THE Yankees are trapped between the distress of last September and the distinction of last October. Their play so far in 2001 has been a hybrid of highlights and hijinks. Good enough to be on pace for 88 wins. Bad enough to be on pace for, well, 88 wins.
The Yankees won a division title with only 87 victories last year, which left the feeling they were on the decline. The Yankees won the World Series despite those 87 victories, which left the feeling they had the intangibles to turn on their best game when necessary.
They had the AL’s fifth-best record last year, yet got into the four-team AL playoffs because divisional configurations broke favorably for them. They have the AL’s fifth-best record now and would not get into the AL playoffs if the season ended today.
Of course, the season does not end today. A Red Sox-Yankees series begins. And so does an 11-game stretch exclusively against Boston and Cleveland that should provide further evidence of who these Yankees are.
Because through 44 games, the Yankees remain hard to read. They have not let their game decline to the extent of the 2001 Mets. And they have not been able to recapture anything close to the consistent brilliance of their past three postseasons. Instead, they linger in a middle ground that leaves them viable to fourpeat and vulnerable to falling short of October.
Will the historical elements that arrive with the first-place Red Sox stir the Yankees from their inconsistencies? Or is inconsistency as much a part of their game now as Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning?
The Yankees have five games against Boston in nine days and David Cone or Pedro Martinez are scheduled to start four of those games. If that does not awaken the Yankees, maybe nothing will in 2001.
Perhaps we will be wondering these same thoughts when the Yankees play seven games in 11 days against the Red Sox in Fenway Park, then Yankee Stadium from Aug. 31-Sept. 10; the unbalanced schedule underscoring uneven play right to the end.
Or maybe the Yankees will stop talking about that high quality of play they are capable of and actually start performing to that level. Walk the walk, rather than talk the talk.
And maybe a walk would be a good place to begin. The Yankees, in particular, appear diminished offensively by the new boundaries of the strike zone. This championship run has always been fueled by a keen eye that brought free passes, favorable counts in which to hit and prematurely exhausted starting pitchers.
These Yankees have not exhibited that kind of discipline and patience, which fits a disturbing trend for this team.
These are the Yankee walk totals through 44 games over the last five years: 1997, 209; 1998, 204; 1999, 184; 2000, 151; 2001, 128.
That is 23 fewer free base-runners from last year through 44 games and 81 from 1997. And that does not even begin to tell the story of favorable hitting counts, at-bats against tiring starters or how quickly the Yankees were getting opponents’ weak middle relief into games.
Why don’t we call this the Alfonso Soriano Syndrome, since the rookie second baseman has a 33-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Throw in Michael Coleman and the ratio becomes 48-to-1. Chuck Knoblauch, in the lineup to provide a leadoff eye, has walked one time in his last 13 games.
This all shortens the number of scoring opportunities the Yankees are getting and puts an extraordinary pressure on them to hit in clutch situations, which they have had trouble doing. The Yankees are hitting .252 with men in scoring position compared to an AL average of .264, and .226 with men in scoring position and two out compared to an AL average of .240 (these numbers are courtesy of Stats Inc.).
Essentially without the stolen base helping the Yankees steal runs, the offense would be in an even more abysmal state.
And the lack of offense is being exacerbated further by unacceptable defense. The Yankees gave Seattle 12 unearned runs in their six games. They are second in the AL in errors and passed balls, and are tied for fourth-worst in turning double plays. All of this puts extra strain on a pitching staff that was expected to be the Yankee strength.
We highlight plate patience and defense because both revolve around concentration. The Red Sox are in town, followed by trips to Cleveland and Boston, then back home for the Indians.
If this does not get the Yankees concentrating better and improving their play, it becomes more likely nothing will. It becomes more likely the Yankees lack that higher plateau and now exist merely with the rest of the good teams rather than off to an elite place of their own.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The Yankees have two weeks here to reveal themselves. Champs or charlatans. Incandescent or inconsistent. A team that can still find its best when necessary or a team that only thinks it can.