This Rocket’s a Dud!



Ouch! That’s gotta hurt! (pardon me while I surpress a grin)

So, every time I run into a Yankee fan, they comment on how none of this matters because, “We all know where Boston is going to wind up at the end of the season.” Hmmmm... first place, maybe?

We got up to Boston earlier in the year and took in a game at Fenway.

One thing that struck me watching the Red Sox was that they had a tough lineup. It just seemed as if the guys in the Boston lineup were tough outs all the way up and down the order.

The thing I couldn’t understand is that none of the guys in the lineup were guys who were “superstars.” Maybe good players - Todd Walker, David Ortiz, Kevin Millar, Lou Merloni, Gabe Kapler, Bill Mueller, Doug Mirabelli, Darren Jackson and Trot Nixon but that was about all. The feeling was once you got past Johnny Damon, Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez there wasn’t anything that would instill fear in another team.

Then again, baseball being the team sport that it is, sometimes the sum of all the parts is of greater value than the individual pieces and that’s the way it’s looking with the Red Sox this year. The big knock on the Sox when we saw them was that their pitching was thin. Not weak, just not studly, particularly in the bullpen.

Then again over the last two games this is the Yankee pitching line:

NY Yankees
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
A. Pettitte	2.1	9	8	8	3	5	0	4.35
J. Weaver	4.2	5	1	1	1	3	0	5.93
J. De Paula	2.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
R. Clemens	3.1	7	7	5	2	2	2	4.18
C. Hammond	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3.00
F. Heredia	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.97
A. Osuna	1.2	2	2	2	0	2	0	3.89
G. White	1.1	2	2	2	0	1	1	4.29

Looking at that line, it doesn’t seem like Boston is the only team with a thin pitching staff.

Yankee fans gloated during the teams’ incredible run for four years. There’s no denying how dominant the Yankees were. The heart of that team is gone now (O’Neil, Brosius and Martinez). Mind you, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Petite, Mariano Rivera and the Yankees very own matinee idol Derek Jeter still remain but, pitchers aren’t known for carrying teams (in the case of Petite and Rivera) and the position players in question aren’t the kind of guys to carry a team.

“Team Captain” Derek Jeter is particularly called into question now, it’s time for a gut-check. If the Yankees are going to go all the way this year, Jeter as team captain is going to have to put the team on his back and carry them there - not Soriano, not Giambi, not Williams, it all comes down to Jeter.

What I can’t understand is why Sterling Hitchcock got traded and wasn’t given an opportunity to pitch every fifth day - too many high priced pitchers forced Hitchcock to a long man’s role which he was ill suited for. Being saddled with the Weaver/Contreras conundrum has confused the situation even further. Now, if Wells manages to lose tomorrow, figure on seeing George in the paper on Monday calling him a fat, pussy toad.

With a $180 million payroll and a possibility that the Yankees will miss the playoffs could they take the title of “The Worst Team Money Could Buy” from the 1992 Mets? Nevermind that this could be Joe Torre and Brian Cashman’s swan song.

Stay tuned sports fans.