The Yankees knew that adversity was just around the corner. It always is in baseball. Adversity has officially arrived. Time to shout mayday three times.
Beginning tonight at the Stadium, the Yankees play 13 games against the Twins, Red Sox, Rays, Mets and Twins again. They started an outfield in Detroit yesterday that featured Randy Winn, Brett Gardner and Greg Golson. That’s not exactly a World Series championship outfield.
With all the injuries, it’s time for the Yankees’ two big offensive stars to start carrying them: Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.
For the most part, both have been huge duds this season.
It’s time for the Big Money Boys to step up to the plate — and make some noise when they get there.
Injuries happen, so the Yankees are going to have to find a way to fight through their problems, and that starts by getting a lift from the two superstars who are supposed to be setting the tone for the offense.
Rodriguez still is struggling (only three home runs), while Teixeira is hitting .198. They were a combined 0-for-7 in the 6-0 loss to the Tigers yesterday at Comerica Park. Throw in the fact that Derek Jeter is 3-for-29 since the start of the Boston series last Friday, and you have little production from players who have to be the most productive.
A-Rod and Teixeira have to start hitting. No excuses. They are home. They are in a ballpark that is built for their swings.
The Yankees are 22-12. Only the Rays have won more games, but there are issues. That Yankee record is a bit deceiving. The Yanks jumped off to an 11-3 start. Since that time, they are a pedestrian 11-9. A-Rod has one home run over that span.
Over the same period, the Mets are 11-8. Yet it’s the Mets who have been taking all the New York heat.
It’s not surprising the Yankees were shut out for the second time in three games, as they’ve lost four of the last five. The Yankees were riding high going into Sunday night’s game in Boston when A.J. Burnett once again stunk up Fenway. Since then, they’ve been a mess, except for Phil Hughes’ big start Wednesday night.
“You’re going to go through those periods of time when you don’t get a lot of hits,” manager Joe Girardi told reporters in Detroit. “You hope that you’re able to shut them down and get just enough to win. You are not always going to score five, six runs a game, that’s not going to happen. We struggled here a little bit.”
Asked about the effect of the injuries on the lackluster offense, Girardi said, “We basically had about the same lineup that we had in Boston when we scored a bunch of runs. Every team is going to go through funks where they don’t score runs. That’s just baseball.”
The Yankees were shut down by Rick Porcello in the first game Wednesday and Justin Verlander yesterday. They must ride this out, because beginning May 28, they have 16 games against the Indians, Orioles, Blue Jays and Astros to make up ground they might lose during this tough stretch.
All this shows you how vulnerable the Yankees are despite their monster payroll. They’ve already suffered two serious injuries with Curtis Granderson (groin) and Nick Johnson (wrist). That brings us back to letting Johnny Damon get away.
The Yankees miss Damon, and for one big reason — the guy was always in the lineup. Damon has played in all 35 of Detroit’s games. That’s what he does. Over the previous 14 seasons, Damon has averaged 149 games per season. That’s a bit more than the injury-prone Johnson. Johnson has never played 149 games in a season. His first full season he played 129 games. Over the next seven seasons he has averaged 88 games.
Injuries happen. That’s baseball life. But it’s time for A-Rod and Teixeira to show up in a big way, beginning tonight at the Stadium.