It had to happen. The $200 million underachieving bozos somehow re-imagined as gritty comeback kids ... because they spent a whole day in first place:
"After a miserable start, the Yankees have reined in the Red Sox, quieting their demanding owner and their worried fans. Manager Joe Torre has had better—and certainly healthier—teams, but he may never have done a better job."
As of this morning, the Yankees are 51-43. They are in second place in their division. They are 1 1/2 games behind Boston and only 1 game up on Baltimore. Roy Halladay's injury probably hurts Toronto's chances and will allow the Yankees to hold onto third place when all is said and done. The Yankees are also 1 game behind Minnesota in the wild card standings.
Obviously, this is the best season for Joe Torre, if not the best season in Yankee history.
" ... Torre, arguably, has done his finest job this season when he has been forced to overcome a Job's plague of pitching injuries. If I had known that age and aches would reduce Randy Johnson to a somewhat smaller unit and that Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Kevin Brown and New York's top pitching prospect, Chien-Ming Wang, would all be sidelined, I might have expected the Yankees to be in a basement duel with Tampa Bay rather than neck and neck for first place with the defending champs."
The Yankee offensive resurgence strangely coincides with the benching of Tony Womack. But Torre should not be praised for finally benching Womack, he should be crucified for starting Womack for half the season.
Those are games the Yankees can't get back. Those are games that will likely cost them a playoff spot.
As for the Yankee pitching injuries, "Boo freakin' hoo." Every team suffers injuries and it is quite clear that the Yankee injuries in 2005 have not been particularly devastating vis a vis any other year or any other team.
The awful overall performance of the pitching staff is not entirely Torre's fault. There is lots of blame to go around and most of it goes to the players themselves.
But Torre doesn't seem to understand his players' capabilities and seldom optimizes his team's chances to win. "I know we've hit 100 homeruns in the last two weeks, but what we really need is more hit-and-running!"
But this post is not about Torre's lineup or strategic decisions. To varying degrees, I could pick apart just about every game. (Bubba Crosby can hit a light .250 like every other stiff Torre has tried in CF. Except Crosby can actually catch the ball, too!)
More alarming is Torre's overarching lack of urgency. Funny how Mark Starr kinda mirrors the attitude by effusively celebrating a one-day half-game first-place cup of coffee.
Torre is completely satisfied with his team's (under)performance. Torre is still pushing this Calm & Patient shtick even though this team clearly needs a kick in the butt. "We're 5-3 on this tough road trip so far. Good job, fellas! Take the rest of the week off."
I thought maybe Torre had turned the corner when he actually got off the bench and cheered a Mussina strikeout last week in Boston. It was like watching Paul Sorvino argue with the first base umpire in "Mr. 3000." But a week later, I'm seeing Buddy Groom in the seventh inning of a tight game vs. the Angels.
No comments:
Post a Comment