Yankees need a lockdown Soriano-Rivera
Only the Yankees can afford a $35- million setup man. But they can't afford for him to be as bad as Rafael Soriano has been so far.
Soriano was supposed to create a lockdown end-of-game tandem with Mariano Rivera. Instead he's been the second coming of Kyle Farnsworth: ineffective and unlikable.
Entrusted with a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning Tuesday night, Soriano hit Carlos Quentin with one out, then allowed a two-run home run to Paul Konerko. Boos filled the air at Yankee Stadium.
Judging by the jeers in the Stadium and the comments on message boards, Yankees fans have not warmed up to Soriano, which is appropriate because he hasn't proven to be a particularly warm and fuzzy guy. Not that it would matter if he were pitching like he did last season. But he isn't.
Soriano has a 7.84 ERA and has allowed nine runs in 10 1/3 innings. Last season, he allowed 12 earned runs in 65 1/3 innings for the Rays as he led the American League in saves with 45.
"It hasn't been easy for me," he said. "I'm trying to figure out how I can do the same like I did last year."
The Yankees did their darnedest to rally in the ninth, but Brent Lillibridge -- the pinch runner for Quentin who was making his eighth career appearance in rightfield -- made back-to-back outstanding catches for the final two outs of the Yankees' 3-2 defeat.
The Yankees signed Soriano to be their eighth-inning guy over the objections of general manager Brian Cashman, who made those objections public at the news conference to introduce Soriano to New York -- with Soriano standing on the other side of the room.
It was an awkward moment, but now it seems perfectly fitting. Everything about Soriano's first few months as a Yankee has been awkward. If he were 6-10 and lefthanded, you'd almost expect Soriano to push a camera away from his face as Randy Johnson did on his first day in New York. Johnson is a future Hall of Famer and he never got comfortable in pinstripes.
Already, Soriano has proved to be prickly and particular, which was his reputation. He told the Yankees he didn't want to pitch against AL East teams in spring training and was annoyed when he was scheduled to face one (they quickly unscheduled it).
He didn't speak to the media after his first bad regular-season outing, earning a talking-to from agent Scott Boras and Cashman (he apologized the next day, saying he was too upset with himself to talk and didn't even pick up the phone when his mother called).
Soriano was the first player in front of his locker Tuesday night, so at least that message has gotten through. He said the pitch to Konerko was "a little bit high. I tried to go down and away and the ball was high."
He complained about two ball calls made by plate umpire Greg Gibson. He said his back, which caused him to miss Sunday's game, wasn't an issue. He said pitching in the eighth inning instead of the ninth has been a bigger adjustment than pitching in New York.
"It's been a little different for me, being the closer then being the setup man," he said. "Bad day. Bad month. I'll take it and come back next month and see what happens."
What the Yankees need to happen is for Soriano and Rivera -- who has blown his last two save chances -- to give them an air of invincibility late in games. They don't have enough starting pitching to win big otherwise.
"Sori's going to be fine," Alex Rodriguez said.
He better be.
