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May 14, 2014

Subway Series 2014 Diary: Yankee Stadium

The Yankees lost the first two games of the 2014 Subway Series and have now lost six straight to the Mets, so let’s look at what went wrong in the Bronx.

The Rangers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Penguins and advance to the Eastern Conference finals and the Yankees lost two games in a row at home to the Mets and have now lost six in a row to the Mets going back to last year. Is it 2014? Is this real life?

Two years ago I did a Subway Series Diary for the Yankee Stadium portion of the rivalry to recap what I watched over the three-game series and I said:

I feel weird calling this a diary since I have never had a diary before. I remember in elementary school when we were forced to have a “journal” in one of those black-and-white Mead notebooks.

Well, here we go again.

MONDAY
With the Mets losing eight of their last nine and looking ripe for their annual free fall, I didn’t think there was a chance the 2014 Subway Series could go the way the 2013 Subway Series went. But when Monday started off with Mark Teixeira not being in the lineup due to “fatigue” and “tired legs” and the $23.5 million-per-year and $138,888-per game first baseman said, “I was on the bases a lot this week. Just a little tired. I’ll be fine,” doubt started to creep in. When the Mets took a 1-0 first inning lead and held that lead into the second and the Yankees loaded the bases with no one out only for Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts to fail to drive a run in, the doubt grew larger. Then Brett Gardner saved Johnson and Roberts by hitting a grand slam to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead and I was relieved that order had been restored in the Subway Series. I thought “The Mets are the Mets” and started to think about winning three of four in the series, if not sweeping the series. And then the seventh inning started.

Alfredo Aceves’ second tour with the Yankees is going about as well as Javier Vazquez’s second tour with the Yankees went. Sure, Alfredo Aceves 2.0 is averaging 9.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9, but he’s ruined the last two games he pitched in (he blew Saturday’s game in Milwaukee and Monday’s game) and he’s only pitched in four games (he did pitch 5 1/3 scoreless innings against Tampa Bay on May 4 and maybe that’s the sign the Yankees need to put him in the rotation). But Aceves wasn’t the only wrong button that Joe Girardi pushed with a 7-5 lead and nine outs to go in the game. Here are the lines for the bullpen:

Alfredo Aceves: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Matt Thornton: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Preston Claiborne: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3K

Everyone loves to praise Girardi for how he uses his relievers and how he manages their workloads (he did a great job giving Mariano Rivera extended rest in his final season last year, so he could throw pitches to WFAN’s Craig Carton this week at Yankee Stadium), but Girardi’s biggest bullpen problem this season hasn’t necessarily been managing workloads as much as it has been determining who should pitch when. It’s not completely his fault since the entire league has dictated the idea of set bullpen roles, so that someone like David Robertson can no longer be the escape artist he once was when it comes to escaping jams for others. Because Robertson is the closer, he can now only escape his own jams. And that’s why Robertson was standing in the bullpen on Monday night ready to enter the game, but because it wasn’t the ninth inning and because the Yankees weren’t winning or the game wasn’t tied, he stayed in the bullpen watching the 2014 version of The Goof Troop light the game on fire like my great grandmother burning her trash in the backyard as if it were no big deal. If there are going to be set bullpen roles (and there are), then David Robertson pitches the ninth, Dellin Betances pitches the eighth and Girardi can mix and match the other innings and outs with his binder. That is the only acceptable pecking order after six weeks.

Even after watching the bullpen punch out early and after giving up nine runs, the Yankees had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with Derek Jeter on first with one out for pinch hitter … Mark Teixeira!

“All year long, they looked to him to light the fire, and all year long, he answered the demands, until he was physically unable to start tonight — with two bad legs.”

That’s how Vin Scully started his famous call of Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run and I thought Michael Kay might start to rattle something similar off, not because Kay likes to overdo it with drama more than any other baseball play-by-play man (which he does), but because it was nearly a miracle that hours after taking a seat on the bench due to tired legs, Mark Teixeira was hitting in the ninth.

