Same Old Story

Yankee fans had high hopes that May would be a kinder month to them than April was. Based on one game, they better readjust their expectations. The Yankees lost to Toronto 8-6 on Sunday, dropping their third consecutive series and finishing their nine game homestand with a record of 3-6.

In many ways, Sunday’s game was a microcosm of the season to date. When the Yankees get good pitching, they can’t seem to hit; when they get good pitching, their hitting deserts them. Sunday’s culprit was the pitching as the Yankees scored six runs and led by three runs at one point. That wasn’t enough for a shaky Carl Pavano who loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth and then watched as Paul Quantrill gave up the tying runs with two outs. Mike Stanton gave up the go-ahead runs in the seventh and the Yankee offense was stymied by four innings of spotless relief from the Blue Jays’ bullpen.

Manager, Joe Torre, is clearly trying everything he can think of to shake this team out of the doldrums. Sunday, he moved the slumping Hideki Matsui to the sixth spot in the lineup and promoted Alex Rodriguez to fourth. Those moves worked, as the duo went 2-4, but the bullpen’s poor performance made it a moot point. For those of you who believe in karma, the Yankees stand at 10-15, the exact same record as the 1965 team had after 25 games. That team marked the end of the Yankee powerhouses and the beginning of the franchises’ slide to last. Red Sox and Mets’ fans can only hope history will repeat itself.

Photo by Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Peter Trinkle on May 2, 2005 9:03 AM

Comments [rss]

sp

sad to say it, but i believe that the yankees are headed towards another long drought, hopefully not as long as the 78 to 96 one, but it will be long.

The problem is the current Steinbrenner imposed philosophy of "win it all this year". We need a youth movement, all this money needs to be invested in a system that will breed young, long lasting and hungry players. Currently our farm is just for trade fodder, and the money is spent on contracts for players who have done all their great things BEFORE getting to NY.

Big contracts shouldnt be rewards for past performance, but for present and future potential. We are paying too much money and holding to many roster spots for over the hill players, such as Bernie Williams, bless his soul, or prima donnas who arent used to sharing the spot light, like Alex Rodriguez.

We should have learned from 01, 02, 03 and 04 that we need younger players, and more ROLE PLAYERS, not more home run hitters and 40+ year old pitchers. Who performend the best in the 01 series and I think should have been the mvp if rivera and brosius hadnt fucked it up? Soriano. Young, intense, traded.

We need people who will steal bases, make defensive plays, come off the bench for big hits, and eat up innings, in the clutch. Currently the only guy like that we have is Sierra, and he's hurt. At his age, there wont be much magic left either.

Who has to retire: Bernie (sorry to say it but its true), Stanton, Gordon, Tino, Giambi, Brown, for sure, and many others are questionable, such as Gordon and Quantrill and yes even my beloved Posada...

Yankee fans, hold on to your hats, this is going to be a long, slow, tedious ride.