Yankees out of focus but not out of picture

They are not out of the picture in the American League East, but the picture is a whole lot different for the Yankees than it’s been for a long time.

With a pitching staff devastated by injuries and rocked with controversy, it is amazing the Yankees are still as close to the Sox has they are. The rumblings from the front office are being heard daily.

Owner George Steinbrenner took a shot at manager Joe Torre this week, wondering why he left Alan Embree in to pitch in a game against the White Sox that the Yankees lost when Embree couldn’t get the crucial outs.

Torre the next day said he did not want to distract attention from the race the Yankees were in and would not respond to his owner’s comments. Torre learned a long time ago, the boss will bellow from time to time and it is best to just ignore it.

Steinbrenner would like to dump Torre now, just because the Yankees are not winning. Torre has been the buffer between the players and Steinbrenner for his entire tenure with the Yankees. Nobody could have done it better and as a result the Yankees have had a great decade of winning.

Steinbrenner must be livid that Torre has two years left on his deal with some $15 million owed.

Torre is building a home in Hawaii where he will go when his Yankee days are done. For the moment, he is not going anywhere.

For all the flack he has taken from the boss over the years, the last thing he will do is give Steinbrenner the satisfaction of walking away and leaving dollars behind.

Through all of this, the Yankees are still to be respected. Their offense can thunder, especially with Jason Giambi as hot as he has ever been. He won the AL July player of the month award and has continued with the hot bat into August.

With some $92 million spent on pitching alone by the Yankees on the likes of Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano, it will be a real irony if the likes of Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small should carry the team to the post season.

The 33-year-old Small has made four quality starts since joining the Yankees in July. He was signed as a free agent and hadn’t made a major league start since 1996.

Mariano Rivera is still the best closer in the business and Tom Gordon and Tanyon Sturtze are filling the set up role regularly.

The Yankees have the 2nd best slugging percentage in the league and are 4th in on base percentage. They trail only Texas in homers. That is an offense that can cover some bad starts.

Their best bet now is the Wild Card spot, hoping Oakland cools off from their latest 2 month spurt of wins.

It’s not the old Yankees for the Sox fans to detest, but they are not to be ignored.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.