And Teixeira got the job done with a single to right to put the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate in Brian McCann. But then McCann hit into the predictable game-ending double play and the Subway Series picked up right where it left off last May.

TUESDAY
For someone fighting for their job, Vidal Nuno basically did the equivalent of showing up to work an hour late wearing shorts and a T-shirt, streaming Netflix in your cube, taking a two-hour lunch, scrolling through Facebook pictures for the remainder of the post-lunch day and then accidentally forwarding an email containing a pornographic link to a company-wide list at 4:02 p.m. before leaving for the day. Nuno was given a golden opportunity to make a case that he could be a reliable starter in the rotation and replace Ivan Nova this year and also to throw his name in the mix for a spot in the rotation next year when Hiroki Kuroda leaves or if Nova still isn’t health. But Nuno has followed up every promising start with an A.J. Burnett-like egg and if it weren’t for CC Sabathia also landing on the disabled list, Nuno would probably be getting his seat back in the bullpen. Here is how Nuno has done over the last three weeks since joining the rotation:

April 20 at TB: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

April 26 vs. LAA: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

May 2 vs. TB: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

May 7 at LAA: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

May 13 vs. NYM: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 K

Sean Henn would have been proud of Nuno’s performance on Tuesday night, letting the Mets hang a 4-spot before the Yankees could even bat for the first time and then continuing to let the Mets add on to their lead with the offense trying to erase the deficit. The problem isn’t just Nuno, it’s that the Yankees needed two starters to replace Nova and Michael Pineda and Nuno and David Phelps have proven to be coin flips in their short stints in the rotation. And now the problem is even bigger with Yankees asking Chase Whitley to take CC Sabathia’s spot in the rotation on Thursday. The last time someone named Chase started a game for the Yankees, I was sitting at Fenway Park wondering if I wanted to watch baseball ever again.

After watching Aceves blow Saturday’s game and then Monday’s game, there he was again on Tuesday being called upon to stop the bleeding and give the offense a chance to get back in the game and there he was again ruining a game. Aceves gave up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings before handing off the ball to Matt Daley, who actually did his job this time after taking part in the April 19 disaster in Tampa Bay.

Standing between a four-game losing streak and a seven-game Subway Series losing streak is Masahiro Tanaka and I’m happy he’s standing there. Right now, Tanaka’s not only the one Yankees’ starter who can be trusted, he’s the only Yankees’ starter who can win.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

May 14, 2014

The Subway Series Makes Its Stop at Citi Field

The Yankees were swept at home in the first half of the Subway Series and now head to Queens searching for answers against the Mets.

So far the Subway Series hasn’t gone as I had hoped. The Yankees scored 14 runs in the Yankee Stadium portion of the series, but gave up 21 as the bullpen couldn’t keep it close on Monday and then Vidal Nuno and the bullpen ruined everything on Tuesday. The Yankees have now lost six straight to the Mets and the last time the Yankees beat the Mets was June 24, 2012. Boone Logan won that game for the Yankees and Rafael Soriano saved it.

With the Yankees and Mets continuing the Subway Series at Citi Field, Matt Callan of Amazin’ Avenue joined me to talk about the growing positivity for Mets fans, how Curtis Granderson is fitting in on the other side of town and what Matt Harvey means to the Mets both on and off the field.

Keefe: The Yankees came into the Subway Series on a two-game losing streak thanks to some bad starting pitching in Milwaukee. With the Mets losing eight of nine entering the series, I thought this four-game set came at the right time and would put the Yankees back on track. So much for that.

After the Yankee Stadium portion of the Subway Series, the Yankees have now lost four straight and are back to .500 for the first time since April 12 when they were 6-6. Fortunately for them, no one in the AL East really wants to run away with the division and the Yankees are just 1.5 games back of the Orioles for first.

There is usually a negative attitude and aura around the Mets from their fans and over the last six or so years I guess there has been a reason. But this year, even with Matt Harvey out after undergoing Tommy John surgery, there seems to be a rare sense of positivity around the Mets, even for their most pessimistic fans. Do you feel like that’s true?

