ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hope has all but disappeared.
Much like the Yankees’ punchless offense.
There is no pop, no excitement to this team. When Masahiro Tanaka was pitching, at least there was some buzz to the Yankees.
They are lifeless bats on a lifeless team.
Tanaka’s partially torn ligament in his right elbow was really the beginning of the end for the Yankees, who are 16-16 since July 8. We’ll see if Tanaka has any life left in that arm on Saturday afternoon at Tropicana Field.
He will throw off the mound for the first time since going down with the elbow injury in Cleveland nearly six weeks ago.
Why push Tanaka now with the season all but lost? Simple: the Yankees need an answer.
“You have to find out if this is the proper thing to do, and is his arm going to hold up? Because you’d hate to shut him down the whole year and go through it next year, too,’’ Joe Girardi said before the 5-0 loss to the Rays. “Everything has been positive so far, but you don’t really ever know.’’
If Tanaka can’t hold up, it’s Tommy John time and his 2015 season is lost.
If Tanaka comes back this season, it figures to be too late for these Yankees, who dropped to five back in the loss column in the chase for the second AL wild-card after Friday night’s dreadful loss to Alex Cobb and the Rays’ strong bullpen, their fifth straight defeat.
Time is running out and the Yankees know it.
How bad are things?
“The morale is down a little bit, it’s our job to try and keep it up,’’ hitting coach Kevin Long said of his batters, who have managed all of seven runs the last five games.
The Yankees need an emotional lift, and that’s what they are hoping for Saturday when Tanaka will throw off the mound.
Throwing off a mound makes this a much more realistic comeback attempt. Survive that and there is the chance Tanaka returns this season.
“If I can’t throw the way I want to throw from the mound or in the bullpen, then there is no way I will be able to show that in a game, so, yes, [this] is important,’’ Tanaka said through a translator.
Tanaka will take the mound and let loose with 25 pitches. If he comes through the session with no problems, the ace is still in play.
If Tanaka makes it back this year, certainly he is going to have to change his style of pitching to lessen the stress on his elbow. There will be more fastballs, fewer breaking balls, fewer splitters.
At this point, the 61-59 Yankees are so desperate for any positive news, they are hoping Saturday is a good day.
“It’s still too early to tell,’’ Girardi said. “But we are getting through each step. Hopefully Saturday goes well and we can move to the next step.’’
The big step is competition. Until Tanaka unleashes pitches in anger, the Yankees will not be able to tell much.
“You need to see him in competition,’’ Girardi said flatly. “That’s when the intensity gets turned up and it’s not controlled.’’
The Yankees are having such struggles offensively that any team with good pitching pretty much shuts them down. They are 3-8 against the Rays this season. The Rays have made it back to .500 and at this rate will soon pass the Yankees.
Check out these telling numbers:
Against teams currently in first place, the Yankees are 7-16. They have scored 75 runs and have allowed 114 to those teams. Against the three AL first-place teams, the Yankees are 6-14 and have been crushed in the run differential department, scoring 61 runs while allowing 100.
Essentially, they can’t compete against the good teams because they can’t hit.
We’ll see Saturday if Tanaka has any hope of pitching again this season. Hope is all but lost in so many ways.