I’ve been remiss in my Yankees coverage of late. It just isn’t any fun to kick someone when they’re down I guess. But Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times doesn’t have that problem and I love him for it!
🙂
Everyone who follows MLB knows that Hank Steinbrenner’s comment that “No team in baseball has been decimated (by injuries) like this” was utter bullshit. Anyone can name players on their own team who have gone down this year without even thinking about it. (Red Sox: Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Mike Timlin – twice -, Alex Cora, Sean Casey, Clay Buchholz, Mike Lowell – twice -, Julio Lugo, Davd Aardsma and some insignificant dude named David freaking Ortiz.) Even if you don’t count Schilling because the team knew they were going into the season without him, FOUR our our starting pitchers this year have spent time on the DL. Plus our all-star third baseman and DAVID FREAKING ORTIZ.
Not that I’m using any of that as an excuse for the team being 3.5 games out of first. Injuries happen to every team. Which is the friggin’ point, Mr. Steinbrenner. (Honestly, if the guys in our F.O. were as whiny and annoying as this guy, I might have to find a new team to support. WTF Hank?)
But Shaikin does me better by putting it into context throughout the league:
Fact: The New York Yankees have used the disabled list 21 times through Friday, tied for fifth in the major leagues, according to STATS LLC.
The New York Mets, in first place in the NL East, have used the DL 21 times. The Rays, in first place in the AL East, have used the DL 20 times.
Quote: “[Chien-Ming] Wang won 19 games two straight years. [Joba] Chamberlain became the most dominating pitcher in baseball. You can’t lose two guys like that.”
Fact: The Angels lost 19-game winner John Lackey for the first six weeks of the season and lost 18-game winner Kelvim Escobar for the entire season.
Fact: The Cubs’ Rich Harden has a better ERA than Chamberlain, better ratios of strikeouts to walks and strikeouts per nine innings, a better opponents’ batting average and a lower WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
The Padres’ Jake Peavy betters Chamberlain in four of those five categories. The Indians’ Cliff Lee betters him in three, and Lee is 17-2 for a team that is 12 games under .500.
Well done, Mr. Shaikin, well done.