It was April 21, 1977, New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin, picked his lineup by pulling names out of a hat, against the Toronto Blue Jays. That game was won by the Yanks, 8-6. At this rate, it may not be a bad idea for skipper Joe Girardi to follow suit.
It is quite hard to fathom that a team missing the majority of its starting rotation, would ultimately be done in by its downright abysmal hitting. Last year was one thing, with a mash unit of injuries, having only Robinson Cano and Brett Gardner as consistently reliable hitters. This year, I don’t get it.
On paper, the Yanks should be hitting better and should be scoring more runs. Although Mark Reynolds and his 21 home runs at third base would lead the team but I digress. Far too often, there is a case when the club gets runners in scoring position with less than two outs and fails miserably to put something (a sac fly RBI) anything, on the board.
Since winning 6-of-7 between Boston, Detroit and Cleveland, the offense has been in a terrible slide. In their most recent victory on August 8, the Yankees scored a 10-6 victory, buoyed by a five-run, sixth inning outburst. Following that inning, New York has been outscored 32-7 and blanked twice, having now lost five straight contests.
So what can be done with a team hitting .227 in August? If you’re in the “change the hitting coach” camp, does the organization look internally and bring in a guy like Gary Denbo, who was able to reignite Derek Jeter a few years back? Perhaps a Lou Piniella type, to shake things up? That or acquiring a right-fielder with some pop, might help immensely down the stretch.
Realistically, I’m not sure what can be done at this point. Could the team be better served by placing Jacoby Ellsbury in his comfort zone at the lead-off spot, where he is a more adept and instinctual base stealer than Gardner? Do Gardner and his 15 jacks merit a chance at the three hole? Would it behoove the squad to whisper to Jeter, that he’s not going to hit .300 this year and if he has any remaining power left, to maybe swing for the fences a little bit more?
Even little things like beating the shift (I’m looking at you Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann) by virtue of bunting or hitting to the opposite field, to keep the defense honest, would give the team more base runners. Additionally, with Stephen Drew batting .170 and Martin Prado batting .163 this month, why not call up Rob Refsnyder and his .295/.471/.857 ledger at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre?
Otherwise, short of a call-up spark or someone like Carlos Beltran going on a tear with bunches of home runs, there may truly be no time left for a quick fix.
