Another False Start?

It sure looked good.

Johnny Damon's three-run homer in the seventh rallied the Yankees to a 5-3 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore Sunday.

The Yankees got some good pitching, a solid performance out of the bullpen and enough timely hitting.

It was the kind of win that should make us feel better about the team.

But it doesn't.

That's because we have seen a few of these types of victories this season, only to see the Yankees fall back into a rut and lose heartbreaker after heartbreaker.

And after watching this one, I can't help but feel that nothing has really changed.

The Yankees scored five, all on homers. Mark Teixeira homered in the first, his second homer in two days and hopefully a sign that he is finally coming around. Robinson Cano homered with one out in the seventh before Francisco Cervelli and Derek Jeter beat out two-out infield singles to set up Damon.

Damon has been the Yankees' most clutch player this season. He's hitting .314 with nine homers and 25 RBI. With runners in scoring position, he's 11-for-37 (.297) with three homers and 16 RBI.

But while Damon's been delivering, the rest of the lineup continues to struggle. Sunday the Yankees went 1-for-5 with RISP, lowering their season average to .244.

The homers are great, but any offense that relies on homers is ultimately doomed to fail. Good pitchers don't give up many home runs and Tuesday the Yankees will be facing one of the best in Roy Halladay. Does anyone really expect the Yanks to hit three home runs against that guy?

Meanwhile, Joba Chamberlain continued his first-inning struggles, allowing five hits, including Aubrey Huff's three-run homer. Of course he settled down after that to pitch a nice game (6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 Ks), but Joba has to get the first inning straighted out.

This season, nine of the 18 runs and three of the four homers he's allowed have come in the first.

Many top starters struggle in the first, but they are able to escape or limit the damage. Joba has not been able to do that, and that's the main thing holding him back. Once he can get through that first, we'll start seeing him go deeper into games and then he'll start racking up the wins.

But in this game, Joba went far enough. Joe Girardi didn't mess around, going to his two most reliable relievers: Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera. Coke allowed one hit in two scoreless innings and Mariano Rivera, in his first outing since allowing back-to-back homers against the Rays, finished it off.

Rivera is not the problem with this bullpen. Yes, his recovery from his shoulder surgery has been slow, but he showed good life on his pitches Sunday. Mo will be OK. We can relax about that.

But the problem with the rest of the pen remains. Aside from Coke, who can Girardi trust to get key outs in big spots? Right now there is no one. And that's killing the Yankees.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not about to throw this win back. I'm just not going to believe this team has it turned around until I actually see a winning stretch of say 10 of 12 or 16 of 20. And with all those big flaws, I'm just not sure this team can do it.

Runners In Scoring Position
Saturday
1-for-5 (.200)
Season
70-for-287 (.244)

Up Next
Tuesday at Blue Jays, 7:07 p.m., Local TV (Check your listings)
A.J. Burnett (2-0, 5.26 ERA) vs. Halladay (6-1, 3.29)

Burnett will need to be great, or it could be another long day for the Yankees.