Summer

It is August 13 in the early morning. Baseball is done for the night. The Yankees have a share of the lead for the AL Wild Card, and have gotten within 4 games of the Boston Red Sox for the AL East lead. It reminds me of players when I was in high school. Jim Leyritz seemed like he struck out or hit into a double play every time he was up, until the Yankees were down a run and there was a runner or two on base. Mariano Rivera wasn't letting anyone do anything. Bernie Williams was quietly producing in every situation, and Scott Brosius was hitting crucial home runs.

In 1996, and from 1998-2000, the New York Yankees were a real life baseball movie. The difference: they were never the underdogs. They weren't the Chicago Cubs in the ridiculous "Rookie of the Year" or the Indians of "Major League." They weren't the lovable pack of scamps and screwups that made good against all odds. They were consummate professionals. They didn't need a miracle. They didn't need a trick play. The only thing the New York Yankees needed was the chance to come through. And then they did. Yankee fans rejoiced, and Red Sox fans tried to keep from crying.

Now it's 2007, and the Yankees haven't won a championship since 2000. They've been thwarted by bloop singles, dominant pitching performances by rookies, last year's upstart Tigers, and one bloody (?) sock. There has been one question that Yankee fans have asked themselves and each other for the last seven years: what happened?

Now, the Yankees are the team that started miserably. They were counted out, cast aside, written off (whatever you want to say). They have become the movie team, the group of young bucks and grisled veterans, and a couple of flashy superstars who didn't seem to live up to their expectations. Everyone had seemingly given up on the Yankees, or expected them to make some sort of blockbuster trade that mortgages their future in the vain hope that the new players would propel them to the playoffs. Instead, it was an all-too-familiar face combined with a couple of fresh ones that bring this rag-tag group of disgruntled superstars back into contention, leaving fans to wonder if this is going to be a fairy tale ending, or if it's "wait until next year" for the seventh straight time.

Roger Clemens hit Alexis Rios with a pitch earlier in the week. He got tossed, and so did Torre, but watching the intensity that Clemens brings to the game, it becomes impossible to deny the effect that he has had on the Yankees. Right now, Clemens is 4-5 with a 4.00 ERA in 72 IP since his first start on June 9, when the Yankee's record was 28-31. Since then, The Bombers are 38-20. Rocket's return turned the Yankees into a .500 ballclub at the All-Star Break at 43-43.

So what happened? How have the Yankees regained their form? There isn't any danger of the franchise being moved, or any of the players being cut. There isn't some disadvantaged child who prays for angels to help the team (like "Angels in the Outfield"). There isn't an owner who wants to get rid of them in order to save money. So, how did this team get to be 23-8 since the midsummer siesta?

The answer is Youth, but it's a different kind of youth than the budding superstardom of Alfonso Soriano, or the high upside of Juan Rivera. This isn't the inconsistency of Ted Lilly, Jeff Weaver, or Andy Phillips. This is Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. Now, Cano and Cabrera have been here before. They have been there for the heartbreak of seeing their season end too early. Now, they're determined. They know that they are as big a part of the success of the team as Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Hughes and Chamberlain, the prizes of an excellent Yankee minor league pitching staff, have come up in lieu of that blockbuster trade. They realize the responsibilities they've been given at their young ages, and their stuff is up to the challenge. All these guys are getting healthy and hot at the same time, along with Matsui, Jeter, and the rest of the Yankees. That's why they're 23-8 since the break.

Now the thing is, that's not what has brought the magic back. After watching footage from inside the Yankee dugout, there is something there that I haven't seen since the wonderful run of 98-00. There is genuine, heartfelt enthusiasm. There is fun. There is this exuberance that these youngsters have brought to the team -- this added flair. The superstar version of Alfonso Soriano never really felt like a teammate. He always felt like trade fodder. And of course, away he went to make way for A-Rod on the roster. The thing is -- by keeping from making these deadline deals, bringing in a ringer to propel this team to glory, Brian Cashman chose to do something he hadn't tried in a few years: trust his players. Now, the Yankees have a real team to work with -- a group that isn't going to have to worry about former rivals snaking their way into a clubhouse. Instead, Cashman went out and got a roleplayer (Wilson Betemit), and got rid of a guy with a bit too much of a mouth on him (Scott Proctor).

This season, we are watching more of a Yankees team than we have seen in quite a long time. We are seeing the players come together and stick together, as evidenced by Roger Clemens. We are seeing the game played with a sense of both urgency and fun, best exemplified by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano. And we get to see the emergence of the future of the Yankees in the devastating stuff of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. For the first time since 2000, we get to see a team of Yankees, not a group of guys in pinstripes.