In a span of three days before the All-Star break the Yankees went from media darling and team juggernaut to second fiddle, inferior to the Red Sox and a potential third place team. I'm not exaggerating, I listen to sports talk radio for about seven hours a day and watch sports on TV for another three or four hours. When the Yankees moved into a tie with the Red Sox for first place the belief across the East coast was "how can the Red Sox not take advantage of such an easy schedule?" and "Wow, the Yankees are for real."
It would have been acceptable to believe the Yankees were for real for a while now. They were Vegas odds on favorites to win the series at the start of the season, they have the pieces, they were and still are near the top of the best division in baseball, they lead the Rays, and they have absolutely brutalized the central and west divisions. It's OK to admit the Yankees are a way above average team in 2009. For how much money they replaced on their payroll last year, it was to even be expected. Yet, the few critics remaining said "Oh gee, well they just swept the Twins, that's not impressive, they historically own the Twins." Let's see them beat up the Angels on the road.
Here's the thing about that: If you're going to discredit the Yankees for sweeping the Twins twice this season, that's fine. They DO own the Twins and they are one of the rare teams who beat Minnesota in their own home consistently too. But don't in the next breath say measuring the Yankees' success should be based on beating the ANGELS. They historically struggle the most against the Angels than any other team, ESPECIALLY in Los Angeles (five wins in the last three years). I generally try to throw away those two teams in terms of looking impressive or being upset if you win or lose to them and I'd rather take away things like how the team looks as a whole instead. The Yankees were swept and played bad baseball in LA, but they came away healthy and the offense was lively against good pitchers.
Conveniently, the same Red Sox who looked so pathetic at home against mediocre teams, woke up to take the final three from the Kansas City Royals (who pretty much mail it in after April, especially in a place like Fenway where everyone struggles), built a three-game lead and now all of a sudden they're in some other hemisphere again. If the Sox get swept out of the gates and the Yankees handle the first place Tigers, we repeat the cycle all over again. It's pretty ridiculous.
So what do the Yankees need to do? They need to come firing out of the gates starting on Friday. The Red Sox had their home stretch against teams they should have beaten up on. Until the final weekend, they failed.
The Yankees, meanwhile, took care of Seattle and Toronto then swept the Twins before the Angels made everyone forget all of that.
Now New York is at home again for a homestand to begin the second portion of the season. Right out of the gates they play the Tigers who are considered a "contender." The Yankees are said to be unable to beat "contenders" this year because they are 4-13 against the Red Sox, Angels and Detroit this season and have just two wins against LA and Boston combined. What bothers me is they're 2-1 against the Angels at home and 2-1 against the Tigers all year. And nobody, including myself, gives any credit to Texas for being a contender despite being just 1.5 games behind the Angels (another development only because of last weekend).
Most of that is the inexplicable 0-8 against the Red Sox where a tormented bullpen blew at least three games which should have been wins (Rivera's blown save, the 6-0 blown lead and the final game with Sabathia pitching). Yes, they are 0-8 against the Sox, it's a problem. We've been over this. But 2-4 against the Angels whom they had a losing record against even when they were 114-48 in 1998 and 2-1 against the Tigers doesn't sound like a team who can't beat anybody. Not to mention how the team beat up Texas and ran with the Rays when both teams didn't look as good as they do now. They have winning records against everyone in the league except the Angels and Red Sox. They are 4-4 against the Rays.If you're going to have a winning record against 11 of 13 teams who you will be competing against all season, wouldn't it make sense the two losing records might be against GOOD teams?
Beating the Tigers to open this portion of the season will go a long way. After that, it's the Orioles and Athletics for seven games at home. Would 7-3 be unreasonable? I think that's the starting point. A 6-4 record is acceptable, 7-3 is desirable, anything better is convincing.
Beat a good team, protect home field and beat up on inferior teams. New York has done two of three really well and have been misleadingly OK, but by no means good or great in the third category. After that nine game stretch, it's the Rays at the Trop, the White Sox and the Blue Jays on the road. Then Boston at home for what could be a crucial four game set. By August 10th you're going to know a few things about the Yankees:
Are they front-runners to win the division/wildcard?
Could they beat good teams consistently?
Did they rebound against the Red Sox in their first real home series of the year (longer than two games)?
Are they still relatively healthy?
I think when those questions are answered we will have a much better vantage point about the team and the critics will either multiply or back off. Each series from here on out means something, even if just a little. If the Yankees struggle against a bad team, they need to destroy a different one. It's a span of 23 games, seven against arch rivals, seven against division leaders, 14 home games and New York could be around 65 wins by then and just about 20 games over .500. The question is how will the Sox (Toronto, Texas, Baltimore twice, Oakland, Tampa, New York) and the Rays (Royals twice, White Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners) fair in the same span? The Sox seem to still have the easiest schedule, but they haven't been convincing against the Blue Jays, Oakland or Tampa and the Rays open on a road trip and the road hasn't been kind to them either.
These next 23 games are going to be bigger than anybody thinks.
Recent Comments