SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT: CC Sabathia reacts after giving up a three-run homer to Minnesota’s Aaron Hicks in the third inning of yesterday’s 10-4 Yankees loss at Yankee Stadium. (Neil Miller)
The game was ugly. The first half was inadequate.
The Yankees finished off their first half yesterday on a sweltering afternoon in The Bronx, and to paraphrase from “Million Dollar Baby,” it was more like the first half finished them. They suffered a brutal 10-4 beating by the lowly Twins, and enter the All-Star break in a non-playoff-bound funk.
At the break — beyond the mathematical midway point at 95 games — Joe Girardi’s crew is 51-44. The Yankees sit in fourth place in the AL East (six games back of the Red Sox) and fourth place in the two-team wild-card derby (three games behind the Rangers).
“It’s not where I want to be,” Girardi said. “I don’t think anyone should be satisfied with where we’re at.”
After jumping out to a 30-18 mark in their first 48 games, the Yankees slumped to 21-26 in the 47 games since.
“I think we achieved a little more than outsiders would’ve thought, and I think we still could have positioned ourselves even better,” Vernon Wells said. “I’d give it a passing grade, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
The Yankees played most or all of the first half without the injured Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis and Francisco Cervelli — who played a combined 69 games out of a possible 570. Some members of that MASH unit are expected back in the second half, but their return dates and effectiveness are major questions.
The Yankees played sloppily against the Twins, with Eduardo Nunez and Lyle Overbay committing two brutal errors. The offense missed a slew of chances. Ace CC Sabathia was battered. They fell behind 5-0 in the third inning and 8-1 in the fourth. It led to the Twins winning a series in The Bronx for the first time since May 8-10, 2001.
“That was probably one of the uglier games in this stadium,” Wells said.
Sabathia served up a season-worst eight runs, and while only three were earned, he pitched poorly, allowing eight hits, two walks and a homer in four innings. In the second inning, he surrendered RBI singles to the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, and in the third — after Nunez’s throwing error on a potential inning-ending grounder — Sabathia failed to pick his shortstop up. Rather, Aaron Hicks slammed a three-run homer for a 5-0 Minnesota bulge.
Sabathia (9-8), carries a 4.07 ERA into the break, disappointing for the Yankees’ star pitcher. He called his ERA “terrible,” and admitted he has to improve.
“I need to be better in the second half,” Sabathia said, “with helping this team out, keeping us in games longer and trying to get some wins.”
The Yankees produced an impressive 10 hits and five walks yesterday, but they scored just four runs, going 3 for 21 with men on base and 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Girardi said the struggling offense is likely the biggest key for a second-half surge.
“We have to be more consistent offensively, and if we do that, we’re going to have a shot,” he said. “But that’s probably what we need to do more than anything.”
“I think everybody in here knows what we’re up against and what we need to do to try to make the playoffs and win this division,” Sabathia said. “It’s just up to us to come out and play consistent and play the way we can play.”