Bomber Bites with Billy Brost: This Yankees Act Is Wearing Thin
By Billy Brost
Well, they’ve done it to us again. The Yankees got our hopes up, by beating two of three former Cy Young Award winners, and a 13-game winner. The Tigers are considered by many to be World Series contenders. The Yankees not only outpitched a better staff, they also outhit the better team. Then came the Cleveland Indians. Just when the Yankees made us believe with their new acquisitions, their mirage starting rotation, and their bulletproof bullpen, that they were now contenders. In reality, after losing to the likes of Carlos Carrasco on Sunday, this team is exactly where they sit: a third place team that by season’s end, will most likely be on the outside looking in.
Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.
The Yankees hit .208 for the series. You just read that correctly. That includes the 12-hit, 10-run outburst Friday night to open the series. We all thought this new and improved Yankees’ team had finally turned the corner. Even without Mark Teixeira, the Yankees were showing signs of getting on a roll at the dish. But then again, Brian McCann, who has been one of the coldest Yankees all season, and appeared to be heating up, took a ball off his noodle, and suffered a concussion as a result.
Given, Indians’ starter Corey Kluber dominated the Bombers over 6 innings, striking out 10, in a 3-0 shutout victory. Five hits, 17 men left on base and 15 strikeouts total, doesn’t bode well for a team that is trying to find and harness it’s offensive identity with 7 weeks remaining in the regular season. The Yankees head into Baltimore, in what could’ve been a SEASON-changing series. The Yankees blew their momentum and a shot to show the Orioles and the rest of baseball that the Tigers’ series wasn’t a fluke. Now it appears that it was. Don’t believe me? It’s been their story the entire season. Handle the Rangers at home, travel to Texas and only win a single game. Go to Boston, win two of three, return home, show the Tigers that they aren’t the only big boys in the American League, and lay down like whipped pups for an Indians’ team that looked much more like a squad on the rise than the Yankees.
The Tribe recently dealt a couple of pieces in Justin Masterson and Asdrubal Cabrera, both of whom are free agents at the end of the season, with an eye towards next year. Maybe the Yankees, who are now six games behind Baltimore, and 2 1/2 games back of the Kansas City Royals of all teams, for the second and final wild card spot, should’ve been the ones to consider selling and looking towards reloading next season. The off-season plan heading into 2014 hasn’t worked. The starting rotation has been decimated by injuries. Two of the three big bats that were brought in to offset the loss of Robinson Cano, have been duds for most of the season.
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Sure, the Yankees don’t rebuild, they reload. If that’s the case, what the hell are they waiting for? If this group are legitimate contenders, prove me wrong and make your run. If not, do what you’ve done all season. Give us false hope for a little bit longer, then quietly tuck your tail between your legs and go home for the winter. I for one don’t want to see a wild card game end in a 5-0 shut out, with the Yankees getting 3 whopping hits, leaving 16 men on base, and sending Derek Jeter into retirement on the losing end of another embarrassing performance by the current incarnation of the New York Yankees.