THE Yankees are bracing for the coming hurricane. The plywood is covering the windows. The essentials are stored.
The nametag Yankees brought Gabe White to The Bronx yesterday and Felix Heredia was claimed off waivers from the Reds. On the day the Yankees took their team picture, the pitching picture is ever changing with the addition of the two lefty relievers.
There is good reason for that. The Red Sox are coming. The arms have to be effective as Andy Pettitte was last night in the 5-2 victory over the baseball-challenged Orioles at the Stadium. Baltimore committed three errors, lost balls in the moonlight, hit three batters, suffered two passed balls and still the Yankees needed Alfonso Soriano’s fourth hit of the night, a two-run single in the ninth to manage some breathing room for Pettitte’s 16th victory.
The Yankee bullpen was solid, except for Jeff Weaver, who surrendered a home run to Larry Bigbie in the eighth, a goodbye pitch for Weaver, who figures to be sent to the minors today. Mariano Rivera came on to get the final four outs in typical Mo fashion for his 28th save.
Joe Torre said he was curious to see the first-place White Sox come to town tonight, but come Friday in Boston, the season kicks off at Fenway with those other darn Sawx. Following their four-game sweep of the Mariners, the Red Sox, who are five back, have made this a showdown series. The two teams are on a collision course to meet in the ALCS, 25 years after the memorable playoff game in 1978.
Brian Cashman’s moves are gearing up for the Red Sox – especially the Red Sox at home.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jeff Nelson said of this weekend’s series. With the Yanks leading, 2-1 in the seventh, Nelson came on to retire Baltimore’s Jeff Conine on a weak fly to right with the tying runner on first. Nelson had been sequestered on the West Coast until Cashman retrieved him for Armando Benitez in the bullpen merry-go-round. “There’s nothing like East Coast baseball,” he said with a smile.
Derek Jeter, of course, knows Everything Baseball and all season has repeated these words: “The Red Sox can hit.”
He knows they can really hit at home. Check out the head-spinning numbers.
Even though the Red Sox have played one more game on the road than at home, they have scored nearly 100 more runs at home. They’ve scored 441 runs at Fenway (6.8 per game) and 344 (5.2 per game) away from the Green Monster.
At home, Boston is hitting .323 and on the road .259. Its slugging percentage at home is a muscular .539, .456 on the road. And we’re not talking home runs. The Red Sox have figured it out and are hitting the gaps for doubles and triples at home, where they have 87 home runs, compared to 103 on the road.
As for on-base percentage, young GM Theo Epstein’s Holy Grail of statistics, the Red Sox own a .399 on base percentage at Fenway and a .322 mark on the road. No wonder the Red Sox are 44-21 at home and a 32-34 on the road.
For the Yankees to beat the Red Sox in Boston in the post-season, they must out-slug them and have enough pitching to keep Boston from breaking away.
That’s why the Yankees need every available quality arm and that is why Torre is happy to add White, who was on a rehab assignment, and Heredia, an addition he said was a pleasant surprise.
This comes on the heels of getting Jose Contreras back. It will be Contreras making Friday’s start. “They are a great team,” Contreras said of the Sox, “but I’m comfortable. That atmosphere there helps remind you to put your all into every single pitch.”
Torre noted, “I like the fact we have this many positive options going into the last five weeks of the season. You can’t have too much pitching.”
Especially in Boston.