No Hitting = No Winning

A decent outting by Mike Mussina was wasted by the Yankee bats last night. Moose threw 6 innings giving up only two runs and the rest of the bullpen, including recently roughed up Veras, Ramirez and Giese, all threw scoreless innings.

The Yankees only put together 4 hits on the night. Brett Gardner went 0 for 3 and wasn't exactly smashing in his debut.

Here's the problem with this year's Yankee team. They just don't have it. Whatever "it" is, the Yankees are lacking. Some days it's pitching, other days it's hitting. They just can't put together the total package for more than a few days in a row. Their last big win streak had people thinking that maybe the team could make a late season charge. With Joba moving up to the rotation, starting pitching suddenly looked a lot better. The fact is, this year's team just stinks. They haven't found themselves, found a good team chemistry and they haven't found a way to win.

Starting pitching is decent. Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Chamberlain, Ponson, Rasner and Giese are all capable of quality outings. That's 7 guys who, when healthy, are capable of pitching at a decent level. Relief pitching is a roll of the dice, with just about every reliever you never know who is going to show up on the mound. Hitting is the same way. Guys are capable of hitting .300 and sometimes will go on a tear for a game or two, then you won't see any offensive production for days.

It all comes down to a lack of consistency and an inability to string hits together for runs.

Giese pitched as a closer today, but if he's not going to start, I hope Girardi can manage to use his long reliever as, well, a long reliever. Don't expect Joe to do anything the conventional way, however.

The team could use another decent set up man. I've been thinking Veras and Ramirez could fit the bill but they just can't be counted on. Farnsworth and Hawkins are way too prone to blow ups and Veras and Ramirez seem to be learning their ways. Ohlendorf looked good at times but looked bad more often and earned his demotion back down to AAA. I don't think there are going to be any answers on the market, as quality relievers are rare these days. Look for promotion within, but not until next year. I think management realizes the guys need a little time to develop and the team isn't going anywhere this year.

Yanks Clobbered Early

Pete Abraham over at the LoHud Yankees Blog really summed up some of the key points of the game.

Dan Giese is Dan Giese. He's not some wunderkind the Bombers have been grooming for a while, and he's not the next Doc Gooden. He's pitching about as well as can be expected. He made a few mistakes, but pitched like we should expect.

Ross "the run generator" Ohlendorf was bad. Worse than bad. His performance got him a quick demotion to Scranton and Kei Igawa was brought up. It's a sad statement when the Pinstripers replace you with Igawa. Actually, Igawa provides insurance if Ponson bombs and someone needs to be called in for long relief.

Pete really did a nice job summing up Edwar Ramirez. I like the guy and think he's got potential, but he really hasn't changed much since last year. He's got one decent pitch and the rest are sub-par. The biggest problem is that good hitters who do their research can figure him out fairly easy. Initially, and with unexperienced hitters, Ramirez can have great success. After a while, he starts getting hit hard.

At least things can't get worse in the second game. Wait a minute, did I just jinx us?

Yanks Can't Solve Reds' Pitching

The good news is that Dan Giese looked decent on the mound during his first regular start, and hopefully will be able to toe the line for a few more outings while Chien Ming Wang is out. None of the 3 runs allowed were credited as earned by Giese, but he had a hand in them, making a bad throw to second and allowing a key hit later.

Billy Traber got rocked for 2 runs while only securing 1 out after Jose Veras gave up 1 run facing 2 batters. Traber has had more bad than good outings this year while Veras is usually a decent reliever. The problem is that other than Rivera, there really aren't any guys that can be counted on to reliably shut down the opposition late in the game.

Ohlendorf gave up 2 hits but no runs and Hawkins retired the final 3 in order.

While the Yankee hitting wasn't horrible, it wasn't effective. The Bronx Bombers left 12 men on base and couldn't string together the offense to put runs on the board. If you have bases loaded with no outs, you need to put runs on the board. The Pinstripers had problems with this earlier in the year and need to figure out a way to manufacture more runs.

At the end of the day, you still have to be happy that Giese wasn't too bad, and should give the team a chance to win when he pitches next.

Joba Settling In

Joba Chamberlain lasted 4.1 innings yesterday, throwing 78 pitches. He had 5 strikeouts and only 1 walk, and looked like he had much better control than in previous starts. Joe Girardi said later that Joba should be ready to throw 90-95 pitches in his next outing. The transition from bullpen to starter is nearly complete, and so far, Chamberlain looks like the real deal.

The pitching star of the day was Dan Giese who didn't allow a hit or a walk in 2.2 innings and picked up his first major league win. Congrats Dan! It's only been a couple of games, but Giese has looked good and hopefully can stick around for a while. Are you reading this Joe Girardi? See how well things go when you have a decent long reliever in the pen?

Kyle Farnsworth had a day off supposedly because of a tweaked bicep that was getting an extra days rest. That left the set up job for Jose Veras. I personally like Edwar Ramirez as the setup man, but Veras is a close #2. Jose gave up 1 hit and didn't allow any runs. Mariano Rivera was his usual self; three up, three down.

The Yankees offense continues to show it's stuff. Johnny Damon went 2 for 5, bringing his average up to .328. Damon had the day off from fielding as Girardi put him in the DH spot to keep his legs fresh. Jason Giambi hit another HR, and certainly can hit the ball deep. Wilson Betemit was brought in as a defensive replacement, which again makes me wonder if Joe has watched any of the tapes of Betemit's defense this year.

So Joba looked good, Giese looked better, the bullpen was sharp and the batters were hitting. What's not to like?

Geise Outshines Joba

Joba Chamberlain used up the majority of his 65 pitch count in the first inning. He took a page out of the Ian Kennedy book and started trying to be cute, painting corners and dancing around the edges rather than throwing strikes. Joba will quickly learn that throwing like that won't get the job done in the big leagues as a starter. Chamberlain had 3 strikeouts but walked four batters. All of this happened in only 2.1 innings of work.

There is a real danger here that if the young star doesn't do better in his next couple outings that the impatient Yankees may stick him back in the bullpen, spoiling his chances to be an ace.

The recently called up Dan Giese did a decent job in the long reliever role, throwing 3.2 innings worth of quality ball, allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run.

Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez tried to make me look foolish for saying they would make good set-up men. Veras allowed 2 runs while only getting out 1 batter and Ramirez allowed 4 without getting anyone out. Thankfully Latroy Hawkins was there to save the day.

Chris Britton pitched a scoreless inning after the game was out of reach.

The Yankees left 10 on base. Damon, Jeter and Matsui hit well but everyone else pretty much stumbled at the plate. Things aren't looking good for the team right now as they sit 7 games behind. Even with guys like Posada coming back, I don't see a dramatic turnaround coming anytime soon.

With guys coming back off of the DL, the Yankees will need to clear room on the roster. I'm wondering if it's time to cut their losses with a few of the guys who only have a year remaining and just let them go. The Yankees like to keep the guys they are paying for, and continue to play them even when they struggle, but I think it's time to just let go.