I was going to, I swear. I had every intention of posting even when the Yankees were doing well, a game or two ahead of the upcoming Toronto Blue Jays (four games coming off this hideous series with a bad Orioles team?). But I didn't, and now it looks like I'm just piling on. But you have to believe when I tell you I was going to say it sooner. Much sooner.
I don't trust this team. Not a bit. I don't believe in them. They haven't given me a reason to have any confidence. If they get swept by Toronto for the next four days--which with Price pitching tomorrow and then a rotation of Nova, Pineda and Tanaka on regular rest is certainly possible--I won't be surprised. If they sweep the Blue Jays, I will be very surprised. And that's what it would take to have any confidence going into the last 20 games of the year.
There isn't one aspect of this year's Yankees that inspires confidence. The offense is good except when it's terrible, and the other team's pitcher doesn't really seem to play that large a role. Starters with ERAs around 6 come in and they're Cy Freakin' Young. Other times the ace storms into Yankee Stadium: The Theme Park and gets clobbered. There's no predicting baseball, Suzyn.
The Yankee's starting five (or nine, whatever it is now) have not exactly been reminding us of the 1990s Braves, either. When they're not hurt--which isn't often--they're always just on the cusp of "figuring it out." Then they don't. Or they get hurt.
Our vaunted bullpen? Great the first half of the season, shakier with the huge amount of work the trusty starters have made them do. Andrew Miller only has one blown save, but he has a couple of non-save situations that didn't work out so well and he's making even the successful ones interesting. And worse, apparently that philosophy has rubbed off on the almost-automatic Dellin Betances, who now likes to surrender the occasional home run and last time out loaded the bases on walks while in the process of striking out the side.
Not to mention that Adam Warren is going to have to leave the pen to start again because Nathan Eovaldi saw what fun it was to be on the disabled list after Nova, Tanaka, Pineda and Sabathia went, so he figured he'd try it out too. That leaves the bullpen thinner (don't talk to me about Chris Capuano ever again) and I'm not crazy about the prospect.
Fielding? Sir Didi has finally become the shortstop they kept telling us he was. Unfortunately, Chase Headley is becoming the third baseman Rich McKinney was (look it up) and Stephen Drew, now that he has gloriously gotten over .200 in his batting average, has apparently become cocky to the point that he feels he no longer has to play the outstanding defense that was the reason the Yankees were willing to put up with him batting under .200 to begin with.
In the outfield, we'll see if Brett Gardner, who hasn't hit a lick in weeks, can come back for the Toronto series. Ellsbury looks a little dazed--maybe it's still the hip thing--and even Chris Young has forgotten he hits lefties like Babe Freakin' Ruth. Carlos Beltran hits, but he is a liability in the field. You could put Mr. Rod out in right field and get pretty much the same defense.
Greg Bird has a tendency to hit nice home runs and then strike out a lot. He also plays a good first base with the exception of ranging too far into Drew's territory and then not getting back to the bag to take a throw. He's good, but he's not Mark Teixeira, but then nobody is right now.
Mr. Rod also has starting hitting home runs again but he doesn't hit anything else. He's the Dave Kingman of 2015 these days, an all-or-nothing proposition. And the fact that he, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran are hitting in a row and not one of them can even trot, let alone run, is a problem.
So what should we expect over the last 24 games of the year? It beats the hell out of me. We might see a tired, old team limp into the playoffs and be eliminated in the one-game play-in. We might see them suddenly rejuvenate themselves and blow past the Blue Jays to win the division--and then lose in the first round of the playoffs.
Or we might, heaven forbid, see them get swept by Toronto starting tomorrow and eventually sink down below the 6.5-game lead they currently hold on the second wild card only to slink home after the regular season with very little retooling in the works for 2016. Any of those scenarios is possible.
I just don't believe in this team.
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