Don't Doom the Yankees Just Yet
In the Boston Globe, Dan Shaughnessy all but says the season is over.
When the Braves were at Fenway over the weekend, veteran Smoltz took a look at the Sox roster and the AL East standings and said, "I don't think they can be caught."
He's probably right.
Remarkable. It's not even June, and the Yanks are finished?
Granted, they're 9 1/2 behind a very good Sox team, and they've looked awful on numerous occasions, mediocre on a few more.
But as the Times rightly points out,
in 1978, the Yankees were 14 games out in late July. And we all know how that turned out. (If you don't, even more reason to read my forthcoming book on the 1978 pennant race, out next spring.)
Let's consider this Yankee lineup: Catcher Jorge Posada is leading the league in hitting, which won't last, but still..... At first base, Doug Mientkiewicz can't hit any worse than he is now. Robinson Cano will be a .300 hitter. Then come Jeter and A-Rod, both of whom are having great seasons. (Jeter is a marvel; he only seems to get better.) And in the outfield, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu are all better than they've been playing. What's going to happen when they start to click? Same with designated hitter Jason Giambi, the only man in baseball to apologize for using steroids.
Meanwhile, the Yankee pitching will come together, especially if these starters—Chien Ming-Wang, Andy Pettite, Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens—remain healthy. And rookie Phil Hughes will return from injury to win, I predict, ten games.
Pretty much everything that could wrong in a season has so far for the Yankees; that luck will change. While for the Red Sox, pretty much everything that can go right has...and that will also change.
Trust me, it's not over.
And even if it is, there's always the wild card, right?
