game came in the ninth. The Red Sox got a runner to third base with two outs, and Manny Ramirez, who'd spent the game on the bench, came to the plate to face Mariano Rivera. I expected an intentional walk, to face rookie Jacoby Ellsbury rather than the most dangerous batter on the team. Rivera had other ideas, and took down the dreadlocked slugger with a perfect, three-pitch strikeout. Ramirez never took the bat off his shoulder.

At that point, things stopped being surprising. There was a palpable feeling that the worm had turned. The crowd in the left field stands stayed on their feet for the bottom of the ninth, expecting that one of the trio of Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Jorge Posada would send us home with a bang. It didn't happen, but then the top of the Red Sox lineup didn't find much to do with Rivera in his second inning of work. When Robinson Cano singled to start the inning, blood was in the water, a sac bunt and a Wilson Betemit whiff later, the game was in the hands of rookie Brett Gardner, who's concluding his first week in the majors. Against Jon Papelbon, the rookie hanged in there, fouling off Papelbon's big fastballs en route to a eight-pitch groundball single up the middle. Welcome to the Show, kid. Thanks for rescuing our week.

NOTES:

• In the second inning, Alex Rodriguez tied Mickey Mantle on the All-Time home run list, thwacking a Wakefield knuckler down the left field line. Rodriguez had a hard week, with rumors of an affair with Madonna following rumors that his wife had fled to Paris, to be with Lenny Kravitz, in turn followed by the official announcement, tonight before the game, that his wife will seek a divorce.

• I'm perplexed by Madonna's role as the catalyst that set this chain of events in motion. I remember Madonna at her peak, in the 80's: the photos of her published in Penthouse and Playboy were perhaps the most anticipated thing in the history of published nudity. She was attached or rumored to be attached to dozens of prominent figures of the day, from JFK, Jr. to Jose Canseco and Warren Beatty. But with over-exposure, her reputation as a sex symbol began to wear thin, and it outright died, in my opinion, with her performance in the Basic Instinct rip-off Body of Evidence. The movie cast her as a dangerous sexpot, in a cast that included quality performers like Willem DaFoe, Joe Mantegna, Frank Langella and Julianne Moore. She was hamstrung by an awful, awful script, but it was just shocking that Madonna couldn't manage to convince anyone that she was seductive, or even terribly desirable, in the role. Her coming back from motherhood and marriage to bust up A-Rod's marriage is a bit like if Don Mattingly came out of retirement today and went on to win the batting title.

• Girardi got booted from the game in the sixth, for arguing balls and strikes right before the Gardner single that set up the Yankees' second run of the night. The guy in front of me remarked "He [Girardi] is the only one in that dugout with any fire." Tough judgment, given that Jeter and Posada are in that dugout, too, but I'm not sure I disagree.

• Words of encouragement to Kyle Farnsworth: "Kyle! Pretend that Mike Lowell is a beautiful five-point buck. Or six points, whatever. Just take him out!"

September in Review: Bonanza!

Record for the Month: 19-8, 178 RS, 128 RA

Player of the Month: It's hard not to give it to the guy who had 10 homers and 31 RBIs for the month, team-leading totals, each...yeah, what the heck, why not? Alex Rodriguez (.362/.470/.723) wins his third Player of the Month for 2007 (he previously won April and June). But he gets to share the award, thanks to an obscure rule I made up for Jorge Posada in June--"[y]ou hit close to .400 for a period of 31 days, then you get to be the Player of the Month." Turns out Jorge hit .395/.511/.632--albeit in 22 games--capping the best season by a Yankee catcher, per VORP, since 1959. In the honorable mentions, Doug Mientkiewicz (.429/.510/.619 in 42 AB) took advantage of Jason Giambi's failings to make the Giambino (.164/.370/.309) a $19 million pinch-hitter. Among the pitchers, honorable mentions go out to Phil Hughes (3-0, 2.73 ERA in 29 2/3 IP), Joba Chamberlain (10 apperanaces, 2-0, 0.77, 17 K), Chien Ming Wang (3-1, 3.27 ERA), Ian Kennedy (1.89 ERA), and Mike Mussina (3-0, 3.49 ERA).

Dregs of the Month: How bad can you be and still keep your job? Melky Cabrera will find out on Friday, when the Yanks face a righthanded pitcher. If Johnny Damon's in center field against Fausto Carmona, Melky will find himself demoted to platoon status based on a horrible September (.180/.236/.280). If Melky isn't down, it's only because Giambi (crappy performance listed above) didn't make a strong enough argument to get into the DH slot, but Hideki Matsui helped make the decision interesting by hitting (.183/.343/.346). Honorable mentions go to bullpen-mates Edwar Ramirez (11.17 ERA) and Luis Vizcaino (10.13 ERA). Three True Outcomes Ramirez got almost unprecedented chances to be a part of the bullpen picture from Joe Torre, and he coughed 'em up like a hairball. Meanwhile, Vizcaino has either morphed back into the sucktastic guy he was at the beginning of the season, or Torre has worn his arm down like the brakes on a gypsy cab. Either way, it's a concern since he's the #3 reliever in the Yankee pen--you have to have a worse September than this for Blockhead Kyle (6.75 ERA in September) to trump you--this does not bode well.

Story of the Month: I'll hold off on this until tomorrow.

Week in Review: Deuces Wild

Week 26: September 24-30, 2007

Record for the Week: 4-3, 52 RS, 40 RA
Overall: 94-68, AL Wild Card; finished 2 games behind Boston in the AL East

The Breakdown:

09/24 -- Toronto 4, Yankees 1
The Jesse Litsch Experience neutralizes the Yankee offense. Detroit wins, to stay in the picture.

09/25 -- Yankees 6, Tampa Bay 7
The team survives five innings of control-impaired Kei Igawa (no runs, two hits, five walks), only to get butchered when Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney take over in the sixth. Alex Rodriguez grand slam squandered when Bruney surrenders a grand slam of his own to something called Jorge Velandia.

09/26 -- Yankees 12, Tampa Bay 4
Chien Ming Wang gets his 19th win, Cano ropes in five RBI.

09/27 -- Yankees 3, Tampa Bay 1
A little more like we thought it would be--Phil Hughes ends his regular season on a high note, outdueling Scott Kazmir in Tampa. If he's on the postseason roster--and they really don't have enough talent available for him not to be--I hope someone reminds Torre of how much better he performed on the road than at home. Joba Chamberlain helps out, and more importantly pitches on back-to-back days. With the super-extended playoff schedule, that means that he should be available a whole lot over the next month.

09/28 -- Yankees 9, Baltimore 10
Sobering game of the week. Mike Mussina makes like the previous three starts never happened, getting lit up for six runs on 11 hits in five innings, but it's another Yankee oldster, Mariano Rivera, who kills the Yanks' chances of winning in the ninth inning. Alex Rodriguez's 54th homer is wasted.

09/29 -- Yankees 11, Baltimore 10
Bronson Sardinha gets his first major league RBI, opening the flood gates in a 10-run fourth inning. Good thing, too, 'cause Andy Pettitte ends the season on a sour note, allowing nine runs in five innings and driving his ERA for the season above 4.00.

09/30 -- Yankees 10, Baltimore 4
The Yankees finish the season with a CB-radio send off score.

Player of the Week: Play it again, Alex. That's Rodriguez with the .389/.542/.778 week, and 10 RBI. Derek Jeter (.409/.417/.818), Johnny Damon (.481/.481/.704) and Shelley Duncan (.308/.400/.615) are other batsmen who helped themselves this final week of the season. Among the pitchers, Phil Hughes and Jose Veras deserve honorable mentions.

Dregs of the Week: This is a Melky Cabrera specialty, I guess, the lost week. All week long, what the Melkman contributed with a bat was two walks, a single, and a double, good for .095/.167/.143.On the pitching side, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Mariano RIvera were serious disappointments.

Story of the Week: Clincher week was kind of a dud--fortunately, Torre agreed with the conventional wisdom about trying to catch the division leaders, and spent the week testing and prodding his troops to see who makes the playoff roster. An odd, unconfirmed, story has Bronson Sardinha making the cut, which is both curious and strange. The bullpen is just a guessing game at this point--so I won't guess, and will wait to comment until after the official annoucement comes down.

Now, I know it sounds snotty to say that clinching a playoff berth isn't exciting--it is, specially after what the team went through early in the season. But I'm ambivalent about the Wild Card. To me, the only thing the Yankees really won last week was the chance to try and win next week and onward through the month. I'm thankful we're here--it was a fun and bumpy ride--but the Wild Card isn't a "something". I'm not alone in feeling this--I recently had some correspondence with a Rockies fan who disapproved of the idea of buying Wild Card merchandise or the franchise hauling up a "2007 NL Wild Card" banner. Considering that this guy's team just pulled off a miraculous September charge for the postseason, what excuse do Yankee fans have?

The real story of last week wasn't in Yankeeland, it was in Flushing, where Mets fans lived out a baseball nightmare over the last couple of weeks. It was amazing how the idea of a season-ending meltdown took hold so early in New York's imagination, and proliferated like a virus. I know right now I should be a big ol' jerk of a Yankee fan and let the schadenfreude fly--Mets fans certainly seemed inclined this way at mid-season, when they were flying high and the Bombers were mired near .500. But I can't. It's horrible what happened to them, and ugly. The Phillies played amazing baseball, and showed a lot of heart, but the Mets didn't lose the division against the Phillies--they lost it by being unable to handle the Nationals, and the Marlins, in the last week of the season.

Willie Randolph didn't deserve this. While he's looked fundamentally unhappy the entire time he's managed this team--I remember Willie as a smiling type during his playing days--in managing this team down the stretch, he did the only thing he could do: remain true to himself. You can't play the role of the screaming lunatic in September, not after spending the last two-plus years as the calm, sullen guy who doesn't raise his voice. It doesn't ring true.

Earlier in the year, I said that if the Yanks fired Joe Torre, it was change for change's sake. Torre, after all, was the same guy that he'd been all along, brought the same things to the table that he did when he was hailed as a genius--it just wasn't working, just then. The same thinking applies to Randolph. Anyone who wants him fired now better have wanted him fired last season, better have argued against the extension the Wilpons gave him. 'Cause he's the same guy now that he was then.

Back later in the week with more movie reviews, and September in Review.

Week in Review: Win One for the Scooter

Part I

Week 25: September 17-23, 2007

Record for the Week: 5-1, 45 RS, 27 RA
Overall: 90-65, leading the Wild Card by 2.5 games, Magic Number of 2 to make the playoffs.

