When the Yankees opened the season with six losses in their first nine games and played worse than the ledger indicated, those who forecasted a long summer in The Bronx appeared to be onto something.
With the first of a six-month gig out of the way, the prospects of a third straight dark October are still in play, but the Yankees bounced back from a 3-6 start to finish April at 13-9. They open a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park Friday night on top of an AL East drunk on parody.
Thanks to a dominating bullpen and the bats of Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner and Chris Young, the Yankees played a lot better after the first nine games.
Now the challenge is to plug the gaping hole in the rotation caused by the recent arm woes of ace Masahiro Tanaka. The best case is he misses May with a forearm strain and tendinitis in the wrist. The worst case is season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Tanaka’s last two outings were solid, signals he was healthy and capable of leading a staff. Now? The ace is Michael Pineda, and trusting his right shoulder and maturity is difficult to do.
MVP: Mark Teixeira
Jacoby Ellsbury finished with a flourish. Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller were sensational. However, Teixeira is the April MVP.
How can a MVP hit .216? When he slugs eight homers, drives in 18 runs and produces a.930 OPS.
Hampered by a troublesome wrist and other barking body parts the past two years, Teixeira vowed in spring training if he stayed healthy, he would return to being a run producer in the middle of the lineup. Twenty-one games in, Teixeira has done that.
LVP: Carlos Beltran
Stephen Drew is hitting .177. Didi Gregorius is at .206. CC Sabathia is 0-4 with a 5.96 ERA. And Beltran wears this crown.
After an elbow problem that required surgery affected Beltran’s first year in The Bronx, the Yankees were looking for the switch-hitter to bat third in the lineup. Lately, Joe Girardi has hit him down in the order when he plays the 38-year-old right fielder at all.
Two years ago, Beltran was the best player in the World Series for the Cardinals. Today, the 38-year-old is batting .162 (11-for-68) with no homers and has a .216 on-base percentage.
So far Beltran’s three-year, $45 million deal, which has one season remaining after this one, has been a very bad investment.
Game of the month
April 13: Yankees 6, Orioles 5
Down by three runs in the seventh inning on April 13 against the Orioles in Camden Yards, Joe Girardi was forced to use Stephen Drew to hit for Brett Gardner, who was lifted due to a stiff right wrist, with the bases loaded.
Drew delivered a grand slam to right field off a 95-mph fastball from Tommy Hunter, and the Yankees won, 6-5. It didn’t lead to the current hot streak — the Yankees dropped the next two in Baltimore — but it was easily the most dramatic moment of April.
Looking ahead
Nineteen of the Yankees’ 29 games in May are on the road.
It starts Friday night in Boston with the first of three against the Red Sox. Three more follow in Toronto. The Yankees dropped two of three to the Blue Jays and Red Sox at home to open the season.
The Yankees return home for four against the Orioles on May 7 before a three-city, nine-game trip that starts in St. Petersburg with four against the Rays, moves to Kansas City for three and ends with a two-game series against the Nationals.
Three apiece with the Rangers and Royals in The Bronx precede a four-game series in Oakland, the first leg of a two-city West Coast trip.
A few things to think about
— How long can Girardi keep playing Beltran?
Girardi rationalized that all players can have a bad month, and that’s true. But Beltran has been more than bad. And with Alex Rodriguez the full-time DH, Beltran has to play right field, where he has slowed down considerably. That could hurt the Yankees this weekend because of Fenway’s spacious right field.
— Rodriguez’s first 10 games back from a year’s suspension were sent from Hollywood’s cornball central casting outfit.
He hit four homers, one of which traveled 471 feet in St. Petersburg, batted .344 (11-for-32), drove in 11 runs and was 3-for-7 (.429) with runners in scoring position.
Rodriguez checks into New England’s living room Friday night batting .232 thanks to a 4-for-37 (.108) slide, with just one homer since April 17. With 659 career homers, he is one shy of tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time list.
— Talking about the Tigers’ lineup, CC Sabathia said it should be illegal. The same can be said of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Combined the two towering relievers have worked 23 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed eight hits and struck out 39.
Five key stats
21/11/18: Carlos Beltran’s strikeouts to hits to total bases. Not good.
1: How many homers Alex Rodriguez needs to tie Willie Mays for fourth place on all-time list at 660. That’s a big accomplishment and will come wrapped in controversy over the $6 million bonus clause in Rodriguez’s contract the Yankees don’t want to pay.
5: Number of Chase Headley errors in 22 games, which is high for the normally sure-handed and accurate-throwing third baseman.
7: Amount of errors made by fading prospect Rob Refsnyder at Triple-A. That’s a lot in 18 games at second base. A year ago in 64 games at second in Triple-A, Refsnyder made just three errors, even though most scouts said he was a below-average defender.
.444: Jacoby Ellsbury’s batting average since April 22. He is 12-for-27 in the last seven games.