Yankees Ice Cold Starting August, But Things Should Change
The numbers, even though they are a small sample size, look jaw dropping – Jacoby Ellsbury .129, Brian McCann .167, Brett Gardner .182, Alex Rodriguez .185 and Mark Teixeira .200. Those are the batting averages for the key hitters in the batting order for the New York Yankees in August.
Even though there have only been 8 games played, no further investigation needs to be done to figure out why the race in the AL East has tightened up to 1 ½ games after looking like the Yankees would runaway and hide near the end of July.
Yes, the trades by Toronto have improved the team, but they are now playing as if they will go undefeated the rest of the season, which will not happen.
However, the biggest reason the Yankees were swept this past weekend by the Blue Jays was not Jose Bautista or Troy Tulowitzki or even lefty David Price.
It was not the Yankees pitching staff at fault, or the third base coach’s fault.
It is the simple fault of the ice-cold hitters in the Yankees batting order. However, now is not the time to panic.
The Yankees have hit and hit well for nearly the entire season, but the last 10 days they are hitting below their weight.
Odds are however, they will start to hit again before this season ends and it will likely be sooner than later. That is why it is not correct to look back on the trade deadline and say the Yankees made a mistake by not making some moves.
The options were too few for New York with too much to lose to get a pitcher who will be around for just a few months or one that is over 30 with not much time left in the Bigs.
As far as adding a new bat in the lineup, no one of the players mentioned earlier are candidates for replacement then or now.
The hitting and pitching has rarely done well at the same time and that has kept the Yankees near the rest of the pack, with the exception of their 7-game lead that they had on July 28 that has since been cut to 1 ½.
Through the eight games thus far in August, the team is batting a collective .208, which is the worst all season and is why New York in August is just 3-5 and 4-7 since they led the division by seven games.
That along with the hot streak by Toronto has caused the entire Big Apple, with the exception of Mets fans to start to get sweaty palms.
However, there are far too many game left on the schedule to get worried quite yet.
