Don’t Jump, Yankees Fans

Written by: Drew Sarver on 11th May 2010

Don't Jump, Yankees Fans | read this item

Despite a 21-10 start there are a number of Yankees fans acting like Red Sox fans. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, the other leg to break, the other game to lose. STOP. Come in off the ledge.

Last night’s loss to the Detroit (5-4) was obviously frustrating to Yankees followers. Spot starter Sergio Mitre was far from fantastic, but he wasn’t horrendous either. An Alex Rodriguez throwing error led to two early runs, one of which was earned. Mitre is not part of the regular rotation and does all right as a long man in the pen. He’s not going to be the guy to make or break the team.

Boone Logan failed miserably in a big spot. There’s no excuse for walks to batters who don’t deserve to be pitched around. If he continues in that vein, he’ll be gone.

Marcus Winn, Randy Thames, Winn Thames…no matter how you combine their names, you really can’t put a good ball player together between them at this point in their careers. Thames has good power, but has never hit for average and his outfield skills..well, outfield and skills should not be used in the same sentence when it comes to Marcus Thames.

Winn was a good player. He is still a decent outfielder, but the speed left his bat a long time ago. Obviously, neither one of them would be getting many at-bats if not for the injuries to Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson. But the lineup and defense is still deep enough even with them. And Granderson will be back before you know it.

As soon as Johnny Damon homered last night, there was an outpouring of messages on Twitter condemning the Yankees for not re-signing him. Damon can still hit, but little leaguers have stronger arms than him, and fly balls have become an adventure in left field. Despite all that, Damon could have been the Yankees DH had he and his agent Scott Boras not decided to be greedy.

Hideki Matsui’s name was thrown in the mix as well. He was a clutch bat for the Yankees, but a liability in the field and his knees are shot. You can bet that if Matsui was still a Yankee and was hitting the .230 he’s currently hitting with the Halos, Yankees fans would be screaming about how the team shouldn’t have re-signed him.

The Yankee fan base has quickly forgotten how quickly a team can age. The 1996-2001 mini-dynasty ended with a sharp decline and even though the team made the 2003 World Series, there was some very obvious holes that took a long time to fill. 20/20 hindsight is easy to have, but looking back do you think it was smart to re-sign Scott Brosius or should the Yankees have made Mike Lowell their third baseman for the long run?

The Yankees have won 9 of 10 series this season, but apparently that isn’t good enough for some fans. Now, there’s no question that the Nick Johnson signing was probably not the most well thought out plan. But most likely the thinking was to go cheap for one year and then to make a run after Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth for next season.

Seriously, how do some Yankees fans last through a 162 game season? When my team loses in any sport it bother me. But you can’t carry it into the next game. The players don’t why should you as a fan? Baseball is not like football. There is no week between games. Barring a rainout or a rare day off, teams are back on the field the next night.

Some losses hurt more than others, of course. If you’re a Yankees fan, you never want to lose to Boston, but you have to look at the big picture. In this case that means remembering that the Yankees won two of three in both of their series with Boston this year (on the road to boot).

It’s cliche, but the baseball season is indeed a marathon not a sprint. Chill out Yankees fans.
On the Up side

There were some positives for the Yankees and their fans to take from last night’s game with Detroit. Another home run for Mark Teixeira. A much better outing for David Robertson. Alex Rodriguez had a couple of solid hits. Jorge Posada returned to the lineup. And a dominant performance by Joba Chamberlain, who hit the upper 90′s with his fastball and struck out the side in the 8th inning.

Where’s Waldo?

In this case, where’s Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer had sat out a three game series with Baltimore last week due to stiffness in his side. With no close games in Boston, Joe Girardi decided to let Rivera rest some more. But in a tight one last night there was still no Rivera sighting. It has to make you wonder if Rivera is/was hurt worse than the Yankees let on. With Javier Vazquez going for the Yankees tonight, the bullpen will most certainly be needed. But it remains to be seen if the pen’s best pitcher will be used.

The Scranton Express

Injuries and a tired bullpen have led to a number of players being summoned from Scranton, the Yankees Triple-A affiliate. Infielder Kevin Russo, and pitchers Romulo Sanchez and Ivan Nova have joined the Yankees on the road. Tonight the Bombers get another left-handed bat to replace some of the missing pop with the recall of first baseman Juan Miranda.

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Drew Sarver covers the Yankees for BaseballDigest.com and blogs at My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and followed on Twitter.

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Topics: Agent Scott Boras, Alex Rodriguez, Bats, Batters, Clutch, Curtis Granderson, DH, hideki matsui, Johnny Damon, Long Man, Marcus Thames, Nick Johnson, outfield, Outfielder, Outpouring, Red Sox Fans, Sergio Mitre, Spot Starter, twitter, Winn