N.Y. YANKEES ~ ChiSox, Jeter and Hughes...Oh No!

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY


new york YANKEES:  Getting Dusted With White Sox.
Chalk one up for the Front Office.  On tap, more woe courtesy of the relief pitcher Brian Cashman didn't want.  Rafael Soriano coughed up another game for the Bombers.  But he's looking really bad doing it; if not despondent.  But they say that's just him.  Ok then,   ....Uh Oh!

I guess pitching out of roll for relievers fails to trigger something in their brains that doesn't spark the appropriate chemical releases.  It seems former closers acquired to be Eighth Inning Men for another teams can't, or don't usually make the conversion.... Or shall we call it, the demotion?  While on the one-hand a team looks at such an acquisition as enhancing their bullpen,  the acquired pitcher sees it as a personal demotion from his former Alpha-Bullpen role.  It is what it is.  Just remember, Cashman didn't want him.

Paul Kornerko's blast was the latest reason for Soriano's melancholy.  Blowing a save and getting the loss....again, can do that.  But a right fielder named Brent Lillibrand was the reason the White Sox won last night.  Outside of two Bomber home runs by Gardner and Cano, Brent ended the Yankees best chances of winning by making two game saving catches.  The first was a catch while crashing into the wall off a deep fly to right by ARod, then two, making a diving catch off Robbie Cano's low sinking liner to end the game.

But, why did the Yankees lose?  Because they haven't been able to hit ChiSox pitching over the first two games of this four game series.  They Yanks were outdone by former Mets' farmhand Philip Humber, who no-hit the Bombers over the first six innings in game one of the series.  The Yankees managed four hits before losing 3-2 Monday night.  Then Tuesday night, The Bombers were held to the same numbers.  Two runs scored off four hits (two solo home runs) is all they managed off Gavin Floyd over eight innings.

Game three is Wednesday night.  Mark Buehrle faces off against Bartolo Colon.  For the moment, Bartolo Colon seems like the more effective of the two (remarkable), as Mark Buehrle is off to another sluggish start.



DEREK JETER:
I'll keep this brief because I've said it many times before.

Right now, Derek Jeter's 2011 batting average is at .259 and climbing.  He started the season with a lifetime batting average of .314, and twenty games into the Bombers 2011 season, he caused it to slip to .313 due to a rough start.  That may not seem like such a disaster, but when you think about him being signed for three more years, he may stick around too long and ruin his lifetime .300 average just like the legendary Mickey Mantle did.

What I'm about to say isn't Anit-Yankee of me.  I'm trying to protect him.  He is fifty-three hits away from the magical three-thousand plateau.  I say when he achieves that milestone, he should retire post-haste!  I mean that.  Unless he demonstrates he's capable of sustaining a .300 average for another 2 1/2 years...over the next three months, which I don't think he can, he should take his 3,000 hits and his lifetime .300 batting average and retire; get married; ride off into the sunset; and start a family while his greatness is at it's most legendary.

It is my sincere hope that he surprises everyone, and mostly the Yankees, by taking this step towards protecting what would be an attractive combination of  career numbers.  And he's actually that self-aware and cunning enough to do it while not let anyone in on the secret.  Do not forget the bitterness Derek Jeter expressed towards some of the negotiating tactics Cashman and the Yankees employed.  Maybe he was just playing hardball with the Yankees based on principle and though maybe he deserved the respect of an overly-representative offer.

Why else should he pull off such a startling move?  Because over most of his career, through the days of Tejada, ARod and Garciapara, Ripken,  etc....; and all the years of knocking Jeter's defense,  -  Derek Jeter has always had his naysayers.  And they'll never go away.  If Jeter ruins his .300 lifetime average, those same naysayers (writers and fans alike) will be emboldened to diminish what Jeter has accomplished even more.  If Derek can retire with over 3,000 hits and still end his career with a batting average above .300, that would be BLING for LIFE and make him, a without-a-doubt untouchable in the barber shop debates across America!

Think about it.


However, This IS...Yankee Bashing:
Again, this is something I've said many times before.  But things continually happen that reinforce my notion. 

What happened this time?  PHIL HUGHES.  But it's more than just about him.  This is about Joba, and if you can remember...Ian Kennedy also.

The Yankees acted like spoiled brats when they opened up all their gift prospects too early.  When it came time to open presents, all the Yankees had left were broken toys.  They should have left the three much-hyped pitchers below in the minors from the start.  Joba was promoted after only 88 minor league innings pitched.

That's Folly! 

No..., Brian Cashman’s whole plan for pitcher development has been complete folly!  All three pitchers?  All three injured?  All three rendered ineffective?  If I were those three, I'd hire a lawyer and sue Brian Cashaman for Wreckage of Career!  (I'm KIDDING!..of course.)

The truth remains, the new York Yankees don’t know how to groom pitchers, and  they never have in the last 36 years.  They'd rather pay the premium for another team's pitcher.  That's just the way it's been.  After Ron Guidry, Dave Righetti, and Andy Pettitte (I’ll be kind and throw in Wang, Doug Drabek, and Jose Rijo), name the home grown starter who has done anything credible in Pinstripes worthy of our mentioning?   I'll wait.

: /

Stumped, aren't you?

Right.

Like I was saying, three young, hurt pitchers is not a coincidence.  It's a pattern....of destruction.




First Game Of the Year:
Tuesday night was my first baseball game of the season.  But it wasn't my first opportunity.  Regardless, there I was, back at the Old Ball Game.  There is something very right about that, even if it was a Yankee game.  But then again, any game in any park is fine with me.  Now with the Rangers and Knicks out of the Playoffs, this was my Opening Day.  Let the Games begin!

YANKEE STADIUM

Mike.BTB