New York Yankees Early Struggles Nothing New
Recent History Shows Lack of Quick Start not Critical
May 18, 2009
The New York Yankees have made a habit of disappointing their fans in recent years as the weather gets cooler and the playoffs end without a championship in The Bronx. Early-season turmoil and poor play in April and May have been almost the norm, coupled with a warm-weather surge, many of the panic-stricken Bombers' fans seem to forget.
The reasons for each season's slow start can be debatedly endlessly. This year, fingers can be pointed towards injuries (Alex Rodriguez, Chien-Ming Wang, Brian Bruney, Xavier Nady just to name a few). Chemistry of a largely revamped roster could be another excuse.
Whatever the reason, or the season, the Yankees just haven't gotten out of the gate quickly. This, despite winning an average of nearly 97 games a season over the last eight title-less campaigns.
Recent Historical Yankees Starts
The 2008 Yankees were 20-24 on May 18th.
Same date in 2007: 18-22.
Same date in 2006: A rare good start 23-16.
Same date in 2005: 21-20 (after recovering from an 11-19 start)
Same date in 2004: 22-16 (after an 8-10 start).
Clearly it's not common for the Yankees to get off to a blistering start, despite a roster and payroll that has most people believing anything else is unacceptable and an early death-knell to the team's playoff hopes.
The one thing that has been common (besides a lack of a championship) is that the underachieving early-spring Yankees have typically been very different from the late-spring and summer Yankees. With the exception of last season, New York has made the playoffs in each of its slow-starting campaigns.
Walk-off Madness the Start of a New Run
New York's recent 4-game home stand, the first three of which ended in walk-off fashion, seems to be the start of another patented Yankees-digging-out-from-under stretch. A six-game winning streak has the Yankees a season-high four games above .500.
The difference? Besides the obvious timely hitting, the pitching staff has given up about three runs per game during the winning streak. It doesn't hurt that Rodriguez has returned, providing protection to a suddenly revived Mark Teixeira - the big free-agent acquisition who, until recently, had been batting under .200.
The Season is a Marathon not a Sprint
Panic has been the order of the day in New York up until the last few days, as fans' short memories betray them. Slow starts during a long season, where games are played every day, can be over-dramatized. This is not a new pattern for the Yankees. As the cliche goes, pennants are not won in April or May, nor are they lost.
As quickly as the Yankees have turned it around, it's always possible they could reverse fortune back to mediocrity, but if past performance is any indication of what the future holds, New York will likely have a team in the midst of a pennant chase once again as the leaves change colors.
Whether a change of fortunes, and a World Series, is in its future, is still up for debate.