The Breakdown:

9/17 -- Baltimore 5, Yankees 8
Phil Hughes gets his first--and possibly only--win at Yankee Stadium this season. Hideki Matsui breaks a power drought (to use a mixed metaphor); and hit machine Jorge Posada gets another three base knocks.

9/18 -- Baltimore 0, Yankees 12
Mike Mussina improves upon his comeback start, and this time brings some strikeouts with him, whiffing six in seven shutout innings. Dougie Spellingerror plates four runs, three on a homer, Jeter and Cano contribute three hits each.

9/19 -- Baltimore 1, Yankees 2
Veteranliness is served with Andy Pettitte getting his turn to stifle the Oriole offense. Joba Chamberlain is getting more mid-inning, runners-on appearances, in preparation for a larger role. The guy's already a golden god at the Stadium--if they can combine Joba and Rivera into the 1-2 punch the Yanks had with Rivera and Wetteland in '96...mmmm, that's tasty.

9/21 -- Toronto 5, Yankees 4
We already talked about the Roller Coaster. Next!

9/22 -- Toronto 11, Yankees 12
Yeah, this one, too. Next!

9/23 -- Toronto 5, Yankees 7
La Chiquita and I took this one in yesterday, my blushing bride (today's our second anniversary) taking the place of Brother J, who's on the disabled list with the dreaded flu-like symptoms. Sadly, we were late for the tribute to the Scooter. Unlike Saturday's sogfest, Sunday's game was played under ideal circumstances--a sunny, clear day, bright enough to send both of us home with some color, but not oppressively hot. The Moose--perhaps smelling blood in the water given Ian Kennedy's injury and Phil Hughes' inability to escape the sixth inning in his last two starts--was on, allowing a cluster of runs in the second inning, but bouncing back to pitch seven, with one walk, five strikeouts, and a hit per inning. Luis Vizcaino gave the runs back in short order, bringing down the wrath of Joba upon the Blue Jays, and setting up the rookie's first career save, in front of his dad. The offense was keyed by three hits from Jose Molina--channeling Posada for the day--and Cano also had three hits to keep his batting average over .300 for the season. Good times.

Weird moment of the game: Vizcaino surrenders a two-run shot in the eighth, to Matt Stairs, who crushes it into the black seats. A young Bleacher Creature wearing a Mariano Rivera shirt scampers out into the black seats to recover the ball, and throw it out on the field, to the delight of the crowd. Then, after the kid's gotten back to his section, the cops go across the black seats to drag the kid out of the game, which sets off a firestorm--people booing, starting chants of "let him stay!", the works. Yankee fans booing cops set off a wave of nostalgia in me--for a moment, it felt like being a Yankee fan back in 1989 again. Then the curtain of negativity lifted suddenly, when the scoreboard announced that Chamberlain was warming in the pen. Welcome back to the future, kids.

Player of the Week: It's got to be Mike Mussina. The Moose allowed 3 runs in 14 innings for the week, striking out 11 batters and looking like a living, breathing pitcher again. He's dealt himself back into the rotation--for good or for ill--and has been spotting that 89 MPH fastball of his the way he did last season. Will this last? No one knows, but for the Yanks' sake, I sure hope so. Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain, Chien Ming Wang, and Andy Pettitte all deserve honorable mentions for their work this week.

On the hitting side, Robinson Cano (.423/.483/.538) and Jorge Posada (.389/.522/.444) were hot, and Hideki Matsui experienced a modest power surge (2 HR, 1 2B, 1 3B in a .259/.355/.593 week). I've really got to give some love to Doug Mientkiewicz (.467/.600/.733), in whose honor I composed the following short poem, texted to Brother J's sickbed during yesterday's game:

Minky. His bat is stinky;
His fifth-inning RBI was dinky,
But his glove is sweet.

I think that says it all. Seriously, good going for another guy who's really inserted himself into the roster conversation this month.

Dregs of the Week: You can get an easy definition of "bad" from a couple of members of the Yanks' relief corps, Kyle Farnsworth (5 R in 1 IP, spread out over two appearances) and Edwar Ramirez (4 R in 1 2/3 IP). Where Mienkiewicz and Matsui did well for themselves in the 1B/DH/LF merry-go-round, Jason Giambi (.100/.400/.100) and Johnny Damon (.222/.300/.278) weren't helping themselves so much. Melky Cabrera--the man whose presence in center field kind of created this crunch--was officially all over the place last week, hitting .238/.292/.238, but matching the team lead with 8 RBI. So he came up big in big spots, ditched out much of the rest of the time, ran the bases like a drunken sailor, but bailed out the pitching with his work in the field, including gunning down Greg Zaun at the plate in the fourth inning of Sunday's game. Does Melky really belong among the Dregs this week? You figure it out, it's hurting my head...

Story of the Week: As I wrote over at SI.com today, it's looking good for the Yanks to make the the postseason:

In the American League, it's all done but the dishes. Three of the four playoff spots were clinched over the weekend, and the Yankees are poised to claim the final berth. While Detroit and Seattle aren't mathematically eliminated, the odds aren't in their favor -- essentially, either team needs need to run the table and hope for a historic collapse by the Bronx Bombers, something the computer saw happening roughly 0.2 percent of the time.

So, that would make this week about three goals, in rough order of importance: 1) Maintaining the Wild Card lead--it's easy to take things for granted, so it's no time to stop dotting the i's and crossing the t's; 2) figuring out who does and does not belong on a playoff roster; and 3) avoiding distractions. The team has a slight tightrope to walk because while the odds are in their favor, there is no such thing as a done deal; so while Joe Torre has to do things like set up his playoff roster and rotation, get key players rest, and such, he can't afford a seven-game losing streak.

The biggest roster questions right now are in the pitching staff: does Phil Hughes make the playoff roster? With the expanded off-days in the playoffs this year, the Yanks shouldn't need five starters, and they've shown some concern about putting their young starters in the bullpen. Can you, in good conscience, put the ball in Kyle Farnsworth or Edwar Ramirez's hand in a short series? If the Yankees' playoff losses over the past six seasons have taught us anything, it's that you can't hide an untrustworthy pitcher on the playoff roster. You'll inevitably be forced to rely on Jeff Weaver or Javier Vazquez or Kevin Brown, and it will never turn out well. A similar question applies to keeping Ron Villone on the roster. You have seven guys that can only be kept off the pitching staff by their health at this point (Wang, Rivera, Joba, Pettitte, Clemens, Mussina, and Vizcaino), which probably leaves four spots wide open.

Finally, the distractions. I love Will Leitch, the maestro behind Deadspin, but we really didn't need this New York Magazine article about Alex Rodriguez's possible landing places--although it does offer an interesting picture (literally, a chart) of the Yanks' power structure. You'll also note I haven't spoken about catching the Red Sox. It's a nice idea, but the potential gain (home field and choice of schedule "a" or schedule "b" in the Division Series) doesn't merit getting caught up in that as a goal. Give me a choice between another division championship and a rotation set-up that maximizes Wang and Pettitte's starts in the postseason, and the answer is simple--I think the latter contributes more to winning in the playoffs. Pennants are nice but rings are better.

Week in Review: Hold Those Tigers

Week 24: September 10-16, 2007

Record for the Week: 4-2, 27 RS, 25 RA
Overall: 85-64, 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers for the Wild Card

Breakdown:

9/11 -- Yankees 9, Toronto 2
We already discussed this one. Next!

9/12 -- Yankees 4, Toronto 1
On the surface, you could say the Moose is back. Dig a little deeper, and you see that he only had one strikeout, only managed one 1-2-3 inning. It's way better than what he's doing, but it's not "presto! back to normal" by any means.

9/13 -- Yankees 1, Toronto 2
Ian Kennedy pitches beautifully, just to find that the Yanks can't do a thing against AJ Burnett. For maximum annoyance, the Marlins not only beat the Yanks in the 2003 series, but they seeded their starters throughout the AL East, making sure the Yanks got the dud of the group.

9/14 -- Yankees 8, Boston 7
There might not be a sweeter victory all season than this, but it still wasn't an enjoyable game. These teams seem to have at least one ugly, brutal, marathon game per season, and this one was only made longer watching Jason Giambi fumble balls at first base. The muffed double play in the sixth was just a fundamentally horrible play, with Giambi not trusting his footwork enough to walk off the base to catch the throw, then get back to tag Ortiz. He had all sorts of time, but decided to do an insane stretch for the ball, instead.

9/15 -- Yankees 1, Boston 10
Something rubs me wrong about Josh Beckett. No, it's not just the 2003 Series or the being a Red Sox that I'm talking about. He reminds me of Jaret Wright, just healthy and talented. Anyway, I just detest his damned chipmunk face. That is all.

9/16-- Yankees 4, Boston 3
Didn't watch this game, and judging from the ninth inning bases-loaded-and-Papi-up note it ended on, I'm glad that I skipped this one. Couldn't possibly have been good for the ulcer.

Player of the Week: Strange week, with good pitching, ehh hitting, and not a lot of big standout performances. Jorge Posada had the best rate stats with a .294/.429/.647 week, and the Captain broke out five RBI at Fenway over the weekend, including two long homers. Jason Giambi deserves an honorable mention with two homers in his three hits this week (.273/.500/.818, 5 RBI). Roger Clemens and Ian Kennedy stood out among the pitchers, even though neither got a decision.

Dregs of the Week: Chien Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte, meanwhile, spit the bit in Fenway, allowing five runs each. Still they're eclipsed on the Dregs-o-Meter by Alex Rodriguez's road funk (.182/.308/.182)--sounds like a good band name, actually--and perhaps the worst offensive week of the entire year, by Melky Cabrera (.043/.120/.087). We love the Melk man, and his arm saved a couple of runs last week, but that's rank. Just awful.

Link of the Week: I can't make up my mind about the story of this young Red Sox fan (hat tip BTF), who received the most memorable autograph since "Avoid the clap. Jimmy Dugan." You could say that Shelley Duncan is a bad person for writing something that might hurt a ten year-old's feelings, or you might respond, as Tom Hanks did as Dugan, "Hey! That's good advice!"

Seriously, when the kid's older, he'll find that this is a better story to tell people than if he'd gotten an autograph that says "Your pal, Shelley Duncan." Nonetheless, it's bad when players are mean to the fans, even if, sometimes, the fans aren't all that considerate, either. My younger brother still remembers Pat Kelly being a total prick to him outside the Stadium one day, and my older brother still treaures the late, great Scooter being funny and gracious to him under similar circumstances. It's totally irrational, but people place a lot of importance on small interactions with famous people. So be nice, Shelley! You never know when you'll need someone to be nice to you.

