and only a Tampa loss kept us in sole possession of 2nd - what we're experiencing right now is a domino effect - All the injuries are catching up with us. Remember back in late April/early May when Cash said Fowler, Gleybar, Frasier, Wade, etc weren't ready for the majors and that's why they weren't being brought up. Injuries: Gleybar was on track for an August/September call up but TJ surgery pushes his eta back a year or more. Hicks & Ellsbury injuries saw Fowler who in the first inning of his first ML game is out for at least a year (could have been a career=ending injury). So by process of elimination Frasier is playing left with Gardy in center - Ellsbury has never really lived up to that one walk year. The injury to Castro saw the arrival of Wade to play 2nd - Torreyes is solid but not as an everyday player. Injuries to Bird & (Tyler) Austin and the total ineffectiveness of Carter saw the emergence of Je-Man Choi - he still needs seasoning but IMHO is doing better than Carter - fingers crossed he is gone for good.
The bull pen collapse is a result of the same. When we lost Chap (he's still not right though he is back), it pushed everyone up. Betances is not a closer - he couldn't last year and still hasn't got what It takes. He can't hold runners on, field his position nor throw to bases. He screwed up his mechanics speeding up his delivery in an attempt to hold runners close - now he can't throw his slider effectively & his FB for strikes - so he's either walking everyone and they wind up stealing or giving up dingers. Clippard is a mess right now - now sure what happened if it was over use or trying to hard that threw his control out of whack. The injury to Warren added to the woes. The younger guys - Shreve, Green, Cessa, Webb are still getting their sea legs.
Starting rotation was not really strong - Tanaka struggled during the first 2-3 months but just maybe he is back on track. Sabathia was off to a good start but is just off the DL. What can one say about Pineda - he's either lights out or a nightmare - never know which will take the mound from inning to inning. Severino is still feeling his way though he made the AS team. Jordy Montgomery has been the bright spot - the rookie has been impressive so far this year.
The test is ahead as some of injured will be returning to claim their spots or like Ellsbury to win it back - can this team find the energy & momentum they had in April & May to claim a spot in post season in 2017. Remember the original target for this group to gel was 2019 - so spoiled Yankee fans they are ahead of schedule. Enjoy the roller coaster - embrace watching youngsters develop before our eyes