Sweeny Says: Yankees Turning Point

New York, NY (WFAN)  -- I don’t know if this is when the Yankees will finally start to turn it around, but it’s as good a time as any isn’t it?

Over the next three weeks the Yankees play at Oakland and Houston, then home for San Diego and Cincinnati. They visit Pittsburgh before coming home for the Mets and Rangers. Before the season, did you think any of those teams were better than the Yankees? No. So the answer is simple. This is when the Yankees have to move over .500 for good and play like a playoff contender is supposed to play.

Last year the Yankees didn’t turn it on until July. One of these years the pistons won’t fire and this team will be playing out the string in September. Too early to tell you if that will be the case this year. All indications are that the Yankees have enough to hang in this race. I didn’t say lead it, I said hang in it. They could keep hanging around and hope that their final push comes in time for it to count, or they could pull a Big Brown and bring up the rear. I don’t think it’s going to get that drastic though.

Here’s one thing that scares me a little. After the All-Star break last year the Yankees took off because the lefty hitters all started hitting again, including Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. Well these two guys are already among the league leaders in hitting. So now who are we talking about? Well, Robinson Cano still has to get hot. He did for a little while, but he’s capable of so much more. Melky Cabrera has leveled off a bit (hitting only .250 since May 1st) and still doesn’t have a great on-base percentage (.321 through Tuesday). Derek Jeter’s OBP isn’t great right now either (.328 through Tuesday), far below his normal level. I would think he needs to have a good run here soon too.

But regardless of those offensive issues, the Yankees are scoring runs again, more than 5 runs per game since A-Rod came back. He’s personally driven in a run per game since coming back (21 RBIs in 21 games). But the pitching has let the Yankees down, and it has less to do with Joba than you think.

Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte are the aces of this team and need to start pitching like them. Tuesday night was a big step back for Wang. Mike Mussina has already given you 9 wins, which is more than any of us could have expected. Joba Chamberlain will start getting decisions very soon, now that his pitch count is reaching the point where it is no longer a major issue. He will be a good starter. It probably won’t feel like it’s good enough because of the build-up, but let’s try to keep an open mind. Darrell Rasner has been the perfect 5th starter to this point. He gives you innings and on most nights will leave the team with a chance to win. That’s all you can ask.

I know the bullpen has issues, and that’s where we get into this Joba thing again. But even if Joba had stayed there, it was going to take more than him. It takes a lot more to get through a successful winning season than just 2 guys in the bullpen. That back end combo of Joba and Rivera was keeping the Yankees afloat, but they could not have ridden those two arms all the way to 95 wins. Other pitchers are needed to step up, and if it’s not Farnsworth or Hawkins then it will have to be Veras or Ohlendorf, or whoever becomes available at the trade deadline. Maybe there is an answer and maybe there isn’t. But if nobody else steps up, it will not have mattered what Joba ended up doing.

This next three weeks may not have any affect at all on the Yankees season. Maybe they stay right at that .500 level and crank it up at some other point. But last weekend’s series with the Royals, when they split 4 games with one of the worst teams in the league...moments like that will keep sticking with you all season as the Yankees try to reach back for that something extra. You just hope it will be there when they need it.

• Jason Giambi is still hated by the fans here in Oakland, but the boos have grown quieter over the years. I still remember his first trip back here in 2002. What a zoo this place was. It felt like a Raiders game.
  
  Giambi spoke to reporters before Tuesday’s game and you can tell his recent hot streak has him feeling good. He’s talking about playing beyond this contract, which expires after this season. Two years ago it would have seemed impossible given his physical condition. But the body has held up so far. Of course, he will have to go somewhere else…no chance he comes back to the Yankees.


• Johnny Damon just looks like a different player this year, doesn’t he? He admitted to thoughts of retirement last year and that was due mainly to the shape his body was in. But like Giambi, Damon’s health has allowed his game to return to what we remember. And that’s a pretty good thing for the Yankees. Melky Cabrera may be ready to play centerfield, but he’s not ready to be a leadoff hitter. And as well as Brett Gardner is playing at AAA Scranton, doing that every day in the majors is another matter altogether. The Yankees have needed every bit of Damon this year.


• Phil Hughes has not yet been cleared to begin his rehab activities. That may happen this week, but even if it does we’re now talking about after the All-Star break, not by the All-Star break. If there is any delay in getting him going again, it could even be August before we see Hughes again. This is not the way the Yankees drew it up this year.


• And if you thought Hughes was young (he turns 22 in a couple weeks), check this out. Gerrit Cole, the high school pitcher the Yankees chose in the first round of the draft last week is 17 years old. He was born in 1990. On a conference call with reporters last week, Cole spoke of being a wide-eyed youngster during the 2001 World Series when he happened upon Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter in the team hotel in Arizona. Being from Orange County, he said he knew of Phil Hughes and saw Hughes pitch in high school, while he himself was still a Little Leaguer.
  
  And this is where I begin to feel the difference after 8 years on the beat. The 2001 Yankees (my first year on the beat) had 21 players suit up at some point that season who were older than me. The 2008 edition features only two such players (Mussina and Rivera). And now I’m interviewing the awestruck 11-year old I probably saw in the hotel lobby that day.


• Wait a second. I think Big Brown just finished.


• Mark Feinsand of the Daily News and his wife Dena welcomed their second child Tuesday night. Their second son, Zack Dylan Feinsand, joins 3-year-old Ryan Feinsand. Zack Dylan…I guess they couldn’t make up their mind which TV show was better, Saved By The Bell or 90210. At least they didn’t go with Screech Brandon Feinsand.

Thanks for reading. Send comments and questions to yankees@wfan.com.

Sweeny