Looking at the Yankees in the last five or six days and we see a team that is out of sync. Well it is about time. For the last month the Yankees have been fighting a valiant battle against the forces of nature, including Mother Nature. Injuries and illness have been mounting on the Yankees as fast as Joe Torre changes his relief pitchers. Until Wednesday, of this past week, the Yankees were winning that battle. Winning with a mixture of recruits from their minor league ranks and the walking wounded from their commissioned veterans. Button pushing was not an option.
Two wins to start a four game series at home against the rival Red Sox, this past week, and the Yankees and their fans were feeling pretty good about themselves. Things were falling the Yankees way even though their captain, Derek Jeter, was on the shelf with a bruised thumb on his throwing hand. Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez were recovering from a stomach virus. Robinson Cano, Melky Caberra and Andy Phillips were stepping up to the plate and delivering and playing some stellar defense. Miguel Cairo was filling in at short and third, also putting in some quality at bats and playing solid defense. Then Mother Nature stepped in and we all know you don’t fool Mother Nature.
Wednesday the rains came and cancelled a game and momentum. With that it also washed away the Yankee fans confidence that this new Yankee team look was the wave of the future. One that could capture the magic of that 1996 season. Four losses will command soul searching for any good team. This is still a good team and character has to be nurtured.
The present Yankee squad is a very good mix of some seasoned championship veterans, All-Stars, and rookies who are hungry. With a coaching staff that is second to none in experience, why be concerned? Well, for one, they have huge problems with all but one aspect of their pitching staff. Mariano Rivera. Unfortunately Mariano cannot start, or relieve himself (other than bathroom breaks) for three innings and close the game. Otherwise the Yankees could weather out this passing storm without pushing any panic buttons.
With the cross town Mets starting to look like a World Series caliber team I sense fingers of Yankee fans searching for the delete, panic and quick fix buttons. You know the ones. They are as big as Stienbrenner’s payroll. I’m hoping that Yankee brass, Cahsman,The Boss, whoever, are restraining from reading the media and fan reaction then doing something stupid. Yankee pitching is the problem and that should be the focus for improvement by management. Forget about adding corner outfielders who are thumpers at the expense of young talent. The veterans will produce and the rookies will follow. We’ve experienced that so why rock the boat. It will happen again.
It has been suggested that Randy Johnson go into the bull pen and pitch long or short relief. Hard to do at his age and at this point of his career. Intriguing thought though, but that won’t happen. With Octavio Dotel in the shadows his performance alone could have a ironing effect on the whole bull pen. That is of course if he comes back and pitches like his talent allows him. Big if.
The Yankees are hovering around first place and no American League East team seems capable of running away from the pact. There are still six weeks left to the trading deadline. By then, the teams who are willing to dump players and salaries will be well known. At that time the Yankees will have a very good idea of how well this current group of players will mesh. I subscribe to the patience theory here. After all, come late August and September the Yankees could have a very formidable bench with the return of Matsui and or Sheffield, although I think it is a stretch to include Sheffield here.
Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi and Damon will all come around and the rest will follow. Pitching, pitching, pitching that is the problem and has been the problem for four or five years. So let management focus and address those issues and back off the panic button when it comes to offense. Don’t be pressured into media and fan reaction for once. This is still a quality team with the foundation to be a contender for many years.
