It's no secret that I've been less than pleased with the Yankees play thus far this season. Indeed, floating around .500 thanks to a five game pasting by the Red Sox and a 5 game losing streak they've been all around shitty. As my brother will tell you, I've complained they've been just a mess, if they're hitting well their starting pitching sucks, if their starting pitching does its job, the bullpen blows it, if they don't we don't get the timely hit or play defense, and so on and so forth. Throw in having like half of the opening day starters out for significant time, I've been generally miserable about the Yanks' chances these days. But it seems the bad fortune and bad play couldn't go on forever, as all of a sudden the old and rickety yankees are the comeback kids, winning three in a row in walk off fashion (I was fortunate enough to be there for the third) winning five in a row, but is it legit? Have they turned the corner and are finally coming along and realizing their potential as a world series contender? Time will tell.
Despite the myriad of injuries it seems clear that the yankees are a better team then they were say a week ago, thanks to return of the Lightning Rod himself, A-Rod. Say what you will about the guy, but the guy produces a great deal, and when you have him in the lineup its a dangerous lineup. Instead of Texiera hitting in front of such fiersome hitters like the hobbled Matsui he's got the 3 time MVP there for pitchers to worry about. While it is true that lineup positions have not proven statisically that important, just having him in there instead of stiffs like my favorite Cody Ransom or Ramiro Pena making virtual automatic outs makes a world of a difference.
In addition to presence to our favorite PED enhanced third baseman, I feel like the addition of the younger catchers perticuarly Francisco Cervelli have been a big help. Now I'm in the minority on this one and Cervelli's numbers thus far have not been great, but in posada's absence he seems to be a more servicable everyday catcher than Jose Molina. Indeed, as last year showed, while an excellent backup, if Molina is used over a long sterech his weaknesses offensively are exposed and he's an automatic out. At the very least Cervelli is used the to rigors of playing the position everyday and has shown improvement at the plate and a great deal of strength defensively. Even moreso, Cervelli isn't a 100 years old like Jorgie is and he brings a degree of athleticism that neither Molina or Posada have. Indeed, I've seen Cervelli run out a few infield hits already that neither of those two stood at a chance. He's not my pick to successor for Posada, but it could be a lot worse for a third catcher.
Probably most importantly though is the improved performance of the pitching staff all around. Indeed, as the adage goes pitching and defense win championships and at least the much ballyhooed staff is starting to look the part. With Sabbathia coming off back to back dominant outings, Joba overcoming his first inning woes while still havning the second best ERA on the staff, Burnett looking better despite not registering a win since early April, and Hughes not looking quite as shitty last time around, its a whole lot easier to not be horrible when your starter gives you a chance.
You add all of these things up and you have a team that's starting to look a lot better, but ultimately I am not convinced. To use another baseball cliche, baseball is a game of averages, and as far as I can see they're definely as bad as they played, but they're also not as good as they played this week, how much better or how much worse is the part I'm not sure about but there are some red flags. For one that bullpen is still pretty atrocious with the likes of Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez stinking up the joint and two its a old team, that as the first few weeks of the season have shown, old players break down. Indeed, you don't see the Rays having a rash of injuries like this because they're all young and young guys are much less injury prone than older guys. It's been an exciting few days in the Yankee Universe, especially to be at the new stadium and not have my heart ripped out like I did last week, but I'm not getting carried away. Last time I checked the Sox and Rays are still around and they're pretty good from what I hear.
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