WE'RE GOING STREAKING!

One of the consistencies, and inconsistencies, we have seen from the 2015 Yankees has been their ability to go on fantastic winning streaks and their ability to completely fall apart for a week or two. After running off seven wins in a row against the Mariners, Angels and Nationals, they then went and dropped three in a row late last week. They picked up a nice victory on Sunday and broke that losing streak. I was hoping last night we'd start the winning streak again. Anyway... It's time to go streaking again!

When I hear the word streaking all I can see is Will Ferrell in the movie Old School. This is not the same kind of streaking but a fantastic scene nonetheless! If you've never seen it, it's a must see! Good ol' Will Ferrell.


Starting with the first week of the season, the Yankees dropped four of their first five and six of their first nine. They then proceeded to go 12-3 over their next 15 games including three three-game winning streaks and a four-game winning streak. Following that stretch they went 5-3 for a week or so and stood at 21-12 on the year.

Then came the first real blow up! They went to lose four in a row, won a game and then lost six in a row and before anyone knew it they were back to .500 at 22-22. They then swapped out victories and loses to get to 26-25. Then came the next streak; seven victories in a row. They followed that up with three loses before managing a victory on Sunday.

So what gives? Why the huge swings? There are a few things I can think of that have helped cause these swings.

The first is the streakiness of their hitters, and more importantly, the fact that they don't hit for average. The power numbers from Mark Teixeira (17 HR, 47 RBI), Alex Rodriguez (12 HR, 32 RBI) and Brian McCann (9 HR, 39 RBI) have been great. But they're batting .256, .268 and .264 respectively. They've been streaky (kind of a theme here). Next to Jacoby Ellsbury who has been limited to 37 games, the next highest average for a regular is Brett Gardner at .271. Not exactly eye popping!

While the Yankees are third in all of baseball with 287 runs scored, they are 17th in average at just .251 and 11th in OBP at .318. They also don't get much production from the bottom of the order (as if I had to tell you) with Stephen Drew batting a slick .178, the worst of any qualifying player in the game, and Didi Gregorius hitting .229 going into Monday.

They boast a team ERA of 3.84 good for 14th, right in the middle of the road, but much of that is thanks to their bullpen. In 62 games, the starting rotation has only compiled 25 quality starts, just a 40% rate! The Red Sox starting pitchers have seven more quality starts. Holy crap, I wish I didn't know that! Without consistent pitching, it's tough to play at a consistent pace.

They are also 25th in the league in errors, having already committed 45, 22 more than the best defensive team.

But through all this, the Yankees are tied atop a mediocre AL East with a surging Toronto Blue Jays club dismantling their opponents during their 11-game win streak. They also caused some ugliness in the Red Sox clubhouse this past weekend as they shoot up the standings. It's always nice to see the Sox lose, but it's scary watching how potent that lineup is.

Streaks are part of this grueling season. 162 games is a lot of baseball. What the Yankees need to do is avoid the blow up streaks and nip them in the butt before they get out of control. It's still a long summer and I'd bet my bottom dollar Brian Cashman works up a deal to improve his club as the end of July draws near. But first place is first place and it's time to go streaking again! In a good way.


 
Dan Lucia
BYB Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia

 


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