LOST Finale Anniversary: Casting the Yankees on the Island

(image courtesy of rosenoer.com)

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a full year since the final episode of LOST aired. With that final, iconic shot of Jack Shepherd’s eye closing, six action packed, thought provoking, theory inducing seasons of the best show to ever grace the airwaves closed with it. Despite the show’s theme of “moving on” and “letting go”, it has stuck with me and I find myself thinking about it just as much now as when we were getting treated to the weekly craziness on that mysterious island.

Since, unlike Desmond, we unfortunately can’t send our minds back to a time when we still didn’t know how Locke got in the wheelchair or whether or not Henry Gale was an Other, we’ll just have to settle for getting our LOST fix by re-watching the Blu Ray set for the 20th time. Thanks to the series’ open ended conclusion and attention to detail throughout the course of the program, you can always find something you missed the first dozen or so times and you’ll always have a new crazy theory about what ol’ Smokey is really up to.

Of course, as exciting as the island mysteries were and as many discussions around the water cooler that the game-changing cliff-hangers created, LOST ended the way it started: as the story of some of the most memorable and beloved characters the medium has ever known. Given that this blog is about the Yankees and not about LOST (although, as my wife can and will attest to, I can babble on and on about the Numbers and DHARMA and Jack’s beard for hours on end), I figured the best way to pay tribute to the show I love is by re-casting it with players from the team I love, after all, all six of Hurley’s famous numbers have been retired by the Yankees. That’s right. It’s time to unveil which of the Bombers would take the place of which of the Losties should the boys in pinstripes end up on a crazy island in the South Pacific:

(image courtesy of rottentomatoes.com)

Derek Jeter as Jack Shepherd- This one’s sort of an obvious choice. The Captain has always been there to lead his team through thick and thin over the years, although with far less man-crying than his on-island counterpart. His longer than reasonable contract that he signed in the off-season would lead you to believe that Derek is going to have a difficult time letting go and knowing when to move on. Thankfully, Jeter has yet to go through that dismal bearded faze that Jack suffered through, although his performance over the last two seasons has Yankee fans screaming, “We have to go baaaaaack!!!” (to 2009).

(image courtesy of unrealitymag.com)

Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez as James “Sawyer” Ford- A-Rod has grown on Yankee fans over the years just like Sawyer has grown on LOST fans. Alex started his time in the Bronx catching a lot of heat for his post-season struggles, his rivalry with Jeter, and his aloof personality. As early as the first day on the island, Sawyer was pretty much universally hated amongst the castaways due to his antagonistic, selfish nature. The slick con-man was always a thorn in Jack’s side from the get go. Of course, a post-season home run binge in 2009 or jumping from a helicopter works like a charm as far as getting on everyone’s good side is concerned.

(image courtesy of lost.wikia.com)

Jorge Posada as Danielle Rousseau- After 16 years on the island, these two have, without a doubt, seen better days. Granted, in Jorge’s case, he just can’t hit anymore and had his catcher’s mitt taken away. That’s a lot better than Rousseau’s dilemma of going completely insane and having her daughter taken away, but it’s still not exactly ideal. We can only hope that Jorge can go out with a little more dignity than Rousseau and Girardi wont take on the roll of Keamy by putting the 5-time world champion out to pasture.

(image courtesy of tvovermind.zap2it.com)

Mariano Rivera as John Locke– As Charlie said back in season one, “If there’s one person on this island I would put my absolute faith in to save us all it would be John Locke.” I don’t think there’s any doubt the baseball world feels the same way about the Great Mariano. The most notable similarity between Rivera and Locke are that they’re both my favorite in their respective world. I have the same confidence when Mariano takes the mound as I did whenever Locke did anything in season one (the 2001 World Series is pretty much Mo’s version of letting the timer in the hatch run out) and I just can’t help but rooting for them. Thankfully Rivera’s made way fewer missteps along the way. It’s also possible that the Smoke Monster has taken the form of Mariano, since I’m pretty sure the guy can’t possibly be human.