Callan: I think beating the Yankees helps for positivity. As much as you want to pretend that that’s not a big deal, it’s always kind of a big deal. I think there is a certain amount of positivity right now due to that, and due to the call-ups of some hyped young arms like Rafael Montero and Jake de Grom.

However, I also think that the mood around any team (not just the Mets) shifts so quickly now, in the age of Twitter, etc., when a team’s outlook is judged almost on an at-bat-to-at-bat basis. If you asked a Mets fans how they felt about the team on Sunday afternoon, when they were in danger of being swept for the second straight series and losing nine of their last 10 games, they probably would’ve said “lousy.” And if the Mets drop the next two to the Yankees at home, they’ll very quickly forget the two wins in the Bronx. That’s not a Mets fan thing so much as a fan thing.

More than anything, I think Mets fans have accepted that the team is still not ready contend, and so any sign of life is greeted as a treat rather than taken as an entitlement. Not sure that translates into positivity, but it’ll do.

Keefe: Curtis Granderson was a good Yankee. He was brought in to be a quick-fix for the Yankees’ outfield depth and that resulted in trading Austin Jackson. He hit 84 home runs between 2011 and 2012 and averaged 29 per 162 games during his four years in the Bronx. Had the Yankees successfully traded for Cliff Lee in July 2010, Granderson would have gotten the ring he is still looking for and had he helped out offensively in the playoffs in 2011 or 2012, maybe he could have gotten another one.

Granderson was brought to the Mets to give the team power and some middle-of-the-order presence as well as experience and leadership. However, he was made for new Yankee Stadium, as we just saw once again on both Monday and Tuesday. But Citi Field isn’t the Stadium and Granderson has just one home run in 71 at-bats there this year. He has been struggling to provide consistent offense through the first month and a half of the season, but what are your early feelings on Granderson as a Met?

Callan: I’ve always liked Granderson for simple “seems like a nice guy” reasons. I personally didn’t have enormous expectations from him for many of the same reasons you mention. He is what he is at this point in his career: an aging outfielder who strikes out a lot but can still hit home runs under favorable circumstances.

There are fans who expected more of him, of course, and he’s gotten some rough treatment already from fans who’ve dubbed him Jason Bay 2.0. The big difference between Granderson and Bay is that Bay completely fell off a cliff, whereas Granderson is still exactly the same player he was, possessing skills that don’t translate well to Citi Field.

The Mets’ front office still hasn’t figured out how to build a lineup that can win at Citi Field. I doubt Sandy Alderson thought he’d solved that puzzle when signing Granderson, and I doubt Granderson thought he was the answer either. They both know he’s a bridge to some hypothetical right fielder of the future. Whoever that is, hopefully he has a better idea how to score runs in that ballpark.

Keefe: The Mets had to make a decision when it came to Ike Davis and Lucas Duda at first base and for now and for the future of the position and the Mets chose to trade Davis to Pittsburgh and keep Duda. Since the trade with the Pirates, Davis has hit .273/.368/.394 with one home run and seven RBIs and Duda has hit .262/.360/.369 with one home run and nine RBIs. The production has been as even as possible and it looks like the Mets would have ended up with the same result as of now no matter who they picked. But the decision to go with Duda over Davis won’t be decided for a while.

Were you a fan of the move to trade Davis and keep Duda, or should it have gone the other way?

Callan: It was clear one of them had to go, and it’s probably for the best that Ike Davis was the one who went. His struggles at the plate were almost soul crushing. It might be the most helpless I’ve ever seen a guy look at the plate, at least one who used to tear the cover off the ball.

There were a lot of contributing factors to his decline, like a weird leg injury that knocked him out for a year, and a bout of Valley Fever, which never goes away and can be quite debilitating. (Conor Jackson had to quit baseball altogether after contracting the disease.) The Mets also announced their intention to trade him in the offseason so loudly they might as well have honked AWOOGA horns everywhere they went. I think everyone involved realized that whatever potential he once had, Ike and the Mets were never meant to be.

