The Yankees will now embark on their last home stand in Yankee Stadium II. The 10 home games against Tampa, Chicago and Baltimore should go quickly and quietly, as most Yankee fans are still in a state of shock over the teams' failures this season.
And why shouldn't they be in shock? The last time the Yanks played a meaningless September was in 1993. Bill Clinton was in his first year as President. There were only 50 websites live on the web. And you, my friend, were a much younger person.
Now that the Yanks have plummeted to 4th place, questions have surfaced about whether they are putting out their best efforts anymore. One unnamed veteran was even quoted in the papers as saying that the team has packed it in.
That's pretty much the worse accusation that a player can make, but it's hard to argue with him. The Yanks, generally, are not taking counts and not working pitchers. They are continually overmatched by journeymen and rookie pitchers.
They're making plans for the off-season and Manager Joe Girardi has done very little about this. After each loss, Girardi says the same thing in his interview: "I have faith in my guys. We have to keep on playing… etc."
We certainly have not seen any fire from the manager this year. But if Girardi is to blame for this mess, he has plenty of company, including the GM. Pretty much every move that Cashman has made in the last 12 months has backfired-including the absurd 10-year contract to A-Rod. As agent Scott Boras recently said: "Alex Rodriguez is making $31 million a year at the age of 38 to 42. There is no player in professional sports who can come even close to anything like that."
But with the season lost, the Yanks should at least regain some of their pride by benching Robby Cano for the rest of the year. Either that or hire Teddy Atlas to be his personal trainer. Unfortunately, he needs that kind of hard-knuckled guy to keep him focused. There is no reason for a pitcher, even a guy with an ERA over 7.00 like Dustin Moseley, to throw a strike to Cano. Just throw it in the dirt or a half-foot outside and watch Cano get himself out; then watch him smirk and giggle his way back to the dugout.
The visibility of Cano's apparent disinterest is really irking some Yankee fans. I spoke to one fan, Joe Fargas of Far Rockaway, who summed up the view of many:
"The guy has his head up his [bleep.] I'm supposed to work a nine-hour day on a construction site and come home and watch this guy dog it?"
Of course the problems go well beyond Cano. The kid pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy could not have been more of a disaster. You have to wonder if Hughes will be injury-prone for his whole career; he's off to a good start if he aspires to be Carl Pavano light…and Ian Kennedy won't be in the rotation next year. The Yanks have tired of his attitude and will look to peddle him. Melky has regressed as well to be, at best, a 4th outfielder. Meanwhile, Johan Santana leads the Mets into the playoffs. Ouch.
The bright spot? Well, these are the Yankees. They will retool over the winter. They have the resources. Yankee fans just have to hope the have the brains to make the right moves to put the team back on top. Cashman will be retained, so the future is in his hands.
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