E-Mail This Article to a Friend Right on the money (continued)

Not surprisingly, New York righted the ship somewhat, but it was far from the unbeatable all-star team that many folks envisioned, and on May 22 they were only 24-18 and yet to regain first place in the AL East from their neighbors to the north.

The Yanks were dealing with Jeter’s struggles at the plate, Jose Contreras was so ineffective that he was sent down to Triple-A Columbus for a brief time, and back-up first baseman Travis Lee had season-ending shoulder surgery, but things began to turn when the team won 10 of 11 heading into June, overtaking the Sox on May 31 to take the division lead.

As Boston stumbled, the Yankees began to play like the $183-million team that they were. After going 8-4 in interleague play, New York continued to build its advantage in the AL East, and the lead stood at five-and-a-half games — the biggest lead either team had held to that point — when the Sox came to town for a three-game mid-week series on June 29. The 11-3 pounding Tuesday was nice, the 4-2 come-from-behind victory was even sweeter, but no triumph was as exhilarating to the home team and devastating to the visitors as the Yanks’ 5-4, 13-inning win in the series finale. After blowing a 3-0 lead, New York fell behind 4-3 in the top of the 13th, only to rally with a pair of two-out runs — ignited by non-superstars Ruben Sierra, Miguel Cairo, and John Flaherty — to complete the sweep. The divisional lead was now eight-and-a-half, and would grow by a couple more games in the coming weeks as the Red Sox continued to play .500 ball and the Empire Staters took advantage of the schedule, and over the next fortnight easily dominated the likes of the Tigers, Devil Rays, and Blue Jays.

New York was 60-34 when it made its second visit of the season to Fenway Park in late July, and its lead in the East was nearly 10 after snuffing out a late Sox rally and edging the home team, 8-7 in extra frames on Friday night. But fisticuffs and a game-winning home run by Boston’s Bill Mueller off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth gave the home team a 11-10 victory, and the Sox took the rubber game the following night to cut the East deficit to seven-and-a-half. The series victory may have given hope to Sox fans, but two weeks later the Yanks’ lead was back up to 10-and-a-half, and most pundits had already handed the Steinbrenner AC the divisional crown weeks before. The "race," for all intents and purposes, was over, by August 15. New York was 33 games above .500; the Nomar Garciaparra–less Red Sox were a lackluster 64-52.

Or so we thought. Storm clouds had been lurking for the Yankees throughout the summer, as the team had to (not surprisingly) deal with Brown’s arm problems, Mussina’s elbow woes, Sheffield’s increasingly sore shoulder, a mysterious illness that sidelined Giambi, and the ineffectiveness of starter Esteban Loaiza, who had been acquired by the team when it sent Contreras to the White Sox. Fortunately, the Red Sox failed to take advantage, and New York had enough depth to offset most of the voids in the roster. Nonetheless, Boston began to turn the tables on Monday, August 16th, and while the Yankees weren’t exactly stinkin’ up the joint, it was tough to match the Sox’ 20-2 run that was culminated by series sweeps of West powerhouses Anaheim and Oakland. Eight-and-a-half games had been made up by the Bostonians in just over three weeks’ time, and the Yanks’ deficit was only two games on September 9.

But just when it seemed that the two teams were truly heading in opposite directions, the Yankees bounced back from a painful 3-2 loss in the opener of last weekend’s match-up in the Bronx to pound Boston by double-digit margins both Saturday and Sunday. By the time the humbled Red Sox boarded the Acela back home, they were again four-and-a-half games behind New York, and the division race seemed like it truly was over. How the Yankees proceed the rest of the way is difficult to gauge, but we do know that prior to the team’s subtle rejuvenation, Yankees starters had struggled to secure a win for nearly a three-week period leading into September, and that elder statesman Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez was the closest thing to an ace that the team threw out there. In addition, both Baltimore (14, on Sept. 10) and Cleveland (22 on Aug. 31) — neither known as an offensive juggernaut — established season-highs in runs against the supposed pitching-rich Yankees in recent weeks (and KC posted 17 — which was, unbelievably, not a season-high for the cellar-dwelling Royals — on Sept. 13).

Nonetheless, what shaped up as a runaway victory for the New York Yankees and yet another runners-up spot (for a record seventh straight season) for the Boston Red Sox did for a while tighten up considerably, and given Brown’s continued rehabilitation after breaking his non-pitching hand, the Yankees are still hurting for effective starting pitching. In addition, as of this writing the Yanks’ three preeminent relievers are all among the top six in the AL in appearances, with Quantrill and Gordon one-two and Rivera at number-six. None of these guys is a young buck, and Yankee fans are right to fear that they might have been overused.

Add to that the pain that Sheffield is playing through, and while he continues to be remarkably effective — and likely the team MVP — it’s not getting any better and could even force a shut-down at the worst possible opportunity. And don’t forget that Vazquez, Brown, and Jon Lieber haven’t exactly been pitching lights-out baseball the last few weeks, and Loaiza’s proven to be a certified bust.

It’s difficult to speculate how the rest of the divisional race and the upcoming playoffs will unfold, but New Yorkers can’t help but (reluctantly) face their team’s shortcomings and acknowledge their rival’s recent hot streak as the two teams head down the back stretch of the 2004 regular-season race.

At the five-eighths pole, it was no longer a horse race; heading for home, the Yankees of today will need every single ounce of good fortune out of their lucky horseshoes (and their $183-million payroll) to make it back to the World Series and perhaps even the winner’s circle.

Right now, though, it doesn’t look like they have the horses. And who could have imagined that last April?

Christopher Young writes the twice-weekly "Sporting Eye" column on this site.