know after the loss today 1-2 to the M's that's kind of hard to believe but things are looking up for the Yankees. The starting pitching has done a very good job, truth is Wang's one bad outing and Iggy's ugly start are the only two poor starts from a Yankee pitcher this month. The rest of the month has been strong start after strong start. The BP has actually settled down even thou Vizcaino seems to be inventing new ways to blow ball games for us it seems the rest of the guys are settling in. Time will tell over the next few weeks but I honestly see the Yankees getting ready to go on a major tear to be honest. Here are some Key reasons why I think so and a few Key things that need to happen along the way.
BASE HITS WIN GAMES (Hell I'll settle for some hitting PERIOD) Truth be told the month of May has been pretty hard on most of the Yankee bats. A-Rod after a scorching start to the 2007 season has cooled of BIG TIME with only 1 HR and a .286 BA for the month. Giambi is not hitting any better .188 BA with 1 HR himself. Matsui is hitting .304 for the Month but in his last 10 games only .264, Robbie Cano has struggled the worst with his hitting .186 with 11 K's and then there's Bobby Abreu who looked just lost at the plate the last few days is hitting .222 in May. If the Yankees are going to take advantage of the great pitching their getting right now they have got to start hitting again. It's one thing when a few guys start slumping but right now only Jeter and Posada seem to be getting hits consistently or can be counted on to drive in runs. In the end thou we all know this won't last. A-Rod despite slumping is still hitting well above .300 and was bound to cool off from his amazing April. Giambi well he can be counted on to hit below his own weight average wise but he is likely going to pop a few HR's here and there as well, and he does get on base via the walk so he 
should improve as well. Matsui is slumping just a bit now but he had a good game today he will likely turn things around as well. That brings us to Bobby and Robbie both seem to be slow starters Robbie last year did not have a good first few months at the plate and Abrue always seem to be a late bloomer as well. Although Robbie seems like he may take a few more weeks to come out of it. Abrue on the other hand is hitting second or third in this lineup and is bound to break out at any time. What’s also important here is that the bats are slumping NOW much like the struggles with the Pitching and the Injuries I'd prefer a team wide slump NOW in May then in August and September. Remember its base ball folks it's a Marathon not a sprint.The Pitching has to continue to do what it has done; Andy today threw a great game and got the bums rap loss because the offense let him down. Moose has had two very good outings Wang nearly threw a perfect game and YEA he had an ugly start the other day. I'm betting that his next time out he is one tough SOB to hit much less score on. I have a lot of confidence that over
the next two months Moose, Andy and Wang are going to be VERY VERY GOOD for the Yankees. So the key falls on 2 guys and how well they pitch. First Rasner who has been nothing short of fantastic for the Yankees. You can't blame him for the average of 5 innings a start. Truth is Captain Hook Torre is terrified of him on the mound and will not give this kid a real chance. They constantly pull him in the 6 Th when he could very well work out of trouble. How good has Rasner been?? Take a look over 5 starts, Rasner has a 3.28 ERA which is DAM GOOD if you ask me. DeSalvo has been BRILLIANT for us in two outings and he should honestly be 2-0 right now. Truth is Wild Kyle, a Blind Ump and Mo cost him that game (Hell that sound like the start of a really bad joke don't' it??). If DeSalvo can keep pitching like this over the next few weeks the Yankees are going to be in VERY good Shape.
Next is what will happen when Hughes and then the Rocket join the ball club. Right now as things stand Rasner and DeSalvo are taking Roster spots that will belong to both Clemens and Hughes by the end of the month. Truth is thou the Yankees desperately need a long relief man to come in and eat innings when guys can't get out of the 5 Th and 6th innings. Truth is games like that happen and with a Bull Pen full of short relievers the pen is going to get over worked when this happens. Moose and Clemens are likely to have quite a few games where they simply run out of gas and we need a reliever to come in and give us a few innings to get to the 8 th or 9th. If I’m the Yankees right now DeSalvo and Rasner are auditioning for that very roll. So who gets the quick trip to the minors or out the door?? Vizcaino has not been all that good. Wild Kyle I honestly have no faith in, after that I'm not sure. What it comes down to thou is we need somebody that can eat these innings for us. Clemens who I have a TON of respect for I just don't see pitching all that great in the AL. Don't' get me wrong folks the Rocket still has gas in the tank but there is a reason he did so well in the NL. There is no DH and if you watched his starts he generally pitched 5 maybe 6 innings before being pulled from the game. What that translates to in the Al is a very overworked BP 
with out a long man. Hughes?? I love this kid and he looks like he is going to be amazing for the Yankees but he has been on a very strict pitch count from day one and although the injury helps control that some the Yankees are still going to be vary careful with him and how many innings they let him throw. With that in mind I can see quite a few games where Hughes will be pulled after the 6 Th which means we need a long reliever. Regardless of this Clemens to his credit will be a help to the Yankees he may not be as good as advertised but I'm willing to bet he will be good enough to win and should be better then Randy Johnson was last year with his 5 something ERA and 18 wins. Hughes is hard to call; I know he is going to be VERY good just how good is hard to say. Time will tell.Ok folks so hear is what I'm thinking the next week or so is going to go for us. Starting this week we get the White Sox for Three Games in Chicago, The Yankees with Moose on the mound will take game one and Wang will pitch a gem on Weds day to take game two. Rasner will pitch well on Thursday but the Yankees will likely fall short and loose on Thursday. Then the BIG weekend series in NY against the Mets. We have DeSalvo, Pettitte and Moose going for us REMBER NL RULES so I'm seeing a three game SWEEP of the Mets as DeSalvo shows us he is the real deal, Andy and Moose tie up the Mets hitters and the Yankees FEAST on Mets pitching. This series will be HUGE because I see a lot of the bats coming alive in this series and starting to hit again which is important because we invite the Sucks into Yankee stadium that Monday Tuesday and Weds and by the way the Yankees will be on such a roll I'm calling for yet another three game sweep. So from now till Next Weds the Yankees if you ask me are only going to loose one game the bats are going to wake up and the Yankees are going to be on a roll. Call me Crazy if you want but this is how I see things. It will be interesting to see if I'm right. Hey I'm man enough to say I was wrong but I don't have to be all that wrong to still be right about the Yankees getting on a roll. So what do you guys think how will the next week pan out for the Yankees??
Till Next Week
The Yankee Fan
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