Quite Frankly: The Yankees Need A Little Rocky Balboa In Them

Now what I saw yesterday was just down right terrible. The combination of Edwar Ramirez, David Robertson and Jose Veras did their best Kyle Farnsworth impression. They blew a 3-1 lead and most importantly, they blew a solid performance by Dan Giese. That's something the Yanks can not afford to do given their situation. With 45 games to go, the Yanks must win the games their pitchers allow them to win.

During the 8-game winning streak a few weeks ago, everything was clicking on all cylinders. The pitching, the hitting, the bullpen, the defense, the clutch hitting. Now, the Yanks have lost 9 of 14 and are really pushing towards the possibilty of no postseason. While everyone, myself included wait for the Rays to fall on their face, it doesn't appear thats going to happen anytime soon. Time is running out. The past few seasons, this is usually the time the Yankees go and make up their ground and win the games they need to. That's not happening this season. The heart of the team seems to have fallen once Joba Chamberlain went down. Ian Kennedy doesn't seem to be the answer either as he pitched poorly once again. Granted he did face the best team in baseball but nothing in his approach gave you any sense of encouragement for his next start or two. Phil Hughes is on his way back and I hope he becomes "The Franchise" once again and lives up to his expectations.

Expectations need to be met now, the Yankees are always in a win now mode, just look at the trades they made last month. That tells you the Yankees want to win and will do anything they can to do just that. Now, four games out of the wild card, there should be no cause for concern but after seeing the 7th and 8th innings of yesterday's game, there certainly is a lot to worry about. Joe Girardi and his troops have time to turn this around, but the clock is ticking...they better start doing whatever it takes to win. The last winning streak showed what the Bombers are capable of. The loss of Joba put the Yankees down but they're not out. Here's one of my favorite quotes:

"..it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done." - Rocky Balboa


Yes that is from the last installment of the Rocky series, but there's much truth to it. Rocky was an underdog in most of his fights and eventually came out on top. I realize he lost his last fight in the last movie but he gave it his all. I want the 2008 Yankees to do the same no matter what their situation is. I think it's time for Girardi to be as encouraging as Mickey was for Rocky. Something has to work...but it needs to be done.... time is running out.

Yanks 2nd Half Record: 13-9
My Yanks 2nd Half Prediction: 39-27
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