It was the best of times .. it was the worst of times.
A tale of two .. baseball teams.
The last dozen baseball games played by the Yankees can be summed up that way.
Six exhilarating wins in a row, followed by six excruciating losses.
Which were the real Yankees? Beats the Dickens out of me (I couldn’t resist that one)
Five of the six wins came at home, where the bats exploded for 55 runs in 5 games at Yankee Stadium , taking the last two games from the Red Sox and then a three game sweep / annihilation of the Orioles. The sixth win got the left-coast trip off on the right-foot vs. the Angels in Anaheim. However the next half-dozen games were as painful as it gets. Painful in more ways than one as a matter of fact. Late night games … one run losses … sub-par pitching … annoying fans with incessant horn blowing and drum beating .. and some injuries thrown in to make the road trip pure torture.
Now the Yankees come home for six games, clinging to first place by 1/2 game over the Sox and hope to continue their dominance at the Stadium where they are 22-9.
The question becomes, will the Yankees get back to their winning ways, or have the pinstripers overachieved all season and now will start to fade ?
Well, going back to spring training I felt the hitting would be much improved and the pitching would be the big concern, and now with just over 40% of the season complete, I still feel that way.
The offense is in the top 3 in every offensive category in the A.L. They are 3rd in Home Runs, 2nd in B.A. , 1st in Runs and 1st in On-Base %, in fact the Yanks are 1st in the majors in On-Base% (last year they ranked 25th). I honestly can say that I saw this coming.
I felt the Yankee offense would be good on the road, and be absolutely dominant at home. My forecast for the South Bronx was ..
HAZY HOT & HOMERS .. and it still is !!
In my opinion the Yankee hitting success is sustainable, led by triple crown candidate Aaron Judge. Here is my analysis of Judge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1lirR7acyY
another issue. My concern going into the season was focused on the starting rotation and that hasn’t changed. As long as the Yankee ace Masahiro Tanaka has a partially torn UCL, how can I not be concerned. The fact that Tanaka has the 3rd highest ERA of all starters in the majors thus far leads to increased speculation, but whether it is injury related or a mechanical issue, the bottom line is the Yankees need someone to take charge and be the ace and anchor of the staff. Couple Tanaka’s 6.34 ERA, 5-7 record with the fact that CC Sabathia 7-2, 3.46 ERA has gone on the DL with a hamstring pull, and my preseason thought that the two headed monster I call “PINEDERINO” (link) would be the key to the entire season seems to be on point.
Severino & Pineda were a combined 6-20 (minus 14 ) as starters last year. This year, thanks to both throwing more change-ups they are a combined 12-5. That’s quite a turn around. Let’s do the math together .. the Yanks are 38-29 on the season, that is a total of 67 games which equals 41.36% of the season. IF, I repeat IF they keep up that pace, they will be a combined 29-12 ( plus 17). Severino has been brilliant and is just scratching the surface of mastering his change-up ( that is a scary thought for any hitter) and Pineda is up & down because sometimes he throws his change-up and sometimes he doesn’t. PINEDERINO is the key. Obviously the offense must keep hitting, and Chapman must stay healthy now that he is back and off the DL, but if PINEDERINO can combine to be 29-12, the Yankees will stay competitive, and determine the outcome of the tale of the 2017 Yankee season.
As always,
GO NYY !!
@mikepintonyy
