YANKEES PULL FIRST HALF ESCAPE
With all their problems Yanks are still only 2-1/2 games out of first place




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
July 12, 2005


As the second half of the season approaches all the armchair analysts are throwing their two cents in about how well the Yankees have fared so far this season. I’m no exception. Feel free to agree or disagree, but there is both good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news first. A few things that have gone awry are:

The outfield - Bernie Williams, Tony Womack, Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and, occasionally, Ruben Sierra have been horrific. It is no secret Bernie Williams is not even half the player he used to be when patrolling centerfield. He looks tired and slow. He makes far too many miscues on balls hit in his direction and his throwing arm has gone from small sized cannon to a pop gun. Runners, who used to at least think about taking second base on balls hit to Bernie, challenge his arm all the time now. They know Bernie isn’t physically able to move and throw like he did a few seasons ago. Instead of being an asset in the field Williams has become a liability. So much so Joe Torre was forced to move Hideki Matsui to centerfield (his natural position) and throw Tony Womack in left field. That move in itself has become a point of contention. While Matsui is no Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle he plays his position well enough to make occasionally great plays and doesn’t often hurt his team with his glove. He is a solid contributor. This year in 613 innings Matsui has a fielding percentage of 1.000. He doesn’t embarrass himself or his team.

Womack, on-the-other-hand, has been a monumental bust. He was originally signed as a second baseman to replace popular Miguel Cairo. Womack who was coming off a solid season with the St. Louis Cardinals was expected to fill the hole left by Cairo with both his bat and glove. He has done neither. Womack is hitting a very quiet .243 with an OBP of .276 and that translates into Womack not crossing the plate very often. He has scored less runs than his second base replacement Robinson Cano (32 to 35) and Cano has played in 14 fewer games. Womack is one of the Yankees fastest base runners, but it doesn’t do them any good if Womack isn’t occupying a base somewhere on the diamond. Additionally, Womack has looked very shaky in the outfield. With Cano performing like he has Womack has become the odd-man out and is sitting on the bench, along with Bernie.

Gary Sheffield, who is a terror at the plate, has been mediocre in right field. His .981 fielding percentage is a testimony to that. He often misplays balls hit off the right field wall, but his cannon-like right arm keeps opposing base runners honest. What he lacks with his glove he makes up with in throwing. With everything else Sheff brings to the table a manager will overlook his defensive flaws. Ruben Sierra, who’s only played in 12 games has a perfect record in the field, but gets an incomplete due to the small sample size. (Grade C)

The infield – Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Jason Giambi have been less than stellar so far this year. Between the four players they have committed 34 errors. No doubt Jeter (10 errors), who only committed 13 errors for the entire 2004 season, won’t be repeating as the Gold Glove recipient at the shortstop position.

The same goes for A-Rod (10 errors), who, also, only committed 13 errors at third base in 2004. He’s got over a year of experience at his position and should be cutting down on his mistakes.

Robinson Cano, who was brought up from Triple-A Columbus, to play second base when Tony Womack was moved to the outfield, is learning to play his position in the giant pressure cooker known as New York City. Cano has acquitted himself admirably in spite of a sporadic flub. Expect him to get better and better as time goes on.

Jason Giambi has had to overcome many obstacles this year since the news of his testimony in the BALCO case became public. Giambi, who was signed in 2002, to be the offensive monster he was in Oakland, has had numerous physical setbacks while playing in New York. Much of his physical ailments have been speculated to be correlated to his alleged steroid use. The New York press howled for the Yankees to dump Giambi. Many fans, too, wanted to see Giambi gone. He was washed up. He didn’t have it anymore. Recently, Giambi has had a tremendous surge offensively and seems to have rediscovered the stroke that made him one of the most feared hitters in the game. Maybe, once Jason becomes comfortable offensively, he can concentrate on his defense, and make better decisions at first base to cut down on balls getting by him.

Tino Martinez, who was signed in the off-season as a defensive back up to Giambi continues to shine defensively at first base. His presence raises the bar for an, otherwise, inconsistent infield. (Grade C+)

The pitching – Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown were the starting staff on Opening Day. As of today, the staff consists of Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, and Chien Ming Wang, plus who can we throw in there, and who can we throw in there. Pavano (shoulder), Wright (shoulder) and Brown (back spasms) are all on the disabled list.

Johnson who was supposed to be the biggest acquisition of the winter, along with the Mets Pedro Martinez has been a big disappointment. He has been anything, but the intimidator he was while pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although, amassing a record of 9-6 Johnson’s ERA is a burgeoning 4.30. It is the third highest ERA in his Hall-of-Fame career. The Unit has given up more home runs (19) than any other pitcher on the staff. This is not exactly what the Yankees were hoping for when they signed Johnson and gave him a two-year extension.

Jaret Wright, another free agent acquisition, was coming off a very good season with the Atlanta Braves. However, Wright began imploding from the outset of the season and after letting his ERA mushroom to 9.15 his twice surgically repaired right shoulder was re-injured landing him on the disabled list.

