Yankees' Batters Afraid of Scoring Runs

The Yankees are afraid of batting. Joaquin Encinas insists that part of the problem is no having a manager figure to follow.

by joaquin encinas (Contributor)

2 comments

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May 08, 2008

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I've never seen the Yankees' hitters afraid of scoring runs like I have in the past couple of days.

Yesterday they had a chance against Lee with two outs. With two men in scoring position, you could see the face of Matsui at the plate—he was terrified by Lee's pitches.

Last year with Joe Torre as manager this did not happen. Players were confident they could win at any point in every ball game.

I think part of the problem is that the players are not confident with Girardi as manager. They see him as another player, not as their coach.

Also, the batting slumps of Giambi and Cano are more like a habit—now they just don't want to bat. Cano does not even want to run the bases.

This is a critical situation for the Yankees. It won't be easy to contend for the Wild Card with teams like the Rays, Orioles, and Oakland.

The Yankees have to get their act together. Winning the division is the only way they can make it into the playoffs.

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comments (2) write a comment »

reply to comment by Jonnie
about 1 month ago

I like to keep the "tip your hat" conclusion thrown around baseball analysis to great plays in the field. Having said that, I'm still compelled to believe you're not giving Cliff Lee much credit. His ERA was around 0.86 BEFORE that game.

I do agree with you to a certain extent, I just wouldn't call it fear. Good pitching usually beats good hitting; so the only way to approach good superior pitching is with patience at the plate, spoiling pitches and going deep into counts. I haven't seen the Yankees as a team making pitchers 'work' like they used to.

Throwing a given pitch to a given batter to generate an out is still one of the most valuable skills in MLB. But I still say that ultimately a pitcher is as good as the batter makes him. Cliff Lee came in looking fantastic and the Yankees lack of patience at the plate made him look superhuman.
reply to comment by joaquin
about 1 month ago

I agree with you it was lack of patience at the plate, but that had to do with that Yankees having runners in scoring position with two outs most of the time. The time that he struck out Matsui was with a ball Cliff lee threw the same ball to matsui two he fouled out and one he swang at it. Lee is a good pitcher but also I think he have not face a line up that is hitting everything.