Sabathia continues to Struggle; Yankees lose 10-6

Suffering another loss, C.C Sabathia once again fails to bounce back from arguably his worst consecutive three starts in his career.

Here’s how he performed in those last 3 games:

• 22 Runs (Earned + UnEarned)
• 26 hits
• Only 14 Innings pitched

Anyone who follows the Yankees can agree that it has been a roller coaster season and seemingly unpredictable. In the upcoming month,  Jeter, Granderson, Youk, and A-Rod should all be back in starting lineup depending on if their rehabs go as planned. That should solve the problem the Yankees faced the most this season, which has been the capability to score runs. On the other hand, the Yankees and Sabathia himself need to work on another problem; Getting CC back to CC. The body language given off by the lefty has been clearly discouragement, frustration, and disappointment so obviously he is concerned about his pitching. But, without any diagnosed injuries or any discomfort for CC, there’s no excuse, but a pitching slump.

The questions that should  be put in consideration are:

• How long will his “slump” last?
• Is it a “slump,” or a flaw in his mechanics?
• Should Cashman shop for more pitching before the trade deadline?

In my opinion:

• He’s in a slump ( It happens to everyone)
• His mechanics are fine, his confidence level has dropped, and he should be scratched from his next start to clear his head and really work hard on his location and velocity of his fastball.
• Before the pitching problem gets any worse, Cashman needs to plan ahead before it’s too late and the trade deadline passes. The Phillies are listening to offers for starting pitcher Cliff Lee so NOW is the time for the Yankees to take the initiating action. Although Kuroda has been lights out lately, this would be a perfect time to add to the questionable 5-man pitching rotation and create more depth behind CC, Kuroda, and Pettitte.

Here’s something to remember: Like George Steinbrenner use to say, “There’s no such thing as too much pitching.”

 

 

7/26/13: New York Yankees Starting Lineup vs Tampa Bay Rays

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Tonight the New York Yankees face off against one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. After being roughed up in his last start, C.C Sabathia takes the mound tonight against Jeremy Hellickson in his attempt to get back on the right track. In just a few hours, Alfonso Soriano will make his second Yankees debut in his return to the Bronx, hoping to spark the teams offense: Here’s Tonight’s Yankees starting lineup:

1.  Gardner (8)
2.  Suzuki (9)
3.  Cano (4)
4.  Soriano (7)
5.  Overbay (3)
6.  Nunez (6)
7.  Hafner (DH)
8.  Lillibridge (5)
9.  Romine (2)
10.  Sabathia (1)

Game Time: 7:05 ET @ New York Yankees Joseph Putignano’s Final Score Prediction:            

***Yankees win over the Ray 4 – 3            

***Soriano goes 2 for 4 in his debut

**Latest News** Soriano to Yankees Trade Finalized

Earlier this week I reported on Alfonso Soriano’s possible trade to the Yankees, and “What he could bring to the struggling franchise.”  Now that the trade is finalized, check back at my previous article explaining my thoughts and opinions about what he could bring to the Yankees and possibly save their play off hopes.

 

Check it out here! 

https://insidepitch247.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/what-alfonso-soriano-would-bring-to-the-struggling-yankees-2/

-Joseph Putignano

 

7/25/13: New York Yankees starting lineup vs Texas Rangers

 

1. Suzuki (RF)
2. Lillibridge (3B)
3. Cano (DH)
4. Wells (LF)
5. Nunez (SS)
6. Adams (2B)
7. Overbay (1B)
8. Mesa (CF)
9. Romine (C)
10. Hiroki Kuroda (P)

Game Time: 2:00 PM ET @ Texas

Joseph Putignano’s Final Score Prediction: 6 – 2 Yankees win over the Rangers

In Garza’s debut; Rangers top the Yankees 3-1

Just after the recent trade between the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers, Matt Garza made his debut in a Rangers uniform yesterday against the New York Yankees. In previous history, the Yankees were 11-1 against Garza and are fairly familiarized with his pitching because of Garza’s years Tampa. However, last night was different.

 

 

Injuries after injuries have caused the Yankees a severe lack of offense and a bundle of pressure on their starting pitchers.

Andy Pettitte only surrendered 2 earned runs, over 6 innings, giving up 8 hits while the Yankees bats were put to sleep yet again. The Yankees only scored 1 run off Garza when Cano hit an RBI single to right center. The starting second and third string players filling in for injured Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Texiera, and Curtis Granderson are making the opposing pitchers look like All-Stars and in most cases, they really aren’t.

As the days go by and the season progresses, the Yankees are losing time to potentially gain some ground against the red hot Boston Red Sox and the streaking Tampa Bay Rays.

