Yanks and Mets Both Sliding!

The Yanks have lost 3 of 4 against weaker NL East opponents after a solid series win against the Mets. It is critical to continue to win series after series to remain in contention with the Red Sox. The Yankees fell 3 back yesterday and can not afford to fall further - even in the midst of a lengthy road trip.

CC feasts of NL hitters (recall last season) and must be dominant against the Marlins today. Chris Volstad has been awful lately (14 earned in his last 2 combined starts) and is 4-7 overall.

The Mets MUST win Johan Santana's starts. Granted his start against the Yankees was a stinker, but that could happen once or twice over the course of a year. That game is not the reason he is a mediocre 8-5 (mediocre for Johan). The 3.22 ERA has he is a statistical anomaly purely bloated based on 1 start and it is the 3-1 loses like yesterday's that really hurt his record and the team. He was great yesterday (although he did give up a big dinger to a lefty (Carlos Pena) and that game must have been had!

Tampa does seem to be playing much better of late and the return of Scott Kazmir will give the Rays the dilemma of keeping David Price in the rotation or finding what to do with Andy Sonnanstine.

The Mets have a biggie coming up against the the Cardinals in Queens. If one goes to the Cardinals Yahoo! page, said person will notice that in the right hand column, there is one player who leads the Cardinals in all noted batting statistical categories. Pujols' IBBs are conversely related to Ryan Ludwick's OBP. Ludwick had a career year last year and Prince Albert won his second MVP. Pujols must see pitches in order to dominate. The guy is scary good (hopefully...Yes, any true baseball fan would say hopefully, not on the juice) and should be the most feared hitter in a team's everyday line-up (whether A-rod is in the Yankees' everyday line-up or not (yes, that is a cheap shot at Joe Girardi as I am not a fan of giving players days off to relax them).

Benching A-rod is just dumb. The best way to get out of a slump is to continue to hit. If he is injured or needs rest physically, then give him a day, but adding the second day creates a story, creates pressure, and is just Girardi over-managing in his classic form.

Yaros