AP Top 25 Yankee Playoff Roster Poll For The Week Of Sept. 20-26

Andy makes his return and everybody gets bumped down as a result.  Nova and Hughes can secure their roles, for better or worse, during this series against Tampa.

Top 25:

1) Mariano Rivera (is he hurt?  The cutter doesn't seem to be cutting lately)
2) CC Sabathia
3) Robinson Cano
4) Andy Pettitte (came back in a big way yesterday)
5) Mark Teixeira (bumped and bruised and broken toe-ed)
6) Brett Gardner
7) Alex Rodriguez (maybe the most important guy in the lineup)
8) Kerry Wood (looking like Joe's go-to 8th-inning guy)
9) Dave Robertson (shouldn't have been out in the 11th yesterday)
10) Nick Swisher (needs to get healthy)
11) Phil Hughes
12) Curtis Granderson
13) Jorge Posada
14) Boone Logan
15) Francisco Cervelli
16) Derek Jeter (why is he still leading off?)
17) Marcus Thames
18) Austin Kearns
19) Lance Berkman
20) A.J. Burnett (securing his spot with each better start)
21) Joba Chamberlain
22) Ramiro Pena
23) Sergio Mitre
24) Ivan Nova (looking more like a bullpen option)
25) Javy Vazquez

Also Receiving Votes:

26) Dustin Moseley (first pitching option if somebody gets hurt)
27) Eduardo Nunez
28) Greg Golson (speed AND an arm)
29) Chad Gaudin
30) Chad Moeller
31) Jonathan Albaladejo (Joe doesn't seem to want to give him a chance)

Yet Another Opportunity Lost

Yesterday was the latest in the continued frustrating inconsistency of the Yankees.  Andy Pettitte gave them everything they could have asked for in his first start back, came out the other side of it healthy, and didn't get the win he deserved thanks to some shitty work out of the bullpen and shitty situational hitting by the offense in the late innings.

This recent road trip might well have been the worst the Yanks have played this year.  Yeah, yeah, I know they didn't get blown out and actually played a lot of close games that they could have won, but they were only a couple of swings away from being 0-10 heading into Baltimore and they were just one A-Rod swing away from leaving Baltimore losing 2 out of 3.  The last 2 weeks have been a calamity of iffy starting pitching by everybody in the rotation not named CC Sabathia, the bullpen suddenly not being able to hold late leads given to them, the offense seemingly trying to set a league record for GIDPs and runners LOB, and Joe micro-managing the shit out of the team in every way possible with nothing but negative results to show for it.  All the momentum that was gained by their 8-game winning streak has been washed away, the team still looks too lackadaisical for my liking, and the Yanks head home for their most important series of the year as they kick off their last 4 games against Tampa.

The good news is that they have Andy back and he doesn't look like he's missed a beat despite being out the last 2 months, and they are still .5 game up on the division.  But that gap should be wider and right now the Yankees need some kind of kick start to get them back on the right track towards the postseason, because playing the kind of baseball they have been is not going to get them very far.  I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but that's just a fact.  Super Nova is on the mound tonight, and he needs to give the team a good start to get this series off on the right foot.