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Yanking us around Fast-starting Yankees fall back to Earth with a thudPosted: Monday May 19, 2003 11:23 AM
We were all awfully quick to praise the Yankees, weren't we? "Yankees Could Be Best Ever" yelled a New York headline in late April. "Flat as a pancake," Joe Torre says now. The Yankees were 18-3 back then, back in the heady days of April. They had the best record in baseball. They were winning even without the heart of their team, shortstop Derek Jeter, who was injured on a freak play at third on Opening Day. They were rich, they were successful ... they were, as always, the hated Yankees. With the Yankees playing the way they were playing, the poor Red Sox, it seemed, were already playing for the wild card.
"Those baseball gods kind of work in weird ways, don't they?" said Grady Little, the Boston skipper. Back in April, no one would have figured the Yankees would have fallen this far this quickly. The Yankees jumped to 18-3 on the strength of their rotation, which started the season 16-0. Second baseman Alfonso Soriano was looking like the AL Most Valuable Player. Even with Jeter and closer Mariano Rivera on the shelf, the Yankees were beating everyone. Well, the Yankees are 9-13 after that 18-3 start. Jason Giambi, their slugging first baseman, is hitting .203. The team's .276 batting average puts them in the middle of the AL pack. They are 2-7 in their last nine games. They are 11-13 against the AL West. They're coming off a 1-5 homestand in which they were swept by the lowly Texas Rangers. They won nine of their first 10 series, but they've lost their last three, the first time they've dropped three straight in four years. Since the rotation began 16-0, the starters are 8-11. "We're reeling in all aspects," general manager Brian Cashman told reporters the other day. The Red Sox, it must be said, aren't exactly ripping up the league, either. They are 6-4 over their last 10 games. They're a pretty pedestrian 9-7 in May. They're still struggling with that bullpen thing. (The famed "bullpen by committee" has a 5.20 ERA and opponents are hitting .294 against it.) But the Red Sox haven't lost three in a row all season. And, at least for this moment, they're playing better than the Yankees. Maybe the biggest mystery for the Yanks is Giambi, who has battled an eye infection and various muscle pulls. He is being booed at Yankee Stadium a year after signing a $120 million contract. But Giambi is not alone. He hit a staggering .136 on the Yankees' just-completed homestand, but Soriano (who is batting .311 with 12 homers and 32 RBIs overall) hit just .231. Bernie Williams hit just .250. The Rangers, who have the worst ERA in baseball, took three straight games from the Yankees over the weekend and have held them to a .230 batting average this season. The Yankees' bullpen is not much better than Boston's (the Yanks' pen has a 4.94 ERA). Steve Karsay is still on the injured list, leaving the Yankees without a key member of their pen. Rivera is still effective -- he has a 1.29 ERA in seven innings -- but getting to him has been the problem. The Yankees have only nine saves as a team. Rivera has three of them. As badly as the Yankees are playing, no one expects them to fold completely. Giambi will start to hit because he always has. Soriano and Williams will snap out of their slumps. Jeter is back, and that can only help. The Yankees' pitching will settle down. And if the team needs another setup man or more arms for the bullpen, the Yankees have the wherewithal to get them before the trading deadline. We were all awfully quick to praise the Yankees after that phenomenal start. We should learn from that. Now we should make sure that we don't bury them too quickly, either.
• The Royals were fun while they lasted, weren't they? • The San Diego Padres are 2 ½ games better than the Detroit Tigers. That's only 2 ½ games. There oughta be a law. • At this point, what with the suspension, the mole on his stomach, assorted aches and pulls and now a popped groin that could keep him on the bench until close to the All-Star Game, you have to wonder whether Mike Piazza should be granted a do-over for this season. • Kevin Millwood is 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA over his last six starts and has gone at least six innings in each of them. Where would the Phillies be without him?
