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Yankees' midseason report


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BY ANTHONY McCARRON

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Viewed from the outside, it's hard to imagine that anything has gone seriously wrong for a team that's only 2 1/2 games out of first at the All-Star break. But these are the $200 million Yankees and all those Steinbrenner bucks were supposed to purchase a record far better than 46-40.

Last year at the break, the Yankees were 55-31 and led the AL East by seven games. Now the best thing you can say about their season is that no opponent ran away with the division race while the Yankees were stinking their way through the season's early months. That brings us to No. 1 in our look at five things that went right and five that went wrong in the first half of the Yankee season.

Five things that went right

Somehow, they're still in it: If the Yanks were in the same division with the White Sox, they would be 11 games out, but Boston and Baltimore were unable to take advantage of the Yankees' swoon. Now the pinstripers control their own destiny starting with four games at Fenway after the break.

The kids are (better than) all right: Turns out, the Yankees do have useful players in their farm system. Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang have injected life into a stale club and both could contend for Rookie of the Year. Cano could finish with 35 doubles and Wang could win 12 or 13 games.

Mariano Rivera: Everyone in Yankeeland was jarred when the closer got rocked by Boston early and he still has problems with the Red Sox. But Mo since has proven he is the old Mo. The Yankees just aren't getting him enough work.

Jason Giambi: A while back, the Yankees tried to bury the struggling Giambi in the minors and he balked. Now, thanks to a recent surge, he's a feel-good story and everyone is praising his work ethic. He still has a ways to go before he's the player he once was, though.

Hitting: It's laughable when the Yankees talk about being a scrappy on-base club built on pitching and fielding when they have the best lineup in baseball. They have scored more runs (478) than any team in the majors and have the AL's leading run scorer, Derek Jeter. A-Rod seems to be A-Rod again and Gary Sheffield, Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui give the Yanks one of the beefiest 3-4-5 combos around.

Five things that went wrong

Rotation: A day before the All-Star break, GM Brian Cashman said that fixing the rotation was paramount for the Yanks, who have only three healthy starters. Only one of those - Wang - is showing much consistency and he has a lower ERA (3.89) than high-profile starters Randy Johnson (4.16) and Mike Mussina (3.97). Carl Pavano has been an expensive disappointment - he is 82nd of 106 qualifiers in the majors with a 4.77 ERA - and now he's hurt. How good will he or Kevin Brown be when they return? Will we ever see Jaret Wright again?

Middle relief: Three veterans - Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton - already are gone and Joe Torre is sifting through unknowns Wayne Franklin, Jason Anderson and Scott Proctor to see who can help dependable Tom Gordon and Tanyon Sturtze get the ball to Rivera. If that doesn't work, what then?

Tony Womack: To be fair, he's been jerked around by the Yankees, who signed him to be their second baseman and then abruptly shifted him to the outfield. Still, he's having one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball, which might be related to the first point. Womack has a .276 on-base percentage, one extra-base hit since May 13 and five all season. He does have 20 steals, but 14 were in May, including eight in two games.

The outfield: There is a significant hole in center, which is trouble when only Randy Johnson (when he's on) is a strikeout pitcher. Melky Cabrera, who began the season in Double-A, started the final four games of the first half in center on a tryout basis but encountered the same problems that Bernie Williams has had this year. Womack is no center fielder and the cost for an upgrade outside the organization seems steep now. Carlos Beltran has not lit up the National League as a Met, but the idea of him gliding across center field must look pretty appealing to the Yankees right now.

Inconsistency: The Yankees have looked great at times, winning 16 of 18 at one point, and awful, starting 11-19, stumbling through another stretch at 3-11. Instead of playing with the cohesion that marked past clubs, they are now the team equivalent of old homer-or-whiff sluggers such as Gorman Thomas or Dave Kingman: Everyone is clicking and they mash an opponent and win several in a row, or they all stumble and go into a tailspin. Which is the real team? The Yankees better sort it out soon or they will be home in October.

