Why Yankees Will Win Game 3 Despite Historic Offensive Struggles

 Little can be said for the Yankees' offense so far this postseason, but one thing is for certain, they can't get much worse.

After suffering a 3-0 loss in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, many Yankees find themselves in horrible slumps that have made the terrific efforts from their starting pitchers useless.

Here are a few literally offensive numbers that will make Yankee fans cringe.

Robinson Cano is hitless in his last 26 AB, marking the longest stretch without a hit for any batter in postseason history. The last time any batter went this many AB without a hit was way back in 2000 when Dan Wilson of the Mariners went hitless in 42 AB.

Longest Hitless Streaks, Postseason history

2012	Robinson Cano	26
1996	Bobby Bonilla	24
2006	Ivan Rodriguez	23
1993	Kelly Gruber	23

Alex Rodriguez is 0-18 with 12 K against RHP this postseason.

This is only the second time that any team’s starting pitchers held the Yankees scoreless in each of the first two games of a postseason series.  The first was in the 2000 ALCS, when Freddy Garcia and John Halama of the Mariners blanked the Yankees (Yankees would go on to win series in 6 games).

Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano combined are hitting .112 this postseason with a .179 OBP. 

Curtis Granderson has failed to make contact in 14 of his 26 AB this postseason, while A-Rod has struck out over half his AB as well, striking out 12 times in 23 AB.

Granderson	3-26	14 K
Rodriguez	3-23	12 K
Swisher	4-26	8 K
Cano	2-32	4 K
Total	12-107	38 K

Outside of Raul Ibanez and Ichiro, the Yankees have been woeful hitting with RISP as well this postseason, especially with two outs.

Batting Average, RISP 2012 Postseason

Raul Ibanez and Ichiro	5-9	.556
Rest of team	5-38	.132

Batting Average, RISP 2 outs, 2012 Postseason

Raul Ibanez and Ichiro	2-4	.500
Rest of team	1-23	.043

The brief good news for Yankees fans looking for any, is that they have had some success recently against Game 3 starter Justin Verlander.

Justin Verlander, Last 12 starts vs NYY (Postseason included)

Tigers W-L	4-8
Verlander W-L	4-4
Verlander ERA	3.54

In postseason history, only three teams have rallied to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games at home. One of them was the Yankees when they came back against the Braves after losing the first two games at Yankee Stadium in the 1996 World Series.

Many of the batters Verlander will face tonight have had success against him. As a team, much of the Yankees success against Verlander has come against pitches on the outer half of the strike zone. 

Since 2009, the Yankees have a .296 batting average and .491 slugging percentage against Verlander on pitches on the outer half of the plate. Against the rest of the league, Verlander allows a .212 average on outer-half pitches. 

Justin Verlander vs Current Yankees

Russell Martin	5-12	.417
Brett Gardner	3-8	.375
Eric Chavez	8-22	.364
Alex Rodriguez	8-24	.333
Ichiro	17-55	.309