"Pride- Power- Pinstripes"

By Billy Fellin

    The 2006 New York Yankees stumbled out to the game, posting a 7-8 record as of last night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. So why are the Yankees 4th in the East and a game under .500? I think I know why.It’s just pure lack of execution. Let’s take last night’s game for example. The Yanks and O’s were back and forth all game, trading the lead five times. The top of the 9th was 6-5 in favor of the Orioles. Tanyon Sturze was in and did a great job putting down two straight batters. Then, Mike Myers comes in with 2 outs and does a great job of getting that elusive third out to get to the Yankees at bat. First up is Johnny Damon, who popped out, one out. Jeter walks, Sheffield singled, moving Jeter to second. Then A-Rod struck out, two outs. Giambi is at bat, Jeter and Sheffield pull a double steal, though the Orioles totally missed it and let both of them get to 3rd and 2nd, respectively, without any challenge. Was this an omen of a bottom of the ninth comeback? Giambi walks, and then Matsui is up. Everyone is Yankee Stadium is excited, and my Dad and I are jumping up and down in our Virginia home. This is Hideki Matsui, Mr. Put the Ball in Play. This guy is a hit machine. Right? Well after looking at a ball, strike, ball, strike the count is full. Here comes the pitch, Matsui watches it go by and the ump rings him up, game over O’s win 6-5. The air was let out of Yankee Stadium was let out faster than a balloon popping.

    In that situation, Matsui really should have at least moved the bat. It didn’t leave its position when a pitch came, it only moved when he was taking practice swings. The bases were loaded and the Yankees couldn’t capitalize. This isn’t the first time this season that the Yankees have had at least one runner, most times more, in scoring position and they leave them there, stranded on white diamonds in a desert of dirt. This whole season has been frustrating like that.

    But somehow, the Yankees will pull it out. This isn’t like last year, where things weren’t clicking. This team has amazing chemistry. The Yanks have arguably the most potent offense in the game, and easily the most dangerous lineup 1 through 9. When there is a quality hitter such as Bernie Williams batting 9th, you know that you have a quality line-up. Our pitching is coming along as well. Except for the game against the Blue Jays where he got rocked, Randy Johnson has been a solid pitcher for them this year. Mussina is looking great, and looks like the Mike Mussina of old. Watching the Yankees-Orioles game right now, and Chacon has made a few mistakes, such as putting a runner on by hitting him with a 0-2 count. However, after a sac fly that currently makes the score 2-1 in favor of the Yankees, he got a lucky groundball and flashed some leather to get him out of the jam. It’s little things like that that are going to get the Yankees out of this funk that they’ve been in.

    So, in a phrase, I’m not that worried about how the Yanks have been playing thus far this season. They are more than capable of breaking out of this funk and getting back to their winning ways. There are still 146 games to be played, and that’s a lot of baseball. So don’t count the Yankees out because of a bad start, they will still be there in October.