Tonight was a step in the right direction for a Yankees' team in desperate need of offensive production and wins. They finished the game with eight runs and won by four so in the box score everything will look dandy in a game where Joba Chamberlain looked more like the future ace than the young rookie starter.
I'm not completely relieved. New York failed to have a base runner until after half the game was over and the Braves played sloppy defense. Though it was encouraging to see Francisco "the Italian Stallion Spark Plug" Cervelli (does anybody know where I can get a jersey or a shirt?) come through with his first major league home run, there was never any doubt the Yankees could hit the ball over the fence. Cervelli's was important because the game would have gotten out of hand if not for it. Brett Gardner had become the first man to reach base after a walk then was picked off on a bad call by the umpire where he was actually safe. It was the lowest point of the season if you are a Yankees' fan. Then all of a sudden Cervelli put one out, the Yankees loaded the bases and Alex Rodriguez woke up for a monumentally clutch two run single to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. All of a sudden Nick Swisher decided he had power and the bats got going in the midst of an 8-4 victory. Even so, the game wasn't a complete effort, but a win is a win and repeating the feat against Derek Lowe tomorrow would go a long way in trying to forget about the 2-5 run in the seven games before tonight. The eight runs were five less than their previous six games when the offense mustered just 13 during their cold streak.
I am of a similar belief that despite similar wins and losses and deficits from the 2009 Yankees compared to 2008, this year is the more encouraging outlook. A lack of scoring is something which will be fixed, particularly if Xavier Nady can add depth in his return and Joe Girardi realizes Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli are more valuable to the team than Cody Ransom and Brett Tomko.
Just like last year around this time the Yankees' bullpen has come to life, and Dave Robertson, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Hughes and slowly Brian Bruney are proviing the depth needed to reach Mariano Rivera, who was vintage tonight with his cutter, striking out everybody he faced during a four out save. Once Bruney is back in a rhythm following an extended series of injuries, he will be able to locate his fastballs better and will add depth to the hard throwing Hughes, the durable Aceves and the young explosive arm in Robertson.
It's no surprise what the difference is between the Yankees and the Red Sox and if you listened to Colin Cowherd today, you will know what I'm talking about. One team has more players in their prime, and they are more successful right now as a result. That doesn't mean their players are better, or that one team is necessarily too old, it just means the Red Sox have more players playing to their full potential. Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, Justin Masterson, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen all have vital roles on that team and all of them are in some part of their prime.
The Yankees have Cano (just entering), Sabathia, Teixeira, Gardner, Nady, Swisher, Bruney, Aceves, and then guys like Chamberlain, Hughes, Robertson who can enter it any year now, but are still mostly too young. Chamberlain and Hughes, for all of their experience, are still both under 24 years old. That's half the reason touting Chamberlain as a failed pitcher despite a sub 4 ERA this year in the AL as a starter is such a joke. There is no pitcher in recent memory who pitched like an ace at 23 or younger in the AL East. Not Greinke, not Lester, not Beckett, not Sabathia, not anybody. It's giving them the learning curve which makes an young, inexpensive, ace, not crying because your talented relievers didn't find their niche in the bullpen until June.
Notice how Hughes is so filthy in the bullpen? It's because GOOD STARTERS MAKE GREAT RELIEVERS. Pitchers capable of shutting down a game for 6-9 innings are almost always guaranteed to be able to do it for 1-3. That's just how it is. A mediocre starter like Mariano Rivera, or anybody in Oakland's bullpen, that makes more sense to make one of them a closer or setup man. If your team has one glaring weakness in that they lack a closer, than converting Jonathan Papelbon or John Smoltz from a successful or highly touted starter to closer makes sense. But making an ace caliber arm an eighth inning man at age 23 because he's not pitching like an ace? That's ridiculous. Especially when they are still pitching like a three or four starter in the the toughest division in Baseball.
Anyway, I don't know what Dice-K and Wang are currently. They should be in their prime, they have had success, but they aren't getting it done in 2009. Gardner, and Aceves are lesser roles, Swisher is a platoon player and Nady and Bruney have been hurt, so chalk that off as simple bad luck with upside. The main problem is the core of this team; Jeter, A-Rod, Posada, Damon-those guys are past their prime and that breeds inconsistency. It's why the offense has had a power outage, the Yankees' hitters are less consistent than they used to be. That's why their pitchers are having more success, they have more guys who may be enterting or are in their prime, than they have an arm like Rivera who, even when in his twilight, is still better than most of his competition. How Hughes, Chamberlain, Cano and Gardner, the fringe guys who could peak or not be there yet, how perform this season could be the difference between third place and a World Championship. It's that simple. Recently nobody except Gardner and Hughes have stepped up, tonight we saw glimpses of success. When the Yankees were going right you saw Melky emerge, you saw Gardner change games, when the team plays well guys like Pena and Cervelli make a difference. That's the best part about Baseball. That's why it's so unpredictable. That's why a series of one on one matchups between pitcher and hitter is still a team sport. It takes 25 men to win a World Series, and usually more than that.
Even so, in 2009 the Yankees benefit from a beaten up Tampa Bay team which isn't putting it all together simultaneously like last year, and then a bunch of teams just as incomplete as they are. Is New York better right now than the Red Sox? No, and they shouldn't be looking at the division right now. But either way both these teams realistically will be in October baseball and we know how that goes. The Yankees need to play their brand of Baseball, and unlike year's past, it's the Cervelli's, Cano's Cabrera's, Gardner's, Pena's, and maybe Jackson's of the world who will need to come of age on offense and defense.
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