tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Dead Bat Society: Yankees Eliminated

All season if you have followed this blog I have repeatedly said that good pitching beats good hitting in October. Well last night, on a nice October evening, the Detroit Tigers stymied the best team money can buy with a 3-2 win and eliminated the Yankees from post season play. What was so frustrating that numerous times the Yankees had opportunities to take the lead and couldn't deliver.

Not only couldn't they deliver but it was the big stars who shrunk so mightily at the plate and their failure is an ominous sign for the future as they are not getting any younger. The 4-5-6 hitters for the Yankees went 9 - 55 which represents a batting average of .164 with 1 home run and 5 RBI's. What makes matters worse is that they had chances last night to send the Yankees off to the ALCS.

Nick Swisher is one of my favorite Yankees. I love his enthusiasm and I love how he is so paasionate about being a Yankee. But his post season performances have been putrid. Last night, after Mark Teixiera walked to make the score 3-2, Swisher was once again feeble at the plate. What really kills me is why wouldn't Joe Girardi, he of taking a pitcher out almost every inning, move Jorge Posada into the 6th spot?? Posada hit .429 for the series and obviously has been involved in plenty of post season games. It may have helped to relieve some pressure for Swisher. But Girardi is a block head and used the same lineup for all 5 games. The Yankees must decide whether they want to pick up the option in 2012 to keep Swisher a Yankee. As I said, I love Nick Swisher but can the Yankees afford such ineptness out of the number 6 hitter in October??

Speaking of ineptness, Mark Teixiera has been absolutly terrible in the 3 post seasons that he has had with the Yankees. In 2009 he hit .180, 2010 he hit .148 and in this series .167. This from an RBI producer. When he walked last night to force in a run, I got the feeling that Teixiera was relieved. Somehow, I don't see Paul O'Neill, Reggie Jackson or Mickey Mantle being that way. Throughout the whole season, I can't think of too many times when Teixiera carried this team. In the final game of the regular season, he hit 2 home runs and I remember thinking this is typical. 2 home runs in a meaningless game. The fact of the matter is that Teixiera has fallen in love with the short porch of Yankee Stadium. Prior to coming to the Yankees, he was a career .300 hitter. Not any more. Until he begins to drive the ball to left-field, his high average days are over. The sad thing is that the Yankees have nowhere else to go with him.

Speaking of nowhere else to go, this brings me to Alex Rodrieguez. The Yankees have 6 more years to watch the breaking down of what was one of baseball's most feared hitters. ARod was 2-18 in this series. At times, he looked completely lost at the plate. It is evident that the injury to his hip has diminished his power. He is a shell of his former self which absent 2009, was not that successful with the Yankees when he was in his prime and he is far past his prime now. It was clear throughout the month of September and into October, that teams would rather pitch to ARod than Robinson Cano. What's troubling is that I don't see how the Yankees can anticipate ARod playing third base throughout a season. In order to get something out of him offensively, I believe that he needs to be the every day DH.

Yankee ownership has some decisions to make. First, General Manager Brian Cashman's contract is up at the end of this month. In my mind, Cashman does not deserve a new contract and if he gets one he should take a pay cut. He built a team for a 162 game schedule not for October. In fact, as was pointed out by Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News, in the past 10 years the Yankees have been knocked out of the playoffs 5 times in the ALDS. 5 times out in the first round. His bargain basement signings of Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon got them through the regular season but Colon didn't make the playoff roster and Garcia was a non factor. In the mean time, Tiger GM Dave Dombrowski picked up Doug Fister at the trade deadline while Cashman was sitting on his hands. Would the Yankees have loved to have had Fister last night pitching for them??? Cashman should be told what they told Joe Torre, you can comeback at a pay cut with incentives.

Ownership will also have to decide what they will do with the option that CC Sabathia may exercise. Sabathia is the Yankees best pitcher but from August 1st he has not been the same guy who was so dominant early on. I think they have no choice but to extend his contract but they need to be concerned about his weight. A guy his size could break down quickly and a contract extension would have him pitching until he was 36 yrs. old.

Throughout the course of the next week or so I will have more on the Yankees and my observations on the season and on what needs to be done. But all in all, you can't help but being aggravated over what happened in this series and in what should have been a trip to the ALCS.

P.S.: Week 5 NFL Picks later today