CC Sabathia finally gave in to the pain in his knee and asked out of yesterday’s start. SU says he is a gamer but he is a big dude and that’s a lot of weight to keep putting on his knee on his follow throughs. He will likely head to the DL and if the Yankees are smart, they will keep him there the rest of the season. He likely would not have made the post-season roster and this way it’s less of a blow to his ego and pride. I suppose it remains to be seen if he can come back next year. SU says put him in the bullpen: fewer innings, fewer pitches and maybe more MPH on the fastball. Andrew Marchand of espn.com had a good take in his column this afternoon:
Meanwhile the Yankees have slipped back again into 2nd place behind Toronto. Richard Neer on WFAN said over the weekend that the Yankees’ problems are with their pitching. This is totally wrong. Their problems are offensive and the inability to manufacture runs without the homerun. They continue to lose their share of low scoring, 1-run games and that is now costing them for the Division lead. SU believes it’s the curse of Stephen Drew. If somehow he could stub his toe and they brought up Refsnyder, it would really help with the line-up. The Yankees need to reverse the curse.
The Mets have petitioned MLB to add some games in September against Colorado who they own this year. Like the Yankees, they are trying out the 6-man rotation to preserve the young arms and they got a nice start yesterday. Playoff tickets are being printed as we speak. SU believes no-one will want to play the Mets in the playoffs with their pitching.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
A number of columnists in addition to Marchand have posted the same kind of article- addition by subtraction, etc. It’s as if this pent up sentiment which everyone was feeling has finally been released. With Yankees-Astros and Blue Jays- Rangers for the next three games, you have 4 of the 5 current playoff teams in the AL playing each other- should be interesting, especially the latter series as these are the two hottest teams in the league.
The Yankees need to avoid making the wild card race into a race by having a bad week. Girardi needs to stop resting guys like A-Rod and Ellsbury. Only Stephen Drew can never be rested. Chris Young is hot and cold and he is in the deep freeze now. Add Brendan Ryan to the mix and you really have a thin bench. I was amazed how they saw the Indians relievers game after game and could not make the adjustment. I remain unconvinced about this year’s Yankee team.
The Mets apparently have some extra offense these days.
It was quite the contrast checking in on the Mets with their 8 home runs vs the Yankees. I am convinced this is the Yankees true offense. The Mets have a lineup of solid hitters now and are really clicking. The Yankees will not hit until Drew is dispatched. He briefly crested at .200 during last night’s game. I was looking for the Gatorade shower for him.
UNPREDICATBLE
The NY Yankees this season has been a story of a few streaks… a few more up than down. Besides the 25% of these ups and downs they have played relatively 500 ball. Home or away, against above 500 teams or below 500 teams, against aces or 5th starters…. the Yankees have been unpredictable.
It really doesn’t matter what we think of them today, two weeks ago or two weeks from today. They are just unpredictable. If we win the division or simply make it as a wild card team it appears the same perception on how they are going to do remains UNPREDICATBLE.
One stat which shows their being so unpredictable is in 5 of the 5 game played against Toronto in the past 2 weeks besides one game in which Toronto scored 6 runs they have been held in check. The Yanks have always done well against the X Tampa bay #1 Starter in price, yet they can’t hit him at all in the last game. Houston, leads the league in home runs and Eovoldi, who can’t seem to get past 5 good innings pitches an 8 inning gem last night. WHO NEW? UNPREDICATBLE !!!
PS The only way we have a fighting chance to go deep in the playoffs will be how healthy we are. I would love to see Bird play while Arod, Texeria, McCan and Beltran are all in the starting lineup. Throw in Headley, Gardner and Ellsbury,,, and DD now hitting fairly well and would be in the 9th spot… now that’s an offensive team. Young can hit against lefties instead of Bird if you’d like. Not bad.
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