(image courtesy of sl-lost.com)

Brett Gardner as Boone Carlyle– According to Locke, Boone was a sacrifice the island demanded. According to Girardi, Gardner’s at-bats are a sacrifice that bunting demanded. Both are such senseless losses, too. Didn’t Boone know that plane was unstable? Couldn’t Locke have told Jack what really happened? Doesn’t Girardi know that bunting doesn’t actually increase your chances of scoring? Can’t he just let a guy with a .355 career OBP swing away instead of giving away free outs? His at-bats didn’t die. They were murdered.

(image courtesy of lost.wikia.com)

Boone Logan as Dr. Leslie Arzt– Shortly after anytime Boone enters a game, you know he’s going to go all Arzt on us and just blow up. His control is about as stable as the dynamite that blew the disgruntled science teacher to kingdom come. Unfortunately, it’s a lot less funny when Logan combusts on the mound than when Arzt does near the Black Rock.

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Bartolo Colon as “Hurley” Reyes– Bartolo and the lovable Hurley have a lot in common, and it’s not just their comparable waistlines. Originally, both of them were brought in for some comic relief (admit it, you thought the Colon signing was pretty much a joke, too). Over time, they’ve both grown to be come integral parts of their team. Hurley, while at first mostly a vehicle for Sawyer’s awesome nicknames, eventually not only became a candidate, but actually took over as protector of the island! Colon has become something of a savior in his own right as his unbelievable performance for a weakened rotation.

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Rafael Soriano as Nikki and Paulo- Just one big mistake right from the get go. Soriano has not fit in during a short stay marked by poor performance. After being bit by the (injury) bug, he’s been buried alive on the DL.

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Joba Chamberlain as Walt Lloyd- After an extremely promising first season that had fans excited and salivating at possibilities for their seemingly bright futures, both Joba and Walt disappeared from the face of the Earth. A Fireballing pitcher with ace potential and a little kid with psychic powers really managed to capture everyone’s imaginations; neither one delivered on the hype of their youth, leaving the fans to wonder what could have been. On many nights, I feel like Michael, staring into my television and shouting, “Jooobbbaaa!!!!”

(image courtesy of foreverafangirl.com)

Curtis Granderson as Desmond Hume– For the first few months that Granderson donned the pinstripes, it seemed like he may as well have been down in the hatch, pushing the button every 108 minutes, but in mid-August that hatch was demolished and Curtis developed some serious superpowers. He’s managed to hit an astronomical 30 home runs in the Yankees’ past 97 games. While Desmond was impervious to electromagnetism, Granderson is now impervious to left-handed pitching. 8 of his 16 home runs have come against southpaws after only 6 the previous two years. I’m also pretty sure some of those shots have managed to travel through time and made the poor pitchers’ noses bleed. Pour that man a MacCutcheon!

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Nick Swisher as Mr. Eko- You can’t help but love Nick Swisher and you can’t help but love Mr. Eko (although Swish was never a murderous drug dealer, so it’s even easier to like him). Swisher’s enthusiasm and love for life are infectious and inspiring. He had the New York fans hooked right from the start. Eko was the one castaway from the tail section that everyone latched onto right away and who instantly became a fan favorite. And while Eko was well known for his ability to bash some Others with his Jesus stick, Swish has a lot of pop in his bat as well. Thankfully, there are no Smoke Monsters around to pre-maturely end Nick’s stay in the Bronx.