Carl Pavano was supposed to be another cornerstone in the revamped starting rotation. Pavano first half record is 4-6 with an ERA of 4.77. He has given up the second most home runs on the staff (17) and, along with Wright, is sitting on the disabled list with an injured right shoulder.

Kevin Brown? What can you say about KB? Two words come to mind. Those words are over and never. He is overpaid, over-sensitive, overblown, over-the-hill and over here. He is never nice, never healthy, never available and never reliable. Brown is a head case. If he gets a hangnail he goes on the disabled list. The guy has a back about as sturdy as a house-of-cards. Brown, who at one time was one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball, has become a broken egg shell of his former self. He scares no one, except maybe kids, and his once un-hittable stuff gets launched all over the yard.

Mike Mussina started out the season terribly, but over the last part of the first half of the season has turned his performance up a notch. After logging a 1-2 record, with an ERA of 4.97, in April the Moose has gone 8-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.97. Mussina’s best efforts came in May when he went 4-1 with an ERA of 3.08.

This year’s biggest surprise has got to be Chien Ming Wang. Wang started the season in Columbus and didn’t arrive in New York until April 25th. Since then Wang has accumulated a record of 6-3 with an ERA of 3.89. Who would’ve expected this guy to become the ace of the staff? He came out of nowhere and if he gets bumped out of the rotation by one of the returning starters the Yankees brain trust needs a lobotomy.

The bullpen, which was supposed to retooled, has been a grade-A disaster. The Yankees signed Frankie Rodriguez, Buddy Groom and Mike Stanton to bolster an overused bully. Returning relievers were Tom Gordon, Paul Quantrill and Tanyon Sturtze. Frankie Rodriguez is on the DL and Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton have been released. Quantrill and Stanton were a gas and a match. Since then the Yankees have called up Darrell May, Jason Anderson, Sean Henn, Steve Proctor and Wayne Franklin to help out a shaky staff. So far the only rookies who are even close to earning their pinstripes are Proctor and Anderson. The others are not making any points with the coaching staff.

Tom Gordon is still an effective set up man for closer Mariano Rivera. Gordon had a rough start to the season, but settled down to help the club get to Rivera. Right now Flash is banged up, so hopefully, the all-star break will give him a much needed breather.

Mariano Rivera is still the greatest closer of all time. He continues to shine at the ripe old age of 35. Mo still dominates opposing batters, specifically lefties, and saws off more bats than any other pitcher in baseball. Rivera’s only problem is with the Boston Red Sox. They seem to be the only team to solve Rivera. Mo has been roughed up by the Sox. However, with Rivera’s ability to concentrate on the task at hand no team is ever comfortable facing the Sandman. (Grade C-)

Now for the good news!

The offense – The lineup, after a very slow start, has begun doing what they do best. Terrorize opposing pitching. The Yankees now rank third in the AL in team batting (.277). They rank first in OBP (.358), fourth in slugging % (.445), third in home runs (113) and first in runs scored (478). Alex Rodriguez ranks fourth in RBI (72), third in OBP (.416), sixth in SLG% (.582), ninth in hits (103) and second in home runs (23). He is turning out to be the player everyone expected last season. He is amply supported by Derek Jeter (.308, 37, 11, 105) *, Hideki Matsui (.320, 70, 14, 105) and Gary Sheffield (.298, 68, 17, 92).

Rookie Robinson Cano is swinging the bat well (.288) and Ruben Sierra is contributing from the bench (.284). Jason Giambi, who started out extremely slow, has seemed to have found his stroke and has been pounding the leather off of the ball. In June Giambi hit .308 while raising his OBP to .474 and his SLG% to .431. Like the weather, in July, Giambi has really raised his game by hitting a scorching .423. He has 5 home runs and 10 RBI in nine games. His OBP is a team high .545 and his SLG% is 1.077. The one guy who probably wishes he was still playing is Jason Giambi.

On the other side of the scale, Bernie Williams (.257, 35, 5, 63), Jorge Posada (.259, 39, 10, 66) and Tony Womack (.243, 12, 0, 63) have not gotten the job done. (Grade B+)

Now for the really good news!

Even with all of their problems the Yankees find themselves only 2-1/2 games behind the East Division leading Boston Red Sox. This team could’ve folded their tents and mailed the remainder of the season in. Many a team has before. The Yankees, however, stayed the course and kept with it. They are playing on the upswing, while the Sox are in a bit of a tailspin. So as the scheduling gods would have it the Yankees meet their archrivals this coming Thursday to start the second half of the season. Conceivably, if everything goes their way, the Yankees could find themselves in first place when they leave Fenway Park after Sunday’s game. That’s a lot to hope for, but something to look forward to. There should be plenty of fireworks. See you at the park.


PLAY BALL!

*(average, RBI, home runs, hits)



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