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For Yanks, it's just plain ugly

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For our New York Yankees, things are just plain ugly right now.

Here are the numbers.

  • The Yankees have gone 4-9 in their last 13 games.
  • They have gone from a one-game lead in the Americal League East to a five-game deficit. Oh, and that wild-card lead? Vanished, too! They are now in a tie with Toronto and just a half-game ahead of Texas.
  • The Yanks are 5-8 in inter-league games. Boston is 9-4, Tampa Bay 8-5, Baltimore 9-4 and Toronto 5-8.
  • The Yanks were 37-33, six games out of first after 70 games last season. This season, they are 38-32, five games out.
  • Alex Rodriguez is 9 for 63 (.143) in June
  • From the New York Times: Take out a 15-0 pasting of the Mets on June 14, the Yankees are averaging just 3.08 runs per game and batting .219 since their last day in first place, on June 8.
  • In their last seven games, the Yankees have scored a total of just 18 runs.
  • Melky Cabrera is hitting .200 in June. Johnny Damon is at .219.

Talk about Derek Jeter and double-play fetish all you want. Or, the future of Joe Girardi as manager. For the Yanks, it comes down to this. Can Rodriguez, he of the .207 average, find his stroke and lift this team? Like it or not, he is the difference maker. The New York Times put it this way:

The Yankees attached their fortunes to Rodriguez when they welcomed him back for another decade after he opted out of his contract in 2007, and as he goes, they go. ...

The Yankees need Rodriguez to be great. He is a player with an awful lot to prove, and while many elite athletes are motivated by doubts, maybe he is just not physically up to it. If, when and how Rodriguez becomes a star again is the Yankees’ central question right now.

Right now, it doesn't look good. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope for a prettier picture.

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In other words...

…it’s all A-Rod’s fault.

The guy who had hip surgery, came back as soon as he could, and wasn’t given so much as a day off in the first 6 weeks after he came back.

Yeah, it’s all him.

by New York Sports Jerk on Jun 24, 2009 11:14 AM EDT reply actions  

A-rod

Didnt Chase Utley and Mike Lowell have the same surgery? They seem to be doing fine. A-Rod is the reason we are losing on the field.

by dan.altman89 on Jun 24, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions  

Lets see...

Lowell and Utley had surgery in the fall, A-Rod had his in March.

I wonder why he’s not as far along as they are.

by New York Sports Jerk on Jun 24, 2009 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions  

No, not really

But, he is the guy who can really lift this offense.

by Ed Valentine on Jun 24, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions  

the team looks old an battered

pitching’s been pretty good IMO…but the hitters look lethargic
there are 8 other batters besides arod who aren’t doing very much right now

by holycowboy on Jun 24, 2009 11:21 AM EDT reply actions  

"pitching" and "good" are not two words I would put together right now

I think the Yankees would be in a much better spot if Girardi would stop trying to lose each game.

by cbm on Jun 24, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions  

FIRE JOE G

FIRE JOE G………FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……… FIRE JOE G FIRE JOE G………FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……… FIRE JOE G FIRE JOE G………FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……… FIRE JOE G FIRE JOE G………FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……….. FIRE JOE G……… FIRE JOE G

by imyrick on Jun 24, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions  

There's a team

in Flushing you know. You’re more than welcome to go root for them

by FreeBradshaw on Jun 24, 2009 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

miracle...

this teams needs a miracle, sorry they do, all you “fair weather comment fans” real fans know the ship is sinking and we sense and see this happening now…the longer you wait the further we drop, they of course they go on a tearn in august, get us all excited and we miss it by a few games….no, each game today has to be played with win focus, not experiments or lets see what this guy can go….we are on the ropes, going in I said this is the team, this is it…boy talk about fun season…its june and their are rumors about trades, bringing guys up and sending down, firing joe, coaches are horrible ( i agree)…its panic time folks and as Jack Hndy said "If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid seeing yourself in the mirror, because I bet that’s what REALLY throws you into a panic."

by Captain Yank on Jun 24, 2009 11:23 AM EDT reply actions  

they don't need a miracle...

they need to play to their potential. or at the very least play sound defense, make smart decisions on the base paths, and get some hits with RISP… they do those things and they’ll win a lot of games.

hardly a miracle.

p.s. i do dig the jack handy quote

by NumberSeven on Jun 24, 2009 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

It is certainly time to drop ARod in the order.

Having that mess batting clean up every night is not helping.

by garp on Jun 24, 2009 1:46 PM EDT reply actions  

Pathetic "team"!

