On the Yankees beat

Three big things, one small thing, and one very big thing:

Three big things:

1. Starting pitching: these guys have to give us five or six decent innings. Why?

2. Middle relief: up and down, up and down, and it's going to be important, especially given [1].

3. Can we play small ball? That's why they collapsed in 2004: an inability to build on a lead in games 4 and 5. You need to be able to manufacture runs all the time, especially given [1] and [2].

The small thing:

First base. We are eating up a lot of roster spots to cover this position, something we didn't have to do between Donnie and Tino. Two aging, uncertain sluggers ... maybe Matsui should look into getting a first baseman's mitt this offseason.

And, of course, the very big concern: Mo's elbow. Enough said.

in a word: defense.

Starting pitching is a major concern. Outside of Wang, you have to hold your breath. This is why I continue to say we need a reliever on the playoff roster instead of Lidle. With starters that consistently go only 5-6 innings, we need a bullpen full of guys that can pitch at least 2, and possibly 3 consecutive days.

I am VERY bothered by their play the last few games.This
"resting" is bs-they are losing their edge and their swings.Getting shutout by JP Howell is disgraceful,he is not a major league pitcher.Of course A-rod pops up with the bases loaded today after the pitcher walked Abreu on 4 pitches-I simply HATE him,wish he was headed for nl after the season.Yanks need to buckle down and start playing,they already have lost homefield to the Tigers today,remember what happened in Anaheim last year.Enough resting-play to win.

arod is back to normal, in other words, not hitting, starters outside of wang useless, villone scary, clutch hitting gone,jason has no power now, shef looks timid, no clutch hitting, the arod article has just crushed his spirit, he is a shell of what he use to be, far from clutch, he will be a mess in the playoffs and all we will get is he played like a dog. moose and randy have never done it as yanks in the playoffs,this is a first round bye bye team. no doubt about it, take it to vegas, joe has lost the team.

I posted this on Pete's blog as well.The most important thing is pitching.We need to have good pitching into playoff.If we have that,our offense always go through any way.If our offense/defense struggle enough now,i have feeling they will perform well in the playoff,especially A-Rod,Damon..

I want to share an article I read.I think it's the most important thing and right attitude.

I read an article about Wang after his 18th win on the opener.Reporters congrat his 18th.Wang said he made some mistakes and teammates made good play and scored "a lot of"runs for him.He still need to improve.Wang said he didn't have good sinkers and used more changeup and silders.As we know,Wang did pitched well and just made few mistakes.

If our pitchers just foucus on the bad pitches they made and improve that,we will have enough offense to come through.We won't have that many runs any way because we will face good pitchers in the playoff.

I have been, and still am a die-hard Yankee fan since 1960!
Going into the playoffs, it's deja vu all over again!...They're in a team slump (again), and pitching is not where it should be. The middle relievers are horrendous! Aside from Wang, there's no one dependable on the staff. Do we have any closers?...There's Mo, but he seems to be day to day. At this point, we are supposed to be winning more games than losing. It doe not look good!

Oh, get a grip people.
The sky's not falling. The world's not coming to an end.
They're losing and playing lackadaisical in a bunch of meaningless games.
So what?
I'm not even the slightest bit worried.
So what if we don't get homefield advantage?
Did home-field advantage help the past 5 postseasons?
Did not having home-field keep the Red Sox from winning the WS easily in 2004?

Quit with the panic button pushing.

You fans are pathetic.

I'm almost ashamed of being associated with you guys.

THOUGHT ID NEVER SEE THE DAY WHEN A YANKEE MANAGER WAS NOT OUT TO WIN EACH AND EVERY GAME.GET WITH IT TORRE.

Reality Bites. Twins in Four. Uggh.

I'm a worry wart when it comes to the Yankees. I'm not worried about anything except the starting pitching right now. You never know which Mussina or R. Johnson will show up these days and we're awfully dependent on a young man (Wang) who had shoulder trouble last year. Frankly, I'm amazed at how well Wang has pitched but he's not a power pitcher and that has me worried.
Wright or Lidle- Take your pick, they both frighten me.

I WORRY ABOUT THE YANK BULLPEN AND HOW MUCH THEY HAVE LEFT IN THE TANK AFTER ANOTHER YEAR OF CLUELESS JOE.

Jim - I think you are dead wrong about Wang not being a power pitcher. You need to look beyond the strikeout totals in a big way. He throws bowling balls and hitters can't lift them out of the infield. He's consistently in the mid 90's and the only reason he doesn't strike more people out is because he pitches to contact knowing they can't muscle him. He is muscling them. He's got a nice change up, but he only throws it sparingly because he doesn't want to get beat on that pitch. If he used it more often I'm telling you his strikeout numbers would rise. There is absolutely nothing wrong with his velocity. The only time he gets beat is when his control is off and he aims the ball. That and the other team his a bunch of seeing eye ground balls on turf or something. If Mariano had been healthy that day in Washington, I think it was June 18th or thereabouts, he'd be gunning for number 20 tonight. Just because you don't strike a lot of guys out doesn't mean you are not a power pitcher. He throws plenty hard enough with wicked movement. That said, I'm always worried about the rest of them. Wright has impressed me of late with his velocity and competitiveness, but it's hard to tell sometimes if the other team kind of lets down when they see him coming. I like him over Lidle at the present time because of his power stuff and his experience in the post season. Nothing is a given here though. Just my two cents.

The biggest problem is these 2 guys coming back from the DL. Without Sheffield and Matsui we not only made up the 4 1/2 games we were down on the Soxs July 4th but also
overtook them and had a commanding 11 1/2 game over the Soxs. We do much better without these guys. Sheffield is not a team player and he only cares about Gary Sheffield. A home run hitter that only cares for numbers,not about knocking the guy home from second its all about how far Gary Sheffield can hit a homer. Also Matsui is a DH and why Toore would take out a guy with better defense,speed and a better arm to replace him is beyond me.Melky should be in left come postseason and Sheffield should be on the bench. Put Giambi at first and DH Matsui that solves your problem. We were winning with the small ball guys. Now with these big sluggers back this is my main concern come postseason. It looks like the same team as the last 3 years with the addition of Damon and Cano and Abreu but we all know how many rings Matsui,Sheffield A-Rod and Giambi have won us since they have been here.Bottom line I hope we win come postseason time but I don't know about you guys ever since Sheff and Matsui came back and Melky on the bench with Bernie I feel like are chances are less.

Good point, AJ.

Basically, you are saying what I've been saying all along.

Unfortunately, the dumb Yankee brass (in this case, it's probably just dumb Torre) loves veterans. They'll play their slow and aging players way before they'll give their more talented younger players a chance.

Could be another early exit from the playoffs this year. The whole world is getting younger, faster, stronger. You can't compete if you don't do the same.

They just won't learn.