Is It Time To Give Up Hope On The 2008 Yanks? By Tyler Kepner Maybe people were just so ready for a new Yankees chapter that most of us ignored the obvious in spring training: their young pitchers might not be as polished as advertised. Intelligent people across baseball thought Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were ready to contribute. Because of injuries, ineffectiveness or both, it just hasn’t worked out. I bring this up because yet another team has shown the Yankees what they are missing. Look at the Minnesota Twins. Consider these names: Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, Francisco Liriano. Five young starters. Only Liriano, who was hurt, attracted widespread hype in March. All have proven more ready to help their team win than any comparable young starters on the Yankees. Yet pitching is the Yankees’ strength. Derek Jeter acknowledged as much after Wednesday’s embarrassing loss to end a miserable 3-7 road trip. “To be honest, our pitching has been pretty good,” Jeter said. “We’ve got to find ways to score runs.” Their repeated failures in runners with scoring position might be a statistical fluke, but it’s killing the team, and the front office clearly recognizes that. What they can do about it – long term — is another story. They made a nice trade for a solid hitter in Xavier Nady, and that’s a start. But unless you believe in Brett Gardner – and maybe we should – there ’s no position player from the farm system ready to help next season. There’s a lot to fix, and it will be interesting to see if the road trip saps the spirit of the players the way it has for many fans. (Even the good folks at nomaas.org have given up hope.) Three games at home against the Royals might make the Yankees feel better, but this is a real test for Manager Joe Girardi. His lineup on Monday, after the Anaheim sweep, when he sat the team’s hottest hitter in Johnny Damon, was puzzling for many in the clubhouse. There ’s clearly a void in the coaching staff, too, with the departure of Larry Bowa. Players expected to take off toward greatness, like Robinson Cano, have slid back. Players expected to mature into steady contributors, like Melky Cabrera, have not. Bench guys, like Wilson Betemit, have been disappointing. And veterans whose prime years are behind them have started what might be a steady downward trend in their statistics: like the 2 and 3 hitters, Jeter and Bobby Abreu (though he’s driving in runs). There are deep problems, but there’s still time to make a run. The Yankees might have one last gasp in them. But there’s no evidence of that right now. News source：http://0rz.tw/074CV 翻譯：http://0rz.tw/624Eq --

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