(image courtesy of todoseries.com)

AJ Burnett as Ben Linus– No matter how many lies Ben told throughout the years, we always believed him no matter what he said. He really means it this time! You always expect him to come around and be the hero you thought he could be. AJ Burnett isn’t all that dissimilar (if we ignore the whole genocidal maniac aspect of Ben, obviously). For years, he’s teased us with his phenomenal natural talent. No matter how inconsistent he always was, we always thought, “this is the year he’s finally going to put it all together and become that ace we know he can be.” But it never happens. AJ is AJ just like Ben is Ben. In the early goings of 2011, Burnett has gotten our hopes up yet again thanks to his improved control and consistent, solid starts. Hopefully this season is Burnett’s version of when Ben pushed Hurley out of the way of that falling tree and finally redeemed himself after hitting rock bottom the year before.

Hopefully the Bombers will be able to quell any troubles thrown their way by the Others in the American League and Cashman (who obviously has the role of Jacob) will be able to pick up some additional candidates along the way to protect the island. We’re probably never going to be treated to another show like LOST, but at least we’ve still got our Yankees. This has been a lot of fun and I look forward to hearing what other players You All Everybody would like to cast as other characters! After all, if we can’t talk about the Yankees together, we’re gonna die alone.

Bombers Snap Skid, But Worries Remain

On the strength of the 620th and 621st home runs of Alex Rodriguez’s career following after a much ballyhooed prolonged slump, the Yankees finally snapped their stomach churning six-game losing streak. Brett Gardner’s 3-4 performance and a solid, albeit unspectacular outing from Ivan Nova played supporting roles in the 6-2 Bomber victory. Even the embattled Jorge Posada contributed a couple of hits for the sputtering Yanks.

Unfortunately, one nice win against a division rival does little to erase the despicable display the team has put on over the past couple weeks (and obviously this past week, in particular) where they’ve gone a dismal 4-10, particularly when that stretch features a home sweep at the hands of their bitter rivals. A lot of problems have been exposed during this stretch, drama has been created, and injuries have arisen. All in all, a promising 17-9 season with a comfortable first place lead has evaporated and in its place stand a tenuous hold on 2nd place (only 1/2 game out of 4th) and a troubling 21-19 record.

The collapse (well, I guess that’s a little over-dramatic. “Slide” might be a more appropriate term for a two-weak rough patch, but it feels an awful lot like a collapse) has been the responsibility of every facet of the team. Pitching (both starters and members of the ‘pen), hitting, defense, base-running, clubhouse/media issues, and injury have all played their part.

High ticket item and major disappointment Rafael Soriano landed on the DL earlier today with elbow troubles that have limited him to just one game since May 8. His absence has opened a hole in the bullpen that has cost the Yankees several times and caused other relievers to become heavily taxed. Despite his spotty performance, Soriano lengthened the bullpen. Without him, both Robertson and Joba have blown games in big spots for the Bombers. On top of that, fewer reliable relievers means guys like Buddy Carlyle and Luis Ayala have been relied on in extra-inning situations where, ordinarily, a better option would have still been available.

A strong point for much of the early part of the season, the starting pitching faltered mightily over the past week with all five starters getting hit hard at least once. They frequently fell victim to the big inning, none uglier than the Bad News Bears-esque second inning against the Royals on May 12 in which Nova surrendered 6 runs. All five starters have seen their ERAs rise in the last two trips through the rotation: Sabathia (from 2.68 to 3.47), Burnett (from 3.71 to 3.99), Garcia (from 2.88 to 3.22), Nova (from 4.08 to 4.33), and Colon (from 3.00 to 3.74). Granted, not all of the performances have been bad, but most of the worst non-Hughes starts have come since this slide began.

The outpouring of runs can’t all be put on the pitching staff, however. Over this run of games, the Yankees defense (which is a bit of a misnomer) compiled a whopping 14 errors, which led to 12 unearned runs. The comedy of errors culminated with A-Rod’s costly muffed grounder at one of the game’s crucial moments on Sunday night. When a pitching staff is struggling, they need their fielders to pick them up and that simply hasn’t been the case these past couple of weeks.

