Monday, June 11, 2007
Single Digits
So, 16 games later, the Yankees are exactly where they were when Boston left town and the Angels came in.
16 games ago, though, the mood wasn’t darker. By winning the series the team had seemingly preserved Torre and Cashman’s jobs for a little longer, kept themselves from falling completely out of the playoff picture, and kept alive the glimmer of hope that they could come back. But things still weren’t going all that well. They had just lost two of three in Shea, and 7 of their last 10 before hosting the Red Sox. Only Jeter, Matsui and Posada were hitting, and Bobby Abreu and Robby Cano looked flat-out DONE.
And then it got really bad. A sweep at home by the Angels, and two straight losses to the Blue Jays and the Yanks were 14 1/2 back… dead.
But now they’re back to 9 1/2, and while all that’s really happened in the standings is that Boston cut 16 games off their magic number, it looks a lot better than that.
Abreu is hitting, Cano is hitting, A-Rod is killing the ball again. Clemens is here, Clippard (except for yesterday) looks really good. Moose was great on Thursday, Pettitte continues to be great. Rivera is back. And, of course, they’re just a game below .500, compared to 3 below 16 games ago.
They’ve got momentum—Boston’s shed 5 games in the last week and a half, and while they still have a healthy lead, when you lose that many games that quickly you start to give a little more thought to the team behind you than the standings warrant. If the Yanks keep the pressure on, if they keep winning series, they’ll keep gaining ground. By the All-Star Break, they could be really, truly, legitimately in contention for the AL East title. They’re already in contention for the Wild Card again.
So that’s cause for optimism, but it’s not cause for celebration yet. They’re still 9 1/2 out, which is still a lot. Arizona is a dangerous team despite dropping two of three to the Red Sox this weekend, and if the Yankees cool off the D-Backs are good enough to sweep them—and a sweep would be utterly devastating. If they get strong pitching and the lineup keeps hitting, though, the Yanks can sweep them, too, so there’s both risk and opportunity. The Colorado team I watched win 2 of 3 in Baltimore this weekend is not a very good team. Boston should win at least two games and perhaps sweep, although their offense has been slumping severely the last week and that could help Colorado sneak out a couple of wins.
So the Yanks need to stay focused and not be too impressed with their own play. All we need? Oh, yes:
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