BALTIMORE — The symbols for the Red Sox’s historic September collapse last year became fried chicken and beer.
But Boston did not collapse because of a high-calorie diet. The Red Sox died because of a high-ERA rotation. They folded because then-manager Terry Francona had few trustworthy choices as his starting pitchers went 4-13 with a 7.08 ERA in the final month of the 2011 season. That led to an overexposure of the Red Sox bullpen and a pressure on the offense to outscore all of those pitching mistakes.
It created a formula for a disaster that hasn’t exactly stopped giving in 2012.
It is a formula we will watch here with the Yankees, who already have blown their double-digit AL East lead and are trying to regenerate to win the division and spare themselves the humiliation of possibly falling all the way out of the playoffs.
And it starts at the start.
Phil Hughes had one of those outings last night in an 8-5 triumph over Baltimore that both excited and discouraged as a very good effort was soiled, yet again, by the righty’s inability to keep his opponent in the park and keep a game completely under control.
CC Sabathia gets a chance tonight not only to extend what is again a one-game AL East lead, but also to re-establish that there is an ace within his huge frame. There is a pretty good chance Ivan Nova will come off the disabled list tomorrow to start the finale of this four-game series against the Orioles. Andy Pettitte goes to the doctor Monday to get approval to speed up his rehab from a fractured ankle.
So maybe sometime soon the Yankees rotation will be whole and be providing quality length, a building block to survive this month and get to the finish line ahead in the AL East. But would you bet on all of this: Trusting Hughes and Nova, believing in the aging lefty arms of Sabathia and Pettitte, expecting David Phelps or Freddy Garcia to right themselves to effectiveness? In the end last year, the Red Sox couldn’t even trust Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, who were supposed to be their answer against any prolonged misery.
Just as with that Boston squad, we keep waiting, expecting a serial, proven contender such as the Yankees to find the “on” switch to get going. But it hasn’t happened yet.
Instead, the Yankees have had a disturbingly similar bad start, great middle, troubling ending to the 2011 Red Sox. The Yankees opened 21-21, followed with a 36-13 spurt and now are 21-26 in their past 47 games even after last night’s triumph. The common denominator in that 36-13 run in the middle was health and excellence from the rotation.
“When we were winning consistently all of our starters were clicking,” Hughes said. “When that happens, problems have a way of going away.”
Hughes escaped a troublesome first inning last night, aided by a brilliant catch retreating into center by Robinson Cano and he blanked Baltimore for five innings. He attacked with fastballs to get ahead and then used his slider and changeup in concert more than perhaps any other start to keep the heat-seeking Orioles lineup docile.
But cruising with a 7-0 lead, Hughes followed a Nick Swisher error at first by yielding a double to Nate McLouth. Adam Jones clobbered the next pitch for a three-run homer. It was the 33rd homer allowed this year by Hughes. Only Ralph Terry (40, 1962) and Orlando Hernandez (34, 2000) have surrendered more in a season with the Yankees. An optimist will note the Yankees won the World Series in both 1962 and 2000. But a realist will ask how the Yankees can believe in a pitcher like Hughes in the biggest upcoming moments when he has a penchant to let the opposition back into games with long balls?
By the end — after solo homers by Robert Andino and Manny Machado against the bullpen — the Yankees again were dealing with tension, not a laugher. The Yankees’ last 10 wins have been by three runs or fewer. They haven’t won by more than that since Aug. 13, which coincides with the last time they were able to put consecutive wins together. Sabathia has the chance to do that for the Yankees tonight, with the ball in his left hand and likely Mark Teixeira back behind him.
There is opportunity to give the Yankees momentum, a sense that the rotation is going to be an asset over the next few weeks, not a Red Sox-ian nightmare. This is not about fried chicken and beer. It is about starting pitching.