Story of the Week: While the Yanks were looking ahead of themselves in the standings, toward the Red Sox, the Detroit Tigers made up some ground and made things a little tighter behind the Bombers on the Wild Card front--three back in the loss column, as they like to say. Not only is catching the Red Sox unlikely, it's unnecessary. The important thing is to keep playing good baseball and focus on holding off the Tigers, securing that spot in the postseason.

A few notes on things I noticed this week:

• Bobby Abreu's going to miss 100 walks for the first time since 1998. He's still seeing a high number of pitches per plate appearance, so it isn't like he's suddenly become Oscar Azocar, but maybe pitchers are noticing the dip in his power, and are throwing him more strikes accordingly.

• The Captain's really slowed down in the second half. Through the All-Star break, he was putting up numbers worthy of last year's near-MVP season (.336/.408/.463), since then he's been a little bit more like his sophomore season, 1997 (.285/.352/.397). He's already matched his career high in hit-by-pitches (14).

• Edwar Ramirez is the three true outcomes pitcher. In 17 1/3 innings, he's walked 10, struck out 28 (a ridiculous 14.54 K/9) and a third of his hits allowed have gone for homers.

• Do they really need any lefty relievers on the roster? Villone and Henn both suck, Igawa hasn't even appeared in relief since being called up. Torre might have already performed the "You're dead to me now" ceremony on his looks-impaired Japanese import.

• As for the lefty that got away? Mike Myers has gotten smacked around with the White Sox (8.71 ERA and 3 HR allowed in 10 1/3 IP since he was released).

Week in Review: Yankees [Heart] the Heartland

Week 23: September 3-9, 2007

Record for the Week: 5-1, 43 RS, 22 RA
Overall: 81-62, Wild Card leader, 4 games ahead of Detroit; 5.5 games behind Red Sox

Breakdown:
I like the abbreviated comments from last week, so here goes again--

9/3 -- Seattle 7, Yankees 1
After the pathetic showing against Tampa Bay, this loss was one of those panic moments in a season that's been full of them. King Felix and the M's got the Wild Card lead down to 1, Roger Clemens felt a "grabbing" in his elbow. That'll play tricks with your blood pressure.

9/4 -- Seattle 3, Yankees 12
Chien Ming Wang on the mound, three Yankees with four hits each, including Jorge Posada with two solo homers and four runs scored, and Bobby Abreu, who also homered. A day after Clemens goes down with a bad elbow, Vizcaino admits to shoulder soreness.

9/5 -- Seattle 2, Yankees 10
The MVP-elect goes and homers twice in one inning, breaking his own record by most homers by a righthanded-hitting Yankee. Breathing room? Much, much better.

9/6 -- Yankees rest, in honor of my Brother T's birthday.

9/7 -- Yankees 3, Kansas City 2
We covered this already in the Joba's Dad entry on Friday night.

9/8 -- Yankees 11, Kansas City 5
Wasn't watching, dinner with family. More homers for A-Rod.

9/9 -- Yankees 6, Kansas City 3
Chien Ming Wang takes Clemens' start on full rest, Alex's 52nd homer in the first inning gives the Yanks a 2-0 lead in the first, after the Royals tie it in the fourth, he scores the go-ahead run in front of Jorge Posada double in the fifth. Do I even need to write the Player of the Week section?

Player of the Week: Do I need to say it? He hit six homers for the week, led the team in runs scored (7) and RBI (9), his rate stats were a mind-bending .524/.615/1.381. Even stole a couple of bases. Oh, and he's relentlessly mocked for stretching out his shoulder.

In the non-Alex Rodriguez division, Chien Ming Wang was the anchor of the pitching staff, allowing only 4 runs in 14 1/3 innings last week, working his way to 18 wins for the season. Jorge Posada was nearly as radioactive hot as Rodriguez, with three homers and a .474/.583/.947 week that would have been a winner any other week. Bobby Abreu hit .417/.417/.875, and a trio of Yankee relievers--Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain, and Kyle Farnsworth--each pitched three scoreless for the week.

Dregs of the Week: On offense, the team alternated hot and cold. Chilliest of the chill with the bat was Hideki Matsui who went a horrifying 1 for 17 on the week (.059/.238/.059). The Captain's banged up, taking a hard HBP in Kansas City Friday night, and working with a sore right knee he injured almost three weeks ago. Jeter hit .167/.231/.208. Jason Giambi and Shelley Duncan, feeling the playing time squeeze, combined for a 1 for 16 this week. Duncan had the one hit (an RBI single) in 8 AB, Giambi went .000/.273/.000 in 11 PA. Roger Clemens took the Yanks' one loss of the week, getting slagged for 5 runs in 4 innings pitched before leaving with his injury.

Link of the Week: Don't usually do links in the Week in Review, but this one caught my eye as borderline bulletin board material. It's Kevin Youkilis talking to Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe, with the headline "Youkilis Tries to Target Cause of Yankees' Ire" (hat tip to Repoz at Baseball Think Factory). When it's suggested that he might be considered a whiner, he says:

"They play 'Yankeeography' on Paul O'Neill every day," Youkilis said, referring to the Yankees' practice of showing highlight films on the stadium scoreboard of Paul O'Neill, a beloved former Yankee known for his dramatic mood swings. "So, what's the problem? I've been compared to Paul O'Neill. I know Paul O'Neill. We have the same agent [Joe Bick].

"People find things to hate about everyone. They're not going to like somebody for this reason or that. What are you going to do? I go out and play. I'm emotional. Some people say, 'Oh, he shouldn't be like that.' Other people say that's the best thing about you. So who am I supposed to please?

"I'm here to win ballgames. I play with emotion. Some people congratulate me. Some people say, 'Stop whining about this or that.' I can't please everyone. It is what it is. People who don't like you aren't going to like you."

Wow. I finally get to do the Lloyd Benson, here: You, sir, are no Paul O'Neill. O'Neill, for all that he might have yapped at umps and worn his emotions on his sleeve, never got hit by more than four pitches in a season. So regardless of the fact that umps and opposing teams' fans might have considered him a a crybaby, apparently he wasn't ticking off opposing players or pitchers all that much. In his young career, Youkilis has already been hit one more time (23) than Paul O'Neill was in fifteen Major League seasons, 2,053 games. The Mohel of Swat has played in less than one-fifth the games O'Neill did.

Maybe the reason that Youkilis gets hit so darn much is because he crowds the plate. I doubt Don Baylor ever answered questions about why teams "targeted" him. Maybe guys pitch Youkilis high and inside because that's the way to get him out. Maybe Red Sox pitchers throw at the Yankees more often than is usual, and that encourages reprisals. But then again, maybe, just maybe, those two pitches Joba threw were supposed to be strikes under his hands that slipped.

Only one thing's for certain, is that you don't lose a rap as a whiner by whining about it.

Story of the Week: Now that we've gotten that out of our system, the story of the week is the Yanks finally wrapping up their regular season business against the AL West and Central--barring a tiebreaker, the schedule going forward is all Eastern Division. The Yanks finished up 30-11 against the AL Central, accounting for all of their record above .500 . They finished at 15-16 against the AL West, 10-8 against the National League, and are currently one game under .500 against the AL East, 26-27. The remaining schedule breaks down as follows: seven against the Blue Jays, six against the Orioles, three each against the Red Sox and Rays. The path to the end of the regular season also tracks through the visiting ballparks--only 7 of the Yanks' remaining 19 game are at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks road record, like their record against the AL East, is one that could use improvement--they're a game under .500 outside the Bronx. The relief of the gauntlet the Yankees fought through the last couple of weeks made it feel like the end of the season was closer than it is. There's still a lot of important baseball to be played--the Yanks can't jog their way through September like they've done in so many years past, but at least you have to like where they are.

The other story of the week has been the names dribbling out of the latest steroid scandal. It's been scary to watch the storylines around Rick Ankiel turn from fawning to vicious without missing a step. If Ankiel hadn't been brought up to the bigs last month and made a splash with a Shancer Spencer-like splash of power, he'd be just another minor leaguer who tried PEDs in a rush of desperation. If he were still a pitcher, he'd likely get the pass that most pitchers get. But now he seems to be the sportswriter's favorite snack--the great story gone wrong. Great stories are wonderful, but they never last--in order to get more life out of a story like Ankiel's the player must a) kick up his level of performance even higher--hard to do when you've got nine homers in ninety at bats; b) fall completely on his face on the field, fail as spectacularly as he succeeded, or c) fall prey to scandal. We see a similar thing in all of the season's big stories, which brings us back to Alex Rodriguez's big week. Take this, from Bill Madden's Sunday column:

So this scandal goes far beyond Barry Bonds. Jose Canseco casually drops Alex Rodriguez's name and unfortunately it can no longer be dismissed. You want to believe that everything about A-Rod's MVP season is genuine, just as fans in Tampa Bay want to believe in Carlos Pena's out-of-nowhere career year.

Why can it "no longer be dismissed"? Has Canseco followed up on his "you'll have to wait until my next book, I've got something on Alex Rodriguez" hint? I know that after Mark McGwire decided to "not talk about the past" and finger-pointing Raffy Palmeiro tested positive, Canseco was hailed as the soothsayer of our age, but I find the idea that he has anything other than innuendo to spread about Rodriguez highly questionable. Everyone forgets the shifty way Canseco changed his own stance on steroids, from practically arguing that they should be pumped into the drinking water in his book, to turning into Mr. Mackey in front of Congress ("Drugs are bad, mmmkay?"). The only source of credibility that Canseco had is that he was in major league clubhouses, with the access to see things first-hand, and hear "inside information." I'd fairly bet he's persona non grata in those clubhouses now, so what new information could he possibly have? If he knew something about Alex from back when he had access, why wasn't it in his first book?

I'm not a wide-eyed innocent, here. I know that in this steroid witch hunt, no one is really above suspicion--that's one of the things that bugs me when people tout player X or player Y as "one of the clean players." How do you know? Could Alex have been a user, at some point in his career? Sure, anything is possible. But I'm utterly disgusted by the way that some writers are licking their chops, looking for the next disgraced ballplayer, and willing to plump up some pretty thin innuendo in their eagerness. After all, Alex Rodriguez hitting 52+ bombs to lead the Yankees to the playoffs is a good story, but A-Rod hitting 52+ bombs and then getting exposed as a steroid cheat? That would be a great story.

