The Rotation Is The Key

From Jay Greenberg:

Functionally, the true drama of this 8-2 spurt has been dramatically improved pitching that had knocked .53 runs per game off the Yankees’ ERA. But having contractually obligated themselves to $243 million between CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett over the next seven years, an ERA of 5.32 hardly is what the Yankees are paying for.

This means that Sabathia’s game tonight needs to be as good as his last two and better than the two before that. Means, too, that Burnett needs four out of five starts to be good ones, not one out of two.

Greenberg is spot on here. If the Yankees get the performances that you would expect from their rotation, they could go on an amazing run from this point. With Wang returning, the Yankees should have 5 pitchers that you expect to give at least 6 innings each time out. With Mariano in the 9th and Bruney coming back for the 8th, the better members of the bullpen such as Coke, Aceves, and Marte should be able to handle getting three outs a night. This would limit the only discernible weakness on the club while allowing the Yankees to leave Joba Chamberlain in the role best suited to him and Phil Hughes in the minors. The season revolves around the rotation, and it looks like that portion of the club is starting to come around.

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