The New York Yankees are in the unfathomable position of third place in the American League East. With the race in the American League Central heating up and the Oakland A’s emergence, it no longer appears that a wild card spot is enough to get into the post season.

This means that simply catching the Red Sox is not enough. Now the Yankees have to take the Rays down as well. The Red Sox, luckily are terrible on the road, so it is possible to catch them. The Yankees have been one of the few teams able to compete away fro heir home field. At the same time, the Yankees have not been taking nearly enough advantage of playing at Yankee Stadium. Perhaps the aura around the stadium is too much for the team because it is the last year there, but the club needs to get over it.

A couple months ago the team was struggling just to play .500 ball, but now Yankees tickets have seats to a club on the rise. Hopefully, the team can carry the great recent play through after the All Star game. It would be a shame for a mid-season emergence to go to waste and have to read about the ARod divorce and its implication for baseball fans all summer long. 

The team will get Chien-Ming Wang back soon and can then move Chamberlain back to the bullpen. He has done a great job filling in, but he does not have the stamina to go longer than six innings. Mussina and Pettitte continue to pitch decently, picking wins with a little help from the offense. There has to be some answer other than Rasner, and Ponson will need to regain the form he lost in Texas.

The Yankees with a couple of lateral moves on the roster could turn All Star tickets into World Series tickets. It is up to the Yankees to make sure that the hope for the post season does not rely on the Mets.