Major League Baseball

Will Yankees get caught in speed trap?

Published Oct. 14, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

Ever seen antlers in New York?

You’re about to.

If you thought the Rangers ran the Rays off the field in the Division Series, wait until they play the Yankees.

I don’t believe that they will beat the Yankees, mind you. But they will drive the Yankees nuts trying.

The Rangers make the antler sign, hands spread on both sides of their heads, when one of their players “runs like a deer.” They make the claw sign, fingers curled, arm rising in a circular motion, to celebrate power.

Both displays are most un-Yankee-like – the thought of Derek Jeter performing either routine is preposterous – but that should not be the Yankees’ concern.

No, the Yankees’ concern should be stopping a team that turned even Bengie “Molasses” Molina loose for a stolen base in Game 5 against the Rays.

Stopping that team and hitting its ace, one Clifton Phifer Lee.

If I were the Yankees, I’d drop any lingering resentment toward the Mariners for trading Lee to the Rangers and start worrying that Texas’ speed and aggressiveness will make catcher Jorge Posada and Co. look 900 years old.

The young, athletic Rays, at their best, exposed the Yankees in such fashion. Over the final two weekends of the regular season, even the generally plodding Red Sox stole four bases against Posada in one game and five in another.

The Rangers reinforced in the Division Series clincher that stolen bases are just one form of aggressive baserunning. They will need to apply even more pressure against the Yankees – and it sure would help if center fielder Josh Hamilton ignited after going just 2-for-18 against the Rays.

The Yankees can slow the Rangers, a fastball-hitting club, by varying their pitches and changing patterns. Their left-handed starters, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, match up well against the Rangers, whose OPS was 55 points lower against lefties.

But all those questions about the Yankees’ rotation beyond Sabathia before the start of the playoffs – did they suddenly just disappear once the Yankees swept the Washington Generals, er, Minnesota Twins?

I’m not totally convinced.

Both Pettitte and right-hander Phil Hughes produced impressive seven-inning performances against the Twins. Righty A.J. Burnett actually had a 2.50 ERA in three starts against the Rangers this season. But against Lee, fellow lefty C.J. Wilson and righty Colby Lewis, the Yankees’ starters cannot expect their usual outrageous run support. Different circumstances. Different game.

If not for the length of their series against the Rays, the Rangers would start Lee in games 1 and possibly 5 instead of games 3 and possibly 7. But for an inexperienced team, Lee pitching the first game at Yankee Stadium is not such a bad thing.

The Rangers were a sub-.500 club on the road – including 0-3 at Yankee Stadium – before going 3-0 at Tropicana Field in the Division Series. Lee, brilliant in Game 1 of last year’s World Series at Yankee Stadium, will singlehandedly calm the team’s nerves, no matter where the series stands after two games.

The problem with every “Rangers win” scenario, though, is the Yankees are more experienced – and more lethal offensively.

Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are the Yankees’ biggest stars, but their best hitter this season was Robinson Cano, and their best hitter against the Twins was Curtis Granderson. The DH platoon of Marcus Thames and Lance Berkman represents offensive overload, and one through nine there is just no relief.

The way to beat the Yankees, according to one AL pitching coach, is the way to beat many teams – by pounding power stuff inside. “You try to pitch away, and they will wear you out,” the coach said. “Their whole approach is to make the outer third down the middle.”

Lee and Wilson can certainly pitch inside effectively, and many of the Rangers’ relievers are hard throwers (note to Ron Washington: Alexi Ogando needs to assume a more prominent role in this series; no more using closer Neftali Feliz in the eighth inning). But will they collectively stifle the patient, grinding Yankees? I doubt it.

Pay no attention to the Rangers’ sweep of the Yankees in September – the Yankees’ starting pitchers in those games were Javier Vazquez, Burnett and Dustin Moseley. The real questions are: A) Will Hamilton hit? B) Will the Rangers’ inexperienced bullpen rattle? and C) How much can the Rangers disrupt the Yankees with their running game?

Pettitte is the only Yankees starter who is proficient at holding runners, and Boone Logan is the only left-hander in the bullpen; the Rangers can run on everyone else. The Yankees are too poised to unravel the way the Rays did in the Division Series. But that doesn’t mean they are invulnerable to the Rangers’ attack.

I would not be shocked if the Rangers won. I’m just not confident enough to pick them.

Yankees in 6.

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