The First game of the underbelly of the Yankees’ schedule, in which 13 of the 16 will be played against Cleveland, Baltimore and Houston, the three dregs of the majors, went according to plan last night at the Stadium.
Curtis Granderson returned to the lineup against the Indians after nearly a month on the disabled list, stepped into the No. 2 hole in which Brett Gardner had been a square peg for the last week, and created offense.
Robinson Cano, moved into the cleanup spot for the first time in his career while the slumbering Alex Rodriguez was given the night off, clubbed a seventh-inning grand slam, all by himself alleviating the famine with runners in scoring position that has undermined the club the last three weeks.
Nick Swisher banged a home run batting fifth, Mark Teixeira left his stamp on the game with a brilliant performance in the field at first-base (he did everything Keith Hernandez did on his best day except field a bunt on the third-base side of the mound, and that’s only because he didn’t have the opportunity) and the Yankees rolled to an 8-2 victory that seemed predetermined.
Except, of course, it was not. Nothing ever is in sports, unless you’ve got Tim Donaghy officiating the game. For the fact of the matter is that following a May 8 victory in Boston that lifted the Yankees to a 21-8 record, the team had gone 7-11 coming into last night, while the Indians and Astros were 7-10 and the Orioles were 6-11 in that span.
Or, as general manager Brian Cashman said of the immediate schedule (which also includes three against the respectable Blue Jays) about an hour before Phil Hughes took the mound: “The way we’re playing right now, the way we’re swinging the bats right now, we’re a team you want to play.
“I cringe at all that stuff [about weak teams on the schedule].”
Cringe he must, with Rodriguez suffering a brownout at the plate with his six home runs in 176 at bats this season and an 0-for-7 with RISP in his past seven games; with Teixeira 1-for-15 with RISP in his past 11 games following his 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and none out in the eighth.
Over the course of time, the Yankees began to miss Granderson’s presence, even if he was off to a slow start. They have missed Jorge Posada, down for 11 games with a fractured foot, but whose rehab program is underway.
Still, the Yankees, who have the second-best record in baseball at 29-19 through all their travails, have been hurt as much the lack of production from the middle of the lineup and the failures thus far of Cashman’s offseason imports as by the injuries.
Granderson, whom Cashman chose for this season over both Johnny Damon and Austin Jackson, had an on-base percentage of .311 in 23 games before going on the DL on May 1. Nick Johnson, Damon’s successor in hitting behind Jeter, is down and out, almost predictably on the 60-day DL.
Randy Winn, signed as an option off the bench and in left field, was designated for assignment yesterday after batting just .213 with a faulty glove in 29 games and 61 ups. Free agent addition Chan Ho Park, who also has spent time on the DL, is pitching to a 7.94 ERA out of the bullpen while allowing 18 hits in 11 1/3 innings after last night’s scoreless ninth.
“Right now, so far, a lot of the things I hoped would work and improve us, obviously haven’t worked out to this point,” Cashman said. “Obviously we’ve got June, July, August, September and hopefully a lot of October to change that course.
“A lot of the things we’ve done haven’t worked to the degree that we’d like, but you play through it. You have to play through it.”
It helps when you’re playing the Indians.