On the surface, the Yankees loss to the Rangers in the ALCS seems shocking. But that’s based mostly on pedigree — the Yankees’ championship one and the Rangers’ lack of one.
But a closer look at the Yankees season shows there were clues that this was not a championship team. The 2010 Yankees never had the feel of their predecessor in 2009, who looked destined for a trip up the Canyon of Heroes from the middle of the year on. Here are five issues that hovered over the Yankees this year:
Second-half starts
The Yankees got off to a great start this season largely because of how good their starters were. CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte all made the All-Star team based on their first three months.
But in the second half, things fell apart. Pettitte strained his left groin, Hughes regressed and A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez became unreliable and untrustworthy. Only Sabathia had an ERA under 4 in the second half. Burnett (3-8, 5.95 ERA in the second half), Hughes (7-6, 4.90), Vazquez (3-3, 6.64) and Pettitte (0-1, 7.47) all had finishes they’d rather forget.
Missing bats
The Yankees offense seemed to be missing something from the beginning of the season. Amazing starting pitching to start the year masked some of the problems, but that could not last.
Several key Yankees all had down years. Derek Jeter (.270) batted 44 points below his career average. Mark Teixeira (.256) and Alex Rodriguez (.270) were 30 and 33 points below their averages, respectively.
Curtis Granderson finished the year strong, but his poor first half left him at .247, 21 points below his norm. Jorge Posada (.248) was 27 points off his average and had his worst season since 1999.
The lack of offense was glaring in the ALCS when they managed just one great inning and ended up getting outscored 38-19.
Rotten without Johnny
The hangover from Johnny Damon’s departure never seemed to go away all year. The Yankees searched for a No. 2 hitter early in the year when Nick Johnson fell on his face. Nick Swisher did an admirable job, but this team missed Damon on and off the field.
His clubhouse presence would have helped in September when things were going south. At the plate, Yankees No. 2 hitters batted .244 with a .338 on-base percentage. That led to some of the decrease in production from the middle of the order. Damon batted .271 with a .355 on-base percentage for the Tigers.
Hole in the middle
Outside of closer Mariano Rivera and trade-deadline addition Kerry Wood, the bullpen was shaky. The front office has to be wondering what to do with Joba Chamberlain. David Robertson straightened himself out after a tough start, and Boone Logan became the team’s only left-handed setup man after Damaso Marte was injured in July. But you had the feeling that the Yankees would get burned by one or both of them in October, and that’s what happened.
Crawl to the finish
The cracks in this team really showed in September. Joe Girardi began to send mixed messages by saying the team wanted to win the division but by managing like he was just trying to get to the finish line.
The Yankees had two four-game losing streaks all season, both coming in September. They went 29-30 from Aug. 1 through the end of the regular season. The Yankees kept saying it didn’t matter how they finished the regular season, and it looked like they were right in the ALDS. But some of the trends they showed in September, such as struggling with runners in scoring position, came roaring back to bite them in the ALCS.