Wow, that's an awfully negative ending to a post about a very good week.

Week/Month in Review: Arms Race

Week 22: August 27-September 2, 2007

Record for the Week: 4-3, 26 RS, 45 RA
Overall: 76-61, 2 games ahead of Seattle for the Wild Card

Breakdown:
Only a smattering of comments this week...

8/27 -- Yankees 0, Detroit 16
A perfectly humiliating end to a perfectly nightmarish series. Moose doesn't get the job done, again. Sean Henn is thrown to the wolves, again. Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, and Brandon Inge each have three hits. Another one for the list of worst defeats of the season.

8/28 -- Boston 3, Yankees 5
Johnny Damon haunts his former team...again. Andy Pettitte does a nice job, outpitching Daisuke Matsuzaka.

8/29 -- Boston 3, Yankees 4

8/30 -- Boston 0, Yankees 5

8/31 -- Tampa Bay 9, Yankees 1
The Yanks have a fine time against Boston's top three starters earlier in the week, but have not traction whatsoever against Andy Sonnanstine. Sonnanstine, who had a 6.38 ERA coming into this start, threw eight two-hit innings at the Bombers. Carlos Pena, still sore that he didn't get a shot with the club last year, bashed a couple of homers.

9/1 -- Tampa Bay 6, Yankees 9

9/2 -- Tampa Bay 8, Yankees 2
First Sonnanstine, now Jason Hammel (7.44 ERA coming into this start) restrains the Yankee lineup. Pena smacks another homer. Sour way to end the week.

Player of the Week: This week, Chien Ming Wang gets the honors, with his seven one-hit innings against the Sox. Roger Clemens and Ian Kennedy are the runners-up, and Alex Rodriguez (team-leading 6 RBI, .333/.440/.667) and Derek Jeter (.360/.429/.520) were the offensive standouts.

Dregs of the Week: Plenty of blame to go around this week. The offense was anemic this week, so I guess credit should go to the worst performer that way, Jason Giambi (.118/.118/.176 in 17 PA), although Hideki Matsui (.160/.222/.240) and Johnny Damon (.167/.200/.292) helped. On the pitching side, we're tired of talking about Mike Mussina, and Sean Henn is hardly fair sport. So maybe now's the time to ask: when do we start worrying about Phil Hughes (5 run in 4 1/3 innings against Tampa Bay). He hasn't had a good start since beating Cleveland on the tenth, his fastball isn't what's been advertised, and his control is spotty. I comforted my Brother J with the memory that many great pitchers, like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, fairly sucked their rookie years, despite being highly-touted prospects. However, both of those guys had the luxury of being bad on team who weren't in contention. Every start this month will likely be vital--there's no room for a learning curve. Another Rookie hurler that had me concerned this week was Edwar Ramirez. Edwar's given up 5 gopher balls in 12 innings this season, so he, too is missing a big opportunity.

Story of the Week: It was all about the starting rotations this week. Mike Mussina started the week by surrendering his roster spot, in what became one of the more humiliating games in a season full of humbling experiences. From Tuesday through Thursday, the top three starters showed their potential by holding the Red Sox to six runs over a three-game series. On Saturday, Mussina's replacement, Ian Kennedy, pitched beautifully in his major league debut--three runs over seven innings--to earn himself a second start. That evening, the Red Sox rookie starter, Clay Buchholz, no-hit the Orioles. And then the week ended on a worrisome note, with Roger Clemens admitting to several injury concerns, including (gulp!) a sore pitching elbow.

While the starters grabbed the headlines, the subtext was that the Yankee bullpen and offense languished this week. Luis Vizcaino got roughed up by the Devil Rays on Saturday, Kyle Farnsworth only pitched once all week, and got beat down that time. Chris Britton, Edwar Ramirez, Brian Bruney, and the sacrificial lefty, Sean Henn, all took some heavy hits. On offense, the Yankees combined to hit .235/.302/.372 for the week, roughly as good as Brandon Inge or Julio Lugo. With the team directly behind them for the Wild Card coming into the Stadium, they can't afford to continue that route.

August in Review

Record for the Month: 18-11, 178 RS, 167 RA

Player of the Month: Andy Pettitte was Mr. August, winning all six of his starts for the month with a 2.36 ERA. Joba Chamberlain deserves some share of these honors, with 11 1/3 shutout innings that have made him the #2 man in the bullpen. Alex Rodriguez hit .330/.424/.620 with 9 homers, 9 steals, 22 RBI--just a plain old monster. Among the honorable mentions, Bobby Abreu had a good month, 324410559 with 6 homers, and Robinson Cano experienced a power surge, hitting 7 homers in a .301/.385/.583 month. Probably the most impressive part of that was the 12 walks he drew in August.\

Dregs of the Month: Sean Henn (18 runs, 16 of them earned, in 9 1/3 August innings) might have had the worst month by a Yankee reliever in a very long time, but then he was put into situations almost guaranteed to shatter his confidence. Mike Mussina managed to shatter management's confidence in him, averaging more than a run an inning and only 4 2/3 innings per start in August. He left the brass little choice but to pull him from the rotation. The Yankees' DFA of Mike Myers made Ron Villone the primary lefty in the pen, and even before he got hurt on August 21 against the Angels, he wasn't pitching very impressively (5 ER in 10 2/3 August innings); after tweaking his back he walked three guys and allowed four runs. And, as mentioned in the Week section, Phil Hughes had a month to forget, with a 6.40 ERA in 32 1/3 August innings. Hughes' strikeout rate remains promising (8.07 K/9 for the month) but the six homers he allowed in August weren't.

Week in Review: Ouch!

Week 21: August 20-26, 2007

Record for the Week: 2-4, 40 RS, 43 RA
Overall: 72-58, 2 games back of Seattle for the Wild Card

The Rundown:
All right...let's bring the pain--

8/20 -- Yankees 6, Angels 7
We should really keep track of the worst losses of the season. Looking back at the stats, it's easy to spot bad margins of defeat, like week 20's 12-0 pounding from the O's; it's a little harder to remember the ones that were just painful, like this. Two comebacks, an exhausted bullpen, an extra inning loss--and since it's California time, you get to wait up all night for the pain!

8/21 -- Yankees 9, Angels 18
I'd say this was a lot easier to take, except it wasn't, really. At least there was the comfort of knowing that the starting pitcher never gave you a decent chance at the win--Mike Mussina pitched like someone who doesn't belong in the majors. That doesn't mean that he can't hack it in the big leagues anymore, it just means that he can't hack it right now--since the All Star Break he's got a 6.33 ERA. He's got to turn it around soon, because this is killing his team.

8/22 -- Yankees 8, Angels 2
Great job by Andy Pettitte, stopping the bleeding in Anaheim. Matsui, Posada and Cano each had three hits, Bobby Abreu went yard.

8/24 -- Yankees 6, Detroit 9
As I said Friday morning, didn't we already see this game on Monday night? Trying to decide which is more painful between that loss and this one is like deciding between a punch to the kidney or one to the solar plexus. (I say this from a pain standpoint only, obviously. You're much less likely to suffer permanent damage from the gut punch than the shot to the kidney.) Thanks to the four-hour rain delay, they even played the game on Pacific time--that should have been an advantage for the Yankees, right?

8/25 -- Yankees 7, Detroit 2
Chien Ming Wang takes the team on his broad shoulders, and Johnny Damon (homer, triple) and Melky Cabrera (bases-clearing triple that broke the game open) did some damage on offense. Nice.

8/26 -- Yankees 4, Detroit 5
You ever experience the announcer's jinx? The first time I did was in 1988, I was listening to the game on the radio, and the announcers (I'm ashamed to admit I can't recall off the top of my head who the voices were) were going on and on about Cal Ripken's home run drought. Hadn't hit a homer since May something, which was more than a month past. And while they were running this topic into the ground, Ripken slams a homer (I want to say it was a three-run shot, but I'm not going to retrosheet this). You could just hear it coming. On Friday, when the rain delay finally ended, Michael Kay couldn't shut up about how poorly Curtis Granderson was hitting, what a slump he was in. You knew nothing good could come from this. He beat the stuffing out of the team on Friday, with four hits, then greeted Phil Hughes with an inside the park homer to start Sunday's game. Of course!

Player of the Week: Alex Rodriguez hit four homers and collected 8 RBI in a .333/.448/.833 week. The homers all came in Yankee losses, which might re-ignite the "unclutch" claims, until you look at the fact that those homers on Monday and Friday brought the team pretty close to victory. Hideki Matsui spent July looking like A-Rod, with all the homers, but he's shifted into being Ichiro Suzuki in August, the prodigious hitter of singles. He hit .440/.517/.600 for the week. Both men are runners up to the big men of the week, Andy Pettitte (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) and Chien Ming Wang (8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K) whose extreme competence saved the Yanks from completely flushing this road trip down the toilet (Mike Mussina's start tonight will go a long way in determining how bad the flush-job is). An additional honorable mention has to go out to Kyle Farnsworth (3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K), who seems to be doing his best to quit the sucking habit...one day at a time.

Dregs of the Week: Speaking of sucking...there was a lot of that to go around this week, particularly on the pitching staff. Mike Mussina's start was the obvious dregs (7 R in 1 2/3), but Sean Henn also took a couple of extra-innings beatdowns, with a crappy long-relief whipping in Tuesday's blowout in between. Why did Mike Myers walk the plank again? To make room on the roster for Jim Brower?

Let's not get bogged down, though. The Rocket (10.80 ERA in 5 IP) and Phil Franchise (7.30 ERA in 12 1/3 IP) also disappointed this week, as did Melky Cabrera (.240/.296/.320) and Robinson Cano. (.208/.240/.333). On the part-timer front, Jason Giambi and Wilson Betemit combined for a 3 for 23 performance, but made up for a bit since two of those hits were homers.

Story of the Week: We knew a hard week was coming, but this team really played down to expectations. Other teams in the AL have passed the Yanks in the bad one-run record race, but with another two one-run losses (and Friday's game would have added to that tally had Carlos Guillen's fly not left the yard) this week, the Yanks stand 11-17. The only other AL contender under .500 in this measure is Boston--they're 18-19.

Time's running out to hope that things will balance out. The Yanks are lucky that the Mariners dropped a couple against Texas over the weekend, or else all the warning lights would be flashing. Two games out of the Wild Card with a month to go is still being alive in my book. There's a must-win game behind a stone-cold Mike Mussina tonight, and then the Red Sox come into Yankee Stadium knowing that they will still lead the AL East on Friday morning, and with the distinct possibility that they can end any contest for the division right here. For their part, the Yankees have to focus on white-knuckled survival. Maybe they could also find a way to use Joba Chamberlain more than two innings this week.