This week, more on Raffy, the All-Star Game and other things ... Two questions: 1) Why is it that a player, such as Jason Giambi, at least for now, will refuse to bunt down the third-base line when they pull that shift on him? Not only would it get him the occasional extra hit, but, if he did it enough, it would certainly keep the opposing team honest. 2) I've asked this before. What is it about the majority of today's outfielders that they can't throw straight? I'm not talking about arm strength, simply direction. So often, an outfielder makes a strong throw, and it's 10-20 feet off the target. I don't understand why this isn't taught in high school, let alone the minors. -- Marty Israel, Hazlet, N.J. As far as hitting against the shift ... if these guys (Bonds, Palmeiro, Giambi and others) could go the other way, other teams would never put on the shift. But they're all exclusively pull hitters, and they're stubborn, and they want to beat the other guys at their own game, so they try to hit through the shift or over it. Your suggestion makes sense -- if those guys could actually do it. On the second question ... a good, strong and accurate throw from the outfield can lead to some of the most exciting plays in baseball. Ichiro wowed everyone last year with his arm. Raul Mondesi's arm still is one of the best parts of his game. But a good arm is way down on the list of necessities for a good major league outfielder these days. The corner outfielders in today's game need to hit, and hit with power, much more than they need to throw a guy out at the plate. So they spend much more time in the batting cage than they do perfecting their arms. It is amazing to me that so many writers, broadcasters, etc., can even question Rafael Palmeiro's qualifications for the Hall Of Fame. Only 19 players have reached the 500 home run plateau. Granted, there will be more in today's age of power. However, when you look at his plans to play three more years and his consistency and how he takes care of his body, Palmeiro should end up with 600 home runs, 3,000 hits and probably about 1,850 RBIs. It also seems like a ridiculous argument when many people say he wasn't the best player at his position in his era. He isn't a very flashy player and has been hurt by not playing on very good teams. He is a Gold Glover and has been a very reliable and durable player. Besides his numbers, he seems like a genuinely good guy. In today's sports world it is nice to see someone like him. -- Don Hallstrom, Denver In my mind, Palmeiro belongs in the Hall. In my mind, the debate's pretty shallow. But there's still a debate. Read on. Palmeiro has consistent stats ... very, very good stats ... but should not a Hall of Famer be a player who is recognized for more than that? Winning championships, for example ... setting a new standard of excellence at his position ... something remarkable! Some people may feel compelled to vote for him due to the total stats ... but really, to do that, to vote him in only because of the total stats ... just seems kind of lame ... -- Robert Bayer... Well ... Robert ... that's a lot of ... ellipsis. Palmeiro. Really good player. Consistent and never gets hurt. Super. But it's "The Hall of Fame" not the "Hall of Consistently Above Average Performance." Where are the All-Star appearances? Where are the MVPs? The batting titles? You are using his home run total to justify his admission, but when has he led the league? Five hundred homers is an overvalued milestone these days. It's like being a millionaire. Once it was a big deal and now? Before the decade is over how many 500 homer guys will there be? In 20 years? Will they all deserve to be in the Hall? And he played 1st base and DH. Of course, he never got hurt. If Junior Griffey played first and DH'd he would have had 500 already. And have you seen the Texas and Baltimore home and away power splits? If he was playing in a full-size ballpark, we wouldn't be having this discussion. He only hit .292 as a first baseman for his career. If you let guys like this in the hall, you make it impossible to justify keeping out everyone else with good but not great numbers who just keep hanging around. What about Andre Dawson, Harold Baines and Fred McGriff? -- Matt Pearsall, San Diego Matt, I don't think you can discount his consistency so easily. This guy wasn't consistent for five years or 10. He's been a producer for nearly his entire career. As far as the homers, I agree with what Joe Morgan has said. Yeah, it's easier to reach 500 homers than it once was. But it's not easy. You have to be very, very good for a long, long time. Why all the debate on Palmeiro's future induction into the Hall while players like Ozzie Smith are a first-ballot induction? Smith made the Hall by being a great fielder, a very mediocre hitter, an outstanding gymnast as well as being very open to the media. It's unfortunate when a consistently great player gets knocked