Lucas Duda still strikes me as, at best, a DH in a league without that position available. But of the two, I think he’s more likely to succeed in a Mets uniform.

Keefe: Matt Harvey is the future and future face of the Mets. Despite being just 25 and having pitched in 36 games in the majors, he has shown the ability to be a true ace in the league. However, what comes with being an ace and a pitcher and a franchise face in New York is everything that comes with being a celebrity. Because Harvey is the most important Met his off-the-field actions have been closely followed since he isn’t able to give anyone anything to talk about regarding him on the field this year.

What are your feelings about Matt Harvey the pitcher? How big of a deal is it for him to return to the Mets healthy and be the pitcher he was pre-injury? And how sick are you of hearing about his off-the-field life?

Callan: Matt Harvey was the best and worst thing about the 2013 Mets. He was the best because for a few brief, shining months he was among the best pitchers in baseball. The Mets have touted their prospects as their future for the past few seasons, but Harvey was the first one to make it to the bigs and not only contribute, but dominate. His starts became events, and when he pitched, Citi Field came alive for some of the very few times since it opened. There was one awesome night when he outdueled Stephen Strasburg and a very loud crowd chanted the Nationals’ ace off the mound with yells of HAR-VEY’S BET-TER.

His Tommy John surgery was, obviously, the worst thing about 2013 because it robbed him from us not only the rest of last season, but all of this year, too. His injury was also terrible because it provided a smokescreen to the Wilpons. Rather than be forced to put up or shut up and finally make a true accounting of their financial situation, the Mets’ owners could point to Harvey (explicitly or implicitly) as a reason for punting on 2014.

The return of a healthy Harvey would immediately rejuvenate the team and its fanbase, and would also go a long way to forcing the Wilpons to either spend on the team or finally admit that they can’t. Harvey’s status will tell us pretty much everything about the Mets in 2015. So yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.

Being a huge sports star in New York, Harvey has to deal with tabloid nonsense. I don’t worry about it in his case because it all seems to roll off his back. I do wish at times he’d tone things down, just to give the Post less ammunition, but he’s obviously not a tone-it-down kinda guy.

Keefe: This October it will have been eight years since the Mets last made the postseason. Aside from the most optimistic Mets fans, no one pictured them as a team that would contend for the playoffs in 2014 and it was viewed more as a year to give their young players experience and build for the future and create an organization that could sustain success. But just three games back in the NL East and with some roster changes from Sandy Alderson, maybe the Mets can be a surprise story this summer.

What were your expectations for the Mets coming into the season and have they changed with the 19-19 start?

Callan: I expected very little of the Mets going into this season, based on Matt Harvey’s injury and their unwillingness to spend over the winter. My expectations haven’t really changed at all, even though they continue to hover around .500. They have been more fun to watch at times than I expected, and the starting pitching has been better than advertised even without Harvey. But the lineup is still pretty brutal, and the bullpen always teeters on disaster. I’m mostly looking forward to the eventual call up of Noah Syndegaard and a few other pitchers from their farm system. If those guys can contribute this year and get some experience for some hopefully not-too-distant contending future, then I’ll be happy.

May 6, 2014

Rangers-Penguins Game 3 Thoughts: 120-Minute Shutout

The Rangers lost Game 3 to the Penguins and were shut out for the second consecutive game thanks to another embarrassing offensive performance.

The only good thing to come from Game 3 was when the MSG big screen showed the “I am Queens Boulevard” scene from Entourage and then cut to Adrian Grenier at the Garden while the series’ theme played and Grenier mouthed the signature line from the show.

The last time the Rangers scored a goal was when I paused Game 1 on Friday night in overtime because I had broken the seal earlier in the game and on the way back from the bathroom my friend Nunz ruined the game’s ending for me with a text message. Since Derick Brassard ended Game 1 with a shot that Pierre McGuire was convinced never went in, the Rangers have been shut out for two games, six periods and 120 minutes by Marc-Andre Fleury. And even though Fleury had the best regular season of his career this year, in the playoffs he is supposed to be what Nick Swisher has been in the playoffs for his entire career. But if you’re a Penguins fan right now, it’s Fleury who has saved the Penguins in this series and their season even if Rangers fans know it’s their team’s offense that’s responsible for those things.

