When the Yankees lose, the formula always seems to be the same: play bad defense (three misplays in the first inning) and have bad ABs with men in scoring position (Jeter's two ABs and several others throughout the lineup).

In June, the Yankees have played some pretty weak teams, yet they are only 13-9. This was the month to make up significant ground on the Sox and Rays, but the Yankees seem to be letting that opportunity slip away. I don't think it's likely that the Yankees will pick up the pace and cruise to a playoff spot as they have after slow starts in year's past. Instead, if the Yankees are to make the playoffs, it looks like they'll have to win a horse race at the end.

The OF is looking bleak with the latest on JD and Godzilla. And now finally when Cano is heating up Jeter and Abreu are stinking up the place, and ARod is in a mini funk.

You're right on William {3} we should be 16-6 oer this stretch...

As for Arod, future HOF'er or not, he doesn't determine what his manager expresses. He needs to keep his yap shut. Strange thing to say coming from a guy who played for Lou Piniella. I guess he just thinks Lou is worthy of respect and Joe is not. Not cool.

So let me transfer my displeasure to the number 3 hitter and his .272 OBP for June.

The gruesome out-making twosome of Melky and Robbie can be overcome by the other 7 guys. If those guys are firing on all cylinder. But Abreu is not, and that he gets the 3rd-most plate appearances on the whole team makes matters worse.

The problem is, I'm not sure that moving Abreu out of the 3-hole will do any good.

(Matsui's missing power stroke (2 XBH all month) is not helping either, but he is hurt, so its hard to hold that against him.)

Another irony with Jeter is that when he is close to himself (310 .376 .429 .804), the Yankees lose. When he is awful however (.253 .304 .342 .646), the Yankees win.

In any case, having a .337 OBP in the two-slot, and a .336 OBP in the three-slot, is not helping matters at all. These would be fine if Melky and Robbie weren't black holes, but of course they are.

Last night was just putrid. A new low point in a seemingly never ending series of low points.

7 days: (.167/.231/.292/.522)
14 days: (.156/.208/.267/.475)
28 days: (.235/.299/.388/.687)

That's a pretty big hole to have in the #3 slot for almost 1 month.

That's a problem with having such a veteran lineup. Its hard to move guys around, because they don't like it, and I'm not sure if messing with a vet in a slump by moving him out of "his" spot in the lineup is helpful, or harmful. I'm not sure if there is a way to figure it out.

Something doing nothing is the best course of action. So if Girardi feels its best to leave Abreu and Jeter where they are, that moving them is likely to do more harm than good, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He has far more knowledge of all the variables than we do.

"I didn't want to say that I didn't feel comfortable in other spots," Abreu said. "But that's the spot I've been hitting in all my career."

http://tinyurl.com/4lpzj5

19 Forget about the .BA, what is worrisome about Abreu is his OBP is much lower than normal. Still, I agree that Abreu has had significant stretches of productivity. Having said that, I don't think he is entitled to hit third.

I would like to see Abreu bat #2 or maybe #5, so that A-Rod and Posada/Giambi can take over 3-4.

However, we're STILL only 5-6 games back. If the SOX are SO much better, how come they haven't pulled away? If you attribute the 5-6 losses to horrific performances by Hughes and IPK, I'd say we're pretty much in this thing. We only need a little jump to catch back up.

I think all teams are down from previous years' performance but our bad play is magnified because that's who we watch, but it's still a pretty close race and it's still early enough.

However, a quick seven game win streak followed by reversion to the way the team was performiong earlier in the season doesn't leave me optimistic. But I don't want to argue that the streak was the aberration, rather than the poor play that has followed. If we don't pitch we won't win, as cliche as that sounds. If Joe wants to actually mix things up and do something out of the box, move to a four man rotation, use a fifth guy when days off dictate, trim two pitchers from the roster, and get some better bench players, whether they come from AAA or via a trade.

It would be better if Joe showed a propensity for greater flexibility in the lineup when it comes to Jeter and Abreu, but I don't see that happening - especially not with Jeter.

The problem is that we tend to have two-three things hampering us at a time, just about all the time: 3+ slumping bats, 1-2 bats missing due to injury, a poor SP outing, poor BP relief, defensive miscues.

We don't need to cure all of them all of the time, just most of them most of the time.

The Sox missing Ortiz (among other issues they've had including missing some SP'ers) have not overly hurt them precisely because they have been firing on all remaining cylinders. Have you looked closely at some of the seasons the other guys are having?

I do agree with your analysis. Just when one guy gets hot, two begin to slump. When one pitcher shows promise, another gets shelled. Melky and Robbie appear to be coming around a tad, but Abreu and Jeter have been garbage. It is difficult to watch.

I often tune to the Red Sox game on Extra Innings when I have already watched the Yankee game, or during games like last night. Anyone who thinks the Yankees have anything close to that offensively, is, to quote Ozzie, "fucking kidding themselves."

Those 442 games hitting leadoff happened:

1996 - 40
1997 - 102
1998 - 3
1999 - 1
2000 - 21
2001 - 26
2002 - 10
2003 - 20
2004 - 62
2005 - 154
2006 - 0
2007 - 0
2008 - 3

I love Jeter too, but he's a human being, and many ballplayers like their roles. He didn't move off SS when A-Rod was acquired because, by gum, he was the SS, that's that. So let's leave all illusions about "Jeter the team player above all else god" aside.

When has he hit leadoff in his career? The data seems to say, when there was no one else to do it. Maybe that was Torre (and now, Girardi) shoehorning guys into the roles he thought best, or they asked for. Maybe not. There a chicken and egg element to this, for sure.

But I find it strange Jeter has led off 3 times the last 3 years, and I think its fair to wonder if he himself has played a role in that. I can't prove my hypothesis, but I think its a fair question to ask.

Also, you will recall that we are not talking about a permanent line-up change vis-à-vis the lead-off spot, only so long as Damon is banged up. In this context, given the historical data, I have a hard time believing that Jeter would not bat lead-off for 5 or 10 games.

Thus, I can only conclude that the decision to lead off Melky this season has more to do with Girardi's perceptions or philosophy than #2's resistence.

If he was moved, say to 6th, we can surmise the effect on the team, at least until Abreu starts hitting again - it will score slightly more runs, because the hitters performing better are getting more PAs than the hitters performing worse.

Of course that is a temporary solution at best. We can all agree that the team performs best when Bobby Abreu is hitting well, wherever he's hitting in the lineup. So the goal is to get Abreu back to hitting well.

Does changing his spot in the lineup do that? I don't know. I'm not sure how to accurately measure that, or if its even possible. My guess is, because Abreu is so used to hitting 3rd, that it might do more harm than good. But I don't know Abreu personally, I don't know what motivates him or affects him. Girardi (presumably) does, or can get that information. If, using as much info as he has before him, Girardi concludes Abreu is most likely to come out of his slump by leaving him in the 3 slot, then he should.

Along the lines of 43 , Girardi may well "feel" (there's that word again) that leaving Jeter in the 2 slot is the best way to get him going, and the pressure of hitting him 1st and breaking out of his "slump" could lead to bad results, even if for only 10 games.

While this has been an interesting theoretical discussion, and a good exercise, I don't think there's anymore meat on these bones, so I'm done.

Now watch Girardi bat Jeter lead-off tonight. =)