LAST year, the Yankees never felt right. They would endure long stretches that played out as indifference, as if the season were boring them. They seemingly won more out of reflex – like a leg jerking after the knee is hit by a hammer – than out of any sustained brilliance.
Yet, they waltzed through October in even more dominant fashion than in 1998 when they won 125 games. The lesson was never doubt the Yankees. Never let any snapshot blur your sense that this is a team of championship timber with an innate pulse of what it takes to get to The Canyon of Heroes.
Nevertheless, here we are again with the Yankees not feeling right. Even they admit that. Derek Jeter and Joe Torre and others have stated that a fine record does not jibe with the way the team is playing. They said that earlier this season through a mirage of a seven-game winning streak and they have said it when the Yanks were 12-5, then 12-6 and now that they are 12-7 following last night’s 6-1 loss to the Twins.
Perhaps we should all learn the lesson from last season and not overreact when this team struggles. The unavoidable fact, though, is the Yankees are not playing well and the worries of spring training have pretty much been legitimized in April. Aside from Jorge Posada giving indications he really is a front-line catcher, the tremulous storylines of Tampa have followed the Yankees north.
Much of the attention has been focused upon the 37-year-old arms of Roger Clemens and David Cone, who have been unable to dismiss age-old questions from the rotation. Their high profile and Torre’s endless mantra that it is all about the pitching, which he continued in the post-game last night, has done much to overshadow an offense that has been too silent.
Following the drug-related loss of Darryl Strawberry and dalliances with obtaining Jim Edmonds and Bobby Higginson, the Yankees decided to go with what they had in left field and at DH, Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer. George Steinbrenner, as always, warned ominously that GM Brian Cashman and his cohorts better be right on this one with the understood “or else.”
So far, Ledee and Spencer have mostly struggled. Their shortcomings would be more easily endured if the rest of the lineup were covering for them. But that has not been the case. Instead, a lineup that has flourished based on the subtle art of the long at-bat – and the walks, hitter’s counts and tired arms that come from that approach – has failed to honor its heritage.
For now, Cashman is saying the organization will continue to invest patience with Ledee and Spencer, and the track record of the rest of the lineup. It is questionable, though, how long that lasts before Steinbrenner is demanding the acquisition of a Jose Canseco, Tony Clark, Rondell White or Mo Vaughn. Strawberry really hurt this team when he did further damage to himself.
Ledee was 1-for-4 last night – his hit a bloop to left-center on which he was thrown out at second trying to stretch. He is batting just .214 with no homers after a spring in which he hit a team-best seven. Spencer is still betraying too much Rob Deer and Dave Kingman in his game, a homer-or-little-else panache. And when the homers are infrequent – he has four, but none since April 15 – his value to the lineup is diminished.
Yet, it would be unfair to lay all the blame on the two least-experienced members of this veteran lineup. The Yankees have now played 18 innings against the Twins the past two days and managed 12 singles. That is no extra-base hits in this juiced-ball age. And against Minnesota’s pitching staff.
There could be a little forgiveness Monday when the Yanks were facing Eric Milton, who is going to be one of the game’s best pitchers. Yesterday, though, they were subdued by the very definition of journeyman. Sean Bergman entered having allowed 37 hits in 191/3 innings – 13 for extra bases – which translated to a .420 batting average. Yet, against a repertoire that if glorified would be called junkballs, the Yankee hitters appeared entranced.
The Yanks can hope that being whole will help their attack. Scott Brosius, who went down in the second game with a ribcage injury, returned last night. But Chuck Knoblauch is out until Friday. That left the bookends of the Yankee lineup as Lance Johnson and Wilson Delgado, which certainly did not fall into their plans.
Either did having Knoblauch swing too much for the fences when he was healthy and Jeter and Paul O’Neill offering mostly low-impact singles. Bernie Williams’ run production and Tino Martinez’ at-bats against lefties have been encouraging. But the 6-9 slots in the Yankee lineup is batting a dismaying .211. Lineup length has been a strength of this team. Jeter, Williams, Torre and Cashman said after yesterday’s game that it will be again, that the team has been through funks in recent years and always rebounded to be special.
Right now, though, the Yanks are giving off that bad feeling. Should we just ignore it?
