Monday, May 21, 2012
NYDN: Yankees are getting old fast
While Joe Girardi’s troops are clearly not playing up to their paychecks, it is probably too soon to suggest we could be witnessing a redux of 1965 here, when the core of the ’50s-’60s dynasty, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Bobby Richardson, Clete Boyer et al, suddenly all got old at once and the team went into deep decline.
But if nothing else, the two out of three losses to the Reds — and especially Sunday’s in which CC Sabathia could not hold a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning, has to be very unsettling for the Yankee high command.
The most amazing thing from this article is that the Yankees have gone 5 for their last 55 with runners in scoring position. That shouldn’t be predictive, but it does make this a tough team to watch right now.
The team does look old. When Alex Rodriguez’s eighth inning fly ball died near the warning track, it was a bit jarring. He thought it was gone, the pitcher thought it was gone, Michael Kay thought it was gone and the YES camera man thought it was gone. But it wasn’t, and you can’t help but wonder if it was some evidence that Alex Rodriguez’s power is gone and is not coming back. Raul Ibanez is way exceeding my wildest expectations, but when he’s leading this team in SLG that seems like a problem.
I think this team is better than they’ve played so far, but I don’t think they’re as good as I thought they were at the start of the season. Getting Brett Gardner back should help some, and hopefully the starting pitching will get better. David Robertson should return in short order to stabilize the bullpen, which has been pretty good despite losing their two best arms.
Will that be good enough to qualify for the postseason? We’ll see.
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