Halfway There (almost)

The all-star break is looming and the Yankees are now 12 games out of first and 8.5 games out of the wild card. In short, do or die time is a week away. So what needs to happen for the Yankees to make the post season. I'll break it down by the key players with their mid season statistics:

Derek Jeter - .341 (BA) 5 (HR) 43 (RBI) 54 (R) .886 (OPS): No rest for the weary. Jeter is set to play in his 8th all-star game next week. The problem his knee has been bothering him for a few weeks. Torre should give him a few days of rest so that he can stay strong. Jeter going down would be a disaster right now especially given the monster season he is having that is going undetected because of the guy to his right. For the rest of the season we need more of the same from Jeter if we want to make the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez - .314 (BA) 28 (HR) 80 (RBI) 74 (R) 1.065 (OPS): No doubt about it, A-Rod is having an unbelievable season. While the staff here at 567mfh have varying opinions about his personality, A-Rod is another guy the Yankees can't afford to lose. It would be smart for him to sit out of the all-star game to rest his hamstring. Hopefully his pride doesn't get the better of him. Just like Jeter we need a healthy A-Rod to keep working on a record setting season through the second half.

Roger Clemens - 2-3 (Rec) 4.26 (ERA) 1.20 (WHIP): Clemens needs to earn his money. Although he has shown moments of grandeur, the Rocket has been shaky from the get go. Clemens needs to keep his legs healthy and work on alternate pitches. He can't throw a high 90's fastball anymore, but his splitter is looking better. Despite the clause in his contract, Roger should also spend more time with the team not only to boost morale, but also to show the young guys some of his stuff.

Bobby Abreu - .261 (BA) 5 (HR) 39 (RBI) 58 (R) .722 (OPS): Abreu needs to get the monkey off his back and start hitting like Bobby Abreu. He's having a terrible season of mediocre highs, and terrible lows. The move down in the batting order should take some of the pressure off, but he needs to think about it less. Hopefully the all-star break should give him a chance to readjust and shake off the first half of the season.

Mariano Rivera - 10 (SV) 3.77 (ERA) 1.13 (WHIP): Rivera needs to plead with Torre to play in more games, even if the Yankees are not in a winning situation.

Phil Hughes - 1-1 (REC) 3.38 (ERA) 1.03 (WHIP): Hughes needs to be smart about his comeback. Everyone was impressed with his last game before going down to a hamstring injury, but if the Yankees are going to make the playoffs this year, and in the years to come, Hughes should make sure he is strong enough to be a starter and not risk more time on the DL.

There's still a lot of baseball left to play so I'm still cautiously optimistic that the Yankees can exorcise their demons of the first half and pull it together.