It's getting late mighty early for the Bronx Bombers. Nine and a half games out of first, struggling to score runs and poised for six games with their two biggest rivals, the Yankees could be in better shape for such a challenge. Yes, they still have the most runs scored in all of baseball and they have a history of starting slowly before, as Ozzie Guillen said yesterday, you look up in August and see them in first place. It's still too soon to shovel dirt on the season but you have to wonder if Big Stein will feel that way if they drop even four of six to the Mets and Red Sox. Public relations matter and there's nothing more crucial on that front than games against these two teams.
It would be easier to feel ebullient about their chances if they weren't going to be trotting yet another rookie, likely Tyler Clippard, to the mound at Shea Stadium on Sunday. They've only scored more than three runs twice in the last seven games and all five times they've failed it's added up to a loss. And that was against the middling Mariners and the offensively impotent White Sox. The Mets, flying high after yesterday's five-run ninth stole a game from the Cubs, and Red Sox, flying even higher after taking two from the Tigers, are a different story. They'll face two lefties, against whom they've lost four straight times, at Shea and the Sox have already taken five of six this season.
The starting pitching has rebounded, the bullpen has thrown 15+ scoreless innings in a row and wins are still hard to find because the Bombers can't hit on all cylinders at the same time. They'll have to over the next half-dozen games or the Torre rumors will flare up and Roger Clemens will be coming to a team that won't support him offensively any better than the Astros did the last three seasons. It's hard to say that they need to win this many or that many games of the next six but more losses than wins will lead to back-page mutterings and it's hard to figure the team can stay at the current level much longer while still harboring serious playoff hopes.
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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