Where Have You Gone, Joe Dimaggio

Toronto 4, NYY 1

And the offense sinks lower and lower in to the abyss…. over the last 5 games they are now 3-41 with RISP, a 0.073 average, which I’m not quite sure is statistically significantly different from zero. Toronto now passes them in the standings in the East, and the only real question right now is when will Boston pass them and leave them in the cellar. And sadly, that’s probably where they deserve to be right now.

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Toronto 8, NYY 1

Lousy starting pitching, worse hitting. They couldn’t have beaten the Trenton Thunder playing the way they did tonight.

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Baltimore 5, NYY 2

Given that over this 2-game series, the Yankees went 1-for-20 with RISP and hit in to 5 double plays, and the starters had a combined ERA of 7.14 — I guess we’re lucky to get out of town with a split. So it’s on to Toronto, where the Yankees have lost 12 of the last 19, with David Robertson and Brett Gardner on the DL and Mark Teixeira playing through a respiratory ailment. I’m thinking a split there might be as good as it gets.

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NYY 8, Baltimore 5

Mark Teixeira is sick with some type of respiratory ailment, and right now is arguably the worst hitter in the lineup outside Russell Martin (Tex’s OBP is actually the lowest in the lineup). Why in the world wouldn’t you sit him down for a couple of days, let him at least get healthy, and maybe the layoff just might help him get his hitting back on track. But for whatever reasons, Girardi is intent on letting him play through not only his cough, but also his slump. And at least last night it paid off, with the game winning RBI’s plus an insurance run scored in the ninth.

It will be interesting to see if this is the start for Tex turning things around. I’m certainly not convinced yet.

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Seattle 6, NYY 2

The first two times through the batting order, Andy Pettitte looked pretty good, giving up just 2 runs on 2 hits, with both runs coming off one bad pitch that ended up in the stands. But alas, third time through the order was all the weak hitting Seattle lineup needed to solve Pettitte. Five of the first six batters in the sixth inning got hits, and that was that for Andy’s debut. The old Pettitte was so good at pitching through jams like that — let’s hope this was just a case of not being fully up to speed yet.

In the end it really didn’t matter though. Over the last week the Yankee offense has had no problem hitting the likes of Felix Hernandez, David Price, and James Shields. But 37-year old Kevin Millwood, with a 5.88 ERA and .309 BAA, completely shut them down. Go figure.

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NYY 6, Seattle 2

That’s three very good starts in a row. Nothing like Andy Pettitte’s imminent return to put some pressure on the starters to keep their positions in the rotation, hey? Phil Hughes sailed through 7.2 innings, only allowing two runners to get to second base along with one solo home run. Pretty solid performance. Interestingly, Hughes is going more and more to his off-speed stuff — over his last three starts, his percent off-speed pitches has gone from 27% to 32% to 38% yesterday. Seems to be working for him.

Offensively the middle of the order disappeared, but the bottom of the order came through, with Jayson Nix (career BA .206) of all people getting a 2-run homer that gave Hughes a comfortable lead, and Raul Ibanez once again coming through with a solo homer plus a run-scoring double. This has always been the strength of the Yankee offense — explosive power all the way up and down the lineup, so that when the middle does have off days, someone else always comes through.

Dare I say this team is starting to play up to expectations……

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NYY 6, Seattle 2

Wow, back-to-back solid wins! Yet another excellent start, this one from Hiroki Kuroda, and yet another offensive outburst against one of the league’s better pitchers, Felix Hernandez. Like Price the day before, Hernandez came in to the game with impeccable stats (3-1, 1.89 ERA), but the Yankee offense teed off on him, getting 11 hits and 4 runs in 6.2 innings. And once again, the 3-4 hitters hit like 3-4 hitters, going 6-for-7 (heck, Cano himself was a perfect 4-for-4). And I’m a bit afraid to mention it for fear of putting a hex on things, but Mark Teixeira even went 2-for-4 in the five spot — although one hit was a swinging bunt and the other a little leaguer. But it’s a start.

The difference maker, though, was Raul Ibanez’ 3-run blast in the sixth. As much as I diss the Yankees’ off-season moves, bringing in Ibanez so far is looking like a big plus. As part-time DH, he’s third in RBIs and HRs, and is hitting a respectable .268/.322/.537/.859. Can’t complain about that, particularly since most of the time it’s coming from the bottom of the order.

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NYY 5, Tampa Bay 3

At last, a good solid win all around. CC was in complete control, striking out 10 and going eight innings without an earned run. The 3-4 hitters went 5-for-8 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. And five other batters chipped in for 3 more runs, all this off David Price (5-1, 2.35 coming in to the game). As A-Rod said a couple of days ago, it’s time for the Yankee power offense to stop tipping their hats to opposing pitchers. Hopefully last night was the start of that process.

Eduardo Nunez is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Two more errors last night cost the Yankees two runs and possibly a complete game shutout for CC. At the current rate that Girardi is using him to give off-days to Jeter and A-Rod, Nunez is going to be in the field for 100+ games. Last night CC and the offense were able to overcome his defensive lapses, but you have to worry just how many games over the long run he could cost them. And it’s a shame that he can’t field a lick, as he continues to show he can hit decently (.294 BA, .356 OBP), plus at times I think he might be a bigger threat on the bases than Brett Gardner. But I just don’t see how they can continue to put him out there in the field. Something has to be done.

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Tampa Bay 4, NYY 1

Hopefully this was just a bad night for David Robertson and not some kind of omen that he can’t handle the ninth. One of Rivera’s best traits is his ability to completely forget bad outings and quickly put them behind him, which is exactly what Robertson needs to do. And hopefully this loss won’t come back to bite the Yankees in the butt on down the road. Tampa Bay has clearly established themselves as the team to beat in the East this year, and letting a W against them slip away like that can haunt you. And remember the first game of the season, when Mo himself blew a save against the Rays. Turn those two games around, and the Yankees are just 0.5 games behind TB right now, not 3.5.

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NYY 5, Tampa Bay 3

Credit where credit is due — Joe Girardi made a pretty gutsy call, leaving Ivan Nova in to finish the seventh when it sure looked like he was falling apart pretty quickly. A thin 2-run lead became a thinner 1-run lead when Luke Scott homered with one out, then Nova walked a batter and then gave up a double, putting the tying run on third with just one out, and the go-ahead run on second. Seemed like the perfect time to turn things over to the bullpen, and get Nova out of there while he still had a quality start firmly in hand. But Joe stuck by his man, and it paid off handsomely. He got Sean Rodriguez to fly out while the runner held at third, then facing Jose Molina who had homered on him just one inning earlier, Nova struck out Molina to get out of the jam. Girardi’s decision not only netted the Yankees a much needed win, you have to believe it was a huge shot of confidence for Nova, who has struggled of late. Hats off to Girardi — a very good job of managing there.

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