2ooo for the Captain

Meant to post about this earlier. Last night, Derek Jeter’s single during the fourth inning of a 7-6 loss to the Royals was the 2000th of his career. The consummate captain, Jeet’s always been more concerned with winning than any individual plaudits. Therefore, it was particularly nice to see the standing ovation the crowd at the Stadium gave him last night.

I just checked, and this is my first real Yankee post of the season, and I could spend the next several minutes talking about everything that’s happened so far this season. However, I believe I can sum it up in just two words:

pitching

&

injuries.

Injuries to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, just to name two, have really effected the Yanks’ offensive production. This has put added pressure on the already weak pitching. I still don’t understand how Cashman and company could have felt confident with the staff they have coming into the season. Well, the inevitable has occurred, and Randy Johnson is showing some serious signs of age, and the rest of the staff has been mediocre at best.

Who knows what will happen before the trade deadline. There’s not that much pitching available, and with the Wild Cards, teams feel that they are in the races much later into the season, making the pool even smaller.

Despite the struggles, the Yanks are still in the thick of things, only 2 games behind Boston in the East. It remains to be seen if the Detroit Tigers are for real, but if they are, it really puts the onus back on winning the Division. After seven games against the Sox, the Yanks are down 4 games to 3. There are twelve games to go, including a four game series in the Bronx next week. Could the season be decided in June? Probably not, but it’ll be fun to watch.