Week In Review: The Joba Rules, Part II

Continuing with our look at week 20 of the 2007 season...

Player of the Week: The player of the week is the Sweet Tooth, Bobby Abreu (.375/.464/.750 3 HR) bracketed on offense by a bunch of guys trying to justify their playing time for the new regime--Jason Giambi (.294/.333/.706 in 18 PA), Johnny Damon (.357/.438/.643 in 16 PA), Andy Phillips (.375/.412/.438 in 17 PA) and Shelly Duncan (homer, single and a walk in 8 PA) all trying to make arguments for time rotating through the DH/1B/corner outfield spots. Unlike last year, when the return of Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield made for an uncomfortable roster crunch, this time the surplus is made more comfortable by the fact that most of the guys involved aren't stars. I didn't believe it would happen, but Joe Torre has seemed to embrace his roster's flexibility. On the pitching side, Andy Pettitte's Friday start against the Tigers was sterling, and Edwar Ramirez (no runs and only 1 hit in 4 1/3, and 6 strikeouts) and Joba Chamberlain (3 IP, 5 K , 1 H) have staked claims to bullpen roles...and in Joba's case, more than that.

Dregs of the Week: Derek Jeter got a day off on Sunday, and with good reason--he was having a week to forget (.167/.231/.167). A lot of Yankee bats (Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Jorge Posada) were pretty cold for the week, too. The week's worst pitching performance was by Jeff Karstens (3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 1 K 1 HR)--who somehow, is starting to physically resemble Kei Igawa. Who knew that Igawa was contagious? Dishonorable mention goes out to the Sandman, with one blown save and one out-and-out loss for the week. As always, when Mariano falters, there are questions about his elbow, old age, all sorts of stuff. Those questions have been met with blanket denials--but it was around this time last year, that the Yanks started resting Rivera in anticipation of shutting him down the first three weeks of September.

Of course, the Pinstripers had the luxury of resting their closer, since this time last year the Yankees were leading the division by five and a half games. This year, there's no such cushion, and accordingly, we've got to be a little skeptical when told that everything's A-OK in Never-Never Land. Looked back to being himself on Saturday, though.

Story of the Week: As per the title, I was going to talk about the special rules for using Joba Chamberlain in this space, but I think I'll leave that for a little bit later, and talk a little bit about what this past week, and the stretch of contenders that the Yanks are facing this month, means for this ballclub.

This has been the most uncomfortable Yankee season in years. "Uncomfortable" sounds negative, but in a strange way, I have to say I don't mind. I'm not with the folks that trot out the "entitled" cliche as a description of Yankee fans--I don't think the description quite fits, and it's a bit lazy. The adjective I'd go for is complacent.

"Complacent" is a strange word to use for a crowd to whom anything less than a World Series victory is considered inadequate, but complacency implies more than a lack of ambition--it also implies self-satisfaction and an unconcerned manner, two trends I've found myself associating with Yankee fandom over the past few years (including, sometimes, my own). The easy first place finishes this team has collected in recent seasons, have often found us in a zone of complete comfort, an easy attitude of "they'll come around" when the team plays badly. Sure, you always have the yahoos screaming on WFAN about how the Yankees need to pick up Johan Santana (as if Johan Santana is the kind of player you just...pick up), need to get Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from Florida (neither would do, individually, it's gotta be both). But more common than that is the attitude that the Yanks obviously have had great teams with superstar players, and if they just live up to expectations, winning will be easy.

Well, the 2007 edition isn't a great Yankee team, and this hasn't been an easy season. And in large part, because of that...it's been really exciting. There's always been the risk that this team will be swept by the Orioles (as they very nearly were last week) or the Devil Rays, or that the teams ahead of the Yankees won't open the door to give the Bombers a shot at the playoffs. Somehow, the Yanks became the first underdogs ever with a $200 million payroll.

That's part of the reason that Yankee fans' reaction to Joba Chamberlain has been so irrationally overwhelming (as Brother Joe notes in his column today). Sure, the arrival of any highly-touted Yankee prospect is a big deal, but this isn't the usual situation where the new arrival can be hidden in the #5 rotation spot, or the #9 lineup slot. With Scott Proctor gone, Rivera suddenly mortal, and Kyle Farnsworth about as reliable as Britney Spears, this bullpen needed front-line help. The promise of front-line help where it's needed is what drives fans to start chanting your name before you have ten major league innings pitched. I can't even imagine such a thing happening in any of the previous seven or eight years.

The Yanks have played themselves into the playoff picture, but there is no comfort, no easy feeling that they're destined to win. They managed to beat down on the AL Central contenders over the past ten or so days (wrapped around yet another series loss to the Birds), and are now on the most challenging stretch remaining in the season--off for three games at Rodent Park in Los Angeles of Anaheim, then off to Motown for four more against Detroit, then back to Yankee Stadium to meet the AL East leaders, all without an off-day. This team could just as easily win six of the next games as lose six of eight, and the difference could have huge implications on that three game set against Boston to end the month.

Not comfortable at all, but pretty darn thrilling anyway.

Week In Review: The Joba Rules, Part I

I'm splitting this entry in two, with the awards to follow--hopefully in time before the start of tonight's West Coast tilt.

Week 20: August 13-19, 2007

Record for the Week: 4-3, 35 RS, 38 RA
Overall: 70-54, 0.5 games behind Seattle for the Wild Card

The Rundown:

8/13 -- Baltimore 6, Yankees 7
Staked to a 5-3 lead in the fourth, Wang keeps the game close , giving up five runs in six-plus innings work, and opening the door for Mariano Rivera's second straight shaky outing. Luckily, with the game tied in the ninth, Melky Cabrera was brought around by Derek Jeter's walk-off fielder's choice. Before the ninth inning comeback, Bobby Abreu and Wilson Betemit hit homers, and Joba Chamberlain made his Yankee Stadium debut.

8/14 -- Baltimore 12, Yankees 0
Aubrey Huff and the O's smoke emergency starter Jeff Karstens like a Cuban cigar, and smack Jim Brower around so hard he woke up in AAA. Neither of the Yanks' two hits manage to plate any of the 9 guys the Orioles walked. Bad show, all around.

8/15 -- Baltimore 6, Yankees 3
Another disappointing Hughes start at the Stadium, this one larded down with bad defensive play. Another dramatic ninth inning comeback, this time courtesy of Matthew Lilla--er, I mean Shelly Duncan. Another bad outing by Rivera. Mariano's first batter hit the ball 385 feet and missed a homer by about a foot and a half, his second batter, Miguel Tejada, hit a liner over Hideki Matsui's head, and his fourth batter, Huff, jacked a two-run shot. Our second full-blown Mariano Panic of the season kicks into gear, as the Sandman's cutter goes blunt for a third straight appearance.

8/16 -- Detroit 8, Yankees 5
Bad Mike Mussina shows up early, giving up a Grand Slam to Carlos Guillen. Even when Good Mike showed up belatedly, he wasn't all that good. It's a shame, because the Yanks worked Justin Verlander as well as could be imagined, getting him to 119 pitches and out of the game in the sixth inning.

8/17 -- Detroit 1, Yankees 6
This was like turn back the clock night--close your eyes, and the sound of Giambi bashing two homers homers and Pettitte stifling a good offense for eight innings would bring you back to 2002. In 2002, however, Joba Chamberlain was still in high school, and couldn't have been imagining that within five years, fifty thousand people at Yankee Stadium would be chanting his name for the entire length of his appearance.

8/18 -- Detroit 2, Yankees 5
Roger Clemens, who's old enough to be Phil Hughes' dad, got his strikeout mojo back, whiffing eight through six, but was also hittable, allowing ten safeties, including Tigers' phenom Cameron Maybin's first major league homer. Clemens was pitching off ten days' rest after the Canadian Beanball Wars, which may have been both a help and a hindrance. Also coming off a bit of rest was Mariano Rivera, who looked his normal self in the ninth.

8/19 -- Detroit 3, Yankees 9
Wilson Betemit looked bad in his first three at bats, then heroic in his last two, providing the four RBI that broke open the game in the seventh and eighth innings. Before that, forgotten man Johnny Damon hit an upper-deck shot to remind everyone he's still on the team. The Tigers kept it close at the beginning through aggression on the basepaths--running on Damon's stringbean arm and Wang's poor move. Wang, in particular, looked rattled by the baserunners scrambling around on him, but he gutted it out to complete six innings for the win.

Week in Review: Like Max Rockatansky...

Week 19: August 6-12, 2007

Record for the Week: 5-1, 40 RS, 27 RA
Overall: 66-51, virtually even (OK, .001 behind, one game in the loss column) with Seattle for the Wild Card

The Rundown:

08/06 -- Yankees 5, Toronto 4
Melky Cabrera tops a 3 hit game with a triple. By the end of the week, the Yanks have collected 23 triples on the year, more than they've had in any year of the 21st century. Most years, the Yanks have finished dead last in this category. This year the Yanks have two players, Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano in the top ten in the league (technically, top 12, because there's a five-way tie for seventh place).

08/07 -- Yankees 9, Toronto 2
The Wrath of the Mighty Blue Jays: A Play in Three Acts
AGGRIEVED PARTY: You have done me a mortal offense! You just wait 'til I see you again, in two months! You're gonna get it, eh!
OFFENDING PARTY: Two months? But we're seeing each other again in like, six, seven weeks. In New York, remember? Why don't you take your vengeance then?
AP: Nay! When we meet in New York, I shall be completely civil. I'll wait two additional weeks, until we're back here in Canadia, to have at thee, ruffian!
OP: Dude, if you're so damned offended, what are you waiting for? Don't worry, it's not like the crowd at Yankee Stadium is gonna jump you or anything. They've got all sorts of security there these days.
AP: Nay, I said! I am now honor-bound to see you in New York, act perfectly civil, drop three out of four games, then meet you again in August, when you shall learn that indeed, revenge is a dish best served cold...
OP: It's gonna be August. That's pretty warm, even in Canada.
***
So that's what revenge, Canadian style looks like. I'd say it was impressive, if throwing fastballs at a guy's knee weren't so chippy, and if former Yankee coach Brian Butterfield didn't then cry like a broad watching the English Patient over a couple of hard slides at second base. Whatever. Nice pitching performance by Roger Clemens, who gets the suspension that the Blue Jays pitchers--who spent two days trying to plunk A-Rod--somehow missed. Venal stupidity obscures Joba Chamberlain's big league debut, Abreu's four RBI.

