New York Yankees: Players That Need To Improve Their Postseason Play for 2011

With two weeks left until the playoffs begin, the Yankees are sitting atop the American League East with a nice four game lead over the Boston Red Sox.

Barring any major collapses, the Yankees look like they should win the A.L. East division title and get home field advantage with the best record in the American League.

Last year, the Yankees came into the playoffs as the defending World Series Champions and swept the Minnesota Twins, but they were upended in the ALCS by the Texas Rangers.

The reason why the Rangers were able to take care of the Yankees was a lot of the current players on the Yankees under-performed drastically.

Some had an OK series. But there were some players who just flat out stunk in 2010.

Going into the 2011 postseason, several of the Yankees must improve their performances in October.

Which Yankees in particular? Lets find out.

Boone Logan

2010 playoffs: 5 appearances, 1.2 innings, 10.80 ERA

Where did Boone Logan go wrong last October—the Texas series.

In three games, he pitched 0.2 innings, allowed two hits, two runs, a home run and had a nice, whopping 27.00 ERA for the Yankees.

Logan was a big reason why the Yankees got blown out in Games 3 and 4.

If Logan wants to be a dependable lefty for Joe Girardi to go to late in games, he has to step it up. There is no Damaso Marte or Pedro Feliciano to go to.

David Robertson

2010 playoffs: 6 appearances, 3.1 innings, 10.12 ERA

David Robertson has been lights out in 2011, and he was also lights out in the 2009 postseason.

But in 2010, while he was good in the Minnesota series, like Logan, he was awful in the Texas series.

In four games, he had 2.2 innings pitched, eight hits and six runs allowed with a home run and a 20.25 ERA.

If the Yankees want to get the ball to Mariano Rivera to save playoff games, Robertson, who is the setup man, can not have another performance like the 2010 postseason.

The Yankees will find themselves having their October end early, just like last year, if Robertson makes a 2010 playoff repeat.

Phil Hughes

2010 playoffs: 3 starts, 15.2 innings, 1-2, 5.86 ERA

It's not clear yet whether Hughes will be in the starting rotation or coming out of the bullpen when October hits.

But last year, Hughes was the Game 2 and Game 6 starter for the Yankees against the Rangers.

And Hughes was a big reason why the Yankees lost the ALCS.

In two games, he gave up 14 hits, 11 runs, 7 walks and posted an 11.42 ERA with two losses, one of which was the deciding Game 6 that ended the Yankees season.

I still feel Joe Girardi shouldn't have changed around the rotation and swapped Hughes and Andy Pettitte's starts.

But that was then.

This is now, and Hughes can not have another repeat performance of 2011, whether he's starting or in the bullpen.

Brett Gardner

2010 playoffs: 9 games, 5-for-27, .185, 8 strikeouts

Gardner has slowly become one of the better leadoff hitters in the game, much has to do with his blazing speed.

But in 2010, he was almost an automatic out.

In the series against the Twins, Gardner was 2-for-10 (.200) with 3 strikeouts.

In the series against the Rangers, Gardner was even worse, going 3-for-17 (.176) with five strikeouts.

In the entire postseason, he only had two steals. Why? He didn't get on base.

Gardner drives pitchers nuts when he's on the bases and makes them lose their focus on pitching to the hitter because they know there's a threat to steal on the bases.

Gardner's main focus has to be not striking out so much, increasing pitch counts to wear out the opposing pitcher and finding a way to get on base more often,

Nick Swisher

2010 playoffs: 9 games, 6-for-34, .176, 2 home runs, 2 RBI, 8 strikeouts

Since coming to the Yankees, Nick Swisher has yet to have a good postseason. If you look back at all of his series from 2009 and 2010, his numbers are awful.

Well, OK, the one series against the Twins in the ALDS wasn't awful.

He did hit .333 against Minnesota. So that's not as bad.

But his performance against the Rangers made me want to throw up.

He wasn't just an automatic out—he was almost an automatic strikeout, whiffing at everything.

Swish went 2-for-22, .091, and struck out seven times with one home run against Texas.

Yuck.

Swisher is a very big part of the offense, and he does draw a lot of deep counts to help wear out pitchers. He can't continue to strike out at that rate in 2011.

Mark Teixeira

2010 playoffs: 7 games, 4-for-27, .148, 1 home run, 3 RBI, 6 strikeouts.

Like Swisher, Teixeira didn't have good postseason numbers for the Yankees, even though he did have the walk-off home run in Game 2 against the Twins in the 2009 ALDS.

But, Teixeira came into the Texas series with really good numbers against the Twins in the 2010 ALDS.

He hit 4-for-13, .308, with the one homer and 3 RBI.

And then in Texas, Teixeira's bat simply disappeared.

Because in the ALCS, he went 0-for-14 with four strikeouts in four games.

Teixiera pulled his hamstring during Game 4 while running the bases, forcing him to miss the rest of the playoffs.

Teixiera wasn't producing great offensive numbers, but his Gold Glove first base fielding was certainly missed, because he was much better in the field than Lance Berkman was.

Teixiera is the Yankees No. 3 hitter. If they want to win a championship, he must erase his bad playoff performances and come up with some big hits for the Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez

2010 playoffs: 9 games, 7-for-32, .218, 0 home runs, 3 RBI, 6 strikeouts.

A-Rod is a major key to the Yankees winning a World Series.

We saw what he did in 2009, where he literally carried the Yankees offense on his back.

Against Minnesota, he had a decent series, hitting 3-for-11 (.273), with no home runs and one RBI.

But against the Rangers, A-Rod reverted back to how he used to play in the postseason, the way we all criticized and tore him apart for.

Against Texas, he went 4-for-21 (.190), with no home runs and two RBI with four strikeouts.

But the bigger question mark for A-Rod this October is his sprained thumb.

He's been out several days with it, and Yankees GM Brian Cashman thinks the injury could linger on into the postseason.

Even with the injury, the Yankees still need Alex Rodriguez in the lineup when the playoffs come. Whether it be that they give him a cortisone shot, tape it up, pad it up, numb it, whatever Yankees trainer Gene Monahan has to do, they need to figure it out ASAP.

Because as much as I like Eric Chavez, he will not replace A-Rod's presence in the lineup and neither will Eduardo Nunez.

If it means keeping A-Rod's playing time limited for the rest of September so the sprain can heal well enough for A-Rod to swing a bat, then that's what the game plan needs to be for the Yankees.