Running MLB Thread, Part the Fourth, 2007

Bury the Yankees.

Dead.

 

Seattle is up 12-4 in the eighth. The Mariners hit two HRs in the seventh and the Angels haven't scored since the second.

So it was probably for the Fucks.

 

Why? They have average starting pitching, a bad bullpen, an aging starting lineup and no quality positional depth.

 

Which is why a number of members didn't have them going to the playoffs this season. It was a flawed team going in that was going to have to outslug teams to win. They're not hitting right now, and because of that have hit the skids.

 

Because, most of the A.L. can't compare position-by-position to the lineup the Yankees can run out.

Before the season, no one thought a lineup of Damon, Jeter, ARod, Giambi, Posada, Matsui, Cano, Abreu, Mientkiwicz/Phelps would struggle to score hit and score runs.

 

All valid points. But tell me who didn't think the Yankees couldn't slug their way to the Wild Card in the A.L.?

 

People who thought/think the wild card was/is going to come out of the AL Central.

 

Any opinions on Colon (the Angels pitcher, not the guy who lost his YouTube license)? He's lost a couple of yards off his fastball, is certainly more of a pitcher than when he was younger; but he was getting the calls on the corners and was pounded anyway tonight. Two doubles and a homer for Beltre, and a three-run bomb by Sexson. (Oops! Sexson had a hit off Colon, but the homer was off a reliever.) These guys have NOT feasted off good pitchers this year.

Any chance he'll see the light someday and shed a few dozen pounds? Or maybe his arm problems aren't really taken care of.

And, he's got that Three Stooges Moe look going; not good.

 

Colon had a couple of great starts to start the season, but his ERA has risen sharply this month, right now just under 5. He was never in the best condition in the first place, so I doubt he's hitting the slimfast any time soon.

Maybe it's just that he's getting punished for his mistakes if he has lost something off his fastball.

 

And there were a lot of people who thought that the A.L. Central teams would beat each other up, leaving an opening.

I defy anyone to say that before the start of the season they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Yankees would be in a last place tie with the Devil Rays on May 29, 13 1/2 games back of Boston for the division and seven-and-a-half games back of Detroit for the Wild Card.

 

Well, it happens. This is a young team. The pitching wasn't going to throw that well all season long.

 

Well, I for one was saying since the start of the season I didn't think the Yankees were great and didn't put them in the playoffs. And this was not some anti-Yankees, pro-Orioles rant. As far as the AL East was concerned, I thought the Red Sox's pitching was much better and just as good a hitting team.

Then take in the Angels and A's, Tigers and White Sox (and maybe Twins) and I didn't see the Yanks in the playoffs.*

Of course, I also didn't think they'd be in last with the D-Rays, but I sure as hell can enjoy it.

* - my preseason thoughts; I didn't think the Indians would be this good with that bullpen and what I thought was iffy starting pitching