The team is 21-28, 13.5 games out of first place and tied with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for last. The last time the New York Yankees finished in last place was 1990, when they finished seventh at 67-95. Their last losing record was 76-86 in 1992.
Where's the hope? In 1995, the franchise was 20-29, having lost to the Baltimore Orioles. They were on an 8-20 stretch after getting off to a decent start and were eight games back in a division race they would lose to the Red Sox. The next day, however, Andy Pettitte outdueled Jamie Moyer, 2-1, sparking a six-game winning streak. Still, it took them, from game 50, 30 games to make it back to .500, and another 43 games to finally pass .500 for good.
At that point, however, in a slightly shortened season due to strike, the team went 17-4 to end the year.
That 1995 team is remembered as the first signs of a dynasty. Yet, they went 12-9, 8-20, 20-11, 22-21, 17-4. Not exactly consistent.
This year's team has gone 8-7, 1-7, 7-2, and 5-12, or to proportion it along 1995 lines, 8-13, 13-15. They really are going to need one of those 20-11, or better yet, 17-4 runs in them soon. But as they've never been more than one game above .500 all year, it seems to be a taller order. And there's less of a likelihood that a David Cone-type will be dealt for at the trade deadline.
Labels: Yankees
Two things:
What I remember most about 1995 was finally Montreal had all the right pieces at the right time to show how underrated that franchise had been over the past decade.
Second, I don't have much hope for the Yankees this year. Lets just say they do get to .500 baseball and who knows even .550 baseball. Its a tall order but it does not garuntee anything. The central has a legit chance to take the wild card and for the Yankees to win the East they not only have to do well themselves but they have to rely on Boston to do poorly. Do you think thats going to happen?
This is meant for the post you recently posted (but there isn't anywhere to comment).
You are in New York, have you been suprised by the lack of negative coverage about the Yankees performance thus far? I mean, there has been discussion but this is the Yankees, wouldn't you assume writers and radio broadcasters would take this chance to absolutely bury them? Do you think its because everyone is waiting for Clemens and then seeing how they do? Do you think its because the season is so long and its still relatively early? Or do you think the New York media is being uncharacteristically sympathetic to the Yankees situation with the whole injury situation? I am just curious about what you think.