From
Jim Kaat:
It's never over 'til it's over, as a former great Yankee said years ago, but following the paths of the Big 3 in the AL East for the past month it's apparent that barring devastating injuries to a few key players, the Yankees have achieved what they set out to do when they shelled out the money to CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira in the offseason.
All three have found their rhythm and stride at the appropriate time. It takes a little time to adjust to the urgency of winning in the Bronx and it took a lot of successful Yankees in the past some time to feel comfortable (Tino Martinez, Jason Giambi and Paul O'Neill are examples who all reached their level of excellence over time).
Combine the pace the Yankees are on with the uncertainty in Boston, where I am residing for the summer and follow the fortunes of Red Sox Nation daily, and the inconsistency of the Tampa Bay Rays, and you have a formula for another AL East title and favorites to go on and get to the World Series.
I know postseason play is unpredictable, but there's more happening with the Yankees than the quality of their starting pitching.
• Alex Rodriguez's return made Teixeira a more relaxed hitter and it appears from a distance that he gets more hittable pitches with all the weapons in the Yankee lineup.
• The emergence of Phil Hughes as a solid seventh- and eighth-inning stopper to set up Mariano Rivera.
• A better-than-expected season from Derek Jeter and unexpected power from Johnny Damon.
The Yankees have too much in a lot of areas for any team to defeat them in a seven-game series.
If this was an election and I was a political analyst, I'd declare the Yankees the winner in the East and go so far as to say the ALCS and the favorites to win it all.
I have to agree with "Kitty" on this one.
6 Comments:
Yep. I feel the same way. Barring no major injuries, slumps, etc., we're going all the way.
Read it this morning. I must say, until its September I'm reluctant to declare us playoff bound at this time. One month is enough for anything to happen...remember the Mets 8 game lead that disapeared...
Yeah you're right. We can easily loose that 7.5 game lead if we get in a slump and Boston gets hot, but I don't really want to talk about that, because hopefully that doesn't happen.
Another thing about the Mets collapse. If we were to collapse, we'd have to have something monumental happen to us. The Mets weren't even the best team in the NL at that time, and didn't really have a strong rotation. The Yanks have a rotation than can hold up until September, and our team is very strong and to me, I think we'll be able to hold off the Sox.
We don't even have to win the series up in Fenway. If we win one game we would still be 5.5 games up, still a big enough lead to hold until October 4th. I don't even think they're thinking about the East, they need to focus on the Wild Card right now. Anythings possible, but still.
You make points but I always think back to what Derek Jeter said after 2003 and 2004. He said something along the lines of "It's not about the players you have on paper, its about who gets hot at the right time, we were hot over the summer, flat when we entered september and flat in October, that doesn't get you title now does it.."
I just hope they continue to play like this and that they can continue it well into the fall.
Of course the Sox could come back and win the division. Anything is possible. But for that to happen the Yankees would have to completely collapse while the Sox play .700 baseball. For that to happen the Yankees would have to suffer at least one major injury, probably two.
Think about it this way, if the yankees go 22-22 the rest of the way the redsox would have to go 30-15 just to tie!
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