George King
May 5, 2012 will always be remembered as the day Mariano Rivera crumbled on a Kansas City warning track with a knee injury that threatens to end the Hall of Fame career of perhaps the best relief pitcher in major league history.
Rivera has vowed to come back next year, and friends are chirping he could return this year, but surgery to repair his ACL at 42 is a big deal for an athlete.
At the start of the month, the Yankees were 13-9 and 1 1⁄2 games behind the AL East-leading Rays.
Going into tonight’s action they are 27-23 and 1 1⁄2 back of the Orioles and Rays, who are struggling and tied for the AL East lead.
Paul J. Bereswill
Andy Pettitte
Not only did the Yankees lose Rivera on
May 5 but they also lost David Robertson, Rivera’s replacement, who went on the disabled list May 11 with a left rib cage problem.
Since Rivera went down, the Yankees have had eight save chances and converted seven. Rafael Soriano, who took over the closer’s role when Robertson was hurt, has converted six consecutive save chances.
MVP:
When April turned to May, Mark Teixeira was coughing so hard you expected a lung to vault from his mouth in mid-sentence. Suffering from a severe bronchial infection that surfaced April 11, Teixeira was hitting .244 with three homers and 12 RBIs at the end of the month.
By May 10, the cough hadn’t abated and Teixeira’s average was down to .212 and he had hit one homer since April 23.
On May 18, manager Joe Girardi decided multiple days off might help Teixeira. He sat out May 18 and 19, then appeared as a pinch-hitter on May 20.
Since the rest, Teixeira is 13-for-33 (.394) with three homers and 10 RBIs in nine games and finished the month hitting .257.
LVP:
Girardi says it once a week: “Defense is more important than offense’’ from the catcher’s position, and he knows of what he speaks, because he was a career .267 hitter with above-average catching skills and the intelligence to call a very good game.
Nevertheless, Russell Martin batted .203 in May after hitting .167 in April.
General manager Brian Cashman was open to discussing a multi-year extension with Martin during the winter, but the talks never got warm on either side. Now, Martin, a career .267 in the big leagues entering this season, possibly faces free agency with miserable offensive numbers.
LOOKING AHEAD:
May included seven games against the lowly Royals, three with the miserable Mariners and three against the Triple-A’s.
June’s slate isn’t so soft.
Of all the Yankees’ June opponents (Tigers, Rays, Mets, Braves, Nationals, Indians and White Sox), only Detroit has a losing record going into tonight’s action and the Tigers aren’t anywhere near as bad as the Royals, Mariners and Athletics.
June is highlighted by six Subway Series games against the Mets — three at Yankee Stadium (June 8-10) and Citi Field (June 22-24).
A can’t-miss activity when introduced in 1997, the Subway Series has outlived its appeal and hopefully will run out of track soon.
PITCHING IN:
If Hal Steinbrenner wants this $209 million team to play meaningful games in September, he needs to allow Cashman to deal for the best possible pitchers before the July 31 trade deadline. And if that means absorbing money beyond this year, so be it.
Steinbrenner’s plan to have Manuel Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Michael Pineda, Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Joba Chamberlain be good enough to keep the Yankees from chasing expensive free-agent pitching has been sabotaged by bad pitching and injuries.
Unless the Yankees upgrade the rotation — and the sooner the better — they will be on the outside of the postseason for the second time in five seasons, which might be enough to cost Girardi his job.
Not doing anything before the deadline for the second straight season will send a negative message to the clubhouse that management isn’t doing everything possible in order to get to October.
On the other side, management would like to see better play from the highest-paid team in the game.
GAME OF THE MONTH: YANKEES 4, REDS 0, May 18
Andy Pettitte’s return from retirement on May 13 at Yankee Stadium created a postseason atmosphere on a wonderful Mother’s Day against Seattle.
However, five days later Pettitte reminded everyone why he thought he could pull off a comeback at 39 after missing a year.
On May 18, Pettitte blanked the Reds across eight innings to halt a three-game Yankees losing streak. Pettitte allowed four hits and fanned nine.
Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira, the Yankees, the Yankees, Joe Girardi, Russell Martin, David Robertson, Rays, Brian Cashman
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