Yankee Talk: Falling to the Finish

Late season slump cause for concern

ARLINGTON – When you watch the Yankees over the last week, you can see they are not whole.

The squad that you see is not the same squad you will see in Game 1 of the Division Series assuming the unthinkable does not happen and they collapse.

You want to go into the postseason playing well, but right now, the Yankees are doing anything but.

It has not been a complete breakdown, but after leaving Arlington on a plane for St. Petersburg after being swept by the Texas Rangers this past weekend and losing six of their last seven, things do not look good.

Had it not been for a walk-off homerun on Wednesday by Nick Swisher to beat the Orioles, this team would be on a seven game losing streak going back to their loss on Sunday to Toronto.

To be fair, they have been in a position to win several of these games during the losing skid. Three of the losses came by one run, and one of them with Mariano Rivera blowing a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday night when he hit pinch hitter Jeff Francoeur with the bases loaded to end the game.

The problem has been the inability to come through with runners in scoring position that has kept these games closer than they should, allowing for these end of game defeats.

Pitching wise, they have not been bad. CC Sabathia lost for the first time at Yankee Stadium in 21 starts on Tuesday to the Orioles, a team that has improved greatly under manager Buck Showalter.

AJ Burnett pitched well on Monday despite giving up the go ahead run in the seventh inning. It was another positive step for him that was able to carry into his start Saturday in Texas, cut short after five innings due to a one-hour rain delay.

Javier Vazquez continued to sputter and Dustin Moseley pitched admirably against Cliff Lee on Sunday, taking the ball into the seventh inning tied 1-1 before giving up three runs with two out to blow the game open on an afternoon where nearly none of Joe Girardi’s trusted relievers were available due to back-to-back, five hour extra inning games.

Ivan Nova has been a great supplement to the rotation in the interim until Andy Pettitte returns, so for now the team is trying to tread water with him.

Offensively, they are dealing with injuries to Brett Gardner (wrist) and Nick Swisher (knee) and their presence in the lineup is far more important than anyone gave credit.

Alex Rodriguez returned from the disabled list last Sunday before the final game against the Blue Jays and his picked up right where he left off offensively. However, questions linger over how long he will be able to continue before another injury sidelines him.

To his credit, Rodriguez says he feels strong and that nothing is wrong despite Girardi giving him Tuesday night off. The standings show the Yankees do not need to push him every night until the playoffs. Giving his older body a day off despite upcoming games against the Rays no matter how unpopular, is a smart move.

Jorge Posada suffered concussion symptoms and missed three games before returning to the lineup on Sunday. His loss for any significant time would be a huge blow to the team considering how far Francisco Cervelli has fallen offensively since early May.

The consistent part of this team has been its bullpen. Even though they gave up two of the leads during this past weekend’s series, they have become fully reliable and you just hope the starting pitcher that night can pitch long enough to get the ball to them.

This has been Girardi’s greatest strength in comparison to Joe Torre.

Torre managed to win every game at all costs. However, he would sacrifice everyone and anyone to do it. If a good reliever had his arm fall off in the process, so be it.

Of course, that can happen when you have few reliable options as Torre did (see: Scott Proctor). Girardi has four guys he can go to at any given point during the middle of the game to get big outs in David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan and the pickup of the trade deadline, Kerry Wood.

This group is going to need to perform at their high level as the rotation attempts to find itself.

However, a combination of all of the factors have led to the Yankees slide as of late heading into Tampa for a big three-game series to decide first place in the AL East.

The time may not be now for the Yankees to get everything right.

They just have to avoid their slide continuing.