The Yankees are 29 games over .500. They have owned at least a tie of first place for 62 of the past 63 days. Their magic number to clinch a postseason berth sat at 34 heading into last night’s batch of games. There are a lot of teams with a lot of laments right now; the Yankees shouldn’t be one of them.
And yet they are a team with laments. It isn’t just the third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, finally shipped to the disabled list after yesterday’s 9-5 win over Seattle with a troublesome calf so that, in manager Joe Girardi’s words, “we have a healthy player in 15 days.” And it isn’t just that in a game against the lowly Mariners, Girardi felt compelled to call on Mariano Rivera for a four-out save because he trusted neither David Robertson nor Joba Chamberlain to preserve what, at the time, was a three-run lead.
No, the Yankees suddenly have issues with their starting pitching. Right now, this morning, there is just one member of the rotation who is completely worry-free, and that is CC Sabathia, who has 16 wins and sure looks to be sprinting toward the Yankees’ first Cy Young Award since He Who Shall Not Be Named won it in 2001. Sabathia is everything an ace should be and more, and his low maintenance is an especially welcome blessing now.
* There is Andy Pettitte, toiling on the DL, hoping to feel better before the weather starts to grow colder.
* There is A.J. Burnett, who officially has leapt from enigma to puzzle and is another poor outing or two away from reaching full-blown riddle-hood.
* There is Phil Hughes, 15 wins in the bank but too many innings in the tank, staring at a serious reduction in work on the near horizon.
* And, of course, there is Javier Vazquez, who was awful again yesterday in three-plus innings of work, whose fastball topped out at 88 mph after spending most of the day in the low- and mid-80s, who saw Russell Branyan plant an indifferent cutter into the fourth deck in right field in the first inning (first ball ever hit up there) and who served up a couple of other blasts to Ichiro Suzuki.
Who was, in short, horrid.
“I get behind in counts and I have no command, and good major league hitters are going to do that to you,” Vazquez said, in a tone that spoke either of frustration or of exasperation or of resignation, take your pick. “I don’t feel any differently than I’ve felt, to tell you the truth. It just wasn’t good today.”
It hasn’t been good lately for Vazquez, who has allowed 47 baserunners in his last 23 innings, an engraved invitation to Palookaville.
“His stuff wasn’t crisp,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, winning the prize for euphemism of the day.
OK, a deep breath: The Yankees aren’t in trouble, not yet. The Red Sox are in trouble. The Angels are in trouble. The Yankees have holes, they have issues, and that’s a big difference.
There still are 39 games in which to find two reliable hands to go behind Sabathia. That’s enough time for Pettitte to get healthy, enough time for Hughes to take his innings siesta and come back strong, enough time for either Burnett or Vazquez to book a return trip from whatever crazy force has hijacked the life and the reliability of their right arms. All of that can happen.
And it better happen, because this isn’t 1905, Sabathia can’t pitch every other day like Christy Mathewson, and it isn’t 1884, Sabthia can’t pitch every day like Old Hoss Radbourn. Even last year, Girardi was pushing it with three starters, but he was able to get away with it because Sabathia was brilliant and the Pettitte-Burnett combo was good enough.
Parlaying that a second year might be tough, but at this point the Yankees can’t afford to be greedy. Four October-ready starters would be splendid. Right now, the Yankees will settle for two. It’s a start.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com