These are NOT your New York Yankees playing out there. It can't be. They look like the Yankees, but sure aren't playing like them. If you saw last night's 8-4 loss to the Detriot Tigers then you know what I'm talking about.
Ian Kennedy pitched well through the first 2.2 innings, then gave up four runs before he got the final out of the inning. Bobby Abreu misplayed two flyballs that arguably could've been caught. Instead he stumbled and crashed into walls. As a result, the Tigers were all over Kennedy and the Yanks. Kennedy never made it out of the fifth inning. His final line for the night: five hits,four runs and three walks over 4 2/3.
The Yankees offense did little again. Abreu got the Yanks rollin out of the gate with a three run homerun in the first but that was it. They left 11 men on base, 28 for the series. A series that saw the Tigers get their first three game sweep in the Bronx since 1966.
Earlier in the day, it was revealed that Phil Hughes would be out for at least two months with a strain in his rib cage. With him out of the rotation the Yankees need to find a replacement. With Kennedy and his 8.37 ERA in six outings, they also need to find a replacement for him.
Girardi's club is 14-16 and headed in the same direction as last year's team and the 2005 Yanks, down....but not out. Both the '05 and '07 teams made it to the postseason after dreadful starts so there should still be optimism. You could look at the injuries as a reason to justify the record or you could blame all on Hughes and Kennedy. That wouldn't be right because the offense hasn't done much either. The missing links of Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez seem to be the biggest losses. Posada is good at helping a pitching staff, one that needs all the help in the world and Rodriguez is one of the most feared hitters in the game.
The biggest concern is the pitching and after last night's outing where do they go from here?
Sometime needs to be sooner than later...A LOT sooner. If this keeps going on, the question then becomes how desperate are the Yankees going to become? At this rate, we're going to find out very soon.
Ian Kennedy pitched well through the first 2.2 innings, then gave up four runs before he got the final out of the inning. Bobby Abreu misplayed two flyballs that arguably could've been caught. Instead he stumbled and crashed into walls. As a result, the Tigers were all over Kennedy and the Yanks. Kennedy never made it out of the fifth inning. His final line for the night: five hits,four runs and three walks over 4 2/3.
The Yankees offense did little again. Abreu got the Yanks rollin out of the gate with a three run homerun in the first but that was it. They left 11 men on base, 28 for the series. A series that saw the Tigers get their first three game sweep in the Bronx since 1966.
Earlier in the day, it was revealed that Phil Hughes would be out for at least two months with a strain in his rib cage. With him out of the rotation the Yankees need to find a replacement. With Kennedy and his 8.37 ERA in six outings, they also need to find a replacement for him.
"He's still having that inning that he's having a hard time closing out, and he's not giving us the distance that we need," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's frustrating for him and it's frustrating for us. ... We have to talk about it. We don't need a fifth starter as much in May as we did in the month of April. We have to figure out what's the best plan for Ian Kennedy."
Girardi's club is 14-16 and headed in the same direction as last year's team and the 2005 Yanks, down....but not out. Both the '05 and '07 teams made it to the postseason after dreadful starts so there should still be optimism. You could look at the injuries as a reason to justify the record or you could blame all on Hughes and Kennedy. That wouldn't be right because the offense hasn't done much either. The missing links of Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez seem to be the biggest losses. Posada is good at helping a pitching staff, one that needs all the help in the world and Rodriguez is one of the most feared hitters in the game.
The biggest concern is the pitching and after last night's outing where do they go from here?
"I think I've proven I can pitch here in the past," Kennedy said. "I might not be pitching that well now, but it's only my fourth or fifth start. It'll work out sometime."
Sometime needs to be sooner than later...A LOT sooner. If this keeps going on, the question then becomes how desperate are the Yankees going to become? At this rate, we're going to find out very soon.
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