I am really starting to doubt the playoffs!

by fob22 on Jun 24, 2009 1:52 PM EDT reply actions  

Let’s get a coach with balls!!!! Someone who has the guts to tell it how it is and command some leadership and decisiveness! The manager is the backbone of a team’s unity and spirit. Joe Giardi and Joe Torre have the same temperment… a temperment that doesn’t work with this core. It’s time for a coach with strong will and tremendous drive. Giardi is a Yankee at heart, but isn’t the one for this job!

by frags247 on Jun 24, 2009 3:16 PM EDT reply actions  

Hey Frags

Joe Torre’s temperment got us 4 rings, dont forget…without a lot of guys with gigantic egos…don’t blame it on Torre’s temperment…

by 30yrBroncoFan on Jun 24, 2009 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

30yrBronco, I specifically said that temperment doesn’t gel with this core. I think the teams that won 4 World Series rings was pretty driven, agreed? That dynamic with Torre’s calm approach to coaching complemented each other (plus you had Zimmerman and Stotlemyer)

With a group like this, with big time money makers (who weither they like to admit it or not, deep down inside have already satisfied a lot of career goals, i.e. huge money contracts), need the push and inspiriation from a different type of coaching personality.

by frags247 on Jun 24, 2009 3:28 PM EDT up reply actions  

though I do agree with the comment we need a coach with some cajones…these guys dont want to be Yankees, the only ones there who are Yankees through and through are Jeter, Posada, Rivera, and a couple others, these newbies just want the loot, they dont care about Yankee pride…oh yeah Girardi is a Yankee through and through, but dang! he’s got get in their azz or something….

by 30yrBroncoFan on Jun 24, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions  

A-Rod

I have never been attracted to having A-rod on the team, and now that he’s here, I’m less impressed. I think the only reason he’s on the team is so that he breaks the home run record in a Yankees uniform. That’s it. Sad actually, because his performances in October shows that he doesnt have the ability to rise as Reggie Jackson did, when he’s needed most. Tino rose to the ocassion. The strangest of bedfellows have risen to bring championships to New York, but A-Rod doesnt. on the Grandest stage in Baseball, strange. And he provides excuses too. I wonder if Texiera will do the same. Everyone knows that NYC, that the Yankees in particular, because of its history and its fanbase, is the most difficult to bear, and to accept that when signing the contract, means you are capable of handling it…and after 5 years, clearly…

I can only hope that Girardi takes a hard look at the status of his choices to me it’s like he’s not making good choices on keeping Wang in over Hughes, having Arod bat cleanup putting no arm Damon in the field…just too many weakspots to name…

by 30yrBroncoFan on Jun 24, 2009 3:16 PM EDT reply actions  

Garp

I agree with Garp. The playoffs are in doubt.

by jimwarren on Jun 24, 2009 3:46 PM EDT reply actions  

I don't blame A-Rod

He has been out there every game, the guy is on a bum hip till next season. He could have easily chosen to shut it down all season and get the full operation. He didn’t. Right NOW I blame Jeter for all his groundouts and DPs and swinging at first pitches. I blame Cano for being the king of the 2 out meaningless hit. I blame Posada for not contributing with his bat or his defense. Sorry, I don’t understand why he called 3 sliders in a row last night I just don’t. I blame Swisher for all of a sudden forgetting that his contribution is less about his swinging and more about him working counts and getting on base. I blame Girardi for playing tight and making some headscratching decisions both on the base paths and with the rotation and bullpen. I blame Long for being an inferior hitting coach and watching the highest paid lineup in baseball get dominated by the Nationals, Marlins and Braves. I blame Eiland for what he has NOT accomplished with his high priced rotation and seemingly talented bullpen. If you ain’t worried, you ain’t paying attention. The 98 Yankees were a bulldozer, taking series after series, grinding win after win. Right now the Sox look more like the 98 Yankees than the 09 Yankees do.

by HappyLuckyGoldenDragonNumber1! on Jun 24, 2009 4:35 PM EDT reply actions  

This isn't that difficult to figure out

Blame this guy blame that guy on and on and on….

Let’s face it….the hitters are in a slump. As if that never happens.

To me it looks like the SPs are settling into their jobs and are getting better as the season goes on. I think the RPs are also settling into their roles. The hitters were doing fine not too long ago, and yes Arod needs to hit, but the rest of these guy will hit enough to put up 4 runs or so a game and the pitchers should be able to do well enough to give the team a chance to win. The yanks already showed they can have big comebacks. They’ve done it in games where they won, and games where they just came up short.

You’re never as great as your best run and never as bad as your worst run.

what does that mean for this team? It means they’ll get better….good enough to get that wild card, and if they get hot at the end, who knows….they could get the division and deep into the playoffs. Champs? Who knows…..

But dont get so down. It’s not even July!!!!!

JEEZ

by Ragnar808 on Jun 24, 2009 5:35 PM EDT reply actions  

Hey homer

Yankees just got their asses handed to them by the Sox, the Nationals, the Marlins and now the Braves. We were out slugged by the worst team in all of baseball. We are now 5 games back against a team that has no weakness as of right now. This is not the Sox of the past few years that will fall apart. This is not a cold spell, this has been a season long inability to score with runners on. You can’t take advantage, you will eventually fall off. We were winning with 7 or 8 run single innings or miraculous come from behind wins. Well that is no way to grind out for 162 games. The Sox have been able to get on, move em over, get em in. Day after day. We cannot. The Yankees need to figure this out, because like him or not, if they don’t and they miss the Playoffs, I guarantee Girardi and his staff will not be here next season.

by HappyLuckyGoldenDragonNumber1! on Jun 24, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions  

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