Oh no!? Derek Jeter might have his cool intact, but New York Yankee fans are already comparing their team to the 2011 Boston Red Sox that collapsed last season in the final month of baseball.
The Yankees are not under the same circumstances, but this franchise is not known for letting go of leads late in the season.
After the All-Star break, the Yankees held a 10-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles, 10.5 over the Tampa Bay Rays and Red Sox.
Ever since then, things have slowly gone down south for the Yanks.
They possess a weak pitching staff to begin with, then CC Sabathia went down for a few weeks and Ivan Nova struggled before going on DL stint.
Hiroki Kuroda held it down for the Yankees in the meantime, but the struggled in recent starts.
Alex Rodriguez went on the DL and Curtis Granderson missed a few games recently. Mix this in with a struggling Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher, and the whole threatening part of the Yankees' lineup is gone.
The team lacks the ability to produce runs as they wait for the home runs to come.
Is it Joe Girardi's fault that he was given a lineup that solely feeds off of the home run threat to get runs across?
Rumors began swirling of Girardi possibly losing his job as the Yankees are struggling this late and the Orioles and Rays are threatening to take them over in the AL East.
Is Girardi supposed to have Nick Swisher bunt runners over when there are no outs in the inning? Start hit in runs with a team that is at the cellar when it comes to base stealing?
This team lives and dies by the home run, and as of late, their record has suffered.
It is not Girardi's fault that the team is old. A-Rod looks to be on his way to the DL every year from now until the end of his career. Mark Teixeira forgot what it was to hit for average and has developed a home run hitting approach.
Joe Girardi can only do so much.
The team does not have talented prospects they can call up, who can make a difference in September, and anyways, how will you justify sitting a Cano or A-Rod for some kid out of the minors in the middle of a pennant race?
Management has to cut Girardi some slack. The worst thing they can do is pull a Red Sox move and fire a skipper that took them to the World Series. Terry Francona was sent packing after the collapse despite winning two championships with the Sox.
What the Yankees should do this offseason is find a way to get young players in their lineup. They have centuries waiting for Eduardo Nuñez to come around, but he has not done say, and probably never will.
Girardi probably tired firing up his team with his ejection last night at Tropicana Field. This man wants to win and back up his players. There is no way that he has to pay the price for a team that was made to win, but built on old and fragile legs of players past their prime.
