Before Red Sox fans head for life rafts like rich people on the Titanic, maybe it’s worth taking an aside to point out that um – the Yankees aren’t playing particularly well, either.
Despite Boston’s seeming implosion over the past few weeks, the Yankees are still only up 3.5 games as of today. They’ve lost 6 of their last 9 games and perhaps most worrisome – the man they need to have pitch well – CC Sabathia – isn’t.
Sabathia was terrible in August, sporting a 4.68 ERA in 42.1 IP and has a WHIP over his past 6 starts sitting over 1.60. He gave up 50 hits in August and is well on the way to eclipsing that this month – nearly 12 more hits than he’s given up in any other month in the season.
Wallace Matthew of ESPN.com speculates whether the new six-man rotation the Yankees have employed is to blame and maybe he’s onto something:
“Sabathia worked on four days’ rest in 16 of his first 22 starts. The results were a 14-5 record and a 2.62 ERA. Since then, the numbers are 5-3 and 3.89. More alarmingly, he has allowed 81 hits in 69 1/3 innings, an average of 10.5 hits per nine innings pitched. “
But at the end of the day, it’s neither here nor there. The Yankees lack of pitching depth appears to be catching up to them. Needless to say, it’s the same song we’ve been hearing in Boston for a little while now.
The reality is that while the Red Sox and Yankees have really good teams, they also have some big holes. While it’s hard to decipher through the media maelstrom whether or not the Sox and Yanks have bigger holes than the other contending teams, I think it could be reasonably concluded that the other contenders closed the gap considerably, if not surpassed the AL East monsters at the trade deadline.
I’d even go as far as to say that I don’t think either team is the best in baseball. In fact, they might not even be the best teams in the AL right now.
Playoff lore is littered with teams that seem to find their groove at the right time, and if that’s any indication of what the future might hold, then maybe we should all be wary of the Detroit Tigers, who have torn through the second half of the season and – if the standings hold through to the end of the season – will face the Sox in the Divisional Series.
Justin Verlander is a man among boys, which we knew already. What we didn’t know is that Doug Fister would turn out to be one of this season’s best acquisitions. Since being traded to the Tigers in July, Fister’s gone 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA and even recorded a 13-strikeout game against the Cleveland Indians. He was having a good year under the radar in Seattle already, but I don’t even know if even Doug Fister’s mom would have seen this coming. All of a sudden, the Tigers look like a tough match up for anyone.
The Rangers are doing what they do – hit lots and lots of baseballs and pitch well enough to make you tread with caution, but also speculate what the world would be like with a dominant pitcher or two in their rotation. With nothing reasonably priced out on the trade market, they decided to substantially beef up the bullpen adding dominant middle relief arms Koji Uehara and Mike Adams to go along with the already potent Neftali Feliz, Darren O’Day and Darren Oliver. Beefy bullpens can lead to big Octobers. Could the Rangers be the team to beat in the AL once again this year?
The real eye-opener for me this year however, is the depth of the National League field. For the first time in forever, I feel like the two most balanced teams heading into the playoffs are both NL ball clubs. The Milwaukee Brewers already have as potent a middle of the order as there is in baseball with Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. They’ve fielded a balanced starting rotation and added depth to their bullpen by acquiring Fransisco Rodriguez from the Mets in June. Since then, they’ve run away from a seemingly competitive NL Central pack and have turned the race into a virtual cakewalk.
Not to be outdone, the Phillies went out and finally got that bat they needed, adding Hunter Pence at the deadline. While they might have a few holes here and there in the ‘pen, it might not really matter as Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels will certainly drive them deep enough into ballgames where it might not matter too much.
I’m not ready to jump on the Diamondbacks bandwagon yet, but I wasn’t ready to ride along with the Rockies in 2007, the Rays in 2008 and the Giants in 2010 and well, look where that got me. The Braves are lurking in the shadows as well. The Braves probably have the best bullpen in the field and solid starting pitching, but it remains to be seen whether this team can put up the runs they need to on a consistent basis.
In years past, it’s been kind of easy to distinguish between the real contenders and the pretenders. This year seems to be a lot more ambiguous and that the gap seems to have been substantially leveled – especially due to some shrewd moves at the deadline by the Brewers, Phillies and Tigers.
There’s a lot more balance this year and that’s good for baseball, but not for the Red Sox and Yankees, who may find themselves both being bounced earlier than anticipated.
baseballnewengland.wordpress.com 