On the nights that the pitching has gotten their act together, they’ve been let down by the offense. Including tonight’s 6 run performance, the offense has only managed 4 runs per game during this skid. As I outlined in my last post, the team has been absolutely dreadful with runners in scoring position. Until tonight, A-Rod was mired in a horrific slump and the rest of the lineup (Nick Swisher in particular) has been just as bad. After a brief ressurgance, Jeter has reverted to his early-season form. Russell Martin has come crashing back to earth following a tremendous first month in pinstripes. Only (really) early MVP candidate Curtis Granderson and the recently awakened Brett Gardner have provided major offense for the Bombers.

Of course, nobody’s struggles have been more publicized than Yankee lifer Jorge Posada who is likely in the last year of his career and definitely in his final year in pinstripes. The five time World Series champ has struggled mightily all season long. Age and the rigors of over a decade an a half behind the plate have finally taken their toll. Posada, a feared hitter for the majority of his time in the Bronx, actually saw the Royals walk the embattled Nick Swisher intentionally in order to face Jorge with the sacks packed. He struck out to end the inning. The whole situation reached its ugly peak when, after being slated to bat ninth, Posada asked for the night off. The local and national media sensationalized the story, turning an already ugly ordeal even nastier. I’m not sure I have much of a problem with Posada asking for a night off to clear his head. After all, he’s been abysmal and looks lost at the plate. Having said that, his timing could not have been worse in terms of creating a media firestorm. I’m sure the controversy will do nothing to help fill the void left by his failing skills and, although things have settled down, I don’t believe this will be the end of Posada’s difficult season. I only hope the same can’t be said of the team as a whole.

Unfortunately, today had some terribly saddening news that put the game and any on-field struggles or successes into perspective as the game lost all-time great Harmon Killebrew after a battle with cancer. While I never got to see the slugger play, anyone who knows the game is well aware of what an impact Killebrew made on the game. He hit 573 home runs in his historic career, leading the league 6 times, to go along with an astounding 1584 RBIs. Only Babe Ruth had more 40 home run seasons than Killebrew’s eight. Killebrew was one of the best hitters to ever grace the sport and, by all accounts, was a great man. Here’s a wonderful article written by Jim Caple about the person he was. Baseball lost one of its best today and he will be missed.

RISP Failures Doom Yanks Again

(image courtesy of yankeeanalysts.com)

It’s difficult to put into words just how awful tonight’s Yankee loss to the KC Royals was, but I’m going to attempt to do just that. When your starting pitcher throws a 1-hitter over the course of 7 innings and only surrenders one run, you should win the ballgame. When, in that same game, your offense records 12 hits, 8 walks, and a hit batter, you should really win that game.

Unfortunately, when your bullpen gives up a run in 3 of the 4 innings they pitch (2 on two-out hits, no less) and your offense grounds into two double plays and leaves another 15 on base while going an ungodly 2-16 with runners in scoring position, the end result is an ugly 4-3 loss in 11 innings.

I’ll start with the good (also known as AJ Burnett and Curtis Granderson). Somebody forgot to tell Burnett that the calendar switched to May, because he has been absolutely outstanding in his two post-April starts. While Burnett has gained a reputation of faltering once the season’s first month comes to an end, he seems to be doing an excellent job of putting that to rest. Alas, the Bombers are 0-2 in those two games, so AJ has nothing to show for it. The defense and offense let him down last time. This outing it was the bullpen and offense doing the honors.

Over those two starts, Burnett has gone 14 innings and allowed only 3 earned runs on 4 hits while striking out 11. Tonight, while he struggled with his command (issuing 5 free passes), he battled through to shut down one of the most potent offenses in the American League. The lone blemish was the first career home run off the bat of uber-prospect Eric Hosmer. Games like this where he had trouble throwing strikes would have resulted in one of Burnett’s trademarked implosions, but his work with Russell Martin and Larry Rothschild seems to have taught AJ how to curtail those disastrous innings. He appears to be more focused than ever and has excelled at limiting the damage when he gets himself in trouble, which has allowed him to post a tremendous 3.38 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. It’s still early (not that early anymore, though), but Burnett has given the Bombers more than even the most optimistic Yankee fan could have hoped for so far.

