Kennedy's Command, Lack of Timely Hitting Sinks Yankees

From the look of the second inning, it appeared as though the Indians were going to blow the Yankees out of the water. Kennedy battled though and saw his way through the inning then pitched 3 more scoreless innings before being removed after pitching 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. Kennedy pitched 105 pitches and threw only 60 of them for strikes running up his pitch count and keeping the Yankees brass concerned about their young prospect.

The Yankees were able to belt out 12 hits but could not score more than 3 runs and lost 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. They went 2-13 with runners in scoring position and dropped below the .500 mark.

The hitting will come around but again the questions about pitching are asked. Kennedy, along with Phil Hughes, continue to struggle. Young pitchers go through these growing pains but how much more can the Yankees take and still expect to be in a pennant race. A decision has to be made. Are they going to compete now or is this a rebuilding year? I do not think the Yankees can have it both ways.

The Yankees have never been good about conceding anything which is one of the reasons I like them, but they need to take a hard honest look here and decide if the team they have now is good enough to be a World Series Champion. If it is not, maybe they should unload some veteran talent and restock their depleted farm system. I think they are very close but I must admit they are not at the same level this year as they were in 2000 when they last won a World Series. Let's build this team strong and right, from within. If we have to sacrifice a season to do so, it may not be the end of the world.

Comments

[Jason]

I think you're asking good questions about the Yankees this year, Bill. The problem they have is that, with expensive long-term deals and some no-trade clauses, some of the candidates for trades will be very difficult to move at least. Plus, the Yankees have been about extracting value from players, which has often meant keeping people who have under-performed such as Pavano and Giambi who really should have been cut loose in one form or another. Plus, they will have to eat salary, and the team has been reluctant to do so. Otherwise, there's no real way to move Giambi (who might be waking from his slumber), Damon (who is starting to hit well), or Mussina (who at this point is pitching better than Kennedy and Hughes).

They're in a pickle for sure, a big reason why this off-season will bring some big pluses with the elimination of tens of millions of wasteful salary from the payroll.