SIDNEY Ponson has waddled into the Yankees’ plans, a 12-step symbol that their rotation is, at best, a work in progress and, at worst, so bad that they have enlisted a pitcher with noted battles against the bulge, the bottle and his own brain.
Except maybe we should stop thinking the worst. Maybe we have become so addicted to putting the words “pitching problems” and “Yankees” in the same sentence that we haven’t noticed their problem is every American League team’s problem. In fact, the Yankees’ pitching ranks near the top of the league. It isn’t pretty, but in a land of ugly, the Yankees’ staff is less gruesome than most.
The White Sox, for example, were supposed to have it all over the Yanks pitching wise, especially out of the rotation. But that is not how it is playing out in real life. Chicago has five starters each making at least $7 million, yet only Jose Contreras has an ERA under 4.00. The second best mark in the rotation belongs to Mark Buehrle, whose ERA ballooned to 4.43 after being smashed for eight runs in three innings yesterday in the Yankees’ 14-3 rout.
Look, no one is trying to sell that the Yankees are blessed with a great rotation. They are not. They have age and fragility. But when healthy and pitching like they are at present, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, Chien-Ming Wang and Jaret Wright are better than adequate in comparison to the league.
The Tigers and Angels have had the AL’s best rotations. But Kenny Rogers is already showing signs of wilting for Detroit, and we still have to see how starters such as Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson deal with a full season of pressure pitching. As for the Angels, Kelvim Escobar was just placed on the DL with an elbow injury, Bartolo Colon is constantly battling shoulder troubles and if you want to fall in love with a member of the Weaver family, good luck, but I need to see more of Jered before I define him as the anti-Jeff.
The White Sox are winning because of their offense. Chicago GM Kenny Williams is willing to deal Freddy Garcia or Javier Vazquez because he desperately needs late-inning bullpen help and has a young starter, Brandon McCarthy, to slot into the rotation. But also because Garcia has a 4.91 ERA and Vazquez is at 5.07. Jon Garland, last year’s breakout revelation, has the majors’ seventh-worst ERA (5.37).
The Red Sox have many fine pitching elements, notably the comeback of Curt Schilling and the introduction of four impressive rookies – Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. However, Josh Beckett is finding AL life miserable. He sports a 5.12 ERA and has allowed a staggering 27 homers in 1141/3 innings. Plus Boston’s back of the rotation and veteran set-up men Rudy Seanez and Julian Tavarez have been flammable.
At present, the Yanks’ surest way to the playoffs would be to either outdo the Red Sox in the AL East or the White Sox for the wild card. And, despite all the dire words about Yankees pitching, they have done better in just about every important statistical category than either Sox.
“Our pitching has been OK,” Mussina said. “Most of the reason we are still standing despite all the injuries is pitching.”
Mussina is essential to that. He allowed three runs in six innings yesterday to improve to 11-3 and produce his AL-best 16th quality start. Johnson, working quicker and with more precision, authored seven strong innings the previous evening. The Yanks go for a sweep today with Wright, whose improved curveball, slider and command of his sinker have upgraded his game. With his 94 mph sinker, Wang is an efficient groundball machine.
Heeding Mariano Rivera’s advice, Kyle Farnsworth has been more aggressive and, thus, better recently, improving the overall glean of the pen. And, perhaps, Octavio Dotel will add depth soon. Again, it is all fragile with so much age and injury history. But the Yanks’ pitching is better than its reputation and better than most of the AL competition. They need Sidney Ponson to be a fifth starter, not a savior.