about making the Hall just because he doesn't dance his way on to the field or that he happens to play at a time when home run production is being juiced up by other players on "juice." -- Mike Ward Yeah. What Mike said. From what I understand, Bill James's conception of the "bullpen by committee" isn't that a team shouldn't have a relief ace, but that that relief ace shouldn't necessarily always be used as a "closer" -- that sometimes he should come out in dicey situations earlier in the game, acting as a "stopper." What's frustrating about what Boston especially has been doing this year is not that they don't have a closer, but that they don't have anyone good enough to classify as a "stopper." It's amazing that a front office smart enough to hire Bill James himself as an adviser would be dumb enough to think they could get away with having no relief ace and not drop games left and right. -- Ben Allen It sure makes sense to me that you use your best bullpen pitcher when you think you need him the most. Figuring out when that is -- the seventh in a close game or the ninth up by two -- is the question. And the answer to that question isn't easily answerable. It depends on a lot of things, including who's coming up and how much your pen has been worked lately. And, as you say, Ben, if you don't have anyone to stop the other guys, it's kind of a moot point. Concerning high player salaries in your May 12 column, you said, "The first step, though, is showing baseball what you think." I did this before the 2001 season when I failed to renew my family's four season tickets for the Orioles at Camden Yards. The reason was simple, obvious, and utterly absurd: Alex Rodriguez, Mike Hampton, and Juan Gonzalez had signed contracts in the offseason that between them were worth nearly a HALF OF A BILLION DOLLARS! I have not even watched a MLB game on TV since that time. ! -- David Thompson, Richmond, Va. That's what I'm saying. If the salaries bug you that much, don't help pay them. Good for you, David. No city can stage a soap opera like New York, and the Mets have to be the sudsiest story since Bill Parcells left town. Mets fans can't face facts about Piazza. Great guy, great career ... now mostly behind him. At an age when even the all-time catchers fell off steeply in production. A middling defensive catcher at best even in his prime, but mostly a hitter. Never touted as a great athlete, and definitely not a candidate for third, first or left field. Making even more than! Mo. Only one way to solve things at Shea AND do it to the hated cross-town Yankees. Send Mikie to the Red Sox. Get a couple of good young prospects in return and, as a mostly DH, he can beat a tattoo on the Green Monster. And do it now -- before he reaches 5-and-10, and before he bats .250 with 15 dingers and 65 RBI. -- Mike Cuno I don't know if the Mets will be able to get rid of Piazza that easily. There's been a lot said about his lack of athleticism, and how he'll have trouble adjusting to first. Maybe. My thinking is that, given time, Piazza will be adequate enough over there -- not great, but good enough -- and that he still has plenty left in his bat. Just a hunch. The gravest threats to the All-Star Game are bloated festivities, Bud Selig and West Coast games where the most important thing on the field is the blinding rays of the setting sun. Bud Selig's recent notion to award home-field advantage to the World Series representative of the winning team is a good try, but you're right to suggest that the payoff is both hypothetical and irrelevant. So. Make the stakes higher. Maybe the losing All-Star Game team could be required to run four laps around the stadium wearing only their cups and their caps. Or all the players in the league that loses the All-Star Game would be subject to weekly drug testing for the balance of the season. -- Jim Wilson, Washington DC Thanks for the suggestions, Jim. I'll pass them on. Thanks to everyone for writing in. John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.
Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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All any starting pitcher can hope for is to pitch well enough to give his team a chance to win. Or so the saying goes. Failing that, he can at least try not to get thrown out of the game. Montreal's Zach Day crashed on both counts Saturday when he was booted in the third inning against the Rockies after umpires discovered he had glue on his finger. Day said he was trying to protect a blister (which, evidently, he was). The umps, citing a rule that calls for an automatic ejection for any pitcher found with a foreign substance on his fingers, ran him anyway.
"If baseball is being based on a computer, why don't we all just stay at home and play PlayStation2, XBOX, Sega -- whatever games are called -- and make it even? At least we'd be even and on equal ground. I've never known baseball to be based on a computer."
