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Revitalized pitching gives
Yankees renewed hope
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NEW YORK — This is either a cruel tease or the start of a
welcome trend.
This is a mirage or a sight to behold. This is something you
can’t trust with your own eyes, or maybe what you’re
watching is real.
This is Yankees pitching at its very best, at a time when they need
it most.
If this continues, they’re a complete team. Of course,
that’s the principal issue with the Yankees and their faulty
rotation, isn’t it? Nobody knows if their pitchers can keep
it going or for how long. A possible World Series title is riding
on a staff that gets clobbered often, makes Manager Joe Torre
fidget, lacks a true No. 1 starter and doesn’t scare
anyone.
But here the Yankees are, two-thirds through an important weekend
series with the Red Sox, and their pitching performance has come a
Kenny Lofton hustle away from being solid.
Actually, you must travel back a week in time, when they tossed
back-to-back shutouts against the Royals, to understand where this
stretch began.
Javier Vazquez provided some inspiration and confidence. So did
Mike Mussina and Tanyon Sturtze and Tom Gordon and Orlando
Hernandez and Saturday, Jon Lieber, who came seven outs away from a
no-hitter.
“We can score runs,” said third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
“We’re a totally different team when we get pitching
like that.”
On a day that began gloomily, both outside and inside the Yankees
clubhouse, a morale boost was provided by a Yankees pitcher who was
like all the rest: unpredictable and unreliable. The Yankees
staggered into Yankee Stadium Saturday just 12 hours after being
demoralized by a Red Sox comeback win in the ninth inning, but left
the field on a high. Some of it had to do with a run-producing
batting order that jumped on Boston from the get-go and sucked the
suspense from the ballpark. Most had to do with Lieber, who was
refreshingly brilliant and silenced the second-best offensive team
in baseball.
“Jon was the story,” A-Rod said.
Lieber struck out seven and mystified the Red Sox until David Ortiz
broke the spell and the no-hitter with a homer in the seventh.
More importantly, Lieber won his third straight decision, a fever
that’s suddenly catching. In their last four games, Yankees
starting pitchers are 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA. And there’s a fair
chance the Yankees would be going for a sweep of the Red Sox today
had Lofton dove for the game-winning single Friday instead of
watching the ball and closer Mariano Rivera take a fall.
Sunday afternoon, the Yankees will get a better measure of where
their pitching stands. They’ll throw Mussina against Pedro
Martinez in a matchup that’s closer than it was a month ago.
That’s because Mussina is healthy and also playoff-ready if
his last two starts, both convincing victories, mean anything.
“Moose has thrown well,” Rodriguez said. “We feel
good about it.”
How long has it been since the Yankees felt even remotely
comfortable with their pitching? You must go back to June. Of
2003.
Certainly not this season, when getting quality pitching has been a
struggle. Fortunately for the Yankees, they’ve generated
enough runs and whipped enough crummy teams to compile the best
record in the American League and keep a 3 12-game lead on the Red
Sox. As you know, however, they won’t play the Devil Rays in
two weeks. The postseason demands that either you pitch well, or
prepare for an early exit.
Blessed with a lineup that can produce runs, the Yankees pitchers
don’t need to reach the level of the Pedro Martinezes or Curt
Schillings. But they must give the team a chance to win. El Duque
seems up to the task. Same for Mussina. The question is whether
Kevin Brown and his damaged non-throwing hand is done for the year,
and if so, whether Vazquez or Lieber can replace him.
These are important days for Torre, who’s making final
decisions on Jason Giambi and Lofton as he gets a handle on the
team he’ll take into the postseason. No issue is more
important than pitching, and Torre is absorbing what he sees in
order to answer the big question: Whom can I trust? “The
whole thing is a test,” Torre said.
Lieber aced one Saturday. Helped, no doubt, by a five-run
first-inning lead, he frustrated Red Sox hitters one-by-one. He
agreed that it was his finest performance in a big spot since
recovering from Tommy John surgery two years ago. He doesn’t
have enough quality starts against quality teams to make you
totally believe in him. But can he give the Yankees a chance to win
a postseason game? A team that desperately needs better starting
pitching might whisper: Perhaps.
“We know what we’re capable of doing,” Lieber
said. “The key is to go out and make our pitches.”
Sounds simple. Seems hard.
haun Powell
Newsday