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BY ANTHONY McCARRON

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Viewed from the outside, it's hard to imagine that anything has gone seriously wrong for a team that's only 2 1/2 games out of first at the All-Star break. But these are the $200 million Yankees and all those Steinbrenner bucks were supposed to purchase a record far better than 46-40.

Last year at the break, the Yankees were 55-31 and led the AL East by seven games. Now the best thing you can say about their season is that no opponent ran away with the division race while the Yankees were stinking their way through the season's early months. That brings us to No. 1 in our look at five things that went right and five that went wrong in the first half of the Yankee season.

Five things that went right

Somehow, they're still in it: If the Yanks were in the same division with the White Sox, they would be 11 games out, but Boston and Baltimore were unable to take advantage of the Yankees' swoon. Now the pinstripers control their own destiny starting with four games at Fenway after the break.

The kids are (better than) all right: Turns out, the Yankees do have useful players in their farm system. Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang have injected life into a stale club and both could contend for Rookie of the Year. Cano could finish with 35 doubles and Wang could win 12 or 13 games.

Mariano Rivera: Everyone in Yankeeland was jarred when the closer got rocked by Boston early and he still has problems with the Red Sox. But Mo since has proven he is the old Mo. The Yankees just aren't getting him enough work.

Jason Giambi: A while back, the Yankees tried to bury the struggling Giambi in the minors and he balked. Now, thanks to a recent surge, he's a feel-good story and everyone is praising his work ethic. He still has a ways to go before he's the player he once was, though.

Hitting: It's laughable when the Yankees talk about being a scrappy on-base club built on pitching and fielding when they have the best lineup in baseball. They have scored more runs (478) than any team in the majors and have the AL's leading run scorer, Derek Jeter. A-Rod seems to be A-Rod again and Gary Sheffield, Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui give the Yanks one of the beefiest 3-4-5 combos around.

Five things that went wrong

Rotation: A day before the All-Star break, GM Brian Cashman said that fixing the rotation was paramount for the Yanks, who have only three healthy starters. Only one of those - Wang - is showing much consistency and he has a lower ERA (3.89) than high-profile starters Randy Johnson (4.16) and Mike Mussina (3.97). Carl Pavano has been an expensive disappointment - he is 82nd of 106 qualifiers in the majors with a 4.77 ERA - and now he's hurt. How good will he or Kevin Brown be when they return? Will we ever see Jaret Wright again?

Middle relief: Three veterans - Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton - already are gone and Joe Torre is sifting through unknowns Wayne Franklin, Jason Anderson and Scott Proctor to see who can help dependable Tom Gordon and Tanyon Sturtze get the ball to Rivera. If that doesn't work, what then?

Tony Womack: To be fair, he's been jerked around by the Yankees, who signed him to be their second baseman and then abruptly shifted him to the outfield. Still, he's having one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball, which might be related to the first point. Womack has a .276 on-base percentage, one extra-base hit since May 13 and five all season. He does have 20 steals, but 14 were in May, including eight in two games.

The outfield: There is a significant hole in center, which is trouble when only Randy Johnson (when he's on) is a strikeout pitcher. Melky Cabrera, who began the season in Double-A, started the final four games of the first half in center on a tryout basis but encountered the same problems that Bernie Williams has had this year. Womack is no center fielder and the cost for an upgrade outside the organization seems steep now. Carlos Beltran has not lit up the National League as a Met, but the idea of him gliding across center field must look pretty appealing to the Yankees right now.

Inconsistency: The Yankees have looked great at times, winning 16 of 18 at one point, and awful, starting 11-19, stumbling through another stretch at 3-11. Instead of playing with the cohesion that marked past clubs, they are now the team equivalent of old homer-or-whiff sluggers such as Gorman Thomas or Dave Kingman: Everyone is clicking and they mash an opponent and win several in a row, or they all stumble and go into a tailspin. Which is the real team? The Yankees better sort it out soon or they will be home in October.

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The last point is huge. The Yankees have to become more consistent! These winning streaks are making out for a lot of lost time.

But you can't rely on getting hit and winning 10 in a row all the time!

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