I was at the game today. It was pretty brutal. It was one of the worst losses to the Yankees that I have witnessed, and I have been around a long time. It wasn't the worst I have been witnessed, but it was up there. As soon as the Yankees took the lead 10-9, we left and went to the BBQ restaurant. Once we were behind, it was over. Even if we had held it at 10-9, they had Robertson and Mo waiting and we had 3 hitters left in the lineup with Youk out. Ortiz would not see a pitch with Nate Spears on deck. The Yankee fans were really getting loud, and I knew when to cut my losses. As we were leaving my son said that it was like watching a Double Header where we won the first game and lost the second game. It was like night and day== the fun of the first six innings and the despair of the final 3 innings.
On the drive up this morning, we were shooting the bull about the Sox, and I said that the bullpen was our Achilles heel and that we were going to have to bludgeon teams to win. My son said that he didn't think the pen was too bad. With that, I asked him to name four reliable arms in our pen. That's the minimum you need to get by in today's baseball IMO. I'm not talking about shut down guys like Papelbon and Bard. Those days are over for a while. I am just talking about 4 reliable guys to hand the ball in the late innings. My son couldn't name 4. Here's my list: Aceves, Padilla (after today, he's off the list), Morales, and Tazawa (still unproved). Those are the only 4 guys that I could hand the ball without vomiting. None of them are close to great. I'd probably replace Padilla with Atchinson after today's game. Of these guys, only Aceves has any real accomplishment as a late innings pitcher in pressure situations. That's pretty pathetic. Thomas and Albers have to be sent away. They stink.
I said it before spring training started that the late innings would be very painful for us fans. I'm not patting myself on the back. There's no genius to that prediction. Look at the names that I just gave you above. These are nobodys. They are totally unaccomplished except for Aceves. Padilla was once a good starter, but he is over the hill by 4 years, never mind his mental disorder. If Bailey had stayed healthy, our pen would still stink, because it would still not have 4 reliable arms.
High points of the game:
Doubront looked great. His ball is very live, good movement. He makes batters very uncomfortable. He has great poise. He could be a real keeper.
Ortiz remains great
Sweeney continues to surprise. He can take the ball down either line.
Salty may be breaking out of his horrendous slump and be back to being adequate.
Cody Ross continues to show good power at the plate.
Negatives other than the bullpen:
Aviles looked like a clown at SS
Nate Spears being on the 25 man Roster is an embarrassment to the organization.
Youk getting hurt again.
I don't think it is a bad thing that this team is blowing up so early in the season. The team was very thin. There was no room for injury or under performance. The probability that injuries would occur and that the team would blow up was not insubstantial. It would only take a few injuries to reveal all of the inadequacies. Well, the inadequacies are in the open for all to see and we haven't yet played 1/10th of the schedule. There is plenty of time to address theses issue. They are fatal flaws if they are not addressed, but they are not insurmountable if they are addressed. The offense should be fine. Crawford hit another HR today. He will be back in a couple of weeks. The starters look like they have promise to be a strong unit. The glaring gaping hole is the bullpen. They need to get a couple of competent arms that will not cause cardiac arrest when they get the ball. The Offseason plan was poorly conceived and executed. It is time for plan B. Better now than later.
They will start getting leads. The starters will start doing better, but the bullpen has no guns, no ammo.