Halfway Home! (Not Quite)

Yes, it's the All Star Break, but the Yankees are 95 games into the year (51-44) and desperate for a vacation. This last home stand seemed innocent enough (Orioles, Royals, Twins), while the Red Sox took a West Coast trip and the Orioles had the Texas Rangers at home. It looked like the Yankees would get a chance to pick up a few games; maybe get to second and/or close to first.

Well, ya know, plans have a way of, well, TOTALLY FLIPPING OUT OF CONTROL AND OFF COURSE. ONE run in the first two Royals games? Yeah, I understand the Royals aren't exactly the AL Central cellar team of years past. I understand they improved their pitching with James Shields and their all-around offense with the development of Billy Butler, Cain, guys like that. BUT COME ON! Thanks to Lyle Overbay, the Yankees felt the extra push to win those last two games.

Here's another little piece of irony. I went to Friday night's game against the Twins. It felt more like April 12th than July 12th. It was cool, misty and windy. I felt like I needed a jacket; my dad went to get ponchos ($20 in Yankee Stadium, I root for a very expensive team!) Kuroda and Scott Diamond (Twins starter) just took their sweet time, it rained for an hour and 13 minutes, but the Yankees still won 2-0, and I stayed for Mo's 30th save at 11:56 p.m.! But then they can't win on two sunny days, even with CC pitching Sunday. They looked like the Indians (the fictitious Major League Indians) yesterday. They couldn't field one grounder, and then CC gives up a homer to a .197 hitter.

I wrote on Sunday that Andy Pettitte's on his last legs, yet even with a bad start like Thursday against the Royals or last week against the Orioles, he always tends to hang in there and steal the win. Let's hope for more of the same. Finally, the Yankees will never admit to this, but here's the real reason Jeter came back Thursday. I was a little surprised when they brought him up at the end of a series instead of in the beginning of one. They can say it's because Gardner and Hafner are day-to-day, but here's the scoop: have you seen large blue patches in the stadium this year? Yeah, those are empty seats. It's starting to look more like old Don Mattingly 1980s highlights...when Mattingly hit homers in a near-empty Yankee Stadium. They brought him back to sell tickets...didn't work that well.

Peace, Love and Pinstripes,

Neil Dwyer @neildwyer1993/steelinsouthflorida.wordpress.com