Hitting Back :: A New York Sports Blog

No. This isn’t about Team Dumb and Dumber Clown Management 101 who predictably didn’t win the NBA lottery earlier tonight. 

At last check, the last place Yankees were getting trounced 10-0 by the Orioles at The Stadium. This on the heels of being humiliated by the Mets in which they were swept over an abbreviated weekend set by an aggregate total of 18-6 dropping them to four under .500 and six behind the first place Red Sox. It became six and a half last night when Jon Lester no-hit the Royals.

It only gets worse these days around the Pinstripes. Where the chaos of Hank Steinbrewhiner isn’t helping much. He can make all the vows he wants but just maybe this team isn’t good enough to see October. Yankee brass (Randy Levine) believed it would be good to make a change away from Joe Torre’s laid back style to the edgy persona of Joe Girardi, who looks in over his head. He doesn’t know how to handle the New York press and apparently isn’t putting out the right lineup these days.

Once again, Jason Giambi was hitting before Robinson Cano, who inexplicably continues to bat at the bottom third of the order. So what if Alex Rodriguez is back and apparently went yard to break up Daniel Cabrera’s shutout cause it’s really the only positive any Yankee fan could take with this disassembled bunch. Oh. The rating AL MVP’s big righty bat is a welcome sight to an offense which can’t score. If only that would resolve all the team problems.

It still isn’t known when switch-hitting All-Star backstop Jorge Posada will return. The Yanks need every bat these days cause this pitching staff isn’t scaring anyone. For once, Mike Mussina didn’t have it tonight lasting only 10 batters while retiring a couple and allowing seven runs of only one which was earned thanks to teammate Derek Jeter’s throwing error that opened the floodgates. Making matters worse, the Yankee captain left the game after getting plunked on the left hand.

Out of the O’s 10 runs, only two were earned with Johnny Damon misplaying a Luke Scott fly ball in the second leading to three more runs. When it all goes wrong, sloppy team D is common and even umpire’s errant calls such as the other night which negated a Carlos Delgado three-run home run don’t even matter. At least the Met first baseman wound up with an RBI hit in the 11-2 blowout of Chien-Ming Wang Sunday. That’s how brutal Girardi’s Yanks have been. What happened to playing a crisper brand of ball? What happened to executing and winning close games? And what happened to just having solid pitching which could shutdown an offense?

Oh wait. That never got addressed. It didn’t help that Phil Hughes was pitching hurt getting off to a miserable start before finally being DLed. Even that was a three-ring circus with Girardi not even able to properly communicate what was wrong. This guy is just way too sensitive and is proving the Florida reporters right. If he thought that was tough, he really shouldn’t have taken this job.

Ian Kennedy has struggled and remains winless with the Yanks hoping one of these days, the former first round pick out of USC will put it all together like he did when he came up. If he could just locate, it’s bound to turn around. Andy Pettite’s been a bust in his second season meaning that only Wang and Mussina were performing up to expectations. Toss in surprise recall Darrell Rasner who will get another big start tomorrow trying to put a halt to a four-game skid.

There’s also the bullpen which soon could be renamed the pigpen. Kyle Farnsworth had shown improvement until his implosion a few days ago in which he served up two homers to Met duo Jose Reyes and David Wright putting Saturday’s game out of reach. The problem is that even with Girardi using the hard thrower more, he’s already allowed six gopher balls. Or one more than Aaron Heilman. So how reliable is he?

Russ Ohlendorf is still a work in progress and LaTroy Hawkins is proving to be the latest Brian Cashman mi$take. Unless Edwar Ramirez becomes a solution, the Yanks only have the same 1-2 punch of Joba Chamblerlain and Mo Rivera to finish games which is why Steinwhiner’s idea of moving the Nebraska setup man to the rotation would be a colossal mistake making even more a mess of their pen.

I still want to know how Morgan Ensberg was signed while a younger and more versatile Andy Phillips was let go. How Ensberg is even still on a major league roster begs questioning. This is what the Yankees have become. Where misfits somehow wind up with jobs. What? Like Eric Duncan couldn’t be given a shot to sink or swim? The organization needs to get their heads out of their collective asses.

How is it getting any better? Unless the team snaps out of it, they’re in for a tough go because the AL East is no longer a joke. Not with the Rays much improved and the O’s showing signs of life. Even the Jays are coming around.

So, is it over? Hardly. After tonight, the Yanks will have completed 45 games meaning that there’s still 117 to go. They have been in this unenviable position before and comeback to make the postseason. Still, falling into the same early habits isn’t a good trend. One of these days, it’s going to comeback to haunt them.

Is this finally that year? Only time will tell. For now, this team is a mess headed on the road to nowhere.