New Look Yankees: New Faces, Same Age

The Good

Watching the Yankees is so strange these days.  I'm having a hard time looking at a lineup of Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells, and Kevin Youkilis, and feeling like I'm still watching the Yankees.  But those three guys have been clutch, and have helped keep the Yankees offensive reputation alive while waiting for our injured players to return.  This was certainly the case yesterday when Travis Hafner hit the go ahead pinch hit homerun in the 8th.  Sabathia muscled out an 8 inning 3 run effort while Mariano clocked his 4th save of the season.

Also good, Brett Gardner hit a bases loaded single to drive in 2 runs.  Situational hitting, hitting with RISP, hitting in the clutch, this doesn't look like the Yankees at all!

The Bad

Sabathia turned in a great performance, but his velocity has been down.  When asked about his velocity, Sabathia explained why he believed it was low:

"You see I was driving down the highway, and I'm clocking like 94-95 miles per hour.  Then this cop pulls me over, and says 'Do you know how fast you were going?'  And I was like 'Yeah!  I was clocking like 94-95, sometimes even as high as 96 and 97!  And all of that with movement!  Zipping between cars, using my e-brake to change speeds, I'd say I'm getting ahead early, and then giving it some gas to put the other drivers away.'  Then the officer gave me a $400 ticket and told me that the next time I got caught going 95 miles per hour, he'd have my license.  So since then I'm making sure I don't go over 90.  It might be detrimental to my pitching career, but not having my license would be detrimental to my highway driving career, and we all know which one is more important."

The Ugly

What's up with Ichiro?  After playing like 2010 Ichiro after being traded to the Yankees, he's back to playing like 2012 Pre-trade Ichiro this season.  Pull it together man!

The Party Never Stops

At least not for the children, who have clocked an extra $2 off of Hafner's homerun last night.  More power to the children.

Travis Hafner 4hr = $8
Vernon Wells 3hr = $6
Brett Gardner 2hr = $4
Kevin Youkilis 2hr = $4
Jayson Nix 1hr = $2
Robinson Cano 4hr = $8
Ichiro Suzuki 1hr = $2
Lyle Overbay 1hr = $2
Brennan Boesch 1hr = $2

Total 19 hrs = $38