Perspective

Perspective

Yes, it sucks the Yanks are 6-7 after 13 games.

Yes, Phil Phranchise has looked like the second coming of Sr Nervous (Jose Contreras).

and Yes, the team has looked old and lifeless.

I'm here to tell you, though, it's no time to panic.

Thus far the Yanks have played series in NY, KC and Boston; places where the average 7pm local temperature has yet to exceed 45 degrees. I firmly believe that this is a major contributor to the terrible start of both TM and the offense. Hughes grew up in SoCal and started every season prior to this one either in the Gulf Coast League, the South Atlantic League or the Florida State League. The game-time temps of his starts have been 42, 46 and 46 degrees. Not only are there no viable options to replace him, but even discussing removing Hughes from the rotation is totally premature. Every game is a learning experience for Phil, and I expect he will learn these lessons and start pitching very well shortly

I really think that starting tonight in Tampa, under the dome, we will see a much more explosive Yankee offense, and some much better pitching to go along with it.

In terms of panic, 2 things to keep in mind -

1. Detroit. I picked the Tigers to win 101 games this year. When I did this I was well aware that their pitching was a big question mark, but figured they would have a team ERA somewhere around 5. Assuming 950 runs scored (5.86 per game), I thought they'd steamroll lesser teams but make a fairly early exit in the playoffs. Seeing as how they'd have to go 99-51 to win 101, I'm gonna be pretty far off in my prediction. This is a team, like the Yanks, with far too much talent, however, to continue playing this badly. Remember, 2-10 is a lot worse than 6-7!

2. A ho-hum start is nothing new for our Bombers. Since 2002 our record after 13 games has been -

2002 8-5
2003 11-2
2004 6-7
2005 5-8
2006 6-7
2007 7-6
2008 6-7

In only 2 of the past 7 yeas have the Yanks been over .500 after 13 games, and we have obviously made the playoffs each year. A game and a half out of first on April 14th is not a problem.

The 2 pitchers we count on the most have been very good - Wang has been unreal, and Andy was great in his last start. Moose has pitched far better than we could have expected, and once he settles in and the weather warms, The Messiah will again live up to his nickname.