May 17, 2012 -- 5:03PM, 115by7and9in61 wrote:

May 17, 2012 -- 10:23AM, GottaGoToMo wrote:

May 17, 2012 -- 7:52AM, 115by7and9in61 wrote:

good morning....well it''s the day before Friday so, that's a consolation...we actually had a frost last night in the low lying, valley areas...hmm?...I will not comment on last night's game...I can only assume they got it all out of their system (kinda like when you're finally compleletly relieved of a bout of constipation); and they are now ready to resume playing  baseball...one of the ugliest games I've seen in a long time...I'm so depressed...even the Melitta's not helping much...oh well, maybe the work day will be full of stimulation and excitment...speaking of which...when I don't sign in tomorrow morning don't be concerned (HAH!)...I have some continuing education to attend in Rochester, NY...Marriott Rochester....lunch included!...should be interesting...definitely some fun anyway...always nice to get away from the grind and learn something new...

 iFrame Removed

Sweetheart ... check the schedule ... it's not just the day before Friday ... it's Ascension Thursday ... a Holy Day of Obligation!

The Feast of the Ascension, also known as Ascension Thursday, or Ascension Day, commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical feasts (i.e., universally celebrated) of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter, and Pentecost. In the Roman Catholic church it is also known as the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter, although some Roman Catholic provinces have moved the observance to the following Sunday.

thank you for reminding me "Mo"m...just now leaving the office...Pam and I are going to 7pm at  St. Bernadette's...I'll say one you...take care sweetheart..enjoy the game...

I'm so happy for you and Pam ... I hope you enjoyed the Mass.

God Bless You Both

Hugs, Mo

Postgame notes: Teixeira could get a day off soon

When the Yankees scored tonight, they did it on a Robinson Cano double that scored Curtis Granderson from first base. Their next two at-bats were their first opportunities with a runner in scoring position.

Mark Teixeira struck out and Raul Ibanez grounded to second.

That’s how it began; another night of the same old story. The Yankees went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and they’ve gone 3-for-41 in their past five games. No surprise that four of them have been losses.

“I just think it’s going to happen,” Joe Girardi said. “I think, ‘This is the time it’s going to happen. This is the one hit we’re going to get.’”

That hit never came tonight, and when the Yankees didn’t get a runner on base in any of the final three innings, their scoring opportunities had come and gone.

Three of those RISP at-bats belonged to Teixeira, who for the first time sounded like he might see some sense in taking a day off to try to get over this cough that had him hacking on the field tonight. He flied out to leave runners at first and second in the third inning, then he flied to shallow left to do the same thing in the fifth.

“If you could guarantee me that (taking a day off) would make me feel better, I’d love that guarantee,” Teixeira said. “I just don’t know if it’s going to help, so we’ll see. I’ll probably talk to Joe a little bit and we’ll see if maybe it makes sense. I want to be out there for my team. I’ve been swinging the bat good the last few days, which is good. You never want get out of the lineup if you’re swinging it good, and defensively, I can always contribute. You never know if it’s going to help or not.”

It’s been hard to notice, but despite the cough, Teixeira came into this game hitting .348/.400/.565 in his past six games. He’s been taking a lot of the heat for the Yankees struggles, but he’s actually been hitting pretty well during this slide.

“Tex seems to be the focus today,” Girardi said. “We have a lot of guys who are hitting around .200 with guys in scoring position, just not Tex. As a team, we’re not collectively getting it done, and we need to get better.”

• Phil Hughes had only one pitch really working today. It was his fastball, and that’s why he threw so many of them, especially early in the game. He still went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while continuously pitching out of jams. “Sometimes you can learn more about a guy when he doesn’t have his good stuff than when he does,” Girardi said. “How he can still go out there and compete, and that’s what he did today.”

• In the third inning, Hughes fell behind 3-0 to Jose Bautista, then drew the count even. He’d thrown Bautista a ton of fastballs — six in the first inning, and four of his past five pitches in this at-bat — so he decided to throw a cutter. That’s the pitch Bautista hit for a two-run homer. “I felt like he had seen a lot of fastballs, and that would be a good pitch,” Hughes said. “But it was spinning over the plate, wasn’t down and away where I would have liked to have it. Looking back, that was the costly mistake. … I threw a 3-2 curveball his third at-bat that I got a strikeout on, so maybe that would have been the better sequence. Hindsight.”

• Hughes has pitched into the sixth inning in four straight starts, something he did only once in his first four starts. This month he’s cut his ERA from 7.88 to 5.23. His ERA in four May starts 3.55.

