As the Season Heats Up, Jeter's Bat Remains Cool

As his team lost six of seven meetings with the Red Sox in April, Torre had his worries. Now, he's feeling better, thanks. "We've played well since then," said Torre. "We're better equipped to play the Red Sox now. We were not ready emotionally to play them [in April]. We were still forming as a team. I didn't feel that way then. But I see it in retrospect. A-Rod was trying so hard he couldn't see and [Gary Sheffield] was trying to pick him up."

In June, July and again in September, we'll see if the Yankees are "better equipped" against Boston. What can't be disputed is that their equipment is extremely lopsided. Since they built a House for Babe Ruth, the Yankees have built their teams to suit their asymmetrical ballpark where left-handed power hitters thrive and right-handed pitchers begin at a disadvantage.

So what have the '04 Yankees done? They've constructed, partly out of offseason desperation, a rotation with five right-handed pitchers. "Lack of left-handed starting pitching is not a problem in itself as long as you have enough quality right-handed pitching," said Torre, who has gotten little quality from Jose Contreras' six starts (7.56 ERA).

"Of course," he adds a little wistfully, "I've had [left-hander Andy] Pettitte the whole eight years I've been here."

More significant is the long-term impact of Yankee Stadium on A-Rod and Sheffield. Over the past six seasons, Rodriguez averaged 47 homers. How many right-handed batting Yankees have ever hit 47 homers?

None.

DiMaggio had 46 homers. Once. In 1937. He's the only right-handed Yank ever to hit 40 homers. Only two other right-handed Yankees ever hit more than 32 homers: Dave Winfield (37) and Alfonso Soriano (38). Those are staggering stats. In history, 162 right-handed hitters have hit 40 homers. Only one (DiMaggio) was a Yankee. They call it Death Valley for a reason.

Rodriguez has been hot for weeks, reaching base in 32 straight games, but he's "only" on a pace for 38 homers. Were his Texas totals -- an average of 52 homers a year -- a bit of a fluke? Was his five-season Seattle average (37) more realistic?

"That [Texas] park was so forgiving that sometimes you'd be rewarded when you shouldn't have been," said Rodriguez in Texas last weekend. "In New York, you have to become a more refined hitter."

Refined? Is that a euphemism for about 15 less homers a year than he had in Arlington?

As for Sheffield, who's playing with numerous nagging injuries, he's averaged over 35 homers a year for the past five seasons. "No park can hold me," he's said. But, so far, Yankee Stadium has contradicted him. Sheffield has a tiny three homers in 43 games and only one of them in Yankee Stadium. Big home parks change power hitters' swings. And that's seldom good.

So, as the season turns to summer, we have the perfect Yankee conundrum. What more could we ask? A year without the Yankees in the center of the pennant conversation is a bore. But a year in which they might conceivably have the biggest payroll in history yet miss the playoffs entirely is even more riveting. At the moment, both are perfectly plausible. And that's delicious.