08/08 -- Yankees 4, Toronto 15
So the Blue Jays' nefarious plan after the infamous "Ha!" Game was not only to hit Alex Rodriguez in the leg, but to drop five out of their next seven games against the Bronx Bombers...but win the two series finales, so as to tease the Yankees with, then deny them, the possibility of the sweep. Well played, sirs! Chien Ming Wang has his worst start, like, ever; Robbie Cano takes Halladay yard twice, which would be more impressive if the Yanks hadn't been down 14-3 by the time he hit that second homer.

08/10 -- Yankees 6, Cleveland 1
The kids are all right. Philip Hughes to Joba Chamberlain to Mariano Rivera is a nice thing to see on the pitcher's linescore, and it worked like a beauty on Friday night. A-Rod homered and Derek Jeter had three hits.

08/11 -- Yankees 11, Cleveland 2
The Indians scored off Mike Mussina in the first, then allowed ten unanswered Yankees runs, including two homers by Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi's first homer since May 29...when the Yankees were in Toronto! (It all ties together!)

08/12 -- Yankees 5, Cleveland 3
Andy Pettitte throws a nice start, manages to pick a guy off first base with the bases loaded, and gets treated to some excitement in the end courtesy of Mariano Rivera, who puts the tying run in scoring position before striking out his last two batters to end the threat. Jason Giambi hits another homer, and just to make Joe Torre's life difficult, Melky Cabrera raps another couple of hits to keep over .300.

Player of the Week: Crowded house. Robinson Cano (.439/.528/.810, 2 HR), Alex Rodriguez (.353/.500/.882, 3 HR), and Welcome Back Jason! Giambi (.400/.400/1.000 2 HR) all deserve consideration, but it's Melky Cabrera (.440/.423/.800 with two triples) that gets this week's prize. Strong starts by Mussina, Clemens, and Hughes earn them honorable mentions.

Dregs of the Week: Awful week for Andy Phillips (.158/.190/.158), particularly since with Giambi back in the saddle, he's gotta produce. But his bad week takes a back seat to the horror that was Wang's wednesday appearance. That was uglier than ugly: 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, in 2 2/3 innings. Gotta get those bad starts out of your system, I guess. Wang was fooling no one.

Story of the Week: We'll come back with the story in a bit.

Week in Review: Healthy Homestand

Week 18: July 30-August 5, 2007

Record for the Week: 5-1, 64 RS, 31 RA
Overall: 61-50, 1/2 game behind Detroit for the Wild Card

The Rundown:

7/31 -- White Sox 3, Yankees 16
When the White Sox had their amazing year in 2005, the most shocking thing about it was Jose Contreras suddenly turning into a stud pitcher, perhaps even the ace of their staff. It's like he decided, "Wow, I made it out of Yankee Stadium with the Yankees' money. Time not to suck anymore!" So seeing him get shelled by the Bombers in the Bronx was not just a welcome sight, it was like a restoration of the natural order of things.

8/1 -- White Sox 1, Yankees 8
Quietly, Andy Pettitte's thrown four straight quality starts, after a suspect stretch in late June/early July. Over the first two games of the White Sox series, the Yanks had 13 home runs.

8/2 -- White Sox 13, Yankees 9
The requisite letdown game. The Yankee bats remained potent, Wilson Betemit went yard in his first Yankee at-bat, but sadly, Roger Clemens was throwing batting practice. He allowed an eight spot in the second inning and had to be relieved with two outs. Bad, bad, ugly loss.

8/3 -- Kansas City 1, Yankees 7
How popular is Chien Ming Wang in Taiwan? Recently a Taiwanese presidential candidate visited the Stadium, and wanted to meet Wang, have a photo op, that kind of thing. Apparently, Wang wouldn't meet the guy--nothing personal, he just didn't want to influence the results of the election!

8/4 -- Kansas City 8, Yankees 16
There'd been a moment in late in Thursday night's game when one of the Royals' relievers started off Alex Rodriguez with a fastball down and in--the perfect pitch for Alex to drive--which he took for a strike. With two on in the first inning of Saturday's game, I saw KC's catcher setting up on the inside corner, and announced "here it comes" to my wife, just before Rodriguez crushed his 500th homer. There was a brief, shining moment of well-being in the Yankee fan community--the 500 homer monkey was off Alex's back, Phil Hughes was back on the mound and looking good, everything was right with the world. Reality ultimately intruded--Hughes got roughed up and didn't make it through five, the Yanks had to scramble to put up another football score for the win--but it was a nice moment.


8/5 -- Kansas City 5, Yankees 8
Hideki Matsui hits a milestone--he's only 400 homers behind Rodriguez in his MLB career--and Bobby Abreu has his fourth three-hit game of the week.

Player of the Week: Bobby Abreu went nuts on the White Sox and Royals, to the tune of .600/.667/1.050 with 3 HR and 9 RBI. Robinson Cano hit .478/.556/1.087, also with three homers and nine RBI. Jorge Posada hit .444/.575/1.111 with three homers, and also homering three times was Hideki Matsui (.348/.407/.783). In addition to that, Chien Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina all had good starts.

Dregs of the Week: Clemens, easy. You want more? Mike Myers managed to convince Joe Torre that the team doesn't need a LOOGY anymore, and Kyle Farnsworth has gotten to the point where I'm starting to wonder if he's intentionally doing poorly, just out of spite. Farnsworth's driving me crazy...I don't even enjoy hating him anymore.

Here's an idea. Let's all pretend we don't hate him anymore. Stop booing the second he warms up. Be supportive of the big lug. We seem to be stuck with him, and wishing a horrific demise upon him hasn't been working for us Yankee fans. So how about a 180 degrees different approach, a group hug-type thing? I'll try it:

Hang in there Kyle! We got ya back!

God, that felt unnatural. But sometimes you gotta take one for the team.

Story of the Week: Slowly this team is turning into what was expected--and just in time, because after this week's series in Toronto, things get tough--three games against AL Central leading Cleveland, then home for three against Baltimore, then a nightmare stretch with four at home against Wild Card leader Detroit, then out to Los Angeles of Anaheim for three against the hated Angels, then to Detroit for four more games, then back to the Bronx to play three against the Red Sox. That stretch right there is the crucible of this season, where the whole thing will fly or founder, to mix metaphors. The season won't be finished , by any means, but it's likely that the Yankees will only have six games against contenders in September.

So August would, notionally, be harder.

The team is drawing pretty close to full strength. Phil Hughes is back--had a tough start, but I'm not down on him. Joba's due this week, and Giambi might be back by the end of the week. One Yankee who won't be with this team is Mike Myers, who was waived to make room for Jim Brower, of all people. I got an email from Joe Sheehan on this when it was announced that gave me pause:

I hate the seven-man bullpen, but what the hell? Myers not only does the LOOGY thing as well as anyone alive, but he'd taken on the role of mop-up man without bitching.

If they actually made this move because of a short-term blip in his LHB BA against, they're all idiots.

Mike Myers has faced appx. 82 LHBs and struck out 18 of them, walking nine and allowing one HR.

Ron Villone has faced appx. 48 LHBs and struck out THREE of them, walking three and allowing two HR.

Sean Henn (demoted Saturday) has faced appx. 44 LHBs and struck out FIVE of them, walking four and allowing one HR.

Now, Joe's absolutely right--if you're going to keep one of the team's lefthanders, between Myers, Henn and Villone, I don't see where Villone is the pick. Unlike Myers, Villone isn't really a lefty-killing type lefty--his delivery doesn't contain a lot of deception--he has a worse track record than Myers, he was a guy who couldn't find a job with another club in Spring Training...it just doesn't make sense. Meanwhile, Myers' problems with lefthanders come down to a .390 BABIP, which is frequently stathead shorthand for "bad luck." Myers has been DFA'd, which means there's a chance that the Yankees will be able to deal him rather than just releasing him; you'd have to think that a number of contenders looking for a LOOGY would be interested.

Maybe they get some value for him. But honestly, this looks like a huge waste. The only counterpoint in the Yanks favor has been that Myers' 2.50 ERA aside, he hasn't looked good against lefties--they look like they've been hitting him pretty squarely. The fact that Myers has been more effective against righthanders than lefthanders as a Yankee is actually a strike against him, as a guy who was brought on to be the Yankees' LOOGY. He never really had a chance for a larger role like Mike Stanton played back in the day.

Hopefully, the electronic "ink" I've spilled just now about this guy will far outweigh the contribution Myers would have made down the stretch and in the playoffs, even under the best of circumstances.

Week In Review: 499

Week 17: July 23-29, 2007

Record for the Week: 4-3*, 42 RS, 31 RA
(*5-3 if you count the completion of the June 28 game with the O's)
Overall: 56-49, 4 games behind Cleveland for the Wild Card

Once again, we're skipping the Breakdown, just this time it's because I didn't get to watch as much baseball as I would have liked last week.

Player of the Week: In a week where the pitching wasn't terribly exceptional, the prizes go to hitters. Hideki Matsui (.296/.364/.519) and Robinson Cano (.407/.452/.556) have been on fire all month. Jorge Posada (.333/.417/.571) gets extra credit for getting into it with Kyle Farnsworth this week. But the winner is Melky Cabrera (.385/.419/.692), who's doing a lot to justify the considerable faith put in him this season. There have been times when he looked like he needed to go back down, and he's still inconsistent enough that next week could be one of those times. But for right now, he's the player of the week.

Dregs of the Week: As mentioned before, we have Kyle Farnsworth (1 HR, 2 runs, and 1 catcher argument in trying to blow Sunday's game)--you can't live with him, you can't shoot him and bury him in the back yard. But then we also have Scranton-bound Kei Igawa (5 runs in 5 2/3) who's a befuddling mix of strikeout stuff and tateriffic hittableness. And Shelley Duncan (1 for 8 on the week with a walk) went from the highs to the lows, showing that even a three homer weekend doesn't guarantee a rookie playing time in Joe Torre's world. I'm not sure if that's bad or good.

Story of the Week: The chase for Alex Rodriguez's homer number 500 is the sort of thing that's bound to take on a life of its own. A-Rod reached 499 last Wednesday, against the Royals, raised the possibility of his 500th homer being caught in a time warp if he went yard in the Yankees' two-inning mini-game to complete the Yanks/Orioles' June 28th matchup, which was suspended due to rain under the new MLB rules.

