So George has Joe's back. Not all that surprising, as George seems to be getting all the more patient in his old age. But is Joe really to blame for the Yankee's miserable start? Tough to say. The injuries to the starters have certainly been tough. But Joe, who earlier in his Yankee tenure seemed to almost never panic, seems to be making lots of panic moves lately. Here's one that really caught my attention.
April 22nd - Trailing the Red Sox 6-7, Torre answers the question we've all been asking - "Can Josh Phelps Catch?" With Posada unable to catch due to a injured thumb, Torre panics and pinch hits for Nieves, forcing him to put either Phelps or Cairo behind the plate. My biggest question was "What would of happened if they would have tied the game and forced extra innings?" Disaster. I'm sure Phelps is an excellent athelete, but given an extended opportunity, he certainly would of cost the Yankees a run, and most likely the game. This is the same game, by the way, in which Andy Pettitte was used as a reliever, for the second time this season.
The reason that this alarms me is that they aren't really playing all that bad, and they shouldn't be panicking. They've scored 131 runs this season, yet allowed only 125. That means that they are better than their 9-14 record would lead you to believe. These things seem to settle out over the course of the season. Just ask Tony Pena, manager of the 2003 Royals. They led the Central at the All-Star break, but allowed more runs than they scored. They slowly slid back to where they belonged, finishing third at seasons end.
If they can get just some of their starters healthy, and find a reliever that can post just one scoreless inning every once & awhile, and if Mariano doesn't have some serious elbow problem, then the Yankees will be fine. That's a lot of ifs, but I do know this - if you continue to put DH's behind the plate and pitch starters out of the bullpen in April, you should start panicking.
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