Granderson continued his hot hitting, providing most of the offense from this woeful lineup. He went 2-5, plus a walk and a stolen base. Both hits were big moments for the Bombers. His third inning home run gave the team a 2-0 lead and he added some exceedingly rare damage with runners in scoring position with his game-tying RBI single in the 10th.

The rest of the offense, however did not follow suit. Jorge Posada delivered the team’s only other hit with runners in scoring position thanks to his RBI single in the 2nd to give the Yankees the game’s first run and, overall, had a pretty good game. However, in a crucial spot following an intentional walk to load the bases, Posada struck out to end the inning and send the game to extras. Russell Martin grounded out with the bases loaded to and an inning on two separate occasions and flew out with a runner on second in another at-bat. The remaining members of this cast of characters did not do anything to inspire confidence either and combined to waste a fine performance by their starting pitcher.

They also gave away a couple outs thanks to ill-advised bunt attempts. Sacrifice bunting is almost never a good idea and tonight was no exception. You give away a valuable out with only a minimal benefit and, as we saw tonight, there is no guarantee that it will even succeed. On top of that, it allows the pitcher to record an out without throwing many pitches.

In the bottom of the 8th with Brett Gardner on first, Derek Jeter tried to bunt him into scoring position. Considering how poorly the team had been performing all night with RISP, the smart move would have been to allow Jeter to hit away. Scoring Gardner from first with three outs to work with is a much better proposition than scoring him from second with an out already in the books. Of course, it never got to that point because Jeter popped up the bunt for a quick, effort-free out.

Even more absurd was the inexplicable bunt that Gardner laid down in the 10th inning. With the Yankees down a run, Joakim Soria came in and walked Russell Martin on 4 pitches. He then threw the first two pitches to Gardner out of the strike-zone as well. With a 2-0 count, Gardner bizarrely tried to bunt his way on and fouled it off. Soria followed that with yet another ball, so, 8 pitches in to his outing, he had thrown 7 balls with the only strike coming on a bunt attempt. In an extreme hitters count and with a pitcher on the mound who is seriously struggling with his control Gardner maddeningly bunted the next pitch (presumably in an attempt at a hit, which didn’t really make it any better of a decision) and sacrificed Jeter to second. It was completely inexcusable to give away a free out like that in that situation and even though the Yankees eventually tied it up in that inning, it very well may have cost them the game.

As far as the bullpen is concerned, as disappointing as their performance was, it’s hard to get too angry with them. Because they were without Soriano and, for some mysterious (or at least mysterious while I’m writing this) reason, Joba for the evening, the bullpen was extremely shorthanded. David Robertson has been excellent for the most part this season, including a Houdini act to help win the game the previous night, but his lack of control got him in trouble and a terrible 1-2 pitch to Wilson Betemit cost him the lead just before he was able to get out of the inning. Buddy Carlyle pitched very poorly, but he is a mop-up man and not all that good to begin with. It’s hard to expect him to pitch well in a big spot. That’s just not what he’s here for, but by the time he came in, there weren’t many options. As long as they get Soriano and Joba back in short order and as long as Robertson pitches like he usually does, the bullpen will be fine. The starting pitching has been more than fine. Now it’s up to the offense to pick up the slack and bring home some runs once they get men on base.

Bombers, We Have A Problem

(image courtesy of yankees.lhblogs.com)

This afternoon’s disappointing loss to the Tigers raised a lot of red flags. In fact, the entire four-game debacle, in which the Yankees went 1-3, was quite disconcerting all around. The team’s struggles on offense continued and their reliance on the home run was blatantly exploited. Their defense and base running abandoned them, as well. As it surprisingly has been all season, the starting pitching remained the Bombers’ best unit.