By Saturday, however, the story was about how Rodriguez was pressing for #500, conveniently feeding into the "Rodriguez is a sensitive guy who folds under pressure" meme that's been so popular in previous years. People who want to put that one out there can point at Rodriguez's .123 batting average last week. This forgets that the O's steadfastly refused to give him anything in the strike zone--with their own fans sounding disappointed every time Rodriguez didn't hit a homer, the Birds walked Alex five times over the three regular games of the weekend series.

This isn't to say that Alex isn't feeling the pressure. It's hard to try to go out and hit a homer, and I'd bet it's harder still when everyone is expecting you to hit one on...this at bat. But give the guy a break--the O's obviously wanted no part of an A-Rod ESPN highlight this weekend.

(From a more cynical perspective, you could also note that keeping the "will he or won't he" excitement for homer #500 going through the weekend could possibly have helped the O's at the turnstiles. Does Baltimore draw a capacity crowd on Saturday and Sunday if Rodriguez hits #500 on Friday? Maybe, maybe not.)

Back with the Month in Review on Thursday.

Week in Review: Three Two Three

Week 16: July 16-22, 2007

Record for the Week: 6-2, 66 RS, 36 RA
Overall: 51-46, 6.5 games behind Cleveland, 3rd place for the Wild Card

The Breakdown:

7/16 -- Toronto 4, Yankees 6
Kei Igawa allowed 3 runs in 5 innings off 11 baserunners and two homers, and was still in line for the win until Scott Proctor blew it for him.

7/17 -- Toronto 2, Yankees 3
Andy Pettitte was masterful, Kyle Farnsworth was a no-pickoff-move-havin' punk, and Blue Jays closer Jeremy Accardo balked in the tying run. Lesson learned: Miguel Cairo isn't fast anymore, but he's one of the best guys at catching on when a pitcher isn't paying attention to him on the basepaths. He's stolen 21 bases and only been caught twice over the last two years, and his ninth-inning steal of second against Accardo (on what looked like a busted hit-and-run) helped discombobulate the young closer.

7/18 -- Toronto 1, Yankees 6
Roger Clemens gutted his way through six nine-hit innings, although he didn't figure in the decision with the Yankees getting their runs late. Again, the strikeout rate on the Rocket was low, three whiffs for the game. Lesson learned: The Yankees' two hottest hitters in July, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano, both went yard along with Alex Rodriguez, to finally give the Rocket the kind of artillery he thought he'd get when he signed up with the Yanks in May.

7/19 -- Toronto 3, Yankees 2
Once again, the Yankees have nothing against Dustan McGowan. It looked like they were well-positioned for the sweep when they scored a couple of runs in the first, but after that, the offense faltered, and then Chien Ming Wang stumbled in the seventh, giving up three runs keyed by an Aaron Hill triple that got past Melky Cabrera. Lesson learned: The Yanks aren't good in these get-away day games, even if they're not the ones travelling. Overall the team's 16-20 in the daylight.

7/20 -- Tampa Bay 14, Yankees 4
Back-to-back losses tend to trigger the "here we go again" reflex in Yankee fans. Edwar Ramirez's first appearance in two weeks is a disaster--he walks the bases loaded and then allows a grand slam to former Yankee farmhand Dioner Navarro. He's sent down on Saturday (which was the plan before he even took the mound Friday night). Lesson learned: If performances like this (4 2/3, 7 H 3 BB 5K 6 ER) is what the pitcher/personal catcher relationship between Mike Mussina and Wil Nieves nets the Yanks, then what use is it? Mussina's got a near-Hall of Fame track record and a seven-figure contract keeping him on the team. Wil Nieves? Not so much so.

7/21 -- Tampa Bay 3, Yankees 7
Kei Igawa doesn't set the afternoon on fire, but doesn't give up runs on anything but a couple of Igawa Specials--that's what we're calling solo homers now. Sadly, the five innings he pitched wasn't enough to get him the win. Andy Phillips had another timely hit in the Yanks 5 run 6th inning barrage. Lesson learned: Shelly Duncan's actual name is David Duncan--just like his dad, the Cards' pitching coach. Shelly's his middle name. Oh, and when he gets a hold of one, he hits it far--his two-run homer capped off scoring in the sixth.

7/21 -- Tampa Bay 5, Yankees 17
Matt DeSalvo didn't change anyone's worldview--the 4 runs he allowed in 4 2/3 innings made the Yankees' lead slightly uncomfortable, up until the Bombers cracked the game open with back-to-back 5 run innings in the 6th and 7th. Lessons learned: An entire generation who might be unfamiliar with their work got a big reminder that Jay Witasick couldn't pitch in New York, and Al Reyes could. Of course, by the time Al took the mound, it was already 17-5, in large part thanks to Jay.

7/22 -- Tampa Bay 4, Yankees 21
There was actually a moment in this game when someone--I think it might have been the Voice of Reason, Michael Kay--actually said words to the effect of, "This isn't fun anymore." Over two days, they'd eventually see the Devil Rays pitching staff allow 45 runs--that's 15 runs per game. Shelly Duncan hit two homers. Alex Rodriguez got his 34th homer, Hideki Matsui got five hits...it was unreal. Lesson learned: A ten-run inning takes a long time.

Player of the Week: With all the runs scored, it's easy to lose track of the pitchers this week. Andy Pettitte had two fine starts, and a 2.77 ERA for the week, Luis Vizcaino threw 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, Mariano Rivera pitched in 3 2/3 of his own, with 5 whiffs. Sharing the honors with Pettitte is Robinson Cano, who hit .500 for the week (actually, .500/.528/.765) with two homers a double, a triple, and eight RBI. Righ behind him are Hideki Matsui (.400/.432/.743 and 4 HR), Shelley Duncan (3 HR in 14 PA this weekend), and Alex Rodriguez (.346/471/.808 with 3 HR and 12 RBI). Nice friggin week.

Dregs of the Week: The only hitter who really didn't have it going on this week was Johnny Damon (.167/.333/.292). He gets to share the stage with Mike Mussina's 11.57 ERA this week, and the footnotes go to Brian Bruney (4 ER on 4 H and 3 BB in 2 1/3--no strikeouts) and Scott Proctor (9 hits allowed in 4 2/3, 3 HR this week), for some undistinguished accomplishments in relief.

Story of the Week: The team fights back from the precipice, finishing up strong against the Rays after an awful series opener, and seems to make a statement that they consider themselves buyers for the next week, picking up the Lesser Molina, Jose, from the LA Angels of Anaheim (of USA, of Earth, of Milky Way). I heard (actually, read--I've taken to watching Yankee games with the volume off and closed captioning on) about the trade just as Wil Nieves, the outgoing backup catcher, was hitting his second double of the game, in what might have been the best offensive day of his major league career. Too little, too late. Molina's not a worldbeater, by any means (the Halos wouldn't be surrendering him if he was) but its's a marginal improvement over what the team had. Marginal improvements are what the Yanks should be in the market for, right now. Molina's a low-average, no-walks-type with a bit of pop. The big positive is his defense, which should be a touch up on what the Yanks were getting from Nieves...or from any other backup they've had for a number of years.

Another refreshing improvement was Shelley Duncan, finally added to a team that's been vulnerable to any southpaw takes the mound against them. I'm not too optimistic about his long-term prospects. Shelley's a minor league vet, and he looked like Pedro Serrano on a couple of breaking pitches this weekend. But still, he's a big guy (technically, somewhere between a lug and a galoot) and the power is something he's been flashing in the minors for the last couple of years. So for his sake, I hope he enjoys it while it lasts, and for the Yanks' sake, I hope it lasts a while. Likewise, I hope that Andy Phillips keeps it up (.306/.352/.435 since seizing the first base job late last month)...although, again, I'm not holding my breath.

The Yankees get a week on the road, next, Kaufman Stadium and Camden Yards, two places where it's been a while since .500. By the time the Yanks open their next homestand, A-Rod may have hit his 500th career homer, we'll have found out if the team is going to bring in a big-ticket item on the trade market, and we'll have a much better idea of where this season's going. If ever, now's the time to keep the fires going.

Week In Review: 96 Hours in Tampa

Week 15: July 12-15, 2007

Record for the Week: 3-1, 24 RS, 19 RA
Overall: 45-44, 7 games behind Cleveland for the Wild Card, 4th in line

The Breakdown:
7/12 -- Yankees 7, Devil Rays 3
Solo homers from Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Bobby Abreu in the fourth inning power Andy Pettitte over Jamie Shields. Lesson learned: Bobby Abreu (3 hits, including the homer, 3 RBI) could be the key player of the second half. If he can hit like a star player again, The Yankee lineup can resemble the murderer's row we were expecting at the beginning of the season.

7/13-- Yankees 4, Devil Rays 6
The new, no-strikeout version of Roger Clemens gets smacked up for 5 runs in five innings, walking 4 and striking out 2; late homers by Matsui and Posada are too little, too late. Lesson learned: The Yankees suck against lefthanders, take 15--Scott Kasmir dominated while he was on the mound.

7/14-- Yankees 6, Devil Rays 4
Bobby Abreu returns to the #3 hole in the lineup, and celebrates with a homer and 5 RBI. Wang is sharp in seven innings of work. Lesson learned: While the Yanks were winning, the Rays were benefiting from the services of Carlos Pena(3 RBI, a homer and a double), whom the Yanks had in the minors last season. Pena has more homers (22) than anyone in the Yankee lineup, other than A-Rod. Lesson learned: You can find hitting talent at the first base side of the defensive spectrum, but you have to be dilligent. We'll see if the Yanks' gold-panning with Erubiel Durazo works out any better.

7/15-- Yankees 7, Devil Rays 6
Mike Mussina tried emulating Clemens's pitch-to-contact strategy (11 hits, 2 walks, and no Ks in 6 innings) courting disaster. It took some sweet hitting by Derek Jeter and Andy Phillips for the Yankees to pull out the series win. Lesson learned: Ron Villone entering a close ballgame? Bad idea.

Player of the Week: Bobby Abreu (.375/.375/.875) and Hideki Matsui (.333/.333/.778) share the honors. Each of the cornermen had two homers and two doubles in the way short week. Mariano Rivera gets an honorable mention with three scoreless innings and two saves; shoutout to Luis Vizcaino with three perfect appearances.

Dregs of the Week: Robinson Cano (.167/.214/.167) had four crappy games in Florida. Roger Clemens got beat down by the scrappy, speedy Rays for a dishonorable mention.

