Redialing Mr. Steinbrenner

I've heard some talk about how the Yankees' start this year is considerably better than last year's 11-19 and thus no casue for concern, let alone action. Two points. First and most obvious, last year didn't turn out so well. Struggling heroically to make the playoffs is not necessarily the best plan for winning the playoffs. Second and more important, last year the Yankees really struggled in every phase of the game. The pitching was below expectation, the hitting was weak, the fielding was as always egregious. This year Jouhnson has pitched to expectations, Mussina has considerably exceeded them. Chacon has been off, but he's still 1-1; only Wang has dissapointed. Meanwhile everybody is hitting. Jeter's at .351, Arod's over 300, as is Williams, Posada, Sheffield and Cano. Giambi's near the lead league in both on base and slugging percentage. Damon's under 300 but his obp is fine. And they are still losing with stunning regularity. A slump is a slump and it is bound to put your situational hitting down the crapper. But when the team is statistically on fire and the situational hitting is still down the crapper, you have one of those situations that defies sabremetric rationality and makes baseball the compelling game it is--i.e. there is a small, undecidable gap between achieving, even as a team, and winning. You can occasionally do the later without doing the former (see the 1996 Yankees) and you can certainly do the former without doing the latter (see the Yankees today). In baseball, you see, there are winners and there are losers.

It's time for the Yankees to confront what they are fast becoming.