The Yankees' First Road Trip

One home run was the difference between a good road trip and a bad one. The Yankees were poised to go 4-2 against two good teams, the Twins and the Athetlics, with a two run lead in the ninth. But Marco Scutaro hit a game winning home run off Mariano Rivera, and they ended up going 3-3, still below .500 instead of above it. It's not a big difference this early, but the difference in feeling is noticeable.

The Yankees' situation has changed, although it's not much better. The starters have improved, going deeper into games, although it's hard to feel good about that situation when so many of them are on the disabled list. Of the first six starting pitchers on the depth chart, four are out with injuries. One of them (the sixth) may be back in time to start against Boston, but if he isn't, the Yankees will have to call up yet another pitcher to go. Chase Wright is pitching tonight, and he's only thrown two games above A level in the minor leagues. He's looked good in those two games, but you have to wonder how he'll fare against Cleveland's strong offense.

The bullpen has still been good, but they're still getting used too much early on. Starters did go deeper, but Mike Mussina had to leave a game early before hopping on the disabled list. He had a hamstring injury, same as young ace Chien-Ming Wang and outfielder Hideki Matsui, and with all the leg problems Yankees have had, I have to wonder if it's not the fault of their training program. The bullpen was also taxed in two straight extra-innings games, including one that went 13 innings. Thank god Jason Giambi hit a home run to win the second game, or else the sub-par road trip would look awful, with four straight losses. Giambi has started kind of slow this year, but he's showing he still has the ability to make big hits.

Most of the injured players should be back and ready by the end of the month, and hopefully the team will play well enough until then that they aren't in too deep of an early hole. With a healthy pitching staff and this offense, the team can really do damage this summer.