Yankees' rotation shows signs of straightening itself out
After all, through three straight games entering last weekend, the manager's front-line hurlers had been unable to reel in their ballooning June ERA, and they had trouble shutting down opposing hitters. With injuries piling up in the rotation, and the pre-trade deadline picture beginning to come into focus, the question had to be asked: Were the Yankees starting to panic?
Boone claimed at the time that they weren't. And judging from how his pitchers have worked since losing an eight-run game last Friday night on Chicago's South Side -- not to mention the big trade the Bronx Bombers recently pulled off not for an arm but for another big bat -- they still aren't.
Suddenly, an area that has been a glaring weakness is starting to look a little stronger. Masahiro Tanaka's two-hit shutout in Monday night's 3-0 win over Tampa Bay became the latest in a small string of dominating performances the Yankees have enjoyed in recent days.cheap nfl jerseys china nike
"It's a process we're working through, and we'll see," general manager Brian Cashman said, acknowledging that he has started making calls with other teams, inquiring about what it would take to trade for a starting pitcher. "We're going to continue to mix and match and see where it takes us. I can't predict what's going to happen here as we move forward."
Just how calm and patient are the Yankees amid what may have recently seemed like a burgeoning crisis? Over the weekend, instead of bolstering their pitching staff, they acquired a player at a position they really didn't need. But when that player happened to be the 400-homer-hitting Edwin Encarnacion, offered for a cheap return, Cashman couldn't resist.
"If I can't reinforce that pitching just yet, but I have a chance to add more firepower on the other side of this thing because it's about run prevention, and it's also certainly run creation, then we're going to go that route," Cashman said. "Hopefully we've added to that run creation side, and then stay tuned, see how long it'll take me to get the other side of it fixed or recouped."
Regardless of where their pitching search ultimately takes them, the Yankees know they'll need to start having many more days like the ones Tanaka and others have had recently.
"You need performances like that sprinkled throughout the year just to preserve guys, and it becomes a big reset day when you can have that kind of performance," Boone said.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
Indeed a reset had been necessary for a pitching staff whose starters posted a 6.22 ERA through its first 12 games this month and had been grinding through its bullpen thanks to several short starts.
Tanaka didn't formally begin the reset, though. Sure, his nine-inning outing Monday gave the bullpen a night off, but the relievers had been getting more relief over the weekend, thanks to back-to-back solid starts.
