| Andrew Perna. 10th April, 2008 - 5:50 pm
 It?s as early in the season as it gets, but I don?t think anyone figured that both the Yankees and Red Sox would be three games out of the first place in the American League East more than a week into the season. The Orioles are red hot, but it shouldn?t be long before both Boston and New York breakthrough.
Heading into their series finale against the Royals on Thursday night, the Yankees were one game under .500 as they looked towards their first battle with the rival Sox over the weekend.
If blame needs to be placed upon someone or something for the Bombers' relatively rough start, it certainly shouldn?t be the pitching staff ? even though they entered the year as a question mark for the heavy-hitting Yanks.
Derek Jeter has missed a trio of games with a strained quadriceps, but even the team?s healthy bats seem to be a tad anemic so far the season.
Jason Giambi is batting below the speed limit of most interstate highways, and Robinson Cano is just south of .200 after thirty-six at bats. Even Jeter, who has been limited to twenty-four trips to the plate because of his quad, was struggling at the plate before he left the team?s win against the Rays on Monday.
Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui and Alex Rodriguez are all hitting better than .300 through the team?s first nine games, but the Yankees are 28th in runs scored, something that seems unimaginable when you stare up-and-down their lineup.
New York isn?t going long nearly as often they have been in the past, but that is something that will almost certainly change in the coming weeks. However, offense is far from just a slugging practice, as the cross-town Mets have scored forty runs this season despite smacking just three home runs.
The Yankees' low on-base percentage (.301) hasn?t helped their offensive woes either.
Chances are that New York wouldn?t even have four wins through the first week of the season if their pitching staff wasn?t performing as well as they have.
New York has just the seventh-best staff in the American League, but they have received some great individual performances early this year.
Chien-Ming Wang is the team?s ace, but even he has exceeded expectations through his first two appearances. He has recorded two victories, both quality starts, and has an ERA of just 1.38 after facing the Rays and Blue Jays.
Wang posted the 8th highest FIC (a productivity statistic used by RealGM to evaluate players) in the first week of the season, with no other Yankees in the top thirty-one.
Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the Steinbrenner?s can thank Wang for half of New York?s victories thus far. The offense managed just five total runs in Wang?s two starts, but his stuff was good enough to hold the opposition to just two trips across home plate, helping keep the Yankees on the right side of the box score in both games.
Mike Mussina, who struggled with a 5.15 ERA last season, has performed admirably in starts against Tampa Bay and Toronto. He?s 1-1, but has just a 3.01 ERA in 11.2 innings of work. He gave up just two hits in six innings against the Rays, after losing his first start of the season to the Jays, a game that he would have won if the bats were alive for New York.
Phil Hughes? rough outing against the Royals on Tuesday ruined a nice start to the season, when he limited the Blue Jays to just two earned runs in a 3-2 victory. In actuality, Hughes didn?t have bad stuff against Kansas City. He walked four batters and allowed three earned runs in only three innings of work, struggling in rough weather conditions (as did opposing starter Brian Bannister).
Both Andy Pettitte (5.40 ERA in five innings) and Ian Kennedy (13.50 ERA in 5.1 innings) have started only one game for the Bombers thus far, but the strong arms of the bullpen have helped shift the focus off the pair?s initial struggles.
Brian Bruney, Joba Chamberlain, Bill Traber, Mariano Rivera and Jonathan Albaladejo have combined to give the Yankees 18.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to open the season. Bruney, who pitched the first two innings of the team?s loss to the Royals on Wednesday night, has been lights out ? allowing just one hit and striking out eight batters in 5.2 innings of work.
The arms of the Yankees have kept them from starting the season like the struggling Tigers (1-7), but with five of their next eight games coming against the defending champion Red Sox, the bats better start catching up to the arms in the Bronx.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM and always welcomes comments via e-mail (Andrew.Perna@RealGM). He writes daily in the ?Scoop Du Jour? and is currently working with RealGM?s NFL forums on the first edition of the NFL Summits. |
