By Brad Carroll
If Mariano Rivera doesn't strike out Albert Pujols with the bases loaded in the ninth inning Sunday, this would have been the worst week of the season for the
Yankees. Yes, even worse than getting swept by the lowly Mets. Having already lost the first five games, three against the Athletics and two against the Angels, the
Yankees appeared on their way to an easy win Sunday. But the bullpen let a 6-0 lead slip to a 6-5 game with the bases loaded and two outs. Luckily, Rivera struck out Pujols to end the game and save what would have been a humiliating stretch of baseball. Maybe the victory sets in motion a string of wins going forward. More likely, however, is the
Yankees could be coming apart before our very eyes.
Opening Statement
Remember when the talk of the town in the Bronx was the rejuvenation of Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, Travis Hafner and Kevin Youkilis, players thought to have long ago passed their prime, but were hitting the stuffing out of the ball early on? Well, all of those hits, home runs and RBI have become almost non existent since. Wells hasn't homered since May 15 and has no extra base hits and just a single RBI in the month of June. He's batting just .230 overall, .109 this month, and has become the player everyone thought he would be at the start of the season. Actually, he's slightly worse now than he was with the Angels last season. And that's saying something. Overbay hasn't homered since May 25 and is batting just .167 with a double and no RBI this month. Before hitting a three-run home run Sunday, Hafner struggled just as much this month as his teammates. He was 0-for-23 before Sunday's game, including an 0-for-8 day at the plate Thursday against Oakland. Hafner is batting just .221 this season. Youkilis went 0-for-7 Thursday and then was put on the disabled list Friday, proving he was a complete waste of money. He was batting .219 with two home runs and eight RBI in 28 games before landing on the DL for the second time this season.