Here we are at the break and things really are just about where they’ve been for a while for the Yanks. They’re ten games behind Boston, A-Rod is still red hot, Jeter and Posada are playing with veteran determination, the starting pitching is getting screwed in the win column, the rest of the team can’t hit much in clutch situations and the middle relief is scarier than Rosanne Barr at a wet tee-shirt contest. The only real difference these days is that after the Yankees’ hot early-June (where they got to within 7.5 games of Boston), Yankee-hater nation has been much quieter, perhaps not wanting to jinx a good thing.

The Yanks at times are listless and at other times insanely talented as they revealed in their 12-0 thrashing of the LA Angels yesterday. One minute you want to swear them off, the next you’re dreaming of a comeback that will make 1978 look like a walk in the park. During these times you believe that the Yankees will remember who they are and flex their muscles for the final two-and-a-half months of the season. Could be wishful thinking.

I find it’s best to follow an approach as stated by the Yankee captain in today’s Daily News:

“We did this a few weeks ago,” Jeter said, referring to the Yanks’ solid play in early June, which included a nine-game winning streak. “We’ve got to do it for more than a week and a half. We have to have a good second half.”

Amen, Derek. But not just a good second half, an incredible second half. One of those second halves where about as much goes right as went wrong in the first half. It’ll probably have to feature Abreu and Damon healthy and on base forty percent of the time…A-Rod staying hot…starters like Wang, Pettitte and Clemens throwing like they have been…rookies like Phil Hughes and the instant cult hero Edwar Ramirez chipping in (and if the latter sticks in the bigs there really isn’t a better name to chant than Ed-WAR)…plus, Cano and Matsui have to step it up a level or two.

A lot of ifs, no doubt. But the Yanks will need a perfect storm of hot players to see the light of post-season action. A notion that seems impossible after losing seven out of nine on the road…but after a 12-0 win, well…let’s just see how it goes.