The Yankees are waiting until their starters are back and are hoping they can save the season. Unfortunately, they are going to keep losing game after game, run out of time, and fail to make the play-offs.

The season is over for the Yankees and they are accepting this season as a failure.

If George “The Boss”  Steinbrenner was here, the New York Yankees would not be in this situation.

7/23/13; New York Yankees starting lineup vs Texas Rangers

 

 

1. Gardner(8)
2. Ichiro (9)
3. Cano (4)
4. Overbay (3)
5. Wells (DH)
6. Nunez (6)
7. Lillibridge (5)
8. Mesa (7)
9. Romine (2)
10. Hughes (1)

Game time: 8:05 ET @ Texas

Joseph Putignano’s Final Score Prediction: 5 – 3 Yankees win over the Rangers

• Phil Hughes gives up 2, solo Home runs tonight

What Alfonso Soriano would bring to the struggling Yankees.

According to sources, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees are discussing a potential trade that would land Soriano back in the Bronx.

Coming off a shut out loss by Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers, the Yankees are shopping for nothing but offense to hold them over until Jeter, Rodriguez, Granderson, and Youk return from the DL.

However, people may be asking themselves “What exactly would Soriano bring to the Yankees?”

Well, here’s the answer:

1. The long ball.

As of today July 23rd, Robinson Cano leads the Yankees in HR’s (21) and next on the list in Travis Hafner (12) who has limited playing time because  of his age and other options for a designated hitter.

Now if you bring Soriano into the picture, he already has 17 homers in a Cubs uniform and at a hitter friendly ball park like Yankees Stadium, we can only expect more to come.

2. Runs Scored and Runs Batted In (RBI’s)

Right now, Brett Gardner is leading the team in runs scored (54) and Robbie Cano is right under him with 53. The Yankees need to find a way to score runs and help out their pitching staff because clearly they need more. As proven last night against the Texas Rangers, Ivan Nova pitched fairly well only giving up 3 runs, but the Yankees failed to score a single run.

With the potential acquisition of Soriano, he will arrive in NY with a combined 97 runs scored and RBI’s which is just what the Yankees need right now.

• Cano currently leads the team in RBI’s with 69, following Lyle Overbay with 43.

3. Experience and Leadership.

Entering his 15th MLB season this year, Alfonso Soriano knows the game of baseball and plays the game in the right manner.

The Yankees being an “old team” to begin with, Soriano is still a very productive player who can score runs in almost any way and doesn’t seem to be slowing down at a rapid pace.

Along with the current Veterans like Mo, Jeter, Cano, Wells, Ichiro, and Hafner all in the club house to this date, Soriano would fit right in and help save the Yankees from the injuries they have suffered from.

7/22/13; New York Yankees starting lineup vs Texas Rangers

1. Gardner (8)
2. Suzuki (9)
3. Cano (4)
   
4. Overbay (3)
5. Wells (7)
6. Hafner (DH)
7. Nunez (6)
8. Stewart (2)
9. Cruz (6)
10. Ivan Nova (1)

Game time: 7:05 ET @ Texas

Final score prediction: 4 – 2 Rangers win over the Yankees

 

 

Alex Rodriguez; Yankees only hope

Following last nights loss against the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees are seven games out of first place and it doesn’t look like they’ll be gaining any ground anytime soon. Not only has Boston been the best team in the East since before the All-Star break, the “Money Ball” Tampa Bay Rays are streaking once again.

Now that the season is no longer in its infancy and the struggles at third base continue for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez’s return is the only hope for a play-off run.

Yet another setback, Rodriguez’s return is once again questionable and so is the solution for the lack of offensive production at third base for the New York Yankees;  238/.294/.325

With Granderson, Jeter, Rodriguez, Texiera, and Youk all the disabled list, that leaves All-Star Robinson Cano with an enormous amount of pressure and clearly not enough help to stay in the AL East race.

Everyone knows what A-Rod is capable of doing, but no one knows if he will be the 2007 and 2009 A-Rod when he returns.

As of now, Yankee fans need to support A-Rod despite the recent PED acquisitions against him. In recent news, Cano has reached out to A-Rod checking in on his rehab on a consistent basis.

Face it. Cano needs help. He needs someone to pick him up when his bat is silent like the rest of the team. The Yankees relied on the long ball for the last few years to make it to the post season and once they got there, that’s when the importance of Jeter, Ichiro, Gardner, and Youk kicks in.

Whether you want to hear it or not, this is the truth; With Cano in the 3-Hole and Rodriguez batting clean-up, more runs will be scored, less pressure would be on Robbie Cano, and more games will be won.