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June 3, 2005



by SG

Nothing can ruin a winning streak like a losing streak. Last night's 5-2 loss to the Royals has the Yankees creeping back down towards .500, with a brutal road trip only 1/4 over. Three games at Minnesota, three games at Milwaukee, and three games at St. Louis. The way this team is playing right now, if they are able to go 5-4 over these 9 games I would be pleasantly surprised.

As far as last night's game, the Yankees got held to two runs over five innings by a guy who entered the game with a 9.72 ERA. Joe Torre annoyed me twice yesterday with his pinch-hitting choices. Leading off the top of the 8th inning against lefty Andy Sisco, Torre chose to pinch-hit for Robinson Cano with Russ F'ing Johnson. If you really feel that Cano is a part of the future, then he needs to be left in the game in this situation. He has not hit lefties well so far this season, but he won't learn if he doesn't get to face them. Russ Johnson is not a particularly good player, which makes him fit right in on a putrid Yankee bench.

The bigger error IMO was in the top of the ninth. Hard-throwing rookie Ambiorix Burgos (WTF kind of name is Ambiorix, anyway) was throwing gas, but lost the strike zone with two outs. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for our pal Russ Johnson. Torre wisely went to his bench, but unwisely chose Ruben Sierra instead of Jason Giambi. Sierra's gotten some clutch hits for the Yankees over the last few years, but he's not a good bet to avoid making an out, which in this case would end the game. Giambi's been a disappointment this season, but even with a lowly .230ish batting average he's been able to maintain an OBP close to .400. At this point in the game, down to your last out, you need to try and keep the game going by any means necessary, and Torre failed to this by sending out the wrong option to pinch hit. If Giambi managed to walk, then the Yankees would've been a bloop single away from tying the game.

Regardless, that it even came down to that situation against a team like the Royals is a disgrace. That the $200 million Yankees got swept by the Royals was just terrible. I don't know what to make of this team. I just pray they ride the ship out with this roster, and don't make any foolish moves. Taking on more older players and bad contracts won't cure the problem, it will end up making it linger longer.