OK, so the Yankees won Monday’s game against Toronto. But what’s to keep them from having another post-Boston letdown?
Two weekends ago, the Yankees took two of three against the Red Sox in Fenway, playing three games filled with playoff pressure and postseason-esque intensity. Following that series, the Yankees prepared to face the mediocre Blue Jays – and promptly dropped two of three, allowing the Sox to re-emerge as division contenders.
Now the Yankees are once again coming off a pressure-packed weekend vs. Boston and ready to face lesser quality teams. Heading into last night, they were 3½ games up on the Sox and set to begin a three-game set with the beyond-awful Tigers (at 37-105, they have the worst record in baseball) and then four against the 57-84 Devil Rays.
It’s an almost identical scenario. But will the Yanks be able to avoid the post-Boston meltdown again?
“I think whenever you’re in a pennant race, you have to make sure you go out with your A-game,” John Flaherty said, adding that he was impressed with Monday’s win against a mediocre team in front of a small crowd. “I thought [Monday] was a great sign. We were able to go out and get the job done.”
“I’d be very surprised if we [looked past the Tigers],” Joe Torre added. “We have enough veterans to know we can’t take anyone for granted. There’s no easy mark. I know they’ve lost 100 games, but it doesn’t mean they’re not going to win sometimes. We have to work hard to win. We have to pitch well and we have to do what we do.”
The Yankee schedule from this point forward can’t be described as anything but easy. Heading into last night, the Yankees (86-56) had 20 games remaining. After the three with Detroit and the four against Tampa Bay, they play four more against Baltimore (66-77) before facing Tampa again for another three-game set. From there, it’s three against the Central-leading White Sox (perhaps the only team that should give them trouble) before finishing up with three more against Baltimore.
That, folks, is what’s referred to as cake. But the Yankees don’t sound worried about a slip-up. As Torre noted, it’s a veteran-driven team, one that’s been through this situation before.
“I don’t think [a letdown] should be an issue at all,” one of those veterans, Mariano Rivera, said. “We have to be worried about us and play the game we know how to play. It doesn’t matter if it’s Detroit, Baltimore, Tampa – you have to play hard.”
The only problem with the Yankees’ easy schedule is that Boston’s slate is only slightly tougher. Heading into last night, Boston (83-60) had 19 games left, and the opponents consisted of Baltimore (six games), the White Sox (three), Tampa Bay (seven) and 62-82 Cleveland (three).
The only opponent difference there is that the Yankees play Detroit, while the Sox face the Indians. But neither schedule is difficult, meaning that even if the Yankees go on a good run, they may not be able to put a lot of distance between them and Boston.
Still, to a man, the Yankees insist that they’re not concerned with Boston anyway. After all, they know it’s their division to lose.
“[The players] are going to scoreboard-watch,” Torre said. “But it doesn’t matter what [the Red Sox] do as long as we do what we need to do.”
Right now, that means taking care of business against the second-tier opponents.
