FOR the Yankees, it’s back to being the bullies again.
Teams that don’t come close financially just don’t have a chance against them. That’s why the Yankees are so hated, but it is also why they are so good.
Since the All-Star break, the Yankees are back to their dominating ways because their offense has become a force again – and even though they don’t have the greatest bullpen during the Joe Torre era, they still have more arms than anyone else. Not to mention that Mariano Rivera is like no one else.
Do you think the Blue Jays would love to add a gifted arm like Armando Benitez? Of course they would, but Toronto is stuck on its $53 million payroll and can’t add contracts, only long shots.
The biggest reason the AL East is back to being an unfair fight is that the Yankee offense is again back to its P&P ways, that’s patient and pound. The reason for that is the Yankees are getting healthy. Once Nick Johnson returns, all the pieces of the puzzle will be in place.
Even though Bernie Williams has just one hit since the break, heading into last night’s game at the Stadium against the tattered Blue Jays, his presence in the four-spot makes the lineup that much more formidable.
Batting ahead of Williams is Jason Giambi, who is a new-age slugger. He’s not just a power hitter, but he is a power-walker, too. He is so disciplined and will make the pitcher work so hard that he sets the tone for the entire offense.
“I just love Giambi,” said Yankee VP Gene Michael. “The combination of patience and power is amazing.”
With Giambi hitting in front of Williams and Hideki Matsui hitting behind the switch-hitting guitar player, the offense is again perfectly balanced and perfectly wicked.
The formula for success is the same: The Yankees take the opposing starters deep into the count to get the pitch counts high and then work over the bullpens. It all added up to a six-run sixth inning in the 7-4 victory over the Indians Sunday. Until the break, the Yankees had been unable to put that plan into consistent action.
Against the rebuilding Indians, the Yankees scored 29 runs in four games. The interesting statistic is that 17 of those 29 runs came after the fifth inning. That tells you how much they are wearing down the starters and then beating up the bullpen. Because the Yankees are deeper than most teams in every area, they eventually wear you out.
“That’s the way we’ve played the game the last few years,” Mike Mussina said of the P&P philosophy.
Despite all the problems of this season, the 61-36 Yankees are a season-high 25 games over .500. They are as many games over .500 as the Mets are out of first place.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the Yankees’ success is that only two regulars are batting over .300. Derek Jeter, who has fine-tuned his swing to where he finally wants it to be after his comeback from a shoulder injury, is batting .319 while Hideki Matsui is clinging to a .301 mark.
The fear for Yankee fans is that the pitching and the offense do not have a lot of room for error and will run into the same problems the team faced last year in the first round of the playoffs against the Angels.
That’s possible, but this Yankee team seems just a bit sharper, a bit deeper and a bit more patient than last year’s bunch. It just has a better feel to it and there are several reasons for that. Matsui has been a perfect fit and is a tremendous upgrade from Juan Rivera while the Big Three of Giambi, Jeter and Rivera appear to have more of an edge to their games this season.
It is something you can sense and see.
