Taking Issue with the Yankees

This past weekend the Yankees played a three game set against the Red Sox and were throughly embarrassed. After losing three consecutive games up in Boston the Yankees record dropped to .500 with a 9-9 record. Boston on the other hand have won ten straight games. The Yankees flaws are not simple as they involve many aspects of the way they are playing and can not be remedied with simple trades and call ups. I am afraid to say it but what the Yankees need is a shakeup to the core of the franchise.
Let's start with the game this past Friday night. Mariano Rivera was on the mound with a 4-2 lead and gave up a ninth inning bomb to Jason Bay which tied the game. The game ended in extra innings where Youk hit a walk off home run to beat the Yanks. I am not saying that I don't want Rivera closing for the Yankees but what I am getting at is the fact that they need to start preparing for the post-Rivera era. Rivera used to be a starting pitcher for the Yankees but when they got smart enough to put him in the bullpen they had him as a setup man for John Wetland. What the Yankees need to do is to put Jaba back into a setup man role so that they have the crucial closer position taken care of when Mariano does leave.
Saturday the Yankees had the offense to win the game but the pitching did not follow suit. The Yankees had a 6-0 lead only to see AJ Burnett blow the lead when he gave up eight runs over the next two innings. With the kind of contract the Yanks gave AJ this kind of performance against Boston when the team had a demoralizing loss the night before is just not acceptable. You get paid that big money for a reason and that reason is so that you will be 'the stopper'. The stopper is the guy who when given the ball when it is his turn to pitch is prepared to bring a team out of whatever kind of slump they may be going through at the time.
Sunday was a tougher loss because there was no single person who can be held responsible for their sub par performance. One thing I will point at from Sunday is the fact that the Yankees gave up three runs in the fifth inning. This is okay with me as long as they have some fight and come out hot the following inning to attempt to switch the momentum. The top of the sixth for the Yankees was a flat inning with nothing spectacular, letting Boston keep the momentum and ultimately the ball game.
I will always be a Yankee fan but I will admit that I find it harder and harder to put my full devotion into this ball club. The fact that they may not be winning has nothing to do with it, it has to do with the way the team has been formed and the way they are treating the true fans. I said this before the season starting and I will say it again, paying the best players available huge sums of money is not the way you put together a winning ball club. You need role players and I can count the number of role players that the Yankees have playing for them on one hand. Jeter has and will always be a role player, Posada knows how to call a ball game and is a role player, a role player who doesn't get enough attention is Nick Swisher, a relaxed guy who has a genuine love for the game and brings everything he has on a day in day out basis.
The Yankees have a new stadium and the message that I keep hearing is that it provides a great experience for the fans. Is that the reasons why the Yankees priced out their premium seats so that they remain empty for many games? Fenway to me is a fan friendly stadium. Their prices are expensive but they still manage to sell out every game. The atmosphere is intense there with people watching the game and having a genuine love for their team. The Yankee stadium crowd does not have tis same feel because of tourists and corporate ticket holders who do not have a great level of baseball knowledge.
Why should I give my undying devotion to the Yankees? All they have done for me lately is overprice their seats to keep me out of games and form their team in a fundamentally flawed fashion. Will I still watch the Yanks on TV and follow them over the course of the summer? Yes, but it has changed from what it used to be.