Story of the Week: There's a moment in the Princess Bride when our hero, Wesley, is recovering from being dead all day. He received a miracle cure, but he's still completely paralyzed from his ordeal, he and his friends are outnumbered 60-3, and he's only got a matter of minutes to figure out how to stop the marriage of his true love to his hated foe, Prince Humperdinck.

So when one of his companions excitedly notes that he's managed to shake his head all on his own, Wesley snaps back "You think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy, hmmm?"

The Yankees have been declared dead. With the Red Sox's hot start, the Indians and the Tigers playing leapfrog with the AL Central lead and the Wild Card, surprising success in Seattle and not-so-surprising success in Minnesota, much of the season has been spent planning the Bombers' funeral. Most area and national baseball writers have been rehearsing some sort of eulogy all year, just in case, y'know, someone asks them to speak.

But it turns out that the only baseball story that would be bigger than the Yankees' funeral, apparently, would be their miraculous resurrection. So it's become the popular dark-horse pick--if you don't mind mixed-metaphor oxymorons--for commentators to say that the Pinstripers might just get back in the race. "They could make some noise. They're still basically a sound team."

In other words, with apologies to Billy Crystal and William Goldman, "They're not dead, they're only mostly dead."

That may be the case. The Yanks could still transform themselves into the team we've been expecting all year. But even if they did, they're running out of time. If there were 100 games left in the season, I'd look at 7 games back of the Wild Card and think its doable. But the Yankees frittered away another 26 games treading water at .500.

So even if we're not going through the Yankees' double-knits for loose change (the only thing you can do with a ballclub if they're all dead), a bit of skepticism is called for. You think one little game over .500 is supposed to make me happy, hmmm?

Week In Review: At the Break

Week 14: July 2-8, 2007

Record for the Week: 5-2, 49 RS, 24 RA
Overall: 42-43, 8 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the Wild Card

The Breakdown:

7/2 -- Twins 1, Yankees 5
Roger Clemens two-hits the Twinkies over eight innings, and Bobby Abreu smacks a homer to start off the four-game series on a winning note. Lesson learned:

7/3 -- Twins 0, Yankees 8
Chien Ming Wang keeps the good pitching going, and Robbie Cano hits a homer to drop Minnesota again. Another sixth-inning barrage puts the game out of reach. Lesson learned: Edwar Ramirez has got a spastically great changeup, a Bugs Bunny-type deal that had the Twinkies talking to themselves in the ninth inning. Ramirez struck out the first three batters of his Major Leagu career.

7/4 -- Twins 6, Yankees 2
Jason Kubel put the Twins ahead with a two-run shot off Mike Mussina in the seventh inning. Johan Santana wins the pitching duel. Lesson learned: It might be a little unfair, but I'll ask--why is Moose pitching the seventh inning?

7/5 -- Twins 6, Yankees 7
Yanks do a little home run derby on Kevin Slowey in the second inning, but it's Hideki Matsui's homer off Pat Neshek that put the Yanks over the top. Lesson learned: Kei Igawa? Really not this team's savior. You knew that already, but I just wanted to say it again.

7/6 -- Angels 9, Yankees 14
The Yanks and Halos slug it out, as neither Bartolo Colon and Andy Pettitte can get it done, and the game is 9-9 after 5 1/2 innings. Alex Rodriguez's sixth inning two-run homer pushes things over the top. Lesson learned: Edwar Ramirez gets roughed up a little--it was bound to happen sooner or later.

7/7 -- Angels 2, Yankees 1
We covered this on Sunday: Old Timer Rock 'n' Roll. Lesson learned: Old Timers' Game outfielders play shallow. Oh, and it's good when the guys don't swing at a ton of pitches out of the strike zone.

7/8 -- Angels 0, Yankees 12
Wang, Mike Myers, Scott Proctor and Ron Villone team up on the shutout, and Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, and A-Rod all hit three run homers. Nice to get another series win, and nice to beat Ervin Santana, who's one of those players I dislike irrationally. Lesson learned: Three run homers help win ballgames. Duh.

Player of the Week: Chien Ming Wang threw 13 1/3 innings of shutout ball on the week, and won both his starts, which is usually all we'd ask of a Player of the Week. But Roger Clemens did Wang one better. Sure, he allowed runs (all two of 'em) and the Yanks lost one of his starts, but he pitched more innings (16) and allowed fewer baserunners (9) than Wang (15). That's the player of the week. Joining Wang among the honorable mentions are Scott Proctor (4 2/3 IP, three baserunners, seven strikeouts; Robinson Cano (.385/.429/.769, 3 HR), Hideki Matsui (.308/.438/.731, 3 HR), and Bobby Abreu (.500/.500/.727). And a very special shout-out to Andy Phillips for managing two straight good weeks (.389/.450/.556 this week). This has been a problem in the past.

Dregs of the Week: The lefties--Andy Pettitte and Kei Igawa--combined for 13 runs allowed in 10 innings. Compared to that, none of the hitting performaces look all that bad (Johnny Damon: .200/.375/.200 and Jorge Posada .231/.333/.308 are the west).

Story of the Week: The first half is over, the Yanks are still under .500, and the team is still buried behind five other teams for the Wild Card. I know letter grades are somewhat cliche--but then again, so's bringing your sweetheart red roses. We do it anyway:

Chien Ming Wang (A): 9-4, 3.36 ERA -- Pretty easily the definition of an ace starter--one of the top twenty pitchers in Major League Baseball. It's made all the richer by the fact that he came out of the Yankees farm system at a time when the favorite adjective used to describe it was "barren" (although some people preferred labels like "empty" or "bereft of talent").

Roger Clemens (B+): It's early, yet, and the shrinking strikeout rate is a real problem. Still, he's pitched well, and has been totally screwed for run support. I'm no Alanis Morissette, but I think there might be some irony in there, somewhere.

Mariano Rivera (B): 3.71 ERA, 11 Sv -- Tempting to append a minus to that grade because of the high expectations Rivera brings with him all the time. We'll settle for the fact that since the April meltdown, Yankees fans have felt safe with Rivera on the mound a good 80% of the time. Now, that's down from previous years, but still about as good as it gets.

Andy Pettitte (B-): 4-6, 4.25 ERA -- Held the team together while Wang and Mussina hit the DL, and while they were waiting for Clemens to arrive. Upon the arrival of his good Texas buddy, has fallen apart. The question with Pettitte is, is this a physical problem? Has a reputation for not fessing up when he's hurt.

Scott Proctor (B-): 1-5, 3.59 ERA in 47 2/3 IP -- The peripherals all look bad for Proctor. He's throwing lots of innings, he's walking more guys, his strikeouts are down. Still has those Proctor moments where a game will end with a bases loaded walk. How many elite relievers do that, anyway?

Mike Mussina (C+):4-6, 4.62 ERA -- Looks tired. The much maligned 100 pitch count is a simplification...and we discuss Mussina, we may be talking about at a guy for whom 100 pitches is way too much. After 90 pitches, batters against Mussina hit .500/.529/1.188.

Darrell Rasner (C): 1-3, 4.01 ERA -- treaded water well enough as long as he could remain in the game. With Yankees blue-chippers at Trenton, the window for Rasner and Karstens and so many others could be closing fast.

The Low-Leverage Trio (C-): This would be Mike Myers (2.61 ERA), Brian Bruney (2.57) and Ron Villone (3.26). These guys all have nice ERAs, but they're not allowed within a country mile of a game that's actually a contest. Bruney's the big disappointment, since he has a live arm that seems completely messed up right now. Mike Myers isn't making lefthanders scared anymore, so he has done most of his work in deep mopup assignments. Now he's joined by another lefty in the pen...who's also a mop-up specialist. Guess what? This team doesn't have enough mop-up innings for all three of these guys. Until someone steps up, it's C-minuses all around.

Luis Vizcaino (C-) 4-2, 5.02 -- Right behind Proctor in innings pitched, though the grind seems to have had a good effect on him. He's been a good pitcher in June and July after being radioactive in May (9.00 ERA). Still walks too many guys to be the go-to man.

Kyle Farnsworth (D+) 1-1, 4.46 -- Useless disproportionate to his performance. Even when he pitches well, there are so many strings attached that you don't know if he'll be available the next time he's needed. Has not exceeded an inning pitched in any appearance--even if he's only thrown eight pitches in his inning of work, like he did on Saturday. Has only pitched back-to-back days four times all year. It's like having a cell phone that only works for two hours in any given day--and you never know which two hours they'll be.

Matt DeSalvo and Tyler Clippard (D) -- They've become a single creature in my mind, the way that Karstens and Rasner became conjoined last year. They're both high-strung pitchability guys, Clippard's the prospect, DeSalvo's the underdog. Even moreso than Rasner and Karstens, they should be hearing footsteps.

Sean Henn (D): 0-2, 4.66 -- Showed good velocity out of the pen, and looked on route to earning Torre's confidence early in the season. Then it all fell apart, thanks to those mean ol' base on balls.

Kei Igawa (D-): 2-2, 7.14 -- It's like Kenny Rogers, Hideki Irabu, and Jose Contreras all wrapped into one ugly, neurotic package. In a way, he's symbolic of everything that's bad about this ballclub--simultaneously awful and expensive, and the awful won't stop any time soon because of the expensive. Has no fastball, and therefore no trade value. Can't even do the Ron Villone Extremely Low Pressure relief work, because he can't maintain his pitching mechanics. How the heck was this one of the best pitchers in Japan?

Carl Pavano (F): Yeah, I know he's injured. Doesn't make him any less of a failure. All that big talk about how this was the year that he was going to get back out there and prove to his teammates he was healthy...and boom! He goes straight from pitching effectively against the Twins to "out indefinitely," and from there to surgery.

Incompletes
Phil Hughes -- His return could be the remaining bright spot to this season, if the Yanks can't find some way to get back into the hunt.
Chris Britton -- How do you get from Scranton to the Bronx? I'm sure Britton can give detailed directions by now. A few more one-day call-ups, and he'll likely be able to drive the route in his sleep.
Edwar Ramirez -- Could be the most fun we get to have this year--aside from the Alex Rodriguez contract run--is watching Edwar pitch. It'd be great if someone, either Edwar or Bruney, stepped into the Farnsworth gap.
Chase Wright -- Has 33 walks and 33 strikeouts in 70 2/3 AAA innings. This does not bode well.
Colter Bean -- Has always been able to get AAA batters out--until this year (6.33 ERA at Scranton).
Jeff Karstens -- Already on his rehab assignment, which should put some pressure on Igawa.