Daily Archives: May 12, 2006

The A’s are the perfect team for the Yankees to be playing right now. As Ken Arneson wrote earlier today:

Players are dropping like flies, and if you can somehow manage to stand on two feet at all, you’re in the lineup. Kendall is tossed out, Eric Chavez has a bacterial infection, Frank Thomas pulled a quad, Justin Duchscherer has a bad elbow, Joe Kennedy has an muscle strain in his arm, and none of those guys are among the three A’s players currently on the DL.

There are actually four A’s on the DL, though I can understand why Ken might have ignored ex-Yankee Jay Witasick. The other three are Rich Harden–who is quickly earning a reputation as the Mark Prior of the AL, and that ain’t a good thing–the similarly injury-prone Milton Bradley, and former Yankee Esteban Loaiza. And Ken didn’t even mention the fact that closer Huston Street missed a week and a half in late April with a strained right pectoral muscle and currently sports a 6.30 ERA.

As a result, the A’s have Kirk Saarloos and a third ex-Yank, Brad Halsey in their rotation, and–due to Chavez’s illness, Thomas’s injury and Kendall’s suspension–will be limited tonight to a two-man bench of Marco Scutaro and Jeremy Brown and a line-up that looks something like this:

L – Mark Kotsay (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (LF)
R – Bobby Crosby (SS)
L – Dan Johnson (1B)
R – Jay Payton (RF)
S – Bobby Kielty (DH)
S – Adam Melhuse (C)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)
R – Antonio Perez (3B)

Kendall will return to action tomorrow, though whether or not the Yankees will see Chavez or Thomas this weekend is unknown.

Nonetheless, it’s not hard to figure out why A’s are underperforming the expectations that I and many others had for them entering the season, though the fact that they’re at .500 and just a half-game out of first despite all of these interruptions in playing time bodes well for their ability to turn on the jets after returning to health.

Indeed, the Yankees are facing the A’s at exactly the right time. Not only are the A’s a team that’s even more beat up than the Yankees are, but they’re a team that at full strength could very well be the best in the league. Sometimes timing is everything.

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Never mind last night’s loss to the Red Sox. The Yankees have far more pressing issues that a one-game deficit in the standings on May 12. What the Yankees need right now is an outfield as Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui are both on the DL with injuries to their left wrists and Johnny Damon is literally banged up, his achy left shoulder and sprained right foot having been aggravated by another collision with the outfield wall last night.

Damon will continue to play through his pains, but a few days at DH would be advisable as the last thing the Yankees can afford right now is to have either of Damon’s ouchies turn into a chronic injury that might effect his offense or availability. That means a Yankee outfield of Melky Cabrera, Bubba Crosby and Bernie Williams might become a common sight over the next couple of series. Gulp. One thing’s for sure, with Matsui and Sheff on the DL and Kevin Reese having been called up to take Matsui’s spot on the roster, those three along with Damon will see the bulk of the playing time in the outfield and at DH.

I’m tempted to say that the time has come for Torre to make Andy Phillips his primary DH, sitting him only to give Damon an occasional break from the field. Certainly a line-up with Phillips at DH, Damon in center, Melky in one corner and a Bernie/Bubba righty/lefty platoon in the other inspires more confidence than what we’re more likely to see, which is Bernie at DH and an outfield of Bubba, Damon and Melky from left to right. But I think I’ve finally given up hoping that Phillips will get his shot. That said, the Yankees will face lefty starters tonight and tomorrow, so there’s a ray of hope.

Barring Joe seeing the light on Andy, here’s what the Yankee line-up will look like for the next week or two:

L – Johnny Damon (CF/DH)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Bernie Williams (DH/RF)
L – Bubba Crosby (LF/CF)
S – Melky Cabrera (RF/LF)

You can kiss 1,000 runs goodbye.

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Last night I got together with Cliff, Jay Jaffe, Mark Lamster and SI.com’s Jacob Luft for a bite to eat. We caught the game–or at least portions of it–and obviously, it was a devastating night for the home team. Both Cliff and I got home way too late to be able to write a thorough recap of the nights events, which is too bad because it was an absorbing game. The Yanks lost 5-3, with Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter contributing key defensive errors, but the critical moment of the game came early when Hideki Matsui fractured his left hand trying to make a shoestring catch.

Anyone who saw the replay knows how bad the injury instantly looked. It might not have been Joe Theisman/Jason Kendall horrific, but it was painful to watch (oddly enough, it was a night for highlight reel injuries–we must have seen the replay of Philadelphia’s Aaron Rowand crashing into the centerfield fence 58 times). Matsui’s consecutive game streak–which dates back to his days playing Japan–is over (1,768 straight). Godzilla is scheduled to have surgery today and after the game Yankee GM Brian Cashman commented that it is possible that Matsui could be lost for the year. According to Tyler Kepner in the New York Times:

“It’s going to be a long time,” General Manager Brian Cashman said. “Whether we get him back before the season’s over, we won’t know for a while.”

With Gary Sheffield still out, the $64,000 question for the Yankes is who will replace Matsui? The lines are open. What do you think?

Bubba Crosby and Johnny Damon both made outstanding catches at the wall, and it looked as if the Sox were not going to be able to get a break (they stranded 15 on base for the game). Their luck would change however as they took advantage of New York’s fielding mistakes and good pitching from Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin and Jonathan Papelbon for the win. The Yankees’ fortunes continued to go south. Both Jeter and Williams reached second base in the late innings, making up for their errors, and both were stranded when their teammates could not drive them home. Mariano Rivera allowed a run in the ninth. He was livid with himself when he left a fastball over the plate which Kevin Youkilis drove into center for an RBI single. To make matters worse, Damon hurt his shoulder and right foot when he robbed Doug Mirabelli of extra bases.

In the end, it was a painful night in the Bronx. And losing to the Sox was the least of it.