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Even With Slow Start, Yankees Were Optimistic

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - In San Francisco for July's All-Star Game, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada fielded question after question about the imminent demise of the Yankees.

They didn't seem to mind, actually. They seemed to understand the concern.

This was, after all, a rarity among Yankees teams. Rather than reaching the All-Star break plowing through clean air as the undisputed American League East leaders, these Yankees found themselves barely able to see Boston's tail lights.

In fact, New York had struggled merely to reach .500 at the break (43-43) and stood 9 1/2 games out. This, after falling to a season-worst 21-29 on May 29 and trailing by 14 1/2 games, tied with the Devil Rays for last place in the division.

But then, on the other side of the wall in that hotel ballroom that July day in San Francisco were five of the six Red Sox All-Stars. Many of the questions they fielded also had to do with the Yankees.

Their answers then, back when a new division championship banner was virtually certain to grace Fenway Park, sounded a lot like the answer Boston shortstop Julio Lugo gave this past weekend as the Red Sox came to Tropicana Field desperately trying to hold off the surging Bronx Bombers in the AL East race.

'They're always a presence,' Lugo said. 'They're a good team. They never give up. They're always going to be there.'

It was true when the Yankees were in disarray back on May 29, when they shared last place in the division with the Rays.

It was true at the All-Star break, when Rodriguez, Jeter and Posada sounded the same note of optimism: There's still a lot of baseball to play.

And it's true today, as the Yankees come to Tropicana Field still within reach of a 10th consecutive division title, but more concerned with securing a postseason berth - something that can happen as soon as today.

'We're just playing baseball the way we wanted to play it from the beginning,' right-hander Mike Mussina told reporters in New York. 'We had a lot of struggles at the beginning of the season, and now with a week to go, we're in the position we wanted to be in. We're playing the game the way we wanted to play it and it's not anywhere close to the same team it was back in April and May.'

Indeed, there are a few different faces, most notably in the bullpen, where hard-throwing rookie Joba Chamberlain burst onto the scene when he was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 8. With a few minor bumps in the road, he has joined with ever-present, ever-effective closer Mariano Rivera to give Manager Joe Torre his much-coveted one-two punch in the late innings.

The same day Chamberlain joined the team, injured designated hitter Jason Giambi (foot) returned from the disabled list. Four days before that, injured rookie pitcher Philip Hughes came off the disabled list to fill in the huge gap at fifth starter that had plagued the team almost from the start of the season.

In addition, the Yanks have batted .298 with 106 home runs and outscored opponents 453-348 in going 48-23 since the All-Star break. No other team has scored 400 runs since the break.

From disarray in May to a September surge, the Yankees once again find themselves on familiar footing during the final week of the season.

'We've played well under pressure all year,' Torre told reporters in New York. 'The most important thing is to make sure we don't lose our edge.'

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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