All Good Things Must Come To An End

I knew the Yanks were in for a rough night when Jimmy Rollins went yard on the first pitch of the game. I just had that feeling. It would have been nice to run the winning streak to ten, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Speaking of all good things coming to an end, I unfortunately think Chien-Ming Wang's best days are behind him. I really hope I'm wrong on that, but his return tonight didn't encourage me. Now I'm not saying he won't win 13-15 games, but the days of 19-win seasons are gone. Sure he lowered his ERA 9.5 points, but he still allowed 6 hits and 2 ER in 3 innings of work. His strike-to-ball ratio was so-so and his night would have been a lot worse had Robbie Cano not made a great play on the double play to end the 8th. Wang needed to come in and keep the Yanks in the ball game. A 4-run deficit in Yankee Stadium can be wiped out pretty easily. A 6-run deficit is a different animal. I really hope Wang can figure things out.

I thought A.J. Burnett pitched a decent game. Not bad, not good. The Stadium wasn't kind to him tonight. Holy long balls Batman. I'm really starting to hate the new ballpark, purely because of all the HRs that are hit. I know that the Yanks will benefit from it too, but I still don't like it. But I didn't think Burnett was bad. He kept the team in the game for the most part. All you can do on a night like tonight is hope your offense can bail you out. He left down 4 which isn't insurmountable. But he's definitely got to be better than he was. A.J. is now winless in his last 7 starts. Carl Pavano has more wins than Burnett. Writing that makes me sick.

Another 2-hit game for Mark Teixeira. His average is up to .257. It's crazy to think he was under 200 about a week and a half ago. He's raised his average 66 points in the last 10 games. Tex has 148 ABs this year. Last year after 150 ABs, Tex was hitting .240 with an OPS of .733. He finished the season with a .308 average and an OPS of .962. It's hard to believe he's ahead of last year. I'm impressed.

The bottom of the order (5-9) went 2 for 19. That won't win a team many games. Nick Swisher's average continues to free fall. He's pretty much the polar opposite of Mark Teixeira except that Swisher's downward spiral has lasted all month. He had 6 hits in the last 4 games of April. He has 7 hits in the month of May. Swish is 7 for 57 since 5/1. His .123 average in May has lowered his average from .312 to .238. I still prefer Swisher to Nady but if Swisher keeps this up, and the back of his baseball card suggests he will, then I hope Nady comes back soon. Heck, even Brett Gardner has as many hits as Swisher does this month. That's sad.

The night wasn't a total loss though as both the Red Sox and Jays lost. So no harm, no foul.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie