JOE GIRARDI GOT IT RIGHT!

"It's just baseball. It will change. You understand that you're going to go through it. When you're going through it, it's no fun. But every team goes through it. Tomorrow's a new day." 
 - Joe Girardi

And he is right. There has been a lot of doom and gloom this early in the season. It's okay to have high expectations but just like our guys need to have patience at the plate we also need to have patience as we watch in a very young season. The Yankees have only played 6% of their games for the season. There are struggles, but we have some reasons to celebrate too.

Recently Alex Rodriguez has taken a lot of criticism from he media and fans alike. He had a bad spring and that seems to have carried over into the start of the regular season. I read newspapers and blogs speculating that the end of ARod was coming and then magically one day later he hits a home run in his first at bat but then floundered in his next three. People can't seem to pick a side with ARod. Maybe people should let him just grind through it. Can we really write someone off two weeks into the season? If ARod hits another home run tomorrow will these same blogs and newspapers suddenly love him again? I wouldn't be surprised.

The starting rotation is underachieving right now. I don't think the rotation will continue to be this bad. After a dominant start on Sunday Masahiro Tanaka is the only starter with an ERA below 5.00 and complete seven innings. Obviously, the Yankees need more starts like this from all of their guys and they all know this. The Yankees have the talent and the rotation just needs to step up and do their job. It's early in the season, they will get past these hiccups.

On a comforting note, we are anxiously watching and waiting for more of the Yankees new Youth movement. The Yankees have struggled with their aging offense for awhile but two of the aging veterans of the game are off to a good start. As of this past weekend the Yankees had four regulars hitting below a .210 BA yet our older veterans Carlos Beltran (.351BA) and Brian McCann (.370BA) are off to hot starts. If they can continue to be consistent the Yankees are going to score a lot of runs. It's a good sign so far.

The bullpen isn't even at full strength yet, but they are showing the league why they could be the best bullpen in baseball. Andrew Miller is proving that he can still close out games and that he can play through an injury. The Yankees are managing just fine without Aroldis Chapman, but good news is that he will be back in action in three weeks. In two extended spring training appearances he has thrown over 100mph and has looked impressive. This bullpen is going to be lights out.

Above all, I think the American League East is wide open this year. The Yankees could win the division never mind another wildcard appearance. The Blue Jays have a lot of dangerous bats, but a weak pitching lineup. The Red Sox have made some improvements over last year but have some serious question marks wit Hanley Ramirez and nothing but drama with Pablo Sandoval. The Red Sox don't exactly have a reputation for handling drama well. The Rays have made minimal improvements over last season and the Baltimore Orioles may have started off hot, but we've seen this before. They also have an average pitching staff and the offense could easily fizzle over time. The AL East is up for grabs and it is anyone's game.

I love this game. Baseball is a game of chances and strategy. The Yankees will have their fair share of failures. In baseball you can make all of the right moves and spend a ton of money and still not get the right results. Or you can make a lot of mistakes and catch the right opportunity and still come out on top. That is what makes this game so amazing, and I can't wait to see all of it unfold for our team....all of the good with the bad.


   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 
 





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