The New York Yankees’ season is only 11 games old, and already two troubling trends are forming.
Firstly, the bullpen — long deemed the strength of the team — has struggled. A pair of blown late leads in the past two games have highlighted that issue now more than at even the earliest stages of this still-young season. Evidence of the bullpen woes so far? Three blown saves and 19 runs allowed.cheap nfl jerseys from china nike
Secondly, sloppy play has become the team’s calling card. Since the start of the season, the Yankees have had trouble stringing together a series of completely clean games, both offensively and defensively.
Baserunning miscues remain a concern, and mental lapses in the field have been a problem. Still, the manager of the team that entered the season with the easiest April strength of schedule believes both bullpen strength and cleaned-up play are at hand.
“We’re prepared, the guys are focused, I love the way the guys are competing, but when you’re not clicking on all cylinders, you’ve got to do the little things. Because every little thing matters,” Aaron Boone said. “It’s important that we learn from every time there is a bump in the road, every time there is a mistake that we learn from it and grow from it. We’re confident we will.
“The bottom line is, we’re really close to playing a good brand and a complete game.“cheap nfl jerseys nike china
That complete game didn’t come in a loss Monday night. And it certainly didn’t in Tuesday’s 6-3 defeat.
But the thing is, the Yankees very much needed it both nights. In the middle of arguably their biggest series to this point, it was important they used these games at Minute Maid Park to send an early message. Although much of their first-month schedule is against teams that were sub-.500 last season, the Houston Astros likely will be in the playoff picture once the season ends.
The games on Monday and Tuesday were prime opportunities to put all of baseball on notice: Even with 11 players on the injured list, these Yankees can compete with the best. That message might have turned some heads this week.
