HAL is the one Steinbrenner who speaks in sentences rather than headlines. Yesterday, following a lengthy pregame meeting in the manager’s office with Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman, Steinbrenner talked about what he perceives as the inalienable right of every Yankees fan.
“This is New York and the fans deserve a team with marquee players,” this Son of George said. “We all understand that.”
If New York fans deserve anything, it’s a team that gets the most out of what it has, not necessarily one filled with marquee names, though 1996 through the third game of the 2004 ALCS proves these are not mutually exclusive alternatives.
The Yankees have had enough marquee names that failed to deliver in the last three one-and-done playoff appearances. They have had enough big moment underachievers since Game 4 of the 2003 World Series to fill the largest marquee on Broadway.
It’s not about names. It’s about performance. And the moves that Cashman and the Yankees make leading up to the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline will be about filling holes efficiently, not necessarily making a big splash.
In other words, if the bridge to Mariano Rivera – which consists of low-grade planks like Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth – continues to perform with six-up and six-down as it did in yesterday’s 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Rays, maybe Cashman won’t feel the need to pay for a gold-plated piece of timber.
But a gold-plated piece of lumber, that might be something else again. The four-game winning streak that commenced with Rivera’s Houdini act allows the Yankees to remain relevant in the division and wild-card chases, but they aren’t scaring anybody.
Even revived, the Yankees have scored two runs or fewer in six of their last 10 games. Even yesterday, the Yankees were pretenders – 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, 0-for-9 after the first inning.
“It’s not like we’re looking for a corner that we can turn,” said Derek Jeter. “We played well earlier in the season, too, but you have to be consistent in order to know you have a good team.
“If we’re consistent, I like what I see.”
The Yankees won’t be consistent unless Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, last or next to last in essentially every meaningful offensive statistic at their respective positions, turn around their seasons. They probably won’t be consistent with Jose Molina filling out the bottom third of the order behind the C (Minus) Boys.
“We’re getting hits here and there, but our pitching staff is the reason we’re winning,” said Jeter. “If you pitch, you have a chance to win. It’s always been that way.”
Once, it was always the Yankees’ way to trade their brightest prospects for big names. That stopped long before the Yankees passed on Johan Santana this winter then on CC Sabathia and Rich Harden this week. Two deadlines ago, Cashman wouldn’t bite on Bobby Abreu until the Phillies lowered their price.
Girardi said that his meetings with Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman have been scheduled on a bi-weekly basis since spring training. He called Steinbrenner, “very calm.”
“It’s a three-way conversation,” the manager said. “We talk about the things we need to do to improve.
“There’s nothing magical in that room.”
Funny, we thought that Farnsworth’s about-face – yesterday’s scoreless eighth extended his string to six shutout innings in his last seven appearances – was a result of black magic.
The Yankees need a healthy and productive Hideki Matsui. They need Johnny Damon healthy and at his best. They need more production from center field and from second base. They need Jorge Posada to regain the pop in his arm as well as his bat so he can go back behind the plate.
They need Sidney Ponson, outstanding through six yesterday, to be this team’s 2005 Shawn Chacon. They need Chien-Ming Wang to come back and they need Philip Hughes to get healthy, or else they’re going to need some magic to come out of the conference room.
Four-game winning streak or not, that’s a lot of needs.