Friday, June 6, 2008

Deja Vu All Over Again?

As soon as Giambi's blast landed fair in the uppder deck yesterday I immediately was brought back to another Giambi walk-off, the June 15th 2005 HR against Jose Mesa and the Pittsburgh Pirates that landed in almost the same spot.

At that point in the 2005 season the Yanks were struggling to play consistently good baseball and stay above .500, and the win leveled the Yanks' record at 32-32. Not very different from yesterday's scenario. As we all know the Yankees went on to win 95 games and the division that year, and it seems that the walk-off maybe have been a turning point in that season. Following the homer the Yankees went 63-35 the rest of the way. Let's hope yesterday's Giambi walk-off can propel this Yanks team to an equally great finish.

12 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I can agree, seeing Jason hit that stirred up memories, lets hope a turn around comes.

Andrew Fletcher said...

They said on SportsCenter last night that the previous two times Giambi hit a walk-off home run (the game you mentioned and the grand slam game in 2002), the Yankees went on to win four games in a row.

Anonymous said...

wow very very interesting scenario

Anonymous said...

I hate how people bash on Giambi, alright, he made mistakes, but on the YES boards people call for his head when he struggles, then he does this and they all forget what they said.

Giambi will be a big part of a Yankee come-back this seaso, IMO, Giambi and Abreu should flop spots, Abreu has been a little slumpy of late, Giambi has been hitting better, just makes sense to flop the 2, maybe it will ignite something even farther.

Anonymous said...

haha.... im gonna venture to say youll never be a baseball coach jayson... why swap them? abreu has a better average, more rbi's, more stolen bases and doesnt strike out all that much... you want fast guys on base in the top of your order not giambi he is a great #5-6 hitter.. leave it be

Anonymous said...

"Following the homer the Yankees went 63-35 the rest of the way. Let's hope yesterday's Giambi walk-off can propel this Yanks to an equally great finish."

I suppose it's good to hope. But this team couldn't hold a candle to last year's squad... and last year's team was not very good. The same could be said regarding Girardi's ability to inspire the Yankees versus Torre's. I don't see this team coming close to making the playoffs this year.

Greg Cohen said...

Anon,

This team is last year's team, there really isn't much of a difference player wise. The only difference is Girardi. I don't think Girardi is as good of a manager as Torre, but I think this team can make a run. Right now the most important thing is finding someone to take over the setup man role. I really would like to see J.B. Cox get a chance very soon.

Anonymous said...

"This team is last year's team, there really isn't much of a difference player wise."

I don't see how you can say that. Last year the Yankees had a better bench and a defensive firstbaseman who contributed. They had a similar bullpen but a much better starting rotation. Not to mention that the older guys were all a year younger.

Greg Cohen said...

Giambi being as productive as he has been so far offsets the contributions Andy Phillips and Doug Mientkiewicz made. The bench was pretty much the same.

The bench last year was Duncan, Molina, Kevin Thompson, Betemit, Basek, Phillips etc.. it wasn't better than this year. Both benches are awful.

The rotation has struggled because of injuries, and because Hughes and Kennedy didn't pitch well so far. Last year at this point they were struggling because of injuries and guys like Chase Wright and Matt DeSalvo were getting starts.

These teams are very similar, and they've gone through some of the same problems two years in a row.
The record are also a good indication of their similarities, last year they were 29-31, this year they're 30-30.

As for the older guys, Abreu, Damon and Giambi are all playing better than they were at this point last year.

Unknown said...

speed. the answer is speed. speed goddamn you. speed. we need speed. not drug speed. running speed. SPEED! SPEEEEDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!

signed,
Brett Gardner.

Anonymous said...

you guys will look for any sliver of hope. the problem is that the pitching is still shite, and no amount of offense is going to fix that problem. speed isn't going to fix anything. it'll help you play small ball, but what team with terrible pitching plays small ball?

how is a team supposed to survive a third starter with an era over 4? yeah, i'm looking in pettites direction.

Greg Cohen said...

You know what man, baseball is a crazy game. And as fans, all any of us have is hope, for any team we root for. They made the playoffs last year with a No. 2 who had an ERA over 4, and yes, I'm also looking in Pettitte's direction.

Does that mean they're going to make it this year? No, but in this game anything is possible.