Son of a pitch! Tanaka looking like ace
BOSTON − The YankeesRed Sox rivalry may not be what it was a decade ago, but could a trip to Fenway Park be the perfect tonic for what’s been ailing the Bombers?
That’s what Joe Girardi and his club are hoping as they spent Thursday’s off-day in Boston preparing for a three-game weekend set against the Red Sox.
“Sometimes you need a little bit of a break,” Alex Rodriguez said of the well-timed off-day. “I like the way we’re working, I like our attitude, we’re playing hard. Things will turn around.
“No matter how either team is playing, when you go to Boston or they come to New York, it’s always special. We’re looking forward to it.”
A-Rod and David Ortiz are the only players left from the fierce rivalry of the early- and mid2000s, when the Yankees and Red Sox owned the AL East and played in a pair of memorable sevengame ALCS epics.
From 1998-2005, the Yankees and Red Sox finished 1-2 − in that order − in the division each year, while the Red Sox flipped the script in 2007 and the Yankees did it again in 2009.
But it’s been five years since the Yankees and Red Sox won 90 games in the same season. The Yankees have missed the playoffs twice in the past three years and haven’t won a postseason game since 2012, while the Red Sox have finished in last place three times in the past four seasons, sandwiching those disastrous seasons around a World Series title in 2013.
“It probably does have a little bit of a different feel because they don’t have the history against each other,” Girardi said of the everchanging cast of characters. “But I still think when you get into that ballpark and you’re a Yankee and they’re a Red Sox, the feeling comes right away.”
The Yankees could use some of that inspiration.
This weekend, the Red Sox will take the field as the hotter team, having won four in a row before losing 5-3 to the woeful Braves on Thursday. Boston’s offense ranks first in the American League, while the Yankees are 14th among the 15 teams.
Having dropped series to three AL West teams in the past two weeks, could the familiar sights and sounds of Fenway − and the intensity and ire of the Boston crowd − spark the lifeless Yankees offense at a time it needs one the most?
“We know that every game means the same, especially for the teams in our division whether it’s the Red Sox, Rays, Orioles or Blue Jays,” Brett Gardner said. “But there is definitely a sense of pride with being a Yankee and wanting to beat the Red Sox. You want to win every game you play no matter who you face, but going to Fenway and playing well is a little sweeter than going to Tampa and playing well.”
Playing well this weekend would be a welcome change for
ON DECK YANKS
(1-0, 2.92) vs. (0-0, 8.10) (1-2, 6.95) vs. (4-0, 3.51) (1-2, 4.38) vs. (3-0, 5.76)
BOSTON − It wasn’t all that long ago that the Yankees were treading lightly with Masahiro Tanaka’s surgically repaired elbow, taking every precaution to make sure their ace was ready for a full workload.
Three weeks into the season, Tanaka has been the team’s best starting pitcher by a wide margin, alleviating those spring concerns that his offseason surgery to remove a bone spur would leave him behind the rest of the staff.
“You always wonder how a guy is going to come off surgery,” Joe Girardi said. the Yankees, who dropped the past two in Texas after winning the opener.
The Yankees enter the weekend ranked 14th in runs scored, slugging percentage and hits and dead last in extra-base hits. They have scored three-or-fewer runs in 15 of their 20 games, going 3-12 in those contests. Even worse, they’ve been held to two-or-fewer runs 10 times already this season, losing all 10 games.
“It’s been a struggle for the last “What he had wasn’t a career-threatening injury, but it’s still an injury. You still have to see how a guy is going to rebound and where he’s at when he gets to spring training. I do feel a lot better.”
Tanaka is 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts, holding opponents to two earned runs in each outing. After not getting through six innings in either of his first two starts, the 27-year-old has tossed seven frames in each of his past two, providing a rare chance for Girardi to save his otherwise overworked bullpen.
“It seems like he’s getting better every start; he’s giving us more distance every start, which is important,” Girardi said. “You can’t keep asking four innings out of 15 games, hitting the ball,” Girardi said. “I think our at-bats were good (Wednesday), and if you put good at-bats, eventually that’s going to change.”
If there’s a silver lining for the Yankees, it’s that their awful start — which has guaranteed them their first losing April since 2008 — hasn’t buried them in the standings. They left Texas trailing the first-place Orioles by only four games, so they’re not facing the type of massive holes that teams your bullpen every night or they’re going to be exhausted. You have to get some distance out of some guys.”
Tanaka will take the ball Friday night in the series-opener against the Red Sox, facing off against lefty Henry Owens. Michael Pineda will face Rick Porcello Saturday, while Nathan Eovaldi and David Price square off in Sunday night’s finale.
The Yankees’ rotation has been a mess through the first 20 games. Its 5.13 ERA ranks 14th in the 15-team American League, their 112.1 innings ranking 12th. Tanaka has posted a 2.92 ERA in his four starts, while the other four starters have a combined mark of 5.75.
“We need to get the other guys going,” such as the Twins (8.5 games out in the AL Central) and Braves (9.5 games out in the NL East) have already dug for themselves. So are the Yankees worried yet? “This is baseball; it happens and you have to deal with it,” Girardi said. “You can’t lose perspective; it’s 20 games. You’re one-eighth into the season and you have a long way to go. This is going to turn.” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “One guy isn’t going to (carry the load), but if you have stability at the top, it tends to help everybody else. It’s been good to see him throw the ball the way he is.”
Rothschild pointed to Tanaka’s arm speed as the reason for his recent progress, noting the improvement of his fastball command and the quickness of his slider and splitter. Velocity also hasn’t been an issue, as Tanaka’s fastball is averaging 92 mph − the same as last season − according to Fangraphs.
“It’s had an effect on all his pitches,” Rothschild said of Tanaka’s arm speed. “He’s made some good strides.”