It's going to be a long summer for Yankees' manager Joe Girardi. "I don't believe guys forget to hit in a year" has been his stock answer to reporters after games this season. I guess he doesn't want to admit that maybe the real answer is "Some guys' skills erode in a year and they can't do it anymore."
Carlos Beltran has been hampered by a bad elbow. Still, it's hard to make excuses for a guy who has a .155 batting average with runners in scoring position. Brian McCann was never as good as Yankee brass insisted - comparing him to Thurman Munson was unfair, since McCann has never hit .300 and driven in 100 runs or more for three years in a row like Munson did.
Alfonso Soriano just isn't same player anymore; neither is Brian Roberts, Derek Jeter, or Ichiro Suzuki. To expect these guys to hit like they did ten years ago is unrealistic. It isn't that they have forgotten how to hit. It's just that they can't do it the same way anymore due to their advancing age.
The Yankees came into the night with 326 runs scored, 20th in the majors. You are what your record says you are, so unless guys start hitting a lot better, their current 41-41 record will be 81-81 when the 2014 season comes to a close.
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