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Crossword Petesays
Have the Yankees won lately? I don’t get a newspaper anymore and I seldom go to the sports ezines but as I traveled on Tuesday I heard on the radio that TB followed up BoSox sweep of Yanks with at least the Bronx Bombers 6th straight loss. Is Posada still in the fold? Is Jeter still defending him?
Yanks have won two in a row following that 6-game losing streak. Posada played Tuesday night and went 2-for-3, but otherwise Saturday’s incident appears to have opened the door for allowing Girardi to play him less, if he so chooses. Not that it wasn’t an option before, but maybe it’s easier for him to justify now.
Jeter spoke in defense (or support) of Posada after it happened. What do you mean by is he still defending him? I don’t think he turned around the next day and said “I take it back,” if that answers your question.
Crossword Petesays
Sounds like the Yankees are too streaky to be a serious threat this year. More like a lucky threat, if the right streak comes at the right time. Jeter didn’t “take it back”, but it sounds like he had second thoughts, faced a lot of criticism and questioning, and really was Johnny-come-lately anyway. But then I only have what some sports announcer chooses to tell me on the radio.
Dansays
I spoke to my own baseball team yesterday about the Yankees… They are in 2nd place in the hardest division in baseball and they were very recently in 1st. They got swept by the team that almost every expert picked to go to the World Series from the American League who needed the sweep just to get to .500 for the first time this year…And everyone is trashing them as being “dead” and/or “completely lost” or “old”.
I watched Sportscenter yesterday and I don’t believe that many teams are running away with their divisions. The AL West for instance consists of teams with very similar records as the Yankees, Sox, and Rays at the top, right around .500.
The reason the Yankees are and always will be relevant is because of this type of scrutiny and the expectations of the organization.
The expectations are so high that any “chink in the armor” is a sign of their downfall.
In my opinion, that’s a great place to be. High expectations usually yield strong performance. Case in point, Nobody expects the Pirates to be good, and they continue to be the worst team in the league.
I hope that my own baseball team can carry with them those high expectations.
(Just for note, I am anything but a Yankee supporter)
Yanks were definitely a flawed team to start the season, but the area that was considered their biggest weakness has actually been their greatest strength so far: starting pitching. The question is, how long can that hold up? I think Colon may be having a bit of a resurgence, but I don’t think Freddy Garcia’s going to keep it up, and I’m not sold on Ivan Nova either. Sabathia hasn’t been great yet (maybe he’ll get better, or maybe he’s just not as dominant as the absolute best in the game). Burnett’s been about as expected: good at times, but inconsistent.
The offense has so far not been as impressive as people thought, and if this is because many of the major players in the lineup are getting up there in years, then it could turn out to be a problem. The bullpen has been far from the strength it was supposed to be as well.
Probably too many questions hanging over this Yankees team. I think they’re definitely going to contend, and will probably (although not definitely) make the playoffs, I don’t think it’s a championship squad. Even if they had Cliff Lee, I’m still not so sure they’d be.
Wallysays
AL Central has also provided some major surprises … namely Cleveland on the upside and Minnesota and Chicago on the downside. And it’s not like the Indians are simply beating the crap out of the Twins and ChiSox as the explanation. Haven’t played that many games vs eachother actually … and I think the Sox are 3-1 vs Indians.
But it’s amazing how teams, essentially independent of eachother, can perform so drastically different vs expectations at start of season. The Tribe has had great starting pitching … that was viewed to be their glaring weakness coming in. Go figure.
The WhiteSox have shown some signs of snapping out of it, but I’m FAR from declaring them a healthy team. Huge positive surprise with Jake Peavey’s 1-0 three hitter vs Cleveland last night.
Loyal readers, here is your chance to get the discussion going. Let us know what is on your mind. Today is a great day for the Pine!
Have the Yankees won lately? I don’t get a newspaper anymore and I seldom go to the sports ezines but as I traveled on Tuesday I heard on the radio that TB followed up BoSox sweep of Yanks with at least the Bronx Bombers 6th straight loss. Is Posada still in the fold? Is Jeter still defending him?
Yanks have won two in a row following that 6-game losing streak. Posada played Tuesday night and went 2-for-3, but otherwise Saturday’s incident appears to have opened the door for allowing Girardi to play him less, if he so chooses. Not that it wasn’t an option before, but maybe it’s easier for him to justify now.
Jeter spoke in defense (or support) of Posada after it happened. What do you mean by is he still defending him? I don’t think he turned around the next day and said “I take it back,” if that answers your question.
Sounds like the Yankees are too streaky to be a serious threat this year. More like a lucky threat, if the right streak comes at the right time. Jeter didn’t “take it back”, but it sounds like he had second thoughts, faced a lot of criticism and questioning, and really was Johnny-come-lately anyway. But then I only have what some sports announcer chooses to tell me on the radio.
I spoke to my own baseball team yesterday about the Yankees… They are in 2nd place in the hardest division in baseball and they were very recently in 1st. They got swept by the team that almost every expert picked to go to the World Series from the American League who needed the sweep just to get to .500 for the first time this year…And everyone is trashing them as being “dead” and/or “completely lost” or “old”.
I watched Sportscenter yesterday and I don’t believe that many teams are running away with their divisions. The AL West for instance consists of teams with very similar records as the Yankees, Sox, and Rays at the top, right around .500.
The reason the Yankees are and always will be relevant is because of this type of scrutiny and the expectations of the organization.
The expectations are so high that any “chink in the armor” is a sign of their downfall.
In my opinion, that’s a great place to be. High expectations usually yield strong performance. Case in point, Nobody expects the Pirates to be good, and they continue to be the worst team in the league.
I hope that my own baseball team can carry with them those high expectations.
(Just for note, I am anything but a Yankee supporter)
Again, just some observations…
Yanks were definitely a flawed team to start the season, but the area that was considered their biggest weakness has actually been their greatest strength so far: starting pitching. The question is, how long can that hold up? I think Colon may be having a bit of a resurgence, but I don’t think Freddy Garcia’s going to keep it up, and I’m not sold on Ivan Nova either. Sabathia hasn’t been great yet (maybe he’ll get better, or maybe he’s just not as dominant as the absolute best in the game). Burnett’s been about as expected: good at times, but inconsistent.
The offense has so far not been as impressive as people thought, and if this is because many of the major players in the lineup are getting up there in years, then it could turn out to be a problem. The bullpen has been far from the strength it was supposed to be as well.
Probably too many questions hanging over this Yankees team. I think they’re definitely going to contend, and will probably (although not definitely) make the playoffs, I don’t think it’s a championship squad. Even if they had Cliff Lee, I’m still not so sure they’d be.
AL Central has also provided some major surprises … namely Cleveland on the upside and Minnesota and Chicago on the downside. And it’s not like the Indians are simply beating the crap out of the Twins and ChiSox as the explanation. Haven’t played that many games vs eachother actually … and I think the Sox are 3-1 vs Indians.
But it’s amazing how teams, essentially independent of eachother, can perform so drastically different vs expectations at start of season. The Tribe has had great starting pitching … that was viewed to be their glaring weakness coming in. Go figure.
The WhiteSox have shown some signs of snapping out of it, but I’m FAR from declaring them a healthy team. Huge positive surprise with Jake Peavey’s 1-0 three hitter vs Cleveland last night.
The Twins? Wow … who saw this coming???