Yankees' big June lead could still vanish, but the numbers are in our favor

Friends, Romans, Yankeefans,

I come to praise Caesar, not bury him, at least for now. Frankly, these days, I can hold up Yorick's skull, but I donno WTF to say.

1. If I rant, I'm Lady MacBeth. What's to rant? We own baseball's best record. Yeah, okay, Joey Gallo... altogether now, "Gallo hits balls with loving care..."  But rant? I'm sorry. They're giving Gallo a mile-long leash, just to see. One of these days, after some brutal loss, if he doesn't start hitting, he'll wake up - a truly Kafkaesque moment - as a San Diego Padre.

As long as we remain in first - far, far ahead - the Yankees can toy with Gallo and see what happens. Yesterday, it almost worked. He hit a big HR then reverted to the mouse in the pumpkin. The Yankiverse will be watching in Minnesota. If Joey goes 0-for-20, the doomsday clock is ticking. But no matter how deeply I try to summon Shakespearean bile, I cannot complain.

2. There is no lineup tweak to champion. The Yankees have five big reasons why tweaking the lineup doesn't matter. They are: Cole, Severino, Montgomery, Taillon and Cortez. Baseball's best rotation, for now. As long as they keep dominating - (and of course, we wonder if this can last) - it doesn't matter who leads off. Dopey Dildox can lead off. The Yankees are in every game. And they are playing like a team that expects to win.

3. We must dread the usual suspects - Toronto, Tampa and Boston. In the beginning, we mostly feared the Jays. Nothing has changed. We just won eight of ten, and they matched us, stride for stride. Meanwhile, Boston has finally reached the .500 mark. But they are 12 games behind - far more than a bad Fenway weekend series can make up.

4. Okay, let's do some math. The Yankees have played 54 games - exactly one third of the season. They have 108 left to play. If they merely play .500 ball - that is, they win 54 of those 108 - they 'll finish with 93 wins. 

Last year, they won 92, picking up the final Wild Card slot. 

This year, that would be hell. Anything less than winning the AL East would be a massive letdown. That means, over the final two-thirds of the season, we must at least go seven games over .500. 

That would give us 100 victories. Considering the tough AL East, it's hard to imagine Toronto or Tampa matching us. Certainly, not Boston.

The numbers favor us, especially if our pitching continues. Still, it's a long, long slog, and if we crumble, the joy of May could quickly vanish. 

Beginning June 14, about 10 days from now, we play nine straight games against Toronto and Tampa. 

That's when we'll know about Gallo, about our pitching, and about this team.

(A note to the Scottish Yankee fan. A friend of the blog would like to contact you. In a good way. If you read this, contact me at hseely@twcny.rr.com.)