Once upon a time in the playoffs, the Rangers were 3-for-12 on the power play. That time was after Game 2 against the Flyers. Since then, the Rangers are 0-for-34 and 0-for-13 in this series alone. If Fleury is supposed to be Nick Swisher then the Rangers’ power play is Robinson Cano in the 2012 playoffs. In Game 3, the Rangers went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a scoreless four-minute power play, and it was their power play that led to Sidney Crosby’s first goal of the playoffs when he scored on a breakaway 19 seconds after a Pittsburgh penalty in the second period. And then later in the second, Jussi Jokinen jumped out of the box, picked up a loose puck, turned it into a breakaway, turned the breakaway into his fifth goal of the playoffs and ended the game. Two Penguins goals on two breakaways, both at the end of Rangers power plays.

The Rangers dominated the play in the game, outshooting the Penguins 35-15, but even the 13 Penguins shots that weren’t their breakaway goals were higher-quality scoring chances than all of the Rangers’ 35. Outside, low-percentage shots is what the Rangers’ offense has become over the last two games and because of it, they are now staring at the daunting task of going at least 3-1 against in order to advance against a team that won the division and finished second in the Eastern Conference despite losing the most man games in the league this year.

There’s not much to say about a 2-0 loss that’s following a 3-0 loss. But something needs to be said, so I will focus on the two players most important to the Rangers’ success and the two players who I have said all along would have to carry them if they were to make an extended run. One is doing his job and one isn’t.

– Rick Nash is now pointless in the last seven games and has still yet to score in these playoffs. He has played 22 playoff games for the Rangers over the last two years and has one goal. One. I’m not ready to light a match and throw it on the “Rick Nash is the Rangers’ A-Rod” fire yet and I’m not sure I ever will be, but it’s getting harder and harder to support the guy I wanted the Rangers to trade the entire system for at the 2012 deadline. The hardest part about his extended slump is that he is creating chances and is playing well aside from not actually putting the puck in the net. It’s gotten to the point where it’s laughable that he can’t seem to get one bounce to go his way while so many lesser players in the entire playoffs have found a way to score. It will happen. I just hope there’s enough time left in the season for it to happen.

– I couldn’t believe the Penguins only finished with 15 shots in the game since it felt like much more and once again Henrik Lundqvist did everything outside of stopping two breakaways to give his team a chance to win. But really, giving up two goals against the Penguins and their defense/goaltending situation should be enough to win, even in the playoffs, considering the Blue Jackets didn’t have a problem scoring against them in the first round. It’s scary to think there could be back-to-back shutouts in this series and they didn’t come from Lundqvist since goaltending is the one area where the Rangers have a considerable advantage over the Penguins. Lundqvist has done his job, the way he always done his job in the playoffs, and has held the Penguins to two goals in each of the first three games of the series and has held the best player in the world and possibly the second-best player in the world to a combined one goal and he has a 2-1 series deficit to show for it thanks to the offense. If the Rangers are eliminated by the Penguins, it won’t be Henrik Lundqvist’s fault. It never is.

May 5, 2014

Rangers-Penguins Game 2 Thoughts: Make It a Baker’s Dozen

The Rangers had a chance to put the Penguins and Pittsburgh in panic mode with a Game 2 win, but the Rangers lost a game with the series lead for the 13th time in a row.

Here’s what you need to know about Game 2: Henrik Lundqvist finished as the third star of the game as the goalie of a team that lost a playoff game 3-0.

Lundqvist played his best game of this postseason and the offense couldn’t score against Marc-Andre Fleury, who only a year ago was forced to bench in the playoffs by the Islanders in favor of 36-year-old Tomas Vokoun. The only offense the Rangers could provide in Game 3 was for the Penguins as Dan Girardi scored against Lundqvist for what now seems like the 11th or 12th time since the beginning of the 2012-13 playoffs.

