By Vincent Mercogliano
If not for a three game sweep of the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, this column would not be able to report too much positive news from last week about the New York Yankees. After placing catcher Jorge Posada on the disabled list for the first time in his career, earlier in the week the Yankees announced that he will be joined by reigning AL MVP Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is only expected to miss a couple weeks, and as of Tuesday said that he felt good enough to play if he had to even with seven days remaining until he is eligible. His absence has forced others to have to step up in his place, and thus far the offense has faired well without their slugging right-handed hitter.
The main problem for the Yankees though continues to be consistency, or lack thereof. They have upheld their early reputation of being a team that likes to win and lose in spurts of threes. Before they swept Seattle over the weekend, they had been swept by the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees opened their series last Tuesday with the Tigers in the first game of a nine game home stand. They sent struggling young starter Phil Hughes to the mound and he continued to disappoint. In three and two-thirds innings pitched, he allowed six runs and put the Yankees in a hole they could not climb out of. They went on to lose the game 6-4.
After he was taken out of the game, Hughes could be seen visibly wincing in the dugout. It appeared that he was in some kind of pain, and after a variety of tests the team discovered that he has been pitching with a fractured rib. He was immediately placed on the disabled list and is expected to be out until July.
While Hughes’ injury is disappointing in the sense that he was expected to be a key member of the rotation this year, it has to be somewhat comforting for Yankee fans to know that even though he struggled through April, he was not at 100 percent. His decreased velocity and lack of control had been a cause for concern, but perhaps the injury had something to do with that.
With the list of players on the DL growing by the day, it’s becoming clearer that the Yanks will need to rely on players that weren’t in their plans to begin the season.
“You have no choice,” said shortstop Derek Jeter. “Injuries happen to everyone. You don’t sit around and feel sorry for yourself. Obviously, you wish they didn’t all happen at the same time.”
In the team’s next game, they sent starter Andy Pettitte to the mound. Pettitte has played the role all season of the stopper; the guy who the Yankees look to end their losing streaks.
But he was not as sharp as he normally is, and although he lasted six innings, he still surrendered five runs. The offense scored two runs in the first, but was held without a run for the rest of the game thanks to seven-plus innings from Tigers’ starter Jeremy Bonderman. The Tigers won by a final score of 6-2.
In series finale on Thursday the Yanks sent starter Ian Kennedy to the mound. They jumped out to an early lead thanks to a three-run shot by right-fielder Bobby Abreu in the first inning. But the lead quickly fizzled as Kennedy allowed four runs on five hits and three walks, and once again could not get out of the fifth inning.
“He’s not giving us the distance that we need,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s frustrating for him and it’s frustrating for us. This game is not easy and this game is a game of adjustments. You have to be able to make adjustments on the fly.”
Thanks to four more runs allowed by Yankee reliever Jonathon Albaladejo, the team was handed their third loss in a row, 8-4.
But how quickly fortunes can turn around these days in the Bronx. After the pitching had looked shaky during the week against the Tigers, they quickly got on track against the Mariners.
The first game of the series on Friday night saw a stellar pitching match-up between Yankee ace Chien-Ming Wang, and Seattle’s newest acquisition, Erik Bedard. And once again, it was Wang getting the best of an opposing team’s ace.
He went six innings while allowing only one run on three hits. He also struck out five, and appears on pace to shatter his single season strikeout mark thanks to a developing slider that he has added to his repertoire. The offense managed to put five runs on the board, and relievers Kyle Farnsworth, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless inning apiece to finish off the game. Farnsworth in particular has been surprisingly consistent this season and seems to have earned himself more meaningful innings.
Starter Mike Mussina followed Wang’s outing with an impressive performance himself on Saturday afternoon. Backed by the Yankees red-hot leadoff hitter Johnny Damon, who went 3-5 with two doubles and a home run, Mussina pitched six strong innings, allowing one run while striking out five. He earned his third victory in a row in a 6-1 win.
The Yankees completed their sweep of the Mariners on Sunday, thanks in large part to Hughes’ replacement in the rotation, Darrell Rasner. Rasner earned himself a spot on the team as a result of his 4-0 record this year playing for class AAA and his 0.87 earned run average.
He worked very economically after allowing a two run home run in the first to Mariners third basemen Adrian Beltre, needing only 76 pitches to get through six innings.
“He throws strikes, he has a plan, and he executes,” Jeter said of Rasner. “For us, defensively, you like playing behind a guy that throws strikes. He has confidence in his stuff, and he did exactly what we needed him to do.”
The offense did its part to support Rasner, giving the Yanks an 8-2 victory. The bats were very impressive in the series against Seattle, and the contributions came from up-and-down the lineup.
The catalyst has been Damon, who raised his average 20 points over the course of six games last week to .295. Meanwhile against the Mariners, Jeter went 8-14, Abreu was 7-12 and designated hitter Hideki Matsui is in the midst of a 15 game-hit streak.
It will take efforts like those throughout the lineup to pick up the slack of Rodriguez and Posada.
But in a surprising announcement prior to Sunday’s game, the Yankees decided to send the struggling rookie Kennedy to the minors.
The move seemed premature considering Hughes just went on the DL and the team is in need of pitchers. Granted, Kennedy had a horrific April, but the Yankees made the decision to go young in the offseason and had to have anticipated growing pains.
“I was kind of surprised,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think I really need to work on anything down there. I just need to pitch like I know I can. I’m struggling and I know when you’re struggling here, the world’s gonna end.”
In his place, the Yanks have recalled Kei Igawa, which has most Yankee fans fearing the worst. Igawa is 3-3 with a 3.87 ERA so far this season in AAA and is expected to start this Friday for the Yankees.
Kennedy meanwhile pitched very well in his first outing in AAA, pitching seven-plus scoreless innings on Tuesday, while only allowing one hit and striking out eight. With a couple more starts like that, Igawa could find himself out of the Bronx sooner rather than later.
For this upcoming week the Yankees will conclude their home stand with a three game set against the Cleveland Indians, before heading to Detroit to try and avenge the sweep they suffered at the hands of the Tigers.