In the series opener, Bartolo Colon was, once again, spectacular. He gave up 3 runs in 7 innings and was actually better than that solid line would have you believe. It was enough for a 5-3 win thanks to Justin Verlander’s early struggles and a 9th inning rally against the impressively irritating Jose Valverde.

CC Sabathia and Freddy Garcia were not that lucky. Both hurlers put forth decent yet unspectacular efforts of 7 innings and 4 runs against. Under many circumstances, that would be enough for a Yankee pitcher to win. They kept the team in the game and provided length. Unfortunately, a combination of boneheaded base-running (none more laughable and horrendous as the 6th inning on Tuesday where both Robbie Cano and Jorge Posada ran into completely befuddling outs) and abysmal performance with runners (6-32 over the course of the series) in scoring position hung an ‘L’ on each of them.

Wasted opportunities have been a Yankee trademark of late and today’s game was no different. Despite getting 13 runners on base, the team was only able to drive three of them in. While I have long posited that it wasn’t a problem that the Yankees have relied so heavily on the home run, I guess I failed to take into account games played at cavernous Comerica Park (Seattle and Oakland could provide similar challenges). I think good hitters can hit home runs off of good pitchers and the Yankees have a bunch of hitters good enough to poke one out against just about anyone.

Unfortunately, when you’re playing at a park where you can hit a ball 420+ feet and still have it land in the centerfielder’s glove (like what happened to Jorge Posada), the stadium can be more effective at preventing the longball than the pitcher is. The Yankees hit a number of long drives today that would have had a good chance of getting out of most AL ballparks, but in Detroit, they remained playable. If there’s anything to take solace in, it’s that most of the teams likely to be contenders play in offensive ballparks and they are, thanks to the unbalanced schedule, done playing in the Motor City for the rest of the season. The games against the Mariners and Athletics at the end of the month do bear watching, however. If the Bombers don’t start having a little more success with runners on base, those two opponents could give the Yankees a lot of trouble.

They will also be in trouble if they continue to give runs away like they did today, regardless of the ballpark. AJ Burnett pitched a phenomenal ballgame, carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning, but got off to a rocky start thanks to his own sloppy play. He plunked Tiger centerfielder Don Kelly to open the first inning and allowed him to advance all the way to third base on a wild pick-off throw. After allowing Detroit on the board with a sac fly, Burnett became a completely different pitcher. The oft-enigmatic righty only allowed one base-runner after Kelly until the 6th inning and that was on an Eduardo Nunez error.

You might want to get used to that phrase: “Eduardo Nunez error”. Say it a few times. Let it role off your tongue. It’s become a pretty frequent occurrence in the early goings of the 2011 season. In only 22 innings at shortstop, Nunez has managed to commit a Knobloauchian 5 errors. None have been more costly than Nunez’s 7th inning blunder today. After getting into trouble by loading the bases with nobody out, Burnett managed to retire two batters while only allowing one of the runners to score, putting the Yankees behind by a manageable score of 3-2. He then induced an easy grounder from Don Kelly that should have gotten him out of the inning relatively unscathed. Instead, Nunez hurled the ball over Mark Teixeira’s head, allowing two runs to score and effectively ended the Yankees’ chances of salvaging a series split with the Tigers. Given Eric Chavez’s unfortunate foot fracture, Nunez could be needed to play a larger role in the near future and, while his offense and running ability have been eye opening, his defense has been appalling and could continue to cost the Pinstripes games if something isn’t done about it.

Hopefully, the Yankees will be able to get their act together as they prepare for a re-match of last year’s ALCS against the Texas Rangers. They will certainly need to play crisper, smarter baseball if they hope to have success in Arlington against a quality opponent. The ballpark in Texas is certainly more suited for the Bombers’ homer happy style, but if they play like they have so far this week, the Yanks will be headed back to the Bronx without much to show for this road trip.