Game 2 was such a “Rangers’ Game 2 performance” that I don’t know why I chose to watch it over watching Game of Thrones and Veep live. The Rangers have now lost eight consecutive Game 2s going back to their Game 2 loss in Washington in the 2008-09 playoffs

– Let’s start with Dan Girardi since he started the scoring in the game by deflecting a Kris Letang pass intended for Chris Kunitz right past Lundqvist in the second period. As soon as Lundqvist realized the puck had gone in, he turned to his left and looked behind the net where Girardi was sliding into the boards, and you could tell by Lundqvist’s body language he said, “Are you effing kidding me?” And if he didn’t say it, which I’m almost 100 percent sure he did, he was at least thinking it. After Girardi gave the Bruins a lead in the conference semis series last year by scoring against Lundqvist a handful of times, here he was again giving the desperate Penguins a 1-0 lead and easing their nerves and the nerves of the crowd who were potentially looking at heading to New York down 2-0 if the Rangers could win Game 2. It would be one thing if Girardi had deflected a puck in by trying to move someone from in front of the net or if some fluky shot or pass had gone off him and into the net, but this goal happened because Girardi thought sliding on the ice with his stick extended was a better defensive decision than picking up Kunitz in front and defending him. If Girardi had just played defense on Kunitz through the slot then he’s not sliding on the ice and his stick is never extended to block a pass or shot and the puck never touches his stick and deflects it in and the Penguins don’t score and it’s still 0-0. And after Girardi’s sloppy defense and his brain fart interference penalty, I only wish he had said in the postgame that he was either drunk or hungover during the game because then his performance would have made sense and I could forgive him.

– I’m not mad at Derek Dorsett for taking an untimely and undisciplined penalty with 4:52 left to play in a 1-0 game. That’s what Derek Dorsett does and that’s what should be expected of him when’s he in the lineup or on the ice. I blame Alain Vigneault for Dorsett’s penalty because he is the one who had Dorsett on the ice with 4:52 left in a 1-0 game. What is Dorsett going to do for you at the point in the game? Is he out there to give your top forwards a rest? I hope you’re not giving your top forwards a rest at that point. Do you think you’re going to catch lightning in a bottle and he’s going to score for you? I hope you’re not thinking that since he had four goals in 51 games this year, has 31 goals in 331 career regular-season games and no goals in 23 playoff games. So why was Dorsett on the ice there? The best-case scenario is that the score remains the same, but time, which is the only thing that mattered then, would have come off the clock while he was out there wasting it. And the worst-case scenario is that he would take a stupid penalty.

– It’s too bad James Neal still has four years to go after this season on his six-year deal with the Penguins because he would make a great Flyer. He has the perfect amount of “scum” about him and in his game to fit in Philadelphia.

– If Henrik Lundqvist doesn’t stand on his head for the entire game, there’s a chance this game could have been 19-0. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. It probably could have been worse than 19-0.

– Even though Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the game, the Rangers were never really in the game. They were dominated up and down the ice, the power play had another solid 0-for-4 showing and the Penguins outshot and outhit and won more draws than them. The Penguins played like a team that knew they had to win Game 2 and this game could have gone on for 20 more minutes or 200 more minutes of hockey and the Rangers were never going to score.

Thirteen consecutive losses with a series lead now for the Rangers. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than 29 consecutive power plays without a goal.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

May 2, 2014

The Yankees Lack Their Own Version of Evan Longoria

Evan Longoria puts fear into Yankees fans when he comes up, but the Yankees are lacking their own imposing figure they have always had.

Over Easter weekend, the Yankees were lucky to leave Tampa Bay with a series split despite winning the first game in the four-game series. The Yankees lost the second and third games of the series by a combined score 27-6, lost Ivan Nova to Tommy John surgery and had to have Dean Anna pitch. But that’s usually how things go for the Yankees at Tropicana Field.

With the Yankees and Rays playing a three-game series this weekend in the Bronx, Daniel Russell of DRaysBay joined me to talk about what’s been wrong with the Rays after a month, why Erik Bedard is part of the Rays’ rotation and if Rays fans miss Fernando Rodney in the bullpen.

Keefe: After beating up the Yankees on Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend, the Rays dropped six of seven before rebounding to sweep a doubleheader on Thursday in Boston. The Rays seem to have the same problem as the Yankees and Red Sox this season and that is scoring runs and scoring them consistently. For a team that has been built on strong starting pitching and a pesky lineup that will manufacture runs, what has been the Rays’ biggest problem after a month, or what has been your biggest problem with the Rays after a month?

Russell: So far the biggest issue for the Rays has been fielding a strong rotation. The Rays have always been very paranoid that they would suddenly lose all of their pitching depth, and that mindset is being confirmed through the first two months of the season.

The Rays held on to David Price, but injuries have plagued the other three mainstays. Alex Cobb looked poised for a monster year, but strained his oblique while batting in a National League game against the Reds. Jeremy Hellickson had loose bodies in his elbow he needed removed late in the winter, sidelining him until June. And of course, Matt Moore succumbed to Tommy John surgery. On top of that, one key player in the depth was Alex Colome, who was suspended for a veterinarian steroid, possibly used in his own recovery from an elbow injury.

Now the Rays are using a rotation that follows the depth chart as follows:
1. David Price
2. Alex Cobb
3. Matt Moore
4. Chris Archer
5. Jeremy Hellickson
6. Jake Odorizzi
7. Cesar Ramos
8. Erik Bedard
9. Nate Karns
10. Alex Colome

I placed him at the end, but Colome could arguably have been as high as eighth on the list.

Now the team is having trouble fielding a rotation that can make it through five innings per game, including two pitchers (Ramos and Bedard) who were still being stretched out. Each of their last starts were their first on the season without a pitch count limit.

The rotation is in dire straits.

Meanwhile, the positional players seem to be doing just fine. Wil Myers and a few role players like Logan Forsythe and Brandon Guyer are underperforming offensively, but the traditional combo of steady offense and superior defense have given the Rays position players the second-highest WAR in the American League.

Keefe: If you had success at some point in the majors, there’s likely to always be some sort of job for you out there. If you had some success at some point in the majors and you’re left-handed, there will always be a job for you. Erik Bedard is the perfect example of a guy who has been a decent pitcher and who has been plagued by injuries, but keeps finding work at the age of 35 as he is now on his fifth team in the last for years. And no one is a better posterboy for five innings, 100-plus pitches than Erik Bedard is.

Bedard seems like a guy who would have fit in with the pre-Maddon Rays or the Devil Rays era, but with the Rays building their success of the last six-plus seasons off dominant and young starting pitching, it’s weird to see him in the Rays’ rotation, even at just one-year, $1.15 million.

Is it odd that Bedard is taking up a rotation spot on the Rays? What are your expectations for him?

Russell: It certainly is odd, he placed third in the competition for the fifth-starter position during Spring Training and only stuck around on a minor league deal. He’s with the team due to desperation, at this point.

Bedard features heavy fastball use, both four-seam and two-seam, with differing change ups to match, and he can also throw a curve, slider, cutter, and probably an eephus. He’s wildly inconsistent with his control, so what each pitch will become is a mystery. That method can be effective, but it’s a dangerous game to play and personally infuriating to watch.

My expectations are for Bedard to last 100 innings and to do as Hanigan tells him to do.

Keefe: I don’t miss seeing Fernando Rodney pitching in the AL East for the Rays and against the Yankees, but this week I had to see him twice close the Yankees out as they lost both of their games against the Mariners.

I always felt confident when the Yankees had to come back late in a game and Rodney was on the mound as a member of the Tigers and Angels, but that changed when he went to the Rays, or at least for a year it did. Rodney had always been a guy who would men on base and try to escape save opportunities, but in 2012 he was as any closer for one year in history. Then in 2013 he sort of returned to being the pre-2012 Fernando Rodney and this season he has looked like his old self again.

I thought the Rays made the right decision not re-signing him and instead signing Grant Balfour to a two-year deal after he left via free agency a few years ago. But with Balfour’s early-season struggles, do you miss the crooked hat and the arrow-shooting Rodney?

Russell: The Rays were able to reign Rodney’s wild personality in two years ago, disciplining him into a consistent mound position while nurturing his quirky character. It paid dividends when he broke the major league record for reliever ERA, but the Rays knew he had the stuff to be a competent closer.

In 2013, however, he became his wily old self, moving about the mound and missing his spots too often. He sort of lost his poise, and the Rays favor a veteran presence on the mound in the ninth. Moving on from Rodney and his likely payday was understood.

Signing Balfour was no guarantee at the time, and to be honest I’m not sure what the Rays’ plan was before him, but I’m glad to have him back in a Rays uniform. He’s been inconsistent, allowing baserunners here or there, but the man is absolutely crazy and looks ready to murder.

In Game 1 of yesterday’s double header, Joe Maddon asked Balfour to walk David Ortiz with a man on second and two outs, but he just started barking at the skipper, demanding he pitch to Ortiz over and over until Maddon relented. Maddon said of it after the game: “He was so sincerely maniacally crazed and passionate about it that I chose to go ahead and do it. They call it the rage. but it was even a higher level than that.”

When you have a guy like that on the hill, he’ll get the job done. It might not be a 1-2-3 inning, but he’s reliable and crazed enough to make it happen. I’m glad he’s on board.

Keefe: After Miguel Cabrera, the last person I want up in the league against the Yankees is Evan Longoria. Longoria might not put up the numbers that Cabrera does, but against the Yankees, Longoria always seems to get a big hit or the big hit that eventually sends the Yankees to a loss. Manny Ramirez held the title for a long time and since I went to college in Boston, I always asked my friends who are Red Sox fans about which Yankees they feared the most at the plate.

So since I fear Longoria the second-most in the entire league, which Yankees do you fear the most?

Russell: I honestly don’t feel like the Yankees have that singular of a dominant figure in the lineup to have me shaking in my boots right now. It’s more a breadth of talented hitters, that classic collection of expensive bats, but no one really stands head and shoulders in the lineup or compared to the league. There’s certainly quality guys I’d rather not face — respectable hitters like Ellsbury, McCann, Beltran, Suzuki, and the impossible Jeter — but ahead of the series I’m not panicked.

If I had to pick one, I’d say Brett Gardner is the most intimidating guy in the lineup, definitely a difficult out whenever he comes up. It seems like if he isn’t striking out, he’s whipping around the bases. Who exactly Teixeira and Solarte are right now, and how to get them out is also an intriguing thought.

The Yankees just seem to wear you down with decent performances up and down the lineup. That’s why I’m excited to be facing guys like Johnson and Roberts and Ryan.

Keefe: The AL East is a gongshow. And by that, I mean right now all five teams are separated by three games and it seems like it’s going to continue to go that way for the entire season. No one looks ready to make a run or make a move and take a commanding lead in the division and injuries around the division are a big reason why.

Before the start of the season, I picked the Yankees to win the division, but had the Rays right there in it and as a wild-card team since nowadays the Rays are always in it. After a month of baseball, what are your expectations for the Rays and have they changed from how you felt before the season?

Russell: I’m impressed you thought the Yankees had the edge in claiming the division before the season began. The whole lot of teams are rather evenly matched right now, and it really does feel like a coin flip for the division between the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays.

Tampa Bay has some ground to make up in the win column, and Alex Cobb needs added back into the fold before I feel confident about taking the division, but taking both games of the double header in Fenway sure did wonders for the standings. Taking two more in the Bronx this weekend will be fun.

I don’t expect the Rays to leap forward and start leading the division in the coming month, but I do expect the team to stay competitive enough through June before they break away and lead the pack. The first two months are always wacky in this division, though, so who knows what could happen.