Wednesday, August 22, 2007
We’ll Meet on the Ledge
It is the ways and means of this particular Yankee season that when I receive an email inquiring about my satisfaction over New York’s good play of late (as I did on Monday morning from one of my loyal readers), the message is rendered obsolete in the matter of hours, if not minutes.
In less than 72 hours, the Yankees have gone from one of their most convincing and impressive games of the season on Sunday versus the Detroit to resembling a car that is careening out of control on three tires on one of those windy highway stretches on the California coast.
It is a stark contrast and a lesson in juxtaposition. The kind this season has offered from the very beginning. It’s been a wild ride, to be sure, but it doesn’t do much for the big picture of things.
The Yankees are now six games behind the Red Sox, unable to break the four-game barrier in consecutive weeks now. And more relevant to the team’s post-season hopes, the Mariners are rolling and have pushed the Wild Card lead about as far as the Yankees can allow now: four games in the loss column. Due to Seattle’s upcoming schedule, I will give the Yankees one more game of slack to fall further behind this week, but that’s where I draw the line. Going beyond a five-game loss column deficit could make for a restless and potentially hopeless September.
Here is the potentially pit-fallish stretch of games for the Mariners that I referenced above. After a soft-ballish four-game series at Texas, which wraps up this Sunday, Seattle hosts the Angels for three games. And that’s where the fun begins.
August 27-29: vs. LAAnaheim
August 30: at Cleveland (no off-day here, it’s a make-up of a postponed game earlier in the season)
August 31-Sept. 2: at Toronto
Sept. 3-Sept. 5: at New York (circle the calendar now, boys & girls)
Finally an off-day on September 6.
Sept. 7-9: at Detroit
The Yankees need to be no worse than 2 games behind Seattle (or whoever is in 1st in the Wild Card at that point) on the morning of September 10, and then let the rest of the course of the schedule play out.
Is that a modest expectation?
I don’t think so. The Yankees still have one more game in their own Haunted Mansion tonight vs. the Angels, then travel to Comerica for four games and then host Boston for three games.
Being 2 games out at that point means they would’ve at least held their heads above water during this stretch, and it ensures a meaningful final three weeks of the regular season.
The schedule favors the Yankees over the Mariners when it comes to September, but not the Indians and Tigers.
Games against .500 or better teams in September, as of August 22, 2007:
Mariners: 16
Yankees: 13
Indians: 11
Tigers: 7
And for the Yankee stalwarts who are trying to keep a death-grip on the division title, here is some sobering news for you. The Red Sox play nine games against teams with .500 records right now in September. Six against Toronto and three against the Yankees.
It’s called salting things away.
It is the ways and means of this particular Yankee season that when I receive an email inquiring about my satisfaction over New York’s good play of late (as I did on Monday morning from one of my loyal readers), the message is rendered obsolete in the matter of hours, if not minutes.
In less than 72 hours, the Yankees have gone from one of their most convincing and impressive games of the season on Sunday versus the Detroit to resembling a car that is careening out of control on three tires on one of those windy highway stretches on the California coast.
It is a stark contrast and a lesson in juxtaposition. The kind this season has offered from the very beginning. It’s been a wild ride, to be sure, but it doesn’t do much for the big picture of things.
The Yankees are now six games behind the Red Sox, unable to break the four-game barrier in consecutive weeks now. And more relevant to the team’s post-season hopes, the Mariners are rolling and have pushed the Wild Card lead about as far as the Yankees can allow now: four games in the loss column. Due to Seattle’s upcoming schedule, I will give the Yankees one more game of slack to fall further behind this week, but that’s where I draw the line. Going beyond a five-game loss column deficit could make for a restless and potentially hopeless September.
Here is the potentially pit-fallish stretch of games for the Mariners that I referenced above. After a soft-ballish four-game series at Texas, which wraps up this Sunday, Seattle hosts the Angels for three games. And that’s where the fun begins.
August 27-29: vs. LAAnaheim
August 30: at Cleveland (no off-day here, it’s a make-up of a postponed game earlier in the season)
August 31-Sept. 2: at Toronto
Sept. 3-Sept. 5: at New York (circle the calendar now, boys & girls)
Finally an off-day on September 6.
Sept. 7-9: at Detroit
The Yankees need to be no worse than 2 games behind Seattle (or whoever is in 1st in the Wild Card at that point) on the morning of September 10, and then let the rest of the course of the schedule play out.
Is that a modest expectation?
I don’t think so. The Yankees still have one more game in their own Haunted Mansion tonight vs. the Angels, then travel to Comerica for four games and then host Boston for three games.
Being 2 games out at that point means they would’ve at least held their heads above water during this stretch, and it ensures a meaningful final three weeks of the regular season.
The schedule favors the Yankees over the Mariners when it comes to September, but not the Indians and Tigers.
Games against .500 or better teams in September, as of August 22, 2007:
Mariners: 16
Yankees: 13
Indians: 11
Tigers: 7
And for the Yankee stalwarts who are trying to keep a death-grip on the division title, here is some sobering news for you. The Red Sox play nine games against teams with .500 records right now in September. Six against Toronto and three against the Yankees.
It’s called salting things away.