• Girardi on the idea of giving Teixeira a day off: “We’ve talked about it, and I’ll continue to discuss it with him and we’ll see what happens.”

• Brett Gardner is supposed to start swinging this weekend. He would bring a different kind of look to this offense that is right now almost entirely built around power hitters with no speed.

• Derek Jeter is now tied with Michael Bourn for the Major League lead in hits with 57. Jeter had a single today.

• The Yankees have lost eight of their past 12 games in Toronto dating back to 2010.

• Francisco Cervelli apparently told a Venezuelan reporter that he’s heard two teams are interested in trading for him but the Yankees don’t want to lose him. Makes sense considering the Yankees went out of their way this spring specifically to build catching depth with Cervelli, Chris Stewart and Craig Tatum.

• Jeter: “I’m pretty sure if you go back to most years, I’m pretty sure we’ve had this conversation before. Sometimes success is contagious, sometimes failure is contagious. To where a lot of guys get hot at one point, or a lot of guys struggle. I wish I had an answer to it, if I did I would never struggle myself. I’d tell a few people, and they’d never struggle. It’s just the game.”

• Teixeira: “We expect to score six or seven runs every game; that’s just the way our team is. The one thing about our team is we never give up. We’ve been through tough stretches before and we always fight. We always battle, always try to put together good at-bats and good games. These last few games, it just hasn’t happened for us.”

• Girardi: “Sometimes it’s a break that you get that kind of leads to the flood gates opening up. We just haven’t done it. As you said, 3-for-41 in the last five days. Offenses are going to go through that, every offense is going to go through that, but I gotta tell you, it’s no fun when you’re going through it. The guys don’t look like they’re having a lot of fun, but they’re doing their work, and they’re preparing and it’ll change.”

Patience and frustration heading back to New York

It’s easy to second guess a manager. With the benefit of hindsight and the comfort of distance, it’s easy to point out mistakes and offer alternatives. When the Yankees aren’t hitting, it’s easy to say that Joe Girardi should shuffle the batting order or play someone off the bench or send a player to Triple-A.

But the Yankees haven’t lost four out of five because of their manager.

With this group of hitters, Girardi is pretty much along for the ride. He should be able to put these hitters in any sort of order and expect better than 3-for-41 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees are top five in baseball in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and that’s usually a productive combination, but these hitters have not hit in big situations. That’s the problem.

“The players are here, and they’re very good players,” Girardi said. “It’s just playing to your ability.”

But when things aren’t working, people demand change.

Just yesterday the Blue Jays sent Adam Lind to Triple-A, and the Padres released Orlando Hudson. A few days before that, the Twins optioned Danny Valencia. It’s not unheard of for a team to get rid of somewhat established, everyday players. But the Yankees? With this roster? The Yankees aren’t mix-and-match. They weren’t designed to play the hot hand. This team was put together so that a group of proven players could perform, and the ones who were well past the point of everyday production were assigned specific roles to maximize their remaining value.

The big decisions were made long ago. Success or failure depends entirely on the players doing the job.

Russell Martin has been bad at the plate. But who is there to replace him? Robinson Cano is hitting .176 with runners in scoring position. But is there a player the Yankees can trade for who they’d rather have in a big spot? Steve Pearce has an impressive Triple-A slash line. But on a day-to-day basis, is he really a smarter option than Mark Teixeira and his .228 batting average?

The Yankees lineup is not made up of Lind, Hudson and Valencia.

If Brett Gardner were struggling, he might not have the track record to deserve continued playing time. If Raul Ibanez had been stone cold all year, it might be time to move on. When Eduardo Nunez couldn’t make plays, the Yankees demoted him. When aging Jorge Posada kept struggling last season, he was dumped to a part-time role. When Randy Winn couldn’t hit two years ago, the Yankees released him.

“There’s always a point where you do it,” Girardi said.

But that point is not 38 games into the season. Not with a group of players like this.

“I think you have to be careful because this is not a game you play once a week,” Girardi said. “This is a game that you play every day. Hitters are going to go through peaks and valleys, and if you start trying to time it, it’s probably like trying to time the market. It can be dangerous. As I always talk about, you’re always managing personalities and egos, too. These guys have done it for us. Every year we look up and Tex has 30 (home runs) and 100-plus (RBI). Would I like every one of my guys to hit .350 and have an on-base of .425 with 35 homers? Hell yeah I would. But that’s not going to happen. It’s not. So you have to be patient.”

Patience isn’t exciting, but when it’s up to the players to turn things around, the best thing a manager can do is get out of the way and wait for it to happen. If it doesn’t happen, the failed decisions will be the ones made long before Girardi made out the lineup card.