The
Yankees suck. They have a massively losing record. Almost
the entire team is in a slump with their sticks. The
pitching staff is just not getting it done. There is no way
they are making the playoffs.
The
funny thing is that I am not talking about the 2007
Yankees. I’m talking about the 2005 Yankees who started the
season 11-19, only to go on and win their division. These
are two different teams, faltering for different reasons.
The 2005
Yankees were just playing badly. No one could hit and the
team, as if by some reverse curse, was thrown into a
magnificent slump. Through a stroke of luck, or through
some magical words from Joe Torre’s mouth, they were able to
slip out of the slump and reclaim their glory.
The 2007
Yankees are plagued by injuries. Plagued. But don’t count
them out. The players that have helped cause this year's
losing record are going to come back. Well, some of them
are coming back. And the sticks that haven’t been there for
them could easily return just like the 2005 Yankees had
their bats back by midseason.
Let’s
look at the major injuries since beginning of the season:
Chien-Ming
Wang – Pitcher – Hamstring. He is back in the lineup,
but you have to remember that an injury like this can infect
a player for a year or more.
Andy
Pettite – Pitcher – Back Spasms.
Carl
Pavano – Pitcher – Forearm Tightness.
Jeff
Karstens – pitcher – Fractured Right Fibula.
Mike
Mussina – Pitcher – Hamstring
That’s
five pitchers who are regulars in the rotation as either as
starters, relief or closers. One pitcher going down can
affect a season and this is five. Some of them will be back
to full health shortly and the team has enough time to turn
the pitching around if they start soon.
Their
bats are just as important if they are to make a run at
bringing this season back to a good place. Some good
hitters for the team are heavily slumping Melky Cabrera is
hitting .200, Doug Mientkiewcz is hitting a paltry .154,
Bobby Abreu is at .253, and Johnny Damon is at .229. But
keep in mind that Damon is still struggling with back pain
that they can’t seem to find a cure for.
A lot of
people around the league are jumping on the “Yankees suck”
bandwagon, but you can never count them out. They have the
talent and personnel to turn this season around and I
wouldn’t be surprised if that happens.
At the
beginning of the season Bruce Bukiet of the New Jersey
Institute of Technology predicted through his mathematic
techniques that the New York Yankees would win 110 games.
While I don’t think that is a possibility now, you do have
to keep in mind that five teams that had a record of under
.400 at this point in the season have made the playoffs.
One of those was the Yankees, in 2005.
TOP TEN REASONS FOR GAY MEN TO WATCH BASEBALL
This
first month I figured that we would focus on the players and
why regardless of your knowledge of baseball you can still
enjoy the sport.
C.J. Wilson, relief pitcher for the Texas
Rangers. 6’1, 215, 26 years old. He is just plain hot
and has an amazing myspace page
to boot.
Adam Loewen, Pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles.
6’4, 215, 23 years old. So hot when you watch him
play. Most generally the pictures on the team pages
don’t do the players justice and most of the guy on this
list are examples of this. Do me a favor and Google
him.
Wily Mo Pena, right-fielder for the Boston Red Sox.
6’3, 245, 25 years old. He might not be everyone’s cup
of tea, cause he is a big boy, but sometimes that can be
suuuch a good thing.
JJ Hardy, shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers. 6’2,
190, 24 years old. Those eyes could have me being his
slave for the remainder of my days. He is just
memorizing. Even the horrible picture of him on the
team page makes him look like my next ex-boyfriend.
Neil Cotts, relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.
6’1, 200, 27 years old. He is a little twinkish, but
his boyish good looks are just the ticket to the
ballpark. And every time he throws a pitch, you get a
great view of his butt.
Xavier Nady, right-fielder for the Pittsburgh
Pirates. 6’2, 210, 28 years old. He is born in Carmel,
Calif., and has that California boy look. Beautiful
face and a smile that is paralyzing.
Carlos Quentin, right-fielder for the Arizona
Diamondbacks. 6’1, 225, 24 years old. Another right
fielder, there must be some kind of hot rule if you want
to play right field for a professional baseball team.
Brad Ausmus, Catcher for the Houston Astros. 5’11,
190, 38 years old. He is a little older than the rest
of the group, but anyone who 38-year-olds can’t be hot
is just stupid, cause this guy proves them very wrong.
Ichiro Suzuki, right-fielder for the Seattle
Mariners. 5’9, 172, 33 years old. He looks so tough.
I think that’s what I like about him. He is a very
good-looking man, but it’s the tough guy image he likes
to put out there that woes me. There is also a very
provocative picture of him with his bat if you Google
his name.
Lenny Dinardo, relief pitcher for the Oakland
Athletics. 6’4, 190, 27 years old. He is tall and has
long legs. You know what they say about long legs, long
legs…big jeans.
HOME RUN STAT OF THE MONTH
There is
a tie for home run stat of the month and neither have
anything to do with the splendid play of A-Rod this April.
Ian
Kinsler, a second basemen for the Rangers in his sophomore
year, who only had 14 home runs last year, now, has nine in
the season so far. Not bad for a second year player.
Jimmy
Rollins, the National League home run leader, has nine. Not
bad at all for a guy who entered this season with only seven
career home runs in 587 at bats in April.
STRANGE
FACTS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Al
Reyes – relief pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who
no one has ever heard of, has nine saves out of 10 games
played on the season.
Weather can definitely be a factor. 20 games in April
were postponed for weather.
Alex
Rodriguez is now leading six American League statistical
categories. (Average, Home Runs, RBI, Runs, Total Bases
and Slugging Percentage).
The
Washington Nationals suck worse than my Rockies. They
gave up 22 first innings runs in April while
scoring a total of 0.
If
A-Rod keeps hitting at the pace he is going, which I
doubt, he will hit 119 home runs this year.
THE NUMBER ONE REASON MY ROCKIES SUCK THIS MONTH IS…
Despite
best fielding average in the National League, the Rockies
lost to the San Francisco Giants because of errors, and
Bonds even went 0 for 3.
Brenton
Metzler is a writer in Los Angeles who suffers along with
his Colorado Rockies.
