THE Red Sox won’t go away. On a pace to score more than 1000 runs, threatening a .300 team batting average, where would they go, except to second on one hit, to home the next, often skipping the first step of that relentless process.
Boston, down four games leaving Yankee Stadium on July 7, has it back to 2 ½ and is carrying on, never mind three generations of bad memories jammed into suitcases carried around by New Englanders. They are about as conditioned to beating the Yanks in the end as Rich Garces ever was to go nine. But all packed for another three pulse-raising days at Fenway yesterday, Joe Torre says never has it been a question of the Red Sox packing it in.
“I don’t think it’s character,” said the Yankee manager. “I think they have the mettle.
“Offensively, they are better than they’ve been. What has hurt them in the past is the depth of their pitching. It does catch up to you over 162 games.”
Teams that can’t keep themselves in games four nights out of five get worn down by a process that is as grim as the look on 40-year old Roger Clemens’ face yesterday trying to get his ball down through four painful innings, and as taxing on a bullpen as Jeff Weaver’s start Sunday night figures to be.
The Yankees have produced the third most runs in the AL despite absences of 37 games by Derek Jeter and 42 by Bernie Williams. But they head to Boston with starting pitching undistinguished after Mike Mussina and barely distinguishable from Boston’s.
Only 21 months ago, Yankee starters could crank it up high enough to outpitch a Seattle staff that had just anchored a 116-win season. Now, with Clemens looking 40, with Weaver being booed off the mound, the relentless five-day cycles threaten to grind the Yankees down, too, like teams they have been leaving in their wayside.
Look at the matchups for the weekend. The Yankees have a clear edge in only one, when Mussina (11-6, 3.30) goes against John Burkett (8-4, 5.25) tomorrow. David Wells (12-3, 3.83) pitches against Pedro Martinez (7-2, 2.21) tonight. Weaver (5-8, 5.40) opposes Derek Lowe (11-4, 4.85) Sunday.
Of course, the difference between the teams remains in the abilities of Mariano Rivera and Byung-Hyun Kim to close. But last October’s starters meltdown against Anaheim begs the question of whether a Yankee starter other than Mussina can hold a playoff lineup to two runs or fewer over seven innings, routinely done in outpitching even Atlanta twice to win four World Series in five years.
“It all will be run out at the end of the year and we’ll make an evaluation,” said Torre. “But I think we have more depth (in starters) than a lot of teams.
“Everyone but Pettitte has been a No. 1 guy somewhere and Andy has pitched Game One of a World Series. That’s the only reason I think we have an advantage, because of the numbers.”
The numbers have the Yankees with a 4.06 ERA, fifth best in the American League, almost a half-run a game better than Boston’s but significantly higher than potential playoff foes Oakland (3.67) and Seattle (3.71).
Clemens, who has won only two of his last 10 starts, still gives his team a chance most games, but his best days are just good now, not great. His decision to retire this fall is the right one. But first he will pitch in another post-season, following Mussina and probably ahead of Pettitte, currently on a roll he hasn’t always sustained, and Wells, who has gotten a lot of run support on the way to 12-3.
It’s still a good rotation, just no longer a great one, not that Anaheim had one, just a deep bullpen, which is another story, that doesn’t promise a happy ending for the 2003 Yankees as they go for a 100-game diagnostic check at Fenway.
