KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joe Girardi sees the anemic numbers his hitters are posting and doesn’t think the math is telling the truth. Nor it is on the verge of ruining the Yankees’ season before the school year is finished.
“I don’t believe people forget how to hit overnight,’’ Girardi said Monday before the game with the Royals was rained out and rescheduled for Aug. 25.
“I don’t believe it happens. It’s a tough game. I try not to get caught up with what is happening for a day or a week or two weeks. You know it’s a long haul, you know it’s 162 games. You look at the averages and it equals out. We have some guys who are due to get hot.’’
On May 30, the Yankees hosted the Twins after taking two of three from the Cardinals in St. Louis. They were 28-24 and 2 ½ games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays.
With three against the Twins, a makeup tilt with the Mariners and three versus the A’s it wasn’t out of the question the Yankees could post a winning homestand.
Yet, they lost two of three to the Twins, got beat by the Felix Herandez and the Mariners and dropped two of three to the A’s.
The malaise continued at Kauffman Stadium where the Royals took two of three over the weekend.
So, after Monday night’s game was rained out, the Yankees limp into Seattle for the first of three games Tuesday night against Robinson Cano’s club having lost seven of 10 and sorely missing Cano’s lethal bat. Then it’s three in Oakland against the best team in the American League.
When the 31-31 Yankees boarded a flight to Seattle Monday night they were six games behind the Blue Jays who played the Twins while the Yankees were in the air.
When a team goes as sour as the Yankees, they often offer the “you are never as bad as you look when going bad and never as good as you look when going good’’ mantra.
Of course, you rarely hear the good part of that because that is not a defense mechanism.
“It looks tough and it is tough,’’ Girardi said of the three or so hours when the game is played and the lineup goes 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position like it did in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Royals. “That’s the truth, you are never as good as when you are going great and vice versa. Right now we are going through some tough times and I know we are much better than this.’’
Girardi is probably right because there are a few of his hitters who can’t be much worse.
Since coming off the disabled list on Thursday, Carlos Beltran is 1-for-14 (.071), has whiffed six times and has one hit in five at-bats with runners in scoring position. Derek Jeter is in a 3-for-26 (.115) slide. Alfonso Soriano is in a 2-for-21 (.095) skid that includes 10 strikeouts. He hasn’t homered since May 17, a streak of 44 at-bats.
Since returning from missing two games due to right wrist inflammation, Mark Teixeira is 4-for-19 (.211). Brian Roberts takes a 4-for-26 (.154) slump into Safeco Field.
As bad as those numbers are, don’t expect Girardi to radically alter his lineup.
“Sometimes it can have an impact, probably a lot of times it doesn’t,’’ Girardi explained. “You might move a guy one position down or one position up, that sort of thing. For the most part, numbers equal out over time. The big thing is to get them going and they need at-bats to get going.’’
Until then Girardi will continue to believe the math is lying.