It's Robinson Cano and a bunch of .164 hitters thus far in the ALCS (AP).
Some disconcerting statistics through the first four games of the American League Championship Series, where the Rangers have thoroughly outplayed the Yankees in taking a 3-1 lead:
• Through the first four games, the Yankees have been outscored 30-11. That imbalance comes out to a Pythagorean winning percentage of .119, meaning that at that rate, they'd be lucky to win one game out of eight, let alone one out of four, or heaven forbid four out of seven.
• The Yankees have held the lead for all of two and a half innings out of 36 played.
• The Yankee offense is hitting a robust .198/.295/.321. Exclude Robinson Cano from that line and it's .164/.271/.198. Exclude Derek Jeter as well, and it's .143/.263/.153, with one lonely Nick Swisher double standing as the only extra base hit produced by the rest of the team.
• Cano has all three of the Yankees' homers in this series, but just four RBI to show for those and his four other hits.
• That's because their number two through four hitters, Swisher/Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez are a combined 3-for-42 with seven walks. All of those hits are singles.
• At 0-for-14, Teixeira's 2010 ALCS will remain forever hitless, since the hamstring strain which forced him from Game Four was so severe that the Yankees replaced him on the roster, rendering him ineligible for further postseason play.
• The Yankees are now 6-for-39 (.153) with runners in scoring position, while the Rangers are 15-for-37 (.405).
• Texas is hitting a combined .307/.390/.536. They've gotten an extra-base hit from players at every position except first base.
• Josh Hamilton, who hit a rather ordinary .271/.331/.458 against lefties in 2010 while raking like the second coming of Ted Williams against righties (.401/.447/.716), has three homers and a double versus southpaws in this series.
• The Rangers have seven stolen bases in eight attempts in this series, with Ian Kinsler's pickoff in Game One the only time they've been caught. The Yankees are 1-for-1 via Brett Gardner.
• The Rangers' pitching staff has a 2.75 ERA in this series. Their starters are at 3.00, with a 28/6 K/BB ratio in 24 innings. Their bullpen has a 2.25 ERA in spite of a 10/11 K/BB ratio. The latter unit, after allowing four out of eight inherited runners to score in Game One, has let in just one of 12 since.
• The Yankee pitching staff has a 7.71 ERA in this series. The starters are at 8.14, accompanied by a pedestrian 15/10 K/BB ratio. Their bullpen has a 7.07 ERA while allowing three out of five inherited runners to score.
• Dustin Moseley, Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera are the only pitchers not to be scored upon, and they've thrown all of five innings in this series. The rest of the bunch has allowed 30 runs in 30 innings.
• After screwing up by playing the offensively and defensively inferior Francisco Cervelli — who did a bang-up job handling that pitching staff and particularly A.J. Burnett, right? — ahead of Jorge Posada in Game Four and making numerous other tactical errors (putting Marcus Thames in the field, ignoring Austin Kearns, intentionally walking David Murphy, and so forth), manager Joe Girardi is starting Lance Berkman (.171/.261/.256 vs. lefties in 2010) in place of Teixeira at first base to face lefty C.J. Wilson.
• Only six out of 48 teams have come back from 3-1 deficits in the seven-game LCS era: the 1985 Royals, 1986 Red Sox, 1996 Braves, 2003 Marlins, and the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox. Six in 48 is one in eight, right on par with the Yankees' Pythagorean winning percentage thus far. So there's that.
• As Lucy Van Pelt once told Charlie Brown, "Tell your statistics to shut up!"
• As I said in writing up my Game Four experience from high up in Section 431A for Baseball Prospectus, it's not the end of the Yankees' season, but you can see it from here.