Saturday, April 26, 2008

So Much for Ohlendorf as a Closer

Ross Ohlendorf gave up the winning run in a 4-3 loss to Cleveland. Billy Traber has been sent down and I see Ross' stock slipping in Girardi's eyes. Ian Kennedy looked awful early on and got hit hard for 3 runs in the second inning. After that he settled down and played well, but had thrown 105 pitches by the end of the fifth. Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins pitched fairly well, combining for 3 scoreless innings, but Hawkins needed some help from his defense to get it done.

The Yankees weren't hitting today as a team. Damon and Jeter were cranking out the hits but the Yanks couldn't string together enough offense to put more than 3 runs on the board.

This was a tough game to watch, given everything else that has happened lately. Girardi continues to make lots of ineffectual moves with both his hitters and bullpen pitchers.

Kennedy's lines weren't bad but watching him pitch that second inning was painful. Once again, a Yankee starter couldn't make it past the fifth inning. The Bombers need their starters to go at least 6, preferably 7 or 8 innings.

Giambi continues to cost his team runs by playing first, and struggled at the plate. Robinson Cano and his .152 batting average were brought in to hit for Morgan Ensberg, who has been hitting much better than Cano.

Farnsworth has been decent in his last few outings. That's about the only bright spot I'm seeing right now, which is a sad reflection on the state of this team.

Tensions are going to start running even higher before long if this continues.

2 comments:

Mark said...

"Tensions are going to start running even higher before long if this continues."
It will be interesting to see how prioitys are handled as the pressure mounts.Do they have the courage to send a hyped prospect down early for his own good or do they send them out against stacked lineups for on the job training.The schedule looks ominous

Jeff said...

Thanks for stopping by guys.

It will be interesting to see what moves get made if this streak continues. It would be nice if the Yanks could trade for a veteran starter without giving up a young prospect. Maybe the Yanks could shop Cano around.