Only Nine And A Half Now

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Only Nine And A Half Now

By Jack Lepiarz
Jun. 11, 2007

Anyone who has known me for any length of time will tell you that I love the New York Yankees. It's been a few years since my favorite player retired and it's been an extra year since they won the world series, and as much as I was saying that they were a sure bet to win the World Series at the start of this season, I may have to reconsider those statements.

A not so great April turned into a not so great May. There were condolences here and there (taking four out of six from the Red Sox for example), but for the most part, the news was, well, pretty bad.

The Yankees now stand at 30-31 and second place in the American League East. I'm not worried. They are nine and a half games out of first with no signs that the Red Sox are slowing down. I'm not worried. And of course, their next six games are against two of the best teams from the National League. Once again, I'm not worried. It's very easy to count the Yankees out based on the fact that they trail by such a huge margin, or the fact that the Red Sox seem so unbeatable. Why's that you ask? Well, a lot of Yankees fans like to point back to 1978 when the Yanks were 14 games back in mid-July and came back to win the division, the pennant, and the World Series. I'm not.

You don't need to go that far back to see similar situations to what we have today. I keep saying that Red Sox fans have notoriously short memories, because for nearly every single season over the last ten years, the Red Sox have been in first place until about July or August. After that, the Yankees heat up, the Red Sox cool down, and the two trade places. If you don't believe me, it happened just last year. It happened in 2005. It happened in 2004 (although there was some ugly business after that which I won't discuss). It happened in 1998, '99, 2000, even 2001. It's almost like clockwork.

Now, it's true that the Yankees weren't doing this badly in those years, but it's also true that the Yankees haven't ever had to use ten different starters before May 15th. It's also true that the Yankees have never had every single starter injure himself in the first month of play.

What I think we'll start to see as time goes on is improved play from the New York Yankees, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're as little as four or five games back by the end of this month. Every team slumps and rallies. The Yankees just got out of their slump, it's only a matter of time before the Sox fall into theirs.

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About the author: Jack Lepiarz is an 18-year-old college student at Emerson College in Boston. He also co-hosts the Katherine and Jack Show on UthTV.com and has been performing various circus talents for the past several years. Though often described as stubborn and egotistical, he tries to keep an open mind and treat others the way he would like to be treated.

Email: Jackwuzhere42@aol.com

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