Throughout the 2012 baseball season one statistic has dogged the New York Yankees: hitting with runners in scoring position.
It has been a weakness for the team all year and it reared its ugly head once again on Monday night as the Yankees fell 3-2 in Game 2 to the Baltimore Orioles. The series is now tied 1-1 and shifts back to Yankee Stadium in New York when the Orioles are 6-3 on the year.
In Monday's game the team was just 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson each had one hit with runners in scoring position, but Eduardo Nunez, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano combined to go 0-for-5 in those situations.
The Orioles on the other hand hit .500, going 3-for6 with runners in scoring position. The biggest hit was from first baseman Chris Davis, who drove in two runs with a single in the third.
"They were tough. We weren't able to get the big hits with runners in scoring position," Andy Pettitte said to the Associated Press. "It was a frustrating game and one you hate to lose. It would have been nice to get this one, that's for sure."
According to the NY Times, the Yankees are only 5-for16 with runners in scoring position and have left 18 men on base.
This is not a new problem for the Yankees. In 2011 the team left 11 batters on base in Game 5 against Detroit in the ALDS, which they lost, and spent this season batting only .263 in those situations.
"It's nothing to go crazy about," catcher Russell Martin said to the NY Times. "We're a good team and we're going to bounce back and give them a hard time back home."
Through the first two months of this season, the Yankees only hit .223 with runners in scoring position.
Rodriguez and Swisher have been struggling mightily throughout the playoffs so far, with the two hitting .111 and .167 respectively. Rodriguez has particularly struggled this series and through the end of the year. So far he has five strikeouts in nine at-bats during the playoffs and hit only three home runs in September.
"Some of these at-bats, you've just got to finish them," Rodriguez said to ESPNNewYork.com. "I'm going to keep attacking."
Yankee manager Joe Girardi has said he will not put Rodriguez lower in the batting order, but many critics think he should do so.
According to ESPN.com, Rodriguez had his worst regular-season OPS since he played in Seattle years ago after hitting .783 this year. It also states that he is 7-for-48 with 15 strikeouts in his last three playoff series.
"Right now, I don't plan on having any changes to our lineup," Girardi said according to ESPNNewYork.com. "You look at it, he squared two balls up tonight. You look at the ball he hit in the first inning, he squared it up. And then he had the other hard single. Right now, I don't have any plans to make any changes."
Rodriguez almost single-handedly hit the Yankees to the World Series in 2009, batting .365 with six home runs, 18 RBIs and a .808 slugging percentage. If the team hopes to advance to the next round, he will have to put up similar numbers, or at least marginally better numbers.
At 36-years-old Rodriguez is obviously older than he was in his prime, but when he is swinging the bat well he can still inflict damage.
Rodriguez hasn't hit a home run since Sept. 14 against Tampa Bay and has only one extra-base hit since Sept. 6 at Baltimore. Without his usual power, the middle of the Yankee lineup has a black hole in it, allowing pitchers to attack Rodriguez and not give him what he wants to hit. He has seen 23 pitches so far and has swung and missed on 11 of them.
He still is an elite player when it comes to identifying pitches, but if his power stroke doesn't return soon, it will be another early exit for the Yankees.
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