Sweep dreams? How about sweep and still weep?
With the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium’s third base dugout for the start of a three-game series tonight, everybody is jazzed over the resumption of the greatest rivalry in baseball between blood rivals.
What Yankees fans have conveniently forgotten is the Red Sox are not the only other team in the AL wild-card hunt. Boston led the Yankees by five games and the Twins by 1 1/2 after Minnesota’s 4-2 loss at Seattle last night. The Twins also are one game behind the White Sox in the AL Central.
Five games back with 32 left means the Yankees have to sweep three from the Red Sox, then negotiate a brutal schedule across the final 29 games that ends with three games at Fenway Park.
In other words, don’t cancel that order for pinstriped coffins – although Hank Steinbrenner, who last week admitted the Yankees were looking to next year, now believes in his team.
“If we put on a run here, there’s no question we can make it,” Steinbrenner said yesterday in Tampa. “There’s no question with the number of games we have left, it’s possible.”
According to Johnny Damon, having embalming fluid poured over them has kept the Yankees loose.
“We have been counted out so many times, May and recently, we have nothing to lose,” Damon said. “Hopefully (the Red Sox) are feeling the pressure, not only from us but from (others).”
Three straight wins over the pitching-putrid Orioles ignited hope throughout the Yankees’ universe that the club wasn’t toe-tag dead, that there would be an October after all.
Yet, do the math. And leave the AL East-leading Rays out of the equation, because the Yankees aren’t catching them.
The Red Sox, Twins and Yankees had 32 games remaining after Sunday; the White Sox had 31. If the Red Sox finish 16-16, they would have 91 wins. For the Yankees to win 91, they would have to go 21-11. If the Twins post a 16-16 record, they would get to 90 wins. If the White Sox go 16-15, they also would have 90 wins. For the Yankees to match that, they would have to go 20-12.
On the surface, the Yankees have a chance to post those numbers, but remember, the other clubs have to play .500 for the math to work. And it starts tonight against Boston.
“We don’t need to sweep, but we can’t afford to lose any more series this year,” said Andy Pettitte, tonight’s starter. “There is no reason this team shouldn’t be able to win series.”
The Yankees won’t face Red Sox ace Josh Beckett, who has numbness in his right hand, or 15-game winner Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched Sunday, but Sidney Ponson pitches the middle game between Pettitte and Mike Mussina. And that trio is 2-4 with a hefty 8.59 ERA in six starts against the Red Sox this season.
The Red Sox and Yankees have changed since they last played July 27 in Boston.
Manny Ramirez is a Dodger and Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo are on the disabled list. Jason Bay has played well in left field. Pudge Rodriguez (who will only catch Ponson) is a Yankee, Xavier Nady has been sent from heaven to The Bronx, Melky Cabrera paid the price for others not hitting and was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Hideki Matsui is the DH.
“We need to focus on ourselves,” Pettitte said. “We put ourselves in a tough position. Hopefully, we get extremely hot and (the